Help kindergartners build their own oatmeal silos to take home and play with. Ask the kids to bring in an empty oatmeal container or another cylindrical box. Using a bowl or circular object that is about three inches bigger than the oatmeal box, help the kids trace a circle on a sheet of construction paper or card stock. This will be the roof of the silo. Instruct the children to cut out the circle and then to decorate the circle and the oatmeal container to look like a silo, using paint or markers. You might suggest that they paint the oatmeal container red and add white doors and windows. Have the kids cut a slit into the circle from one end to the middle. Overlap the circle and help the children glue the ends together to form the roof. Glue the roof to the top of the oatmeal container and allow it to dry before playing.
Use an empty tissue box, rubber bands, a paper towel tube and a pencil to build a simple guitar for kindergartners. Ask the students to bring in an empty, large tissue box and a cardboard paper towel tube. Give kids markers or paint to decorate the box and tube however they want. Help the children stretch three or four rubber bands around the tissue box over the center hole. Instruct the students to place a pencil under the rubber bands on one end of the hole. Use glue or tape to attach a paper towel tube to the opposite end to complete the guitar.
Help kindergartners develop their fine motor skills by building a cereal box house. Ask the students to bring in one empty cereal box. Instruct them to open up the box by gently sliding a finger under the top and bottom seams. Lay the box cardboard side up on a table. Help the kids cut off the front of the box so only the back and the side panels remain. Cut the top and bottom flaps from the back of the box as well. To make the house stand, show the kids how to cut the side panels in half and fold them back. Cut the top of the box to look like the top of triangle to form the roof. Give the kids markers or paint and let them decorate windows, a door and a roof to complete their cereal box house.
Show kindergartners how to build a hibernation cave for their stuffed animal teddy bears. Ask the kids to bring in an empty 12-pack soda case. Help them cut a hole in one end that will serve as the entrance to the cave. Give them construction paper, paint and glue to decorate it to look like a cave. Make it a comfortable home with a small blanket or tissues for a teddy bear to rest in all winter long.