101 Days of Fun Circle Time Activities & Topics

A list of fun and simple ideas to get your littles moving, giggling and creating opportunity to learn skills that will last a lifetime! I firmly believe in the power of play and the impacts it makes on a child's ability to learn and grow. All of these ideas are great starting points for figuring out what works best in your home for your kids and nurturing the ones that your child finds most fascinating. I deeply encourage you to get down on their level and truly be present during these activities and topics.

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Pass Objects

Practice a basic skill by passing beanbags around the circle. Start off slowly, then add in some clapping to add rhythm, or speed it up to give them a challenge.. and probably lots of giggles at that point.

Move around the circle doing different activities

Hold hands and move in a circle. Start by walking, then add in different movements like; wiggling hands and fingers, marching, hopping like a frog, swinging arms..

Group and gather by physical differences and similarities

Great opener! Have your kids move around or do an action for differences and similarities (example: "if you have blond hair, group in the middle.."or "if you like Star Wars, hop up and down"). Fun way to find out what kids have in common with each other.

Guess the body part

A fun way to familiarize your kids with body parts, and introducing boundaries. "I'm thinking of a body part that you put socks and shoes on." "What body parts bend/what doesn't bend?"

Yoga cards

You can make your own, print your own, or buy yoga cards specifically for kids at a local store. We were actually gifted these cards from our sweet friends from our library group. They are wonderful.

Simon says

Nothing like a classic game of Simon says to encourage movement and use of the brain!

Think and move

How many ways can we move our hands? Bend them up and down, clapping, hands open and close.. then go down the list of movements and do them all.

Singing songs

Singing songs is just a fun way of getting sillies out (oh, no.. not the case of the sillies!!). I can lead songs myself, but I prefer to use Youtube for this. I absolutely love Jack Hartmann Kids Music Channel! He has silly, wacky songs —new and classic and he is so, so fun to watch. My personal favorites are the bilingual songs, especially if you are working on learning new languages in your home. Check out "I see, I say, I sign."

Obstacle course

Traffic cones, tossing rings, ladder, large empty box.. get creative here and make sure to get expert advice from your littles.

Practice Knot Tying

Not just shoes! But shoelaces are a great place to start. Once your kiddo has mastered the skill of tying shoelaces, introduce different tying methods and what they are used for.

Trace body on butcher paper and paint clothes on themselves

This is one of those exciting activities kids will always look forward to. Something about tracing themselves and decorating their bodies with their unique style and funky hair!

Talk about clothing of the different seasons

What do we wear in summer? What about winter? Why? Create a felt board with human cutouts, and different gear or make an interactive notebook page with seasons and different items of clothing ready to cut and paste.

Hunt for pictures

iSpy style in magazines or books. Can you find something that can be played as a musical instrument?

What's that smell?

Squeeze out some mustard, horseradish, or barbecue sauce onto a spoon or samples of chocolate, fruit snacks --whatever you have on hand, and let children sniff and guess what it is they are smelling.

What's that texture?

Have a paper bag or box with a hole in it handy to place items with different textures inside for the child to feel and guess what's that texture.

Visit Local Farm

Arrange to visit a local farm. Offer to bring food scraps to bring the animals, but make sure you get a list of foods to avoid.

Safety emergency numbers, safe people, evacuation fire and earthquake plans, gun safety

All of this information varies for different climates, countries, homes and beliefs. If you take anything from this list, this one is by far the most important!

• Practice your emergency number (911 for USA) and parents' numbers.

• Talk with your kids about safe people. These could be a trusted family member, neighbor, or friend.

• Establish an evacuation plan if there is a fire. This includes learning proper fire safety: feeling doors before touching the doorknob, getting low and moving below smoke, and fire exits.

• Practice finding safe spots in your home if there is an earthquake. We live near the ring of fire so when earthquakes happen, they happen!

• Last, but not least, address gun safety. If your child were to find a gun, what do they think is the right thing to do? 1) don't touch 2) run away and tell an adult. If you don't know how to bring this up, check out these videos with Eddie Eagle: the 2015 version and the 1994 version.

*Even if you store your firearms properly or dOn'T BeLiEvE iN gUnS this is a must for teaching your kids as they will be visiting their friends' houses and their parents may or may not properly store them.

Talk about different emotions, name them and how they make your body feel

As an adult who had to learn about all of her emotions on her own, I'd recommend addressing emotions and really talking about them. Anger is something I've always struggled with. In the last few months, I've actually started talking more about angry feelings with my kids (of which I've noticed some similar patterns), and best ways to manage those feelings so we can better control our bodies and tone when we get there. I know they have been learning a lot, as I have learned a lot too! I would recommend looking into an "anger iceberg activity," as well as an "angry thermometer."

