Tell your class that instead of the usual cups used in class for dipping paintbrushes in water, today everyone will use a pail in honor of Jack's trip up the hill in the classic nursery rhyme. Find small metal or plastic pails at a dollar store or in the garden section of a department store. Set small pails of water in the center of each table within the reach of preschoolers. Give each child a set of watercolor paints and let them paint pictures of Jack and Jill.
Combine letter "J" awareness with a Jack and Jill-inspired art project. Cut one upper-case letter "J" out of card stock for each class member. Give preschoolers markers to decorate the letter shapes. Glue the letters to sheets of 9-by-12-inch blue construction paper. Pass out old magazines containing pictures of girls and boys. Ask your class to hunt through the pages to find and cut out pictures of girls and boys to represent Jack and Jill. Glue the cut pictures around the letters on the paper.
Send preschoolers home with a Jack and Jill-themed craft to remind them of the pail that the friends took up the hill. Make the simple pail craft with Styrofoam cups and pipe cleaners. Poke two holes in each cup with a hole puncher or the tips of scissors. Position the holes directly opposite each other and just under the rim. To fashion the pail handle, bend the pipe cleaner into an arch and poke the ends through the holes. Twist and knot the tip of each pipe cleaner to hold the handle in place. Give preschoolers markers to decorate the pails. Provide each child with a sticker to place on his pail after he is finished decorating.
Make a Jack and Jill finger puppet craft so preschoolers can poke their fingers into the puppets and act out the rhyme. The Making Learning Fun website has a template to print both a Jack and a Jill puppet. Print the puppets onto white card stock then cut them out. Let children color the puppets with crayons.