Allow preschoolers to practice separating living from non-living things through the creation of this simple file folder game. To build this game, open a standard manila folder. Place the folder in front of you, and draw a line down the center, along the crease. Label the left side of the folder as "Living" and the right as "Non-living." Locate clip art or photographic images of different objects, both living and non-living. Print these images onto card stock, and cut around them to separate them from each other. Place these images in the manila folder.
Present this folder to your student, and ask him to look through the image and sort them based on whether the thing pictured is living or non-living. Ask the student to place the living items on the left side of the open folder, under the living heading, and the non-living things on the right side, under the non-living heading. Check the student's work once he has finished his sort, and help him correct any errors.
Trees, like humans, need certain basic essentials to survive and flourish. Allow students to practice identifying the things that trees need to live by creating this folder game. To make your game, locate pictures of water, the sun and soil, as these are the basic necessities for tree survival. Also, find picture of things that are unnecessary for tree survival, or even detrimental to the plant, such as soda pop and a Happy Meal. Print out these pictures on card stock, and cut around them. Prepare your folder by pasting a large picture of a tree onto the center of the folder. Place the pictures in the folder.
When the student begins the game, ask him to sort through the pictures and determine what things will help a tree and what things the tree doesn't need. Ask the student to place the pictures of the things that are beneficial to the tree and promote survival on top of the tree image, and set the others off to the side of the folder. Once the student has completed his sort, check his work and correct any errors.
Students sort animals into their appropriate habitat in this file folder game. To prepare this game, open your file folder and divide it into four quadrants by drawing a horizontal line and a vertical line. Locate pictures of vastly different environments. You may, for example, print an underwater scene, a rainforest scene, an arctic scene and a dessert scene. Size the pictures so that they fit into the quadrants you created. Next, find images of animals that might inhabit each ecosystem. You could select a polar bear for the arctic scene, a fish for the underwater scene and so on. Print out these animal pictures onto card stock and cut around them. Place the images in your file folder.
Present the folder to the student, and ask her to look at the animal pictures, and place each animal in the appropriate habitat. Check the student's work once she has finished the challenge.