Today we enjoyed our penny toss game, a welcome song/game I made up for December, using a very familiar carol.Every child is handed five pennies, and while we pass them out, I instruct the kids to count the pennies very carefully to make sure they have 5. They love this.
I set the rules: where a penny lands, it stays! No one is allowed to touch a penny once it has been tossed. (Oh this is hard, but following directions is such an important skill to learn)
Each child has a turn to gently toss their 5 pennies one at a time toward the center of the circle while I sing:
Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat
(use child's name) put a penny in the old man's hat
If you haven't got a penny, a half-penny will do,
If you haven't got a half-penny, God Bless You!
I used to bring some hats to place in the center of the circle, and that was fun, but we now have a beautiful carpet for circle time that has a brilliant sun in the middle. It makes a perfect target.
The object is not to score points by hitting the target -- the kids are praised for taking a turn & following directions. Their motor skills are all over the map at this age! Some will improve their ability to do this as we play this again, but everybody can have fun.
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