Traveling Stars
Show your children a number of five-pointed stars cut from construction paper or felt. Help them count the points on the stars and describe the shapes in other ways. Give a star to one child in the circle and have the children pass the star around the circle as they say the following rhyme. Let the child holding
the star at the rhyme's end keep it to take home. Hand another star to the next child in the circle and begin again. Continue until each child has a star.
Traveling Star:
We see five points on this star,
Pretty star, pretty star, will you go far.
In and Out
Display a large paper star so that one point is at the top. Ask your children to notice the shape's five points and five indentations. Put your finger on the top point. As you sing the song that follows, slide your finger along the point. Continue moving your finger around the star as you sing the song. Then give
a paper star to each of your children. Have them use their fingers to trace the star's shape while they sing with you.
The Points Go In and Out - sung to "The Farmer in the Dell"
The points go in and out.
The points go in and out.
In and out and in and out,
The points go in and out
Sorting Stars
Collect two shallow boxes. Draw or paste stars on one box, and leave the other one plain. Cut out an assortment of paper shapes that include many stars, along with a few other shapes, and put them in a bag. (You will need at least one paper shape for each child in your group.) Put the boxes in the center of the circle, Pass the bag around the circle. Let each of your children in turn reach into the bag and pull out a shape. Let the children examine their shapes. If their shapes are stars, have them put them in the star-adorned box. If they are not stars, have them put them into the plain box. As the children sort
their shapes, sing the following song.
Star Shapes - sung to "Skip to My Lou"
Toby's shape is a star,
Toby's shape is a star,
Toby's shape is a star,
His shape is a star.
Ashley's shape is not a star,
Ashley's shape is not a star,
Ashley's shape is not a star,
Her shape is not a star.
