Preschool Circus
Theme Ideas
Whether you're teaching a class of preschoolers or engaging a preschool age child at home, a circus theme is a good idea for learning and fun. A circus theme can include big top tents, clowns, trains, balloons, circus snacks, circus animals and other circus performers. Keep preschool activities high energy and simple, with a short time to complete. You can easily create a circus theme day with a few ideas and a little planning.
Arts and Crafts
Preschoolers enjoy activities like coloring, painting and gluing. Create clown face masks for the children to decorate by cutting two eye holes out of a paper plate and gluing on a craft stick as a handle. Have the children paint small round Styrofoam balls red for the clown's nose and glue them on the plates. Show a picture example of a clown face to the children and have them paint or color a clown's face on their mask. For another activity, print free coloring and activity pages from online sources; there are many available with circus themes.
Books and Songs
Playing circus music for the children will set the mood for a day at the circus. The tunes can be background music during games and crafts or the focus of singing activities. Lyrics for circus songs to sing with the preschoolers can be found online and are often set to familiar tunes like "Mary Had a Little Lamb." Create circus story time with books about the circus like "If I Ran the Circus" by Dr. Seuss or "Olivia Saves the Circus" by Ian Falconer.
Games
Games for preschoolers should be fun and simple. One circus game idea is to let the children walk a "tightrope" by putting a piece of masking tape across the floor. For added fun, spin the children around a few times for a dizzy walk along the tightrope.
EverythingPreschool.com suggests letting the children jump through hula hoops, adding red and orange ribbons to pretend it is on fire. Let the children imagine they are lions or tigers performing circus acts. Another child can pretend to be a ringmaster who directs the animals.
Snacks
Snacks are a fun part of going to the circus; choose a few sweet treats to serve the preschoolers. Decorate white paper lunch bags with red stripes, like those found at the circus, and fill with snacks like popcorn. Often, these circus bags can be purchased at party supply stores.
Use animal- or circus-shaped cookie cutters to make sandwiches or cookies. Caramel apples fit a circus theme; modify this idea by offering caramel-dipped apple slices for smaller hands. Try mixing different foods for a circus snack. For example, make monkey salad with bananas, raisins, peanuts and shredded coconut.
