Are you looking for a way to spice up your “W” themed lesson plan this year? Well, why not focus on the word “watermelon.” Based on my experience, there is a lot that may be done with the theme. Here are a few ideas to help you get started with your itinerary:
Language Arts
One of the things that you may want to consider doing is handing out a few watermelon themed worksheets. For example, the DLTK Teach website has a nice watermelon handwriting worksheet that is designed to do double duty as a bingo dauber art project.
If you want additional “W is for Watermelon” writing worksheets, I’d suggest visiting the Twisty Noodle website. It contains several handouts as well as the free software needed to customize them.
Multiple watermelon handouts are posted on the Education website too. Ones that I would recommend using are “Color the W’s”, “Letters of the Alphabet W”, “W is For..”, “Food Matching Game 2” and “Watermelon in Spanish.” There is also an “Alphabet Letter W Word Search” handout that you could use to round out the language arts segment. It is posted on the First School WS website.
Science
Next, I’d suggest visiting the National Watermelon Promotion Board’s website. While on the site, print out the “How to Grow a Watermelon” handout and the instructions for completing the “Will a Watermelon Float?” science experiment.
The grow sheet may be used to create sequencing cards and spur gardening related discussions. The science experiment, on the other hand, is designed to teach the kids about buoyancy and water displacement. You may want to consider pairing those activities with the “Planting Watermelon!” worksheet posted on the Education website.
Arts and Crafts
From there, I would suggest transitioning into an arts and crafts segment. The Oklahoma 4 H website has a wonderful one that you may want to consider utilizing. It’s called “Watermelon, Watermelon.” You can find it listed on the organization’s “Melon Madness” handout.
Basically, the project involves having the children create a booklet that focuses on the sequence of growing a watermelon. For example, one page of the booklet gets covered with glue and sprinkled with watermelon seeds and soil. Another page of the booklet gets covered with glue and yarn to represent the watermelon’s vines. In my opinion, it would pair perfectly with the science activities that I mentioned previously.
Art, Songs and Rhymes
While the kids are in crafting mode, you may want to continue by having them make a “Willy the Watermelon” stick puppet. The DLTK Teach website has a template and instructions for making the figures. To convert the figures into puppets, simply tape a wooden craft stick to the back of each one.
The kids could use the puppets while singing the “Watermelon Ditty” song. You can find the song’s lyrics and a companion music video posted on the National Watermelon Promotion Board’s website. If you want to keep them singing, there are 10 additional songs posted on the Preschool Education website that you could use as well.
Math
Later, you may want to consider reading Celia Lottridge’s book “One Watermelon Seed” aloud. In my experience, it would be a perfect way to kick off a math segment. After listening to the story, you could have the children count watermelon seeds, weigh watermelons, measure a watermelon’s circumference or play a homemade watermelon board game. The board game is designed to get them counting.
You can make a printable watermelon game board using the software provided on the Tools for Educators website. You’ll also need to make yourself a set of dice using the template posted on the JC Schools website. Just make sure that you replace the spots on the cube’s template with drawings of watermelon seeds.
As far as the remaining game pieces go, you could opt to use real watermelon seeds. If you don’t want to use real seeds, you could use watermelon spitter place marks instead. They look like little watermelon slices and are positively adorable. You can find a template for the place marks posted on the My Family Meal Planner website.
Once you have all of your game pieces ready, have the kids roll the watermelon dice. Then ask them to move their watermelon seeds or place markers the exact number indicated on the dice. The child that reaches the finish line first could be given a watermelon sticker.
When the game is over, you may want to wrap things up by handing out some watermelon math worksheets. The Education website has several handouts that would be perfect for such a situation. Worksheet titles to look for are “Simple Addition: Watermelons”, “Count Em’ Up: Watermelon Addition”, “The Number 8” and “Trace Number 16.”
Source: Personal Experience
More from this contributor:
Southern Pennsylvania’s Disc Golf Spots: Where to Go This Summer
Canning Fresh Fruit: What You Need to Know to Get Started
How to Host a Watermelon Seed Spitting Contest
Melon Inspired Cocktails for Adults
