Turtles -- Preschool & Kindergarten
Fingerplays/Songs
Little Turtle
Little turtle in your shell,
Slowly you do go.
(Cover right hand with left hand.)
Slowly creeping, slowly crawling,
Slow is nice, you know!
(Move hands along slowly.)
Here is My Turtle
Here is my turtle,
(Form fist and extend thumb.)
He lives in a shell.
(Put thumb inside fist.)
He like his home
Very well.
(Nod head)
He pokes his head out
(Pop out thumb.)
When he wants to eat.
(Circle thumb around.)
And pulls it back in
When he wants to sleep.
(Put thumb back inside fist.)
Poem
The Little Turtle
Poem by Vachel Linsay
Illustrated by Priscilla Pointer
Childcraft, Volume 1, The Poems of Early Childhood (1954), p. 96
Video
Art
A Turtle
Need: construction paper, paper bowls, tempera paint or markers.
Using markers, paint, or paper scraps children can decorate the outside of their bowls to look like a turtle shell. Have children place glue on the edge of the paper bowl. Turn the bowl upside down and place on a piece of construction paper. Children can use paint or markers to draw the turtle head legs, and a tail on the paper.
The children can draw a habitat for a turtle on the construction paper; pond, grass, rocks, a beach scene...
Paper Bag Turtle Puppet
Print the template.
Painted Turtles Kindergarten Art
Language Arts
T for Turtle color page.
Facts
Turtles are one of the oldest reptiles living on the planet. Turtles are slow-moving reptiles enclosed in a dome shaped hard shell into which it can retract its head and legs. They live both on the land and in the sea. Turtles live everywhere on earth except Antarctica. Turtles inhabit all of the world's oceans except the Arctic.
Turtles live in the water and only venture onto dry land to lay eggs. When the eggs hatch the baby turtles head straight to the water.
Turtles live in water. Tortoises live on land.
Sea Turtles
Information and color pages.
Desert Tortoise
Information and a diagram of a desert tortoise.
Turtle color pages with facts.
Math
Turtle Race (ordinal numbers 1-5)
Sand Table
Turtle Eggs
Need: ping pong balls
Write a number on a ping pong ball. On another ping pong ball place matching dots on it. Bury the ping pong balls in the sand table for the children to "dig for eggs". Matching the number to the dots.
Color
Colorful Turtle
Color the turtle shell different colors.