Monkey Business

To wrap up the Winter season and get ready for Spring we did a unit on Monkeys and Gorillas. It could also be considered a Zoo unit, but for Art I tried to focus on just monkeys and gorillas. It was a pretty fun week. We made a gorilla (the kids cut out the face, painted the head, then glued the face on top of the head, and used Q-tips to paint the nose and the furrowed brow); a puppet set to go along with the song “5 Little Monkeys” (the kids made an alligator puppet from a paper sack, then glued pre-printed monkey cutouts to popsicle sticks); and we also made a monkey and a jungle, both of which are pictured below.

To go along with the unit, my classroom centers included a zoo puzzle, a banana file folder game to practice counting, and my sensory table had a base of beans & noodles with some small plastic zoo animals and nets thrown in.

One of the best parts of the week was an afternoon language activity we did where the kids got to act out a story we read. They loved it so much we actually ended up doing it again later in the week with a different story. The first story we did was 5 Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed. This was a very easy activity, since the story is extremely simple and repetitive. First I read the story to the group, then I chose 5 kids to be monkeys, and the others got to be the doctors. The kids acted out the story as I read it aloud again. They had a blast getting to jump up and down and shake their fingers at each other (in a friendly way). The second story we did was a bit more challenging for the kids, as it was longer and had a lot more detail. We read and acted out Caps for Sale. While we definitely had fun, I would recommend doing this only with a small group of 3-year olds, or saving it for an older age.

Monkeys and Gorillas is a pretty open theme; there are endless opportunities for pretend play, and the art projects were all unique; but hands down, my favorite thing was watching the kids get so into the stories we read. Letting them play around and act like monkeys was fun, but seeing them comprehend and recall the story plot was very satisfying as a teacher. At 3, it's not always easy for kids to recall the details or sequence of a story, especially if it's something that doesn't interest them, so acting it out and letting them be loud and playful was a cool way to encourage their learning.

...Plus, I got to jump around and act like a monkey, too!