Lunch Sack Puppy Puppet

• Communication is essential in a child's learning environment. Using puppets in the preschool classroom encourages students to interact with the puppet, other students and with the other students' puppets. Use lunch sacks to create easy paper puppy puppets. Have the children place a lunch sack on their desk with the bottom portion facing up and turned so the bottom is at the top. Notice that if your hand is slid inside the sack and you grasp the bottom portion, the bag looks like a puppet mouth. Cut two 6-inch long ovals from brown, black or white construction paper for ears. Cut two 2-inch diameter black or brown construction paper circles. Glue the ears behind the top of the bag. Glue the circles where the eyes go and glue craft eyes on top of the circles. Glue a black or brown craft pom-pom near the bottom "flap" (bottom of the sack) for a nose. Show the students how to insert their hand and make the puppy talk.
  
  

Box Dog House

• Remove the lid from a shoe box. Provide a coloring page of a dog house to each student (see Resources). Help the students cut a door "hole" in the center of the shoe box lid. Tape the lid to the shoe box. Use construction paper to cover the shoe box. Tape two pieces of cardboard together and tape to the top of the box to form a pointed roof. Glue and cover construction paper to the roof to conceal the cardboard. Preschoolers can insert a stuffed puppy toy or use the doghouse in pretend play scenarios with a lunch sack puppy puppet.
  
  

Dog Bone Name Art

• Provide each student with a piece of 12-inch wide by 18-inch long manila paper. Have each child write his first name in pencil in large letters on the paper. Provide paper plates containing various colors of tempera paint. Provide a large dog bone-shaped biscuit for each color of paint. Show the children how to use the bones as "stamps" by inserting them flat into the paint and then pressing the bones over the handwritten name on the paper, following the letters, to make dog bone-stamped letters.
  
  

Dog Bone Hide and Seek Game

• Use a dog bone shape template (see Resources) to trace and cut out about 10 card stock dog bones per preschool student in the class. Assign each student a color, letter from the alphabet, shape or number. Draw or write each child's assigned color, letter, etc. on 10 bones per child. Hide all of the bones in a specified location, for instance, in the classroom or on the playground. Give each child an index card identifying their assigned color, letter, etc so they can use it as a reference in case they forget their assignment in the game excitement. Have the children look for the bones "egg hunt" style, but each child should only keep the bones marked with their assigned letter, etc. Little prizes can be awarded to the first five dogs who find all of their bones.