Materials:

• construction paper
• markers and crayons
• masking tape

Objective: Children will think about different places in their neighborhood and then contribute a drawing to a group patchwork.

ACTIVITY

1 Sing an adaptation of "Let's Go on a Bear Hunt." Select an item to hunt for, and act out searching the neighborhood for it.

Let's go on a bread hunt.

Ready, let's go!

I see a bus! (put money in coin box)

I see a bakery! (open oven door)

I see bread! (pick up loaf of bread)

2 Ask children to name a place in their neighborhood that they visit regularly - a grocery store, post office, bakery, gas station, your school or center, and so on. If children have trouble naming places, ask them to think of what they see on the way to school in the morning.

3 Give children construction paper, crayons, and markers. Invite them to draw a picture of the neighborhood place they mentioned. Label each child's drawing, and write the name of the place and any comments about it that he or she wishes to add.

4 Tape children's drawings together, creating a square or rectangular patchwork of pictures. Hang the community patchwork on the wall, and invite children to point out and discuss all the places they drew.

Spin-Off

Create a movement floor game called "Neighborhood Hop." First, cover both sides of the patchwork with clear contact paper Then make a spinner out of cardboard. Write the name of each place shown in the patchwork on the spinner. (Attach a craft stick to the spinner with a thumbtack to make an arrow.) Children can have fun hopping on the different neighborhood places as you spin the arrow and call them.