It Looked Like Spilt Milk Activities for the Preschool Classroom

Two It Looked Like Spilt Milk Preschool Activites

It Looked Like Spilt Milk, by George G Shaw, is the perfect way to introduce the wonder of the natural world to young children. Plan to use these two quick It Looked Like Spilt Milk activities when the time is right - a beautiful day with clouds in the sky. These activities are intended to used on the spur of the moment. While you know what going to happen, the spontaneity for the children will help connect the natural world to the world of their imagination. It also creates the opportunity for them to see how to enjoy nature, see how someone else sees it, and then create an expression of their own.

Activity One:

Before you begin the It Looked Like Spilt Milk activities, take the children for a walk - preferably on a clear day with wispy clouds. Suddenly, point to a cloud and say, “I see a train in the sky”. As the children strain to see it, invite them to lie down (or sit down) on the grass and look at clouds. Encourage them to share what shapes they see. At first, you may have to suggest several but they will soon be shouting their ideas. While they’re gazing, you can introduce the composition of clouds, the difference between rain clouds and these or any other weather-related concept you want to reinforce.

Back in classroom, ask the children to join you as you read It Looked Like Spilt Milk. Encourage them to join you as you read.

This activity meets the following state standard and/or Head Start Learning Outcomes:

• Literacy - Understands that illustrations help tell the story
• Approaches to Learning - Uses imagination to generate new ideas.
• Science - Identifies, observes, and discusses objects in the sky.

Activity Two:

Next ,students will create a “cloud” picture. Give each child a piece of blue paper, folded in half. Have them open the paper and squirt a dob of white paint in the middle of the paper. They, then, fold the paper again and reopen it. The white paint has created a “cloud”. Write their description on the paper in the format, It looked like______________ but it wasn’t. Write the child’s name on the back of the paper When dry, create a class book by stapling the papers together. Add a cover, “Our Cloud Book”

This activity meets the following state standard and/or Head Start Learning Outcomes:

• Literacy - Understands that speech can be written down
• Social/Emotional Development - Expresses individuality and creativity
• Approaches to Learning - Explores and experiences activities and ideas with eagerness, flexibility, imagination, independence and inventiveness

Sparking imagination in young children is easy with this book. These two It Looked Like Spilt Milk preschool activities create a memorable experience for them. They tie an observation of the natural world to the concrete experience of recreating it. My children ask for it again and again. Yours will too.