Healthy Diet Activity This activity also uses the grocery store ads found in most newspapers. Give your child the ads, scissors, paper plate, and paste. Help them cut out pictures in the ads of a healthy diet and paste onto their paper plate.  Use this time to discuss the food pyramid and the importance of a healthy diet.

 

Seasonal Activity Gather the advertisements from department stores that are usually in the Sunday newspaper.  Give your child the ads, scissors, paste, and a piece of construction paper. Instruct them to cut out clothes and other items that represent the current season and glue the pictures to the construction paper. Label the picture and point out the letters that spell out the season. Assist your child in finger tracing the letters and saying them out loud.  For example:  Summer would contain cut outs of bathing suits, boats, flowers, lawn care items, etc.

 
 

Math Activity This activity requires grocery store ads as well as ads from stores like Wal-Mart, K-Mart, CVS, Family Dollar, and Rite-Aid.  These additional materials are also needed: scrap paper, marker, paste, scissors, and construction paper.  On the scrap paper, write a price using the marker (you may want to review the ads, so that you are using prices for products your child will later be looking for in order to match the prices.) Be sure to write one price per piece of scrap paper.  Your child will search the ads looking for the items in the paper that match the price you wrote on the paper.  They will cut out the item with its price and paste it onto the construction paper.  Encourage them to look for more than one item associated with that price. When your child is finished, have them point to each item and say what it is and its corresponding price.

 

Caption Activity Look through the newspaper and choose several articles that look interesting.  Cut out the picture only.  If your child is old enough have them write a caption or title for the picture.  If your child is young or has difficulty writing, allow them to tell you in their own words what the caption they would write for the picture or what they think the picture is saying.  Compare their caption with the original.

 

The 5W's Activity (this is not a preschool activity) Have your child read to themselves a story from the newspaper and locate the 5w's- Who? What? When? Where? Why?

 

An Essay Activity (this is not a preschool activity) Discuss with your child a controversy in your area. Ask them to clip newspaper articles concerning the controversy from the newspaper making sure to get articles from both sides.  Once they have collected the articles have them write an article about the topic including where they stand on the subject and what they would do to solve the conflict.  The essay does not have to be any certain length.  After the essay is finished, discuss the controversy again with your child to see if their opinion has changed since the research.  Tell your child if your opinion has changed because of their research and stance on the subject.

 

Creative Writing Activity (this is not a preschool activity) Choose an article from the newspaper and ask your child to rewrite the story from the point of view of one of the people in the story.  For example, in a story about a local trial, your child can take the point of view of the victim, alleged criminal, the judge, etc.  This activity will help your child empathize with other people.

 
 

Press Conference Activity (this is not a preschool activity) Select a news story with your child. Both of you will need to read the story. Have your child act as a reporter and question you concerning the topic of the newspaper.  You can also switch positions.  Questioning your child will help you know how much is able to comprehend from what they read.  This activity will also require that you keep in mind the age and reading level of your child.

 

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