Welcome to the classroom! We love to play, learn, create and sing together in the classroom, and we’d like to encourage our classroom friends to keep learning and playing at home once Caitie’s Classroom is over. We’ve put together activities and resources so the playing, learning, creating and singing doesn’t have to stop once Caitie says goodbye. Try these out at home or in your own classroom, and have fun!
This episode revolves around our play with Mother Duck and her new ducklings. When we first enter the classroom, Mother Duck is waiting for her eggs to hatch. Half way through, the eggs hatch and we meet the new ducklings. With the new ducklings, we can play games to practice our counting and ABCs. We sing Five Little Ducks and act out the song with a homemade Mother Duck and duckling crafts. It’s a lot of fun in the classroom, and you can try it at home too! Read on for tips on how to recreate the classroom activities at home, and ideas to expand on them for more learning. Check out the ideas under Duck Sensory Bin for lots of fun play and learning!
Imaginary Play!
This episode is all about imaginary play with Mother Duck and her ducklings. Little ones will love to act out this imaginary play at home, too!
- Make a nest for some duck eggs. We used simple colored eggs found at most dollar stores, and painted them white to look more like duck eggs. We put a toy duck into the egg, and placed it into the nest. You can make a nest by rolling up a blanket or towel, or putting a few pillows together. If your ducks don’t fit into an egg, try wrapping up the ducks in some white paper. They won’t be a perfect egg shape, but little ones will still have fun making them hatch by unwrapping them.
- Mother Duck has to look after her eggs until they are ready to hatch! Maybe your little one would like to pretend to be Mother Duck and look after the egg themselves. The eggs must be protected and kept warm. Count the eggs so you make sure you always have them all safe in the nest.
- When it’s time for the eggs to hatch, Mother Duck will know! Open up the eggs, or unwrap them, for the ducklings to hatch. Count them as they come out. Welcome them to the world and teach them to swim and play!
Animal Sounds – Quack!
We do a lot of quacking in this episode! For more quacking and animal sounds review, check out the Super Simple Song Old MacDonald and Old MacDonald Had A Farm.
Count The Ducks!
We love to count everything in the classroom! You can count at home too!
- Cut out a large circle from a blue piece of construction paper, or leave it whole. This will be the pond. Cut out some duck shapes from yellow construction paper or use toy rubber duckies. Place some ducks in the pond and ask your little one how many there are. Have them count and answer.
- Roll a dice to select a number and have your little one put that many ducks in the pond.
- Put all the ducks in the pond to see how many will fit. Have your little one guess before you place them, and then count to see how close they were.
Duck Pond Sensory Bin
Our duck sensory bin is simply a large bin filled with water. You can use a bin like ours and fill it with water and use a little food coloring to make the water blue. Or try filling the bathtub or play pool for a big duck sensory bin. You can also skip the water and use some blue sensory material, like water beads or bubble wrap. Place your toy ducks in the sensory bin and let your little one’s imagination go! Here are some suggested prompts to encourage lots of learning and fun.
- Try making a line with your ducks. Have your little one place them in a straight line.
- Bring out duck to be the Mother Duck and try to have the little ducklings follow Mother Duck anywhere she goes. A grown up can be Mother Duck and move her around the bin as the little one follows along behind with the little ducks.
- Have a race with the ducks! In the classroom we use a spray bottle filled with water to make the ducks move. You can try this, or try using a straw to blow wind to make the ducks move.
- Use the ducks to make shapes, like synchronized swimmers! You can make a square, triangle, or a diamond, just to name a few. Place a duck to be a corner of the shape so it looks like they are forming a shape on the water.
- Bring out a big spoon and have little ones scoop the ducks out of the pond and into the pond.
- Our ducks have numbers on the bottom, they came that way. You can easily add numbers by writing them in with a permanent marker. Write down a number and have your little one pick up the ducks to find the matching number. Or have them pick a duck, look at the number, and quack at many times.
- Play the song Five Little Ducks and have little ones act out the song in the sensory bin!
Duck Feathers
Duck feathers are actually waterproof! It is what helps make ducks such great swimmers. Instead of absorbing the water like a sponge, duck feathers wick away the water. In the classroom, we experiment by spraying some water on a duck feather and we can see the water beaded on top, instead of being absorbed. You can try this at home, but be careful of where you get your feathers. A lot of feathers found on the ground are very dirty and we don’t recommend picking them up. If you are able to find a feather to experiment with, compare the duck feather to a sponge and see how they react differently to the water.
ABC Quack!
ABC Quack is a super fun game. In this episode we take it to a whole new level of quacking fun. You can try it at home too!
- Follow along with the ABCs in the classroom. Encourage your little one to make the duck sounds and gestures.
- You can try it at home using ABC flashcards. Print the flashcards and place them on the wall in order, or write the letters of the alphabet on a board. Start by replacing one or two of the letters with a duck by covering up the letter with a picture of a duck. That way you can change the position of the duck easily and keep the game going. Then sing the ABC song, and point the letters as you go. When you reach a duck, say “duck!” and make the duck gesture and quack! Change the position of the duck or add in more ducks each time you sing.
Five Little Ducks
In this episode we sing the classic song Five Little Ducks.
- Watch our animated music video of this song. Being a mama duck and keeping track of all your ducklings is hard work! As they wander off to explore the world, mama duck gets worried. Will they come home? Watch until the end for a surprise splash that leaves mama duck quacking with joy!
- Follow along with the gestures as we sing this song in an episode of Sing Along With Tobee.
- Try acting it out with toy ducks, or make our duck crafts to act it out with.
Mother Duck & Duckling Craft
- Follow our detailed instructions to make your own Mother Duck and Ducklings!
- If you are looking for a new duck craft, try our Paper Plate Swimming Duck Craft.
For more duck fun, Super Simple has duck themed coloring sheets and worksheets!
We hope you have fun singing, playing, learning, and creating! We love to see photos of our friends having fun in the classroom and of their wonderful creations! You can share them with us through social media or by sending us an email to hello@SuperSimpleOnline.com.
Follow Caitie on Facebook and Instagram!
