Transition Tuesday

Caterpillar Transition Game

When it is time to transition children away from group time to a different activity it is always good to have a transition game. This allows the children to move more slowly to the next activity with less confusion.

Make a large caterpillar with different color circles and black legs. Place the caterpillar on the whiteboard, flannelboard