Home on the Prairie: Illinois Art and Lesson Plans for Preschoolers.

Clipart by Phillip Martin

Illinois is more than Chicago, corn and cows! Each mile is chock full of history and quirky charm as shown by this Roadside America page and great food such as deep dish pizza (need I say more!). From giant ketchup bottles, Olney's white squirrels to "The Bean, Illinois has enough pizazz to make even Mr. Lincoln smile.

Preschoolers will be squirming in their seats to get their hands on these ill-luminating Illinois crafts and lesson plans.

Illinois Puzzle Pieces 

Uncompleted Illinois State Puzzle 

Completed Illinois State Puzzle 

Math

• Create State Puzzles by tracing a template in the shape of Illinois onto heavy cardboard or craft foam.  Cut into 4 - 8 pieces depending on your preschooler's ability level. Skills: Math: Spacial concepts, parts of a whole, matching shapes. 
• Mr. Lincoln's Hat Math Mat - Help children begin to identify and recognize numeric amounts and practice their counting/1 -1 correspondence skills by rolling a foam die and placeing the correct number of bingo markers on a cardboard cut-out of a stove pipe hat. 
• Develop non-standard form of measurement concepts, by using plastic corn on the cobs. Hunt within your child's play food to find plastic corn on the cobs and "measure" household items. Popcorn is the state snack, so corn is a pretty important crop!

Getting Squirlley! Olney, Illinois White Squirrel Craft

Art

• Superman placemats (Superman was created by Illinois native) Find clipart of superman and glue to blue or red construction paper. 
• Cardinal hand print bird (State Bird) 
• White Squirrel Doily craft (Olney, Illinois is famous for their white squirrels) Use this link go to DLTK's Autumn Squirrel Wreath template . Print the Autumn Squirrel Wreath Template onto heavy white cardstock. Cut out head, hands feet and body from Autumn Squirrel Wreath Template and set aside. Trace a large paper doily around the body section of squirrel and cut out. Find a large heart-shaped doily and trace it around a piece of cardstock (this will be the tail). Cut out. Remember to also keep heart Shaped doily you used as tracing template. Glue previously cut doilies to both the body and tail. Glue the hands and feet to the body doily. Glue the heart tail doily under the body doily and glue face on top of heart doily. 
• Route 66 Sign 

Social Studies/Geography 

• See if you can locate Illinois on a U.S. Map (Geographical location of Illinois on a map)
• Create a feely box with state symbols (cardinal, violet, popped popcorn in a bag, fake prairie grass etc.) (Investigating Illinois symbols and using sense of touch (science)) 
• Locate famous people who shaped Illinois in a famous people scavenger hunt in your room. (Learning about important individuals who developed and brought publicity to the state). 
• If you live in Illinois, research the town where you live. (State history, recognition of you towns social and civic properties) 

Water Table 

• Fill laminated postcards of Chicago for the children to view using magnifying glasses
• Grab the fast food! Illinois is the birthplace of McDonald's. 
• Flower Power! Find flowers and plants that are native to Illinois. (Identifying and recognizing Illinois native flora) 

Language Arts 

• Create a Land of Lincoln bingo game. (visual discrimination and naming of Illinois state objects) 
• Have children describe (adjectives) famous landmarks in Chicago. Ex. Willis Tower: Big, tall etc.
• Have children who have been to the state bring in photos of their vacation and ask them questions about their trip to create a written memory of their trip. (Language concepts: speaking and recording previous memories and math: logical thought accessed through previous experiences.)
• Students can "send" a postcard to students in Illinois as pen pals.

Science 

• Investigate the importance of wind power near farms. 
• Learn about prairie ecosystems. 

Snacks (Allergy alert: Check to make sure your students are not allergic to any items found on the packaging of these foods. Always ask restaurants what ingredients they have uses to make their foods if you have any doubts.)

Now that's deep: Giordano's Deep Dish Pizza 

• Order or make deep dish pizza. 
• Sweet treat. Eat an ice cream cone.The ice cream cone was developed at the 1893 Chicago World Fair. 
• Good to the last pop! Taste some yummy popcorn. 

I'm feeling Disney: Walt Disney 

Miscellaneous

• Watch a Disney movie! Walt Disney was born in Hermosa, Chicago, Illinois.

Illinois Best Book Bets: See my post about fantastic Land of Lincoln literature at my book blog Pump Up the Volumes http://pumpupthevolumes.blogspot.com/2014/05/il-luminating-illinois-books-about.html