Show and tell: favorite toy addition

Everybody brings their favorite toy to the circle today and tells everybody all about it. What is it? Does it have a name? What can it do?

Family

Talk about family. Who does your family consist of? Do you have family pets? Encourage your kids to recall a story of an activity they have done with their family.

Movement

Move in a circle in ways teacher directs like; jump, march, slide, big/little step, tip toes shhh, twirls, crawl, skips, gallops, run!

Look carefully

Find different shapes in the room, have the kids point them out and name them.

Keep the balloons up!

Use hands and mouth to blow air.

Look carefully

Find different colors in the room, have the kids point them out and name them.

What's missing?

Display objects in front of the kids then have your students turn around/close their eyes. Take something away from the pile and see if they can figure out what is missing.

Texture touch and feel

Pile objects with different textures in the middle of the circle and have the kids play, touch and feel those items. After they've had time to touch and feel everything, ask them to describe those textures.

Telephone with toilet paper rolls

Use toilet paper rolls to play the game "telephone." Anybody can start by using their "telephone" by whispering anything to the next person. They then repeat what they heard through their telephone to the next and so on, until it gets to the last person who then says what they heard out loud. See how it has changed!

"Copy cats"

One child is the cat, and the other children copy the cat. A silly spin-off of "Simon says."

Categorizing fruits and vegetables

Categorize by fruit and vegetable or by colors. This activity led into where our food comes from and what our likes and dislikes are.

Pumpkin touch and feel

Buy a couple pie pumpkins when they are in season and wash & pop one directly into the oven. Cook at 350˚ until squash is soft when you poke it with a fork. Bring both pumpkins to the circle and cut the cooked one down the middle. Split open and make observations. Cut the raw pumpkin down the middle and make observations on the differences between the two. Note the textures of the "guts" and the squash itself. What changed about the appearance when it was cooked? Once you're done with your pumpkins, you can then use them for making puree', muffins, pancakes, stew, roast seeds or donate to a zoo/conservation center (raw only).

Botany Journal

During the summer, go searching for leaves and flowers as a group. I'd recommend taking photos of the plant you took that specific leaf or flower from. Laminate your leaves and flowers (taping with clear tape works just fine) and attach to a page per leaf. On each page, include: name of plant, including it's botanical name, descriptive words to describe it, and something you like or notice about it.

*You should not touch or pick any plant or fungus if you're not 100% sure you know what it is. Use a plant identification app to help, then a secondary method to confirm identification.

Mushroom Printing

Using black paper and gloves, pick a mushroom, remove the stem, and place down on the paper for 24 hours. Remove the mushroom cap and look at your "print." The markings you see are from the spores being released when the mushroom was picked. Spores are how new mushrooms can grow.

*You should not touch or pick any plant or fungus if you're not 100% sure you know what it is. Use a mushroom identification app to help, then a secondary method to confirm identification.

Rainbow flower experiment

Pick up a bouquet of white flowers from the store and bring them home. Set up 6 glasses of water and drop about 6 drops of color into each glass (1 color per glass). Drop a flower (with stem) down into a glass until all of the glasses have a flower in it. That's it! Watch over the next couple days as the petals soak up the colorful water.

Walking rainbow

Fill 6 glasses halfway with water. Take 3 of those glasses and put red food coloring in 1, yellow food coloring in 1, and blue food coloring in the last 1. Stagger the colored and plain water in a circle. Take half sheet paper towels and fold them over to a 1/2" width. Dip one end into a plain glass, and the other into a colored glass. Repeat all the way around until all of the glasses are connected by the paper towels. Let sit and watch the colors "walk" and mix to complete the rainbow. A fun and enchanting experiment because who doesn't like rainbows?

Leaves

Go play outside and grab various colors and sizes of leaves> Bring the leaves to the circle and sort them by size, by color, then by similar leaves. This is a good time to discuss the changing seasons and what happens next.

Snowflake art

Paper, watercolors, oh my! We've done this multiple ways. Draw snowflakes on watercolor paper with a white crayon then let your children discover their designs by the magic of watercolor. Or just fold up a plain white piece of paper up with the last folds diagonally. Cut off the top of your diagonal fold (this will create a rounder shape), cut out snippets and chunks, then open up to reveal your snowflakes!

Getting dressed in snow gear

Alaska winters are no joke. Sometimes dipping down to -40˚F. We don't play outside anywhere below zero, so sometimes we just like to admire our super cool snow gear and dream of the next time we go out. Haha! But really, we have a ton of gear for the more frigid days. Getting all of that gear on can take a nice chunk of time, especially if we get the last zipper zipped up and realize we all need to pee. ALWAYS TAKE A POTTY BREAK BEFORE GETTING DRESSED. In the meantime, we like to practice putting on our gear by ourselves. Something I have not played around with, however, is timing them and seeing if they can beat their times throughout the winter. It'll create an exciting event out of something that isn't necessarilly the most fun thing to do.

