by Mary Setoki
Fun circle time ideas are essential to a smooth and engaging circle time routine. Circle time activities can be challenging to come up with. Between trying to teach preschool language and literacy activities and preschool math skills it might seem difficult to find time for the calendar or weather, let alone songs for circle time. As public school teachers or homeschooling parents, we know that routines make our day so much easier! If you need to up your game when it comes to circle time, keep reading! You are on your way to amazing and fun circle time routines that will make circle time your favorite part of the day.
Hello everyone! I’m Mary Setoki, your go-to early childhood education guru. With years of experience in the educational field, I have dedicated my time and passion to helping teachers like you unlock the immense potential of young learners. By developing unique, creative, and enjoyable resources and lesson plans, I aim to help you transform your classroom, and make teaching more effective and less stressful. Let me help you today!
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Before we get into my favorite circle time preschool activities, let’s talk about a few pro tips
Pro-tip # 1
Post an outline of your fun circle time ideas to help keep things moving.
Littles can easily derail your best plans if you let them. You should be flexible and answer questions that the kids are interested in, but be ready to move to the next thing on your list (or skip it, if the discussion is interesting and important).
Pro-tip #2
Set Rules and Routines
In my class, students sit crisscross applesauce, or with their legs straight in front. In both cases, hands are in the middle (in their lap). If students with their legs in front are too wiggly, they will be asked to cross their legs. Students know the order of our circle time, so they are prepared and often start the songs without me if I’m not fast enough.
Pro-tip #3
KEEP CIRCLE TIME IDEAS FUN AND SIMPLE!
When students are having fun, students are engaged. Adding songs for circle time and movement is a great way to keep kids engaged. Don’t worry too much about the student who doesn’t want to participate. Usually, they are just shy and embarrassed. When they see their friends having fun, they will eventually join in, if even just to sing along, or do a movement here or there. I usually try to not make a big deal about it, so that they don’t feel like they are in trouble and they don’t feel embarrassed when I call attention to them. If this behavior goes on over some time, I will remind the whole class about our reward system and to get “dots” (on our Freebie Treasure Map Reward Chart) chart, they should all be participating and always do their best.
pro-tip #4
Have a time limit for your circle time and stick to it
In my experience, 30 minutes is the ideal amount of time. It gives you enough time to teach a few concepts, do the calendar and weather, read a book, and sing a few songs. On days that we have something big planned like picture day or an assembly, we cut out some of the songs and even the teaching of new concepts and do at least the sections that the leader of the day gets to do. This way, they won’t miss their turn at doing the calendar and weather charts. During my circle time, we have some conversations about books, the question of the day, or anything that the kids think is interesting. So keeping an eye on the clock is important. Be prepared to have your materials take 30 minutes, but be willing to put some things off until the next day if more important “teachable moments” happen.
10 Fun Circle Time Ideas for Preschoolers That Work
1. The Pledge of Allegiance
I use the book “The Pledge of Allegiance” by Scholastic and Macarena Salas. Teaching the pledge with pictures and having conversations about the meaning and why we say it, gives children a better understanding of the country that we live in. These conversations fit right in as we talk about where we live and our place in space. Memorizing is also an important skill that all students need to practice. In my classroom, The Pledge of Allegiance is at the top of my outline. However, that does not mean it is always first. The order of circle time is not as important to me as the mood of circle time. Some days we need to get our wiggles out with a get-up-and-move song first, some days we need a book first.
2. Read a book or two as part of your circle time activities!
One of my biggest dilemmas is choosing which, of the so many amazing books out there, to read aloud, which to use for a literature unit, and which ones to leave in the library center for students to explore. I LOVE BOOKS! (if you haven’t guessed already). Each year in Idaho, the Idaho lottery has a “scratch for schools” event. Each year I participate and use the money as my designated book fund. But I have found that the more books I buy, the bigger my problem gets. I have found that the kids love when I read a series of books. My students love the Little Critters books. Last year I bought a set of the Elephant and Piggy books. I try to read one book from a series of books and one book that is a classic, “must-read” for preschoolers. There are so many series to choose from and so many great books to choose from. I try to choose book sets that teach social-emotional learning concepts.
3. Use songs for preschoolers as part of your fun circle time ideas!
Before I started teaching preschool, I taught public school music for 14 years. Music speaks to my soul and I love to share music and add music to anything I do. Songs are so effective in helping kids remember concepts or things they need to memorize, like the alphabet or numbers. First, I write songs on popsicle sticks. Then, I write the names of the children on another set of popsicle sticks. I pick a student stick and that student picks a song stick. You should have 5-10 get up and move songs and then 5-10 songs that go with the season, counting songs or songs that we have learned in a music lesson, etc. You should rotate a few songs each week. I try to sing at least 3 songs a day. Somedays we sing more and somedays we sing less. Make sure to add some rhythm instruments, scarves, ribbons, and other props!
