Hit and Miss Juice Bottles

Curriculum Areas: Movement, coordination, social skills, science

Appropriate Ages: 2 to 5 years

Activity Preparation: Collect apple juice containers, you know those big ones and not-quite-so-big ones that parents of young children buy. Clean and dry thoroughly. Decorate by putting colored water in some, that leftover Easter grass in others, and any other colorful ideas you have. Seal with super glue so that children cannot open. You will need some heavy containers (for the "Miss" activity) and some not so heavy containers (for the "Hit" activity).

Hit Activity: (Think bowling.) Line the containers up or have the children line the containers up. If you want to do a simple straightforward game of bowling use the lightweight juice containers. If you want to spice it up with some science, mix up different weight bottles and lead children using open-ended questions to predict which containers will fall easier. Make it even more interesting by using a variety of balls.

Miss Activity: (Think obstacle course.) Arrange the containers in a variety of locations and, with the children, design a direction that the children are to follow through the obstacle course. You or the children may want to connect some of the containers to make a challenging course. You may also want to tape arrows to the floor using masking tape to provide a guide/map to follow. The activity of setting up the course will provide fives, for example, with an excellent opportunity to plan. To develop social skills you might have one child guide another child (who has his/her eyes closed) through the course. As always modify for your children and specific goals and objectives.