Circus

[Anna]

Does anyone have any activities/lessons for preschool children and the theme "Circus"?

[Fern]

I have a real cute one where you take a large brown paper bag, cute out arm holes and a hole in the front for their face, then I have patterns for the body, so they can be a clown,or ringmaster or lion or a pretty lady that rides the horses or acrobatics , they are real cute patterns. I can get you the name of the book if your interested.
Another one I've down is circus animals in a cage. Take a styrofoam tray and cut slots in the top and bottom edge about an inch apart. Have the kids glue pictures of animals on the tray, or sometimes I use animal crackers. Then take wool or string and wrap it around the tray hooking the string in the slots that you pre-cut. The string then looks like bars on the cage. Tape the ends together at the back.

[Diane]

Songs and Poems:

"Putting Up the Big Top"
(sung to "Abc song")
Everybody circle round,
Lift the canvas off the ground,
Pull and pull and watch it rise,
Big Top grows before our eyes.
Everybody circle round,
Lift the canvas off the ground.

Have the children gather around a large parachute and "raise" the parachute tent as they sang.


"We are All Clowns Today"
(sung to "Farmer in the Dell")
We are all clowns today,
We are all clowns today,
Hi ho the derry o
We are all clowns today!


"The Clowns in the Circus"
(sung to "Wheels on the Bus")
The clowns in the circus go ha ha ha
ha ha ha
ha ha ha
The clowns in the circus go ha ha ha
All day long!

Additional verses:
The lion in the circus go grr grr grr
The elephants in the circus go errr err errr
The monkeys in the circus go eek eek eek
The horses in the circus go neigh, neigh, neigh

"Circus Song"
(sung to "I'm A Little Teapot")
I'm a little clown, short and fat,
Here is my tummy, here is my hat.
I can do a trick as you will see,
Just turn around and look at me!


Art Activities:

Circus Tent: Cut out a simple circus tent shape from a piece of red (12"x18") and a piece of white (12"x18") construction paper. I simply cut a pointed roof onto each. They must be the same size. One the red tent only, cut a slit from the bottom to the middle to create an opening. Fold back and you have created the "door". Next, glue the red tent on top of the white tent and draw a picture of a circus scene in the opening. Decorate the outside of the tent using white crayon. Add a flag on top. Click here to see a picture.

Circus Train: Gather a clean, white meat tray for every child. Precut several small slits on the top and bottom of the tray, about 1"apart. Allow each child to illustrate a circus animal and cut it out. Glue the animal on the meat tray. Give each child a length of yarn to wind through the slits to create bars on the cages. Finally add wheels and display on the wall.

Shape Elephant: Pretrace the following shapes for the children to cut out and assemble into an elephant. Circle (head), 2 rectangles (ears), large oval (body), 4 squares (feet), long rectangle (trunk-curl on a pencil to make it more realistic), 2 triangles (tusks). Assemble and add facial features.

Elephant puppet: Paint a paper plate gray, add construction paper ears and draw in facial features. Cut a circle out of the center of the plate. Child can stick his arm through to make the trunk. Or, you can add a sock or dryer tube to the paper plate to make the trunk.

Paper Plate Clown: Using the paper plate as the face, add a hat, yarn hair, big smile, happy eyes and other features, BUT NO NOSE! Cut a tiny hole where the nose should be and insert a small red balloon!

Handprint Clown: On a large sheet of white construction paper, have the kids add features to a pretraced outline of a clown's head. Add a handprint ruffle to the clown by painting the children's hands with paint.

Shape Clown (from the Aug/Sept 1999 Mailbox): Pretrace the following shapes for the children to cut and assemble into a clown. 1 large triangle (body) 1 circle (head) small circle (nose), triangle (hat) then trace the child's hands for the clown's arms and the child's feet for the legs. Too Cute!

Clown hat: Children decorate a half circle with bingo markers. Fold into a cone and add a string so that it stays on the child's head. Click here to see a picture.

Clown Bow Tie: Decorate a 12"x18" piece of construction paper with bingo markers. Accordion fold, staple in the middle, and open up to form a bow. Secure a pipe cleaner around the center of the bow and use this to attach loosely to the child's neck. Click here to see a picture.

Tactile Cc: Cut out a large cotton candy shape. Add a cone holder to the bottom. Write Cc on the center and allow kids to glue pink cotton balls to the letters.


Class Book:

Cut paper in the shape of a circus tent.
"If I was in the circus, I would..."
Laminate and bind together for use in the reading center.


Games and Movement:

Walk the tight rope (tape on floor)
Ring Toss
Juggle Scarves
Elephant Walk
Circus Parade
Pin the Nose on the Clown (just like the donkey game)
Pretend to be a circus animal or performer


Clown car: How many kids can fit in a large cardboard appliance box? For added zip, decorate this car with magic markers or affix paper plates for wheels. (Be sure to remove any staples or other scratch hazards before you all pile in.)

Face Painting
Circus Wagon edible treats
Peanut Toss
Pin the Tail on the Elephant
Pin the Nose on the Clown