Bring in a Barney stuffed animal or cut out a large picture of Barney and laminate it for durability. Each day, place items by Barney and ask preschoolers what Barney is thinking about. For example, give Barney a red apple, a red block and a picture of a red car. Have preschoolers guess that Barney was thinking about the color red. Give preschoolers one minute to find more things in the classroom Barney will like. Extend the activity and have preschoolers paint Barney red pictures or make red paper shoes and a bow tie to tape on Barney. Vary the concepts to include colors, shapes and letters.
Laminate pictures of Barney, BJ and Baby Bop on large pieces of construction paper. Set character pictures at a math table. Have preschoolers get a collection of items, such as pattern blocks, and help Barney share with his friends by sorting the items between the friends. Students may give Barney yellow hexagons, BJ red trapezoids and Baby Bop green triangles. Provide a variety of items to sort including balls, building blocks, scarves, milk jug caps and pasta shapes. Encourage preschoolers to sort by color, shape, size or their own categories.
Print out coloring sheets for Barney and some of his friends including BJ, Baby Bob and Riff. Invite preschoolers to color the characters and glue them on large craft sticks to make puppets. Let preschoolers use the Barney puppets to make up plays with classmates in a theater center. Encourage preschoolers to play cooperative games with friends such as "Hide-and-Seek Barney" where one student hides the Barney puppet and gives clues to Barney's friends on where he is hiding.
Print out Barney puzzles and mazes. Invite preschoolers to work independently or with a partner to complete the puzzles and mazes. Set out 25-piece Barney puzzles for preschoolers to work on in small groups over the course of a few days. Create your own Barney puzzles by printing Barney and friends coloring sheets on card stock. Have students color the pictures. Glue pictures on pieces of cardboard then cut them into large shapes. Invite students to put together the Barney puzzles they created.