Use pocket charts to visually sort colors, shapes and sizes. Create a pocket for each color being taught. Allow the children to cut out items from a magazine that are the color of that day and place them in, for example, the red pocket. The same format can be used to find shapes such as triangles to go in a triangle pocket or circles to go in a circle pocket. Introduce sizes such as a larger dog or a smaller dog and let the children place them in larger or smaller pockets. Each chart should be customized for a particular activity. Use felt pockets and labels to easily change the pockets to another subject.
Set up a main pocket at the bottom of the chart to hold various textured items. Introduce textures such as wood, cloth and metal. Keep samples of the various materials in the chart's main pocket. Ask the children to take a piece of material from the chart's main pocket and identify where the material comes from. Metal is made by people. Wood comes from trees. Cotton comes from plants. Wool comes from sheep. Label the smaller pockets with items such as houses, furniture, clothes, cars, etc. Then ask the children to put the material in the pocket of an item that is made from that material. The wood piece could go in the house pocket, but children should also be able to discuss that wood is used for other things and could go in the furniture pocket. Discuss what materials are renewable and how resources can be used or reused.
Create a pocket chart with musical notes. Have a child select a card from the main pocket with a musical note drawn onto the five-lined scale. The child should place the card in a pocket that is labeled with the name of each note: A B C D E F or G. The child could also identify the note and play it on a piano or other instrument.
Teach good nutrition with a pocket chart of the food pyramid. Label each pocket as meat and protein, fruits, vegetables, grain or dairy. Place various food pictures in the pockets and have children identify and sort them into the correct food group. Discuss how many foods from each group is recommended for their age. For more fun, choose a new food card from the pocket each day, identify and sort the card and then introduce it to the children to actually eat.
Set up a pocket chart with various scented items, such as fruit, popcorn, flowers and dish soap. Have a child close his eyes and identify the items from the scent. Then ask the child if it is something you would put in your mouth or not. Let the children put the item in a custom-sized pocket labeled "good to eat" or "bad to eat." Discuss that even though something may smell good, such as flowers or dish soap, it may not taste good.