*Jack and the Beanstalk  
Paint a paper towel tube green.  Cut leaf shapes from construction. paper and
glue them to the tube.  For the stem glue a long piece of yarn around the
leaves.  Glue together 4 toilet paper rolls to make a castle.  Cut sections
from the  castle towers.  Paint the castle.  Add doors and windows from cut
paper.  Glue the beanstalk and castle together.  Glue cotton around the
bottom of the castle to look like clouds.  Draw Jack on paper and staple him
to a long piece of yarn about 2x the length of the beanstalk.  Tie the other
end to a craft stick.  Drop the stick down the beanstalk - when the stick
comes down - pull on the yarn and see Jack go up the beanstalk.

*Jack-O-Lanterns
Give each of the children a round paper plate. Have them paint the back side
of the paper plate with Orange tempera paint. Use black paint or markers to
draw the face and add a green construction paper stem.

*Jars, Jars, and More Jars 
Collect jars of different sizes with lids. Have the children practice finding
the correct size lid for the jar. Let them practice size comparisons by
arranging larger to smaller etc.. Practice counting skills as well as
matching skill. 

*Jumping Jacks
Teach the children how to do jumping jacks. Count the number of times you can
do them, see how high you can count. You can also call out the letter "J"
every time you do a Jumping Jack. 

*Jelly Rolls
Give each child a slice of bread and help them to trim the crusts off. Show
them how to flatten the bread with their hands or a rolling pin. Use Jelly or
Jam and let each child spread some on their bread and roll up the bread.
Enjoy. 

*Being a Christian day care, we did jigsaw puzzles of Jesus for this letter.
 It was a big hit with the kids.  We glued pictures of Jesus on construction
paper and had the kids color them and then cut them into pieces.  They were
all very protective of their puzzles so be sure to have small plastic bags
 available and clearly marked.

*jump rope games -  tried to actually "jump" rope; played "limbo"; put rope
on floor and played "snake" on the floor where they have to jump over the
wild slithering snake as holders shake rope 
                              
*jewelry - bracelets out of fish tank filter tubing filled with sesame seeds,
small cake decorating sprinkles, glitter, confetti tin foil beads - roll foil
into balls and roll in tempera paint - allow to dry and string with large
tapestry (dull) needles on fishing line

*jazz - play some jazz music 

*jellybeans - use these for sorting and counting activities

*Jars, Jars and More Jars - Collect jars of different sizes with lids.  Have
the children practice finding the correct size lid for the jar.  Let them
practice size comparisons by arranging larger to smaller, etc.  Practice
counting skills as well as matching skills.

*Jelly Rolls - Give each child a slice of bread and help them to trim the
crusts off.  Show them how to flatten the bread with their hands or a rolling
pin.  Use Jelly or Jam and let each child spread on their bread and roll up
the bread.  Enjoy!!