Pass the Snowball

Sing this song while passing a snowball (real or not). If you have a larger class, see if the kids can pass it around the complete circle before the song ends! Sung to tune of "Wheels on the Bus."

Pass the snowball round and round, round and round, round and round,

Pass the snowball round and round, all around the circle!

Discover: Things in the sky

What can you find in the sky? Have the kids draw a picture of things you can find in the sky and have them explain their pictures.

Cloud shapes

Go outside and lay down on the ground. Watch the clouds and see if you can spot any shapes. Later, research types of clouds and host a fun cloud craft. From what you learned.

Cloud in a jar experiment

Do you know how and why clouds form? All you need for this experiment is a jar, an empty ( and clean) fruit cup container, a match to light, and water and ice. This link takes you to a pretty neat video that explains the whole process and why it happens. The only thing we did different.. and it worked beautifully, was just using hot water from the tap, instead of boiling.

Discover: Air

Does it smell? Can you see it? Can you feel it? What around the house can use air to make it work? (hair dryer, vacuum, blenders mix air into drinks..etc)

Egg toss

Water balloon is a good variation of this activity. Have your children pair up with a partner. If you have one kid or an odd number, you get to join in here! Start about a yard away and have one partner with the egg, toss it gently to the other. Have them go back and forth, taking a step back every few tosses.

Egg drop

Just like the egg toss, the goal of an egg drop (again, water balloon can be a good substitute here) is to not break the egg. While in a circle, you an your kids will collaborate and come up with a way to drop an egg from a certain height. This can be from the top of the stair case, the balcony, a window on the 2nd story.. whatever option you think would suit best. For younger kids, I'd recommend breaking out the craft bin and having items out to experiment with. To start, you can take a normal sheet of printer paper, and let it fall. Notice how it gently glides down. Why? How can you make your egg glide down?

Discover: Sources of Water

Where can you find water? Where do you think that water comes from? Why is water important? Where we can find water: rain, snow, ice, lakes, rivers, wells, ocean. Go for a walk or drive, searching for water sources.

Save the toys: block of ice edition

Get a medium size tupperware and pile in a bunch of small toys. BONUS: add a couple drops of blue food coloring. Place in freezer and freeze overnight. At circle time, bring out a large bin and plop your big ice cube into the bin. Kids can use droppers and warm water, ice melt/table salt, tools and time to "save" their toys. This activity is good long after the ice melts! I like to throw everything back into the tupperware to freeze for another play.

Discover: Evaporation & Condensation

Boil some water and have a jar ready. Fill the jar halfway and place the top on. Mark on your jar with a rubber band, or sharpie where the water level is to start. Note the steam coming from the water and remove the lid to show your students the condensation that happened on the lid. Why is there water in the lid? How did it get there? Place your lidless jar in a window now and watch the water levels over the next few days and talk about evaporation. Where did the water go?

Discover: Kitchen tools, yard tools, handy tools, electric tools

Different types of tools can be learned about throughout a week's time. Tools are used every day, whether electric, battery operated, or just by hand! In my house, "tools are not toys," they will be used properly. But as we all know, kids are curious little humans! By teaching your kids how to properly use them can firstly; help them learn a new skill, but secondly will keep them safe. Oftentimes, tools are made with safety in mind anyway, and cannot be operated without a button being pressed or a lever being pushed/pulled simultaneously. Once they learn to use them and help around the house though, the pride they will have in themselves is a huge confidence boost.

Nail and hammer practice & screw and screwdriver practice

I made these a separate activity for another time because hitting nails pre-set into wood is just a fascinating activity. Right?! Who doesn't like hammering? We like to use thick cut wood cookies for this.

Plaster of Paris hand/footprints

Handprint, footprint.. whichever way you go about it, it's a fun craft for your kids. Add some sentiment by having out crafting supplies like marbles, beads or little trinkets that are special to your kids.

Instruments to music

Have fun playing musical instruments while you sing or dance to music. We have this music set. Add in some recorders (if you're brave), strum on an ukulele, or pull out the pots and pans.

Charades

Ah yes, charades. My daughter really got into playing charades when she was 4. I love watching her come out of her comfort zone and acting something out well enough so we could guess what her card was. There is a Charades for kids game where no reading is required!

Blanket and ball toss

Have your kids hold onto a blanket or sheet using a parachute hold. Put a ball, big or small, on the sheet and have the kids all toss the ball up into the air. Encourage them to experiment working with (tossing the ball up with fluent and simultaneous motions) and against each other (flinging the sheet to create spontaneous waves).