Click on the image for more information on these rhythm sticks
4. Teach the Alphabet and the sounds during your circle time
We start by singing the ABC song. I make a point of slowing down for H, I J K, which often sounds like A chi J J, and for L, M, N, O, P, which often sounds like elemeno P. At about halfway through the year I will randomly end the song with “Now I know my A B Cs next to won’t you sing backward with me” and then we sing it backward. I always point to each letter whether I go forward or backward. This helps students realize that letters are symbols for what we are singing. I have posters on the board for 5 letters at a time. Each poster has 4 picture/word cards for things that start with that letter. I hand out all the cards to the students. We then sing the following to the tune of Farmer in the Dell:
The A says /ah/, The A says /ah/
Every letter has a sound
The A says /ah/.
As we sing, the students with that letter come up and attach it to the poster for that letter/sound. I have always taught the letters in order. I have recently been reading a new program I purchased called Children Learn to Read”. They do not teach the letters in order. I’m still doing my homework and have not decided whether I will try out this new idea. I have heard from other teachers who also don’t teach the letters in order. I would love your feedback on this idea.
5. Teaching Counting and Numbers
I have tried a few different strategies over the past few years for this. One thing that has stuck is singing the numbers 0-30 to the tune of the ABC song. Click the link to hear this song
The repetition of counting to 30 while following the pointer on our number line (reading the numbers) eventually begins to sink in. Singing counting songs such as 5 Little Speckled Frogs or 5 Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed are a great way to reinforce number concepts.
6. Calendar Time
The most important part of Calendar time is to show the passage of time. We start by counting the days of the month up to and adding the number for “today’s date”. Kids find it very funny when it is the first few days of the month and we only count to 1 or 2. It is important to add important days on the calendar so that kids can count how many days until a holiday or a birthday, picture day, etc. We also sing the days of the week song and we take a minute to talk about what tomorrow will be and what yesterday was. We also sing the Months of the year. As we get to the end of the month we take time to discuss what next month will be. As we start a new month, we can talk about what last month was.
Click on the image for more information on this resource
7. Weather Time
Kids are naturally interested in the weather. Having weather time provides an opportunity to teach them to think like scientists. A student gets to look out the window and tell us, what the sky looks like. Is it sunny, partly cloudy, or cloudy? They tell us if it is windy. (We look to see if the trees are dancing or the flag is waving). They also tell us if there is snow or rain or if there is thunder and lightning. That student then adds the stickers to the appropriate places on our sticker graph. I use Siri on my iPad to check the temperature. I then change the temperature on our thermometer poster. That student gets to use a dry-erase marker to fill in a box for cold, chilly, warm, or hot on our temperature graph.
Click on the image for more information on this resource
8. Phonological Awareness
Phonological awareness is the most important prerequisite for learning to read. This does not include written letters. It includes skills such as rhyming, counting the number of words in a sentence, or the number of syllables in a word. It also includes identifying beginning, middle, and ending sounds. This part of circle time is all about listening skills. We play thumbs up or thumbs down. For example, I will say two words and the students will show thumbs up if they rhyme or thumbs down if they don’t rhyme. This can also be done for words that begin with the same sound or have the same middle or ending sounds. We also pound out syllables in words. This portion of circle time does not need to take more than 1-5 minutes depending on if you are answering as a group or if you are allowing individual students to give answers. An amazing fun way to practice syllables and get kids’ wiggles out is to play, “Tap it, Clap it, Stomp it, Jump it”. We started with the students’ names. First, we tap with our fingers onto the other palm the syllables, then clap it, stomp it, and then jump it.
Click on the image for more information on this resource
9. Teach the Colors and Shapes
Many children already know most of the colors and shapes before they come to preschool. The reason that we spend time on it now, is to catch any gaps in their learning and make sure that they are ready to move on to 3D shapes in kindergarten. I begin the year by having a color and a shape of the week. We sing different colors and shapes songs as part of our song choices. During the week, we will have other sorting colors and shapes activities to reinforce our color and shape of the week. During Circle time, I will introduce the color and shape and we will identify items that are those colors or that shape. The days after the color and shape are introduced, do not need to take more than a minute or two of your circle time.
Click on the image for more information on this resource
10. Teach Nursery Rhymes as part of your Fun Circle Time Ideas for Preschoolers
Nursery Rhymes can be taught in song form or poem form. I like to use a combination of both. Adding music to a poem or anything that a child is trying to memorize has been shown to improve the ability to memorize. Having large posters of Nursery Rhymes or writing the words on large chart paper helps children associate the words that they are saying with reading. When children can keep the beat or timing of the song or poem, they are learning important skills that are helpful in reading sentences as opposed to reading individual words. As children progress in learning letter recognition and the sounds of letters, you can have children follow along in a book as they recite songs and poems.
Click on the image for more information on these posters
Circle Time Activities for Preschoolers: The most important part of the day
In my experience, Circle Time is the most important part of the day. It is a time that children learn social skills for being in a classroom. They are learning to follow the rules and routines of the day. As you use these 10 fun circle time ideas and include them into your circle time routine, you have the opportunity to observe children, check for understanding, and adjust your teaching to meet the needs of each child. Continuous repetition and review of skills and concepts help to ensure that children do not lose what they have learned.
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