*Masking tape source:  Creative Educational Surplus (CES), 1000 Apollo Road,
 Eagan, Minnesota 55121-2240,  1-800-886-6428.   Summer catalog price: 60
yard rolls, red blue and yellow   $5.75 /pkg 3; 4 rolls 1/2" colored making
tape - $4.50

*Let the kids use it to make roads, neighborhoods, houses, etc. on the
carpet! Make paths to different centers. Draw pictures of themselves or
objects. One day the kids made the outlines of *mud puddles* and all day long
we were challenged to walk around them or jump over them! The next day,
someone called out and said the whole room was a a lava pit and those
*puddles* were now transformed into the only safe *rocks* on which you could
step! lol! We usually leave it in place for several days, but then all help
to strip it up when the time comes. Set a timer and see how fast the group
can clear it off the floor! See who gets the biggest wad accumulated! Watch
it pick up small bits of grit and fluff off the carpet for you!!! lol!

*I use it on the carpet in my classroom as a visual cue for centers' play
space or boundaries...("remember, Bobby, the blocks stay inside the blue
tape, ok?")
 
*I use it on the carpet in my classroom to mark the line-up line.  I even
added a different color, using small marks along the line to indicate a spot
for each child to stand.  
 
*over the coat hooks- child's name on the tape and place over their assigned
hooks! (add a sticker to make it cute!  I am limited on space for name lables
over the hooks, otherwise I would probably use a more traditional method of
 labelling here. but if you are cramped for space, use the tape, but
cute-it-up in such a highly visible/fist impression spot)
 
*I used a light and bright yellow colored masking tape for a counting line-
 put a long piece of tape along the flat-wooded border of a small chalk board
 in the math center; I used a permanent marker and wrote numbers 1-25 on it.
 Initially, the numbers were only 1-5, as we progressed, I used a different
colored tape and added more numbers.
 
*I use a different color of the masking tape on each shelf of the
manipulative center.  puzzles in the green zone;  lacing cards and beads and
ringa-ma-gigs and links in the blue zone;  tactile boxes and smelly jars in
the red zone...you get the idea.  
 
*use it to "frame" a special picture drawn by a child.  
 
*my spray bottle of disinfectant, my clipboard, my broom and long-handled
dust pan, my stapler and tape dispenser, my bucket of markers, my first-aide
kit, ALL have one thing in common: the have several bands of different
colored masking tape! (if someone borrows any of these commonly-borrowed
items from my room, it is unmistakable where it needs to be returned-  my
classroom!)
 
*make tactile-cards of letters/shapes for the language/writing center.
 
*in a pinch for a "hello, my name is___"  name tag so the substitute/new
teacher can easily learn the childrens' names? place a piece of colored tape
on their back, label it with their name!
 
* HINTS ON USING THE TAPE ALL OVER THE CLASSROOM:
 -don't tear it, use scissors for a nice finish.
 -make sure the surface is appropriate, as it can leave a mark or take off
paint in some circumstances.  
 -change it out as soon as it looks worn, or as soon as it begins to  turn up
at the ends.  
 -challenge your little ones to take care of the tape on the floor.  my kids
know that if the tape around the block center gets peeled up (on purpose)
then the center will be closed for "construction work" (until I can add more
blue tape!).
 -use only permanent markers,write neatly, and always let the ink dry. also,
 cute-it-up with stickers or child-like simple handwriting  whenever
possible.   

* The children rip a piece of tape off the roll and put it on the posterboard
they are using.  Afte they have done this with several pieces, they use
markers all over the posterboard.  No rules, just cover the white spots
somehow!  Then they peel off the tape and have a great design.