*Hands Ask the children to carefully trace one of their hands and cut out the tracing. Have them write their names on the cutouts and keep them to attach to and identify artwork throughout the year. *Miniature Hats Prepare hats for the class to decorate by melting Styrofoam cups in a 350 degree oven. Place the cups on a cookie sheet and set them in the oven for 30-60 seconds. (this goes very quick once it starts.) Have the children decorate them by drawing on them with markers and by tying yard or ribbon around them. Hang them from a tree branch for a display during H week. *Hopping a Trail Press down contact-paper foot shapes along a play area. Let the children hop along the trail making the sound of H as they go. *Horseshoes Have the children play a game of horseshoes with plastic horseshoes. *Happy Hamburgers Provide each child with a small bun or biscuit, serve them a cooked hamburger patty and have them place the hamburger on the buns and give it a happy face by decorating with cheese chunks, ketchup and mustard. *Indian Headbands: Fold a strip of cloth and measure it on your head. Mark the length that is most comfortable for you. Attach velcro dots to the ends with a glue gun (An Adult should do this) Bands can be painted to created Indian symbols. Use a slender brush, and acrylic or poster paint. *Houses In the story The Big Orange Splot the main character convinces his neighbors to use their imaginations to create the house of their dreams. I've had my students draw the house of their dreams and then write about it. Many of the children were extremely creative and all of the children really enjoyed the activity. *Another good book is called Build a House by Bryon. The text is brief and the illustrations are bold. The children enjoy seeing the stages of building a house. One year a father who was a carpenter spoke to my class about building a house and then he built a birdhouse for them to see. *A House Is A House For Me is sold with the Dr. Seuss books. It has a rhyming text which flows and shows children the different types of homes found all over the world. Young children enjoy it and you can discuss with them why some homes would be impractical in your area. *"H" Makes Me Happy H is for hair and H is for hand (point to hair, then hand) H is for heels on which we stand (stand back on heels) H is for houses here and there (gesture to left, then to right) H is for hats seen everywhere. (stand hands on top of head) H is for hearts and horses too, (touch chest, then gallop in place) H makes me happy, how about you? (point to others) *Learn about horses and how they have been used though out history *Chocolate peanut butter horse chestnuts Ingredients: 1/2 pound soft butter 1 1/4 pounds smooth peanut butter 1 1/2 pounds confectioners sugar 1 large package of chocolate chips Procedure: 1.Mix the butter and peanut butter together until smooth 2. Add the confectioners sugar. (you may need to mix this by hand) 3. Roll the mixture into small balls (about 75) 4. Melt the chocolate chips in a double boiler 5. Dip three-fourths of each ball into the chocolate. 6. Place the "horse chestnuts" on waxed paper to dry. let the children make them, count them eat them enjoy them. *HAIRY HARRY What you need: Styrofoam cup or paper cup (recycle) :) scissors construction paper markers glue buttons (or cut them out of paper for young children) potting soil rye grass seed Steps: 1. Have the children cut eyes, ears, mouths, nose, etc...out of construction paper and glue in place on their cup. Let them also use markers to color on the cup. Let them use buttons to embellish or anything else you may have lying around. 2. Have the children fill their cups about 2/3 full of potting soil. Then plant the rye grass seeds in the soil. Place the cups in a sunny place and water regularly. 3. Hairy Harry will begin to grow "hair" in about seven days. * Make or have someone come in with a harp Be a hopping hare Make & decorate hamburgers with happy faces Make hand prints with a washable ink pad Talk about the idea of hard (vs. soft) For a math activity measure the height of some objects Make the clip-clop sound of the hooves of horses Make headbands with the children--decorate them with hearts! Sponge paint hearts on paper Talk about & do hair activities with different kinds of hair *Dance to the Hokey Pokey * make Hats * measure each child's Height * have each child use a Hole puncher * draw a large H on the carpet with tape and have the children hop along the letter H * play Hot potato * play with hula hoops * wear hula skirts and lays ~ have a hula party * foods that start with H Ham, hamburger, hash, hazelnuts, hoagie, honey, honeydew melon,hot chocolate, hot dog, hot sauce *Make hats and decorate them with feathers, glitter, etc. I had pictures of different hats and the kids had to match them with the occupation. Coloring books are a great source for different hat pictures. *Houses - teepees - construction paper igloos - small marshmallows and vanilla icing apartment buildings - cereal boxes talked about butterfly houses, bird houses, dog houses, bat houses *honey - rolled bananas in honey and chocolate sprinkles and froze them for an hour *Hands - Ask the children to carefully trace one of their hands and cut out the tracing. Have them write their names on the cutouts and keep them to attach to and identify artwork throughout the year. *H do a unit on homes - houses . You can do both homes for animals or people and the many differences between them. For example homes for people... tents, houses, apartments, town homes, trailers etc... *Do a unit on horses *Musical Horses - put pictures of ponies on the back of chairs and play musical chairs - play horse-like music or rodeo music *Sing songs: Horsey, horsey don't you stop Just let your feet go clippety-clop Your tail goes swish and the wheels go round Giddy up we're homeward bound * Say rhymes: Ride a cock horse To Banbury cross To see a fine lady Ride on a white horse Rings on her fingers and bells on her toes She shall have music Wherever she goes Trot your horse to Boston Trot your horse to Lynn Trot your horse to Salem Home home again. * Make horses out of cardboard boxes: Cut the bottom out of a box Cut handles on each side. Cut a head from more cardboard (side view) and glue on front. Paint them with house paint before hand or have kids glue on big sheets of construction paper. Decorate with ribbons or stickers and yarn for mane, construction paper ears, buy big eyes from a craft store or make them from black and white paper or felt. Then have kids hold horse at the side and walk/run around while music plays or jump over simple jumps (the library might have some tapes - or use William Tell's overture). * Make horseshoes out of plastic or cardboard and toss them. *Stick horses are fun to make. Draw a horse head outline add features staple 2 sides together , stuff with newspaper and add either a empty gift wrapping roll or a paper towel one will also work Then you can do all kinds of races. * "H" Make or have someone come in with a harp Be a hopping hare Make & decorate hamburgers with happy faces Make handprints with a washable ink pad Talk about the idea of hard (vs. soft) For a math activity measure the height of some objects Make the clip-clop sound of the hooves of horses Make headbands with the children--decorate them with hearts! Sponge paint hearts on paper Talk about & do hair activities with different kinds of hair * letter H Dance to the Hokey Pokey make Hats measure each childs Height have each child use a Hole puncher draw a large H on the carpet with tape and have the children hop along the letter H play Hot potato play with hula hoops wear hula skirts and lays have a hula party foods that start with H Ham, hamburger, hash, hazelnuts, hoagie, honey, honeydew melon,hot chocolate, hot dog, hot sauce * H do a unit on homes - houses . You can do both homes for animals or people and the many differences between them. For example homes for people... tents, houses, apartments, townhomes, trailers etc... A good book for follow-up is A House is a House for Me.