Sewing

Instead of fabric for the beginners just starting out, simply use a piece of paper that you have marked with easy lines for them to "trace" with a needle.

Who will it be?

This game is better in a group. Have the kids turn around and pick one to describe. Once your kids turn back around say something like "this child/boy/girl has blond hair..." Be as descriptive or as vague as you need to be here. Keep giving descriptions until they can figure out who is being described.

Create movements to a favorite riddle or rhyme

Example: The itsy bitsy spider (hand motions like a spider)

Went up the water spout (spider motions climbing up; arms raise up)

Down came the rain (twinkle fingers down to the ground)

And washed the spider out (whoosh hands outwards in a sweeping motion)

Seasons

What are some words that you think of when you think of fall? Winter? Spring? Summer? I like to bring these up in lesson during the transitioning seasons.

Snowman art

Oh the possibilities of snowman art. Is there enough snow to actually build a snowman? We've made tiny ones and big ones depending on the snowfall we get the night before! Or if you live in an area that doesn't usually get snow, or not at all, you could make snowmen will glue and glitter, a sock stuffed with rice and tied up, cotton balls, white crayon and watercolor, or any other media you have on hand.

Blanket fort/Snow fort

With snowmen comes a snow fort! I was throughly impressed with the fort my daughter created by herself last year. She made walls, a door, tiny window.. then topped it off with some sticks which were her flags. Really let your kids take the lead here. Same goes for a fort inside. I like to offer an idea if I think it will benefit the fort after they have already built it. That way they can be proud of their creations no matter what is added towards the end.

Snow rhyme with movements

Snow on my forehead, (touch forehead)

snow on my knee, (touch knees)

snow on my glasses, getting hard to see.. (pretend your brushing away snow)

Snow on my boots, (hands to feet)

snow in my hair, (shake head)

snow on my mittens (hands out), snow everywhere!

Hide a stuffed toy

Hide and seek: stuffed toy version. Have your child bring a stuffed toy to circle time. When they give you the toy, have them count to 10 with their eyes closed while you quickly hide it. Now they go find their hidden toy! Silly adventures.

Blanket and balloon toss

Refer back to "blanket and ball toss"

Follow the leader

As you sit or stand in your circle, have everybody follow you; the leader. An example would be to start by holding a steady beat by lightly patting your legs. Next, transition into clapping your hands..then snapping your fingers and so on. Everybody takes a turn to be the leader.

Stop and go (red and green paper)

Make a simple craft for this and cut out two circles, equal in size. One red, the other green. Have your kids stand across the room (or better yet, take this outside) and hold up the red circle first. When you flip it around to the green circle, your kids can walk, run, bear crawl, crab walk to you. Whoever gets there first wins that round!

Rainbow arches

For this craft, bring out the construction papers, glitter, stickers..all the crafty things! Each child will get a half sheet of construction paper for all the colors in the rainbow. I would recommend drawing arches to cut out or just have them pre cut before beginning this project. Your children will now decorate all of their colored papers with like colors. Like red glitter or stickers on red paper, orange stickers and scribbles on orange..so on until you have all of the colors decorated. Next, have your kids glue their rainbow arches to white or light blue paper in any fashion they choose. I like to do these crafts along side my kids so I can show them the way I would place them and then they can use that as inspiration or as a guide. Whatever they feel comfortable with.

Make quality wands with sticks, yarn and ribbon

COMING SOON: wand kits from my Etsy shop!

Shadow stories

Use a large white sheet, flashlight or lamp on the ground, and a good story to create shadows behind. Speaking out a familiar children's nursery rhyme works great here. Encourage them to step out of their comfort zone and get dramatic with their movements. Big movements will really this fun. Make a video so they can watch themselves when they are finished.

Paint with feet

Bring out the roll of white paper for this! Give them small containers of a couple colors that mix well. Have your kiddos use their toes to hold the paint brush and let them figure this one out. It might take a moment, but they'll have a good time.

Pick fruit

Picking fruit is a lot of fun. Apples, cherries, peaches, berries or orange. If you do not have wild fruits close to where you live, ask a friend or family member if they have some they wouldn't mind letting you go pick! And if you do have wild fruits close by, make sure you double check and triple check before you pick them. Only pick what you are 100% certain you know!!

Tips: Let your kids lead as often as you can. By letting your kids take lead, they gain the confidence and leadership skills they need to succeed.

Try your best to get down on their level when teaching. It is a simple act you can do to make a big impact in the way you teach and the way they respond to you.

Play is key, I don't care what age you are! If you can incorporate fun into the lesson, Do it. All the time.

Thank you for reading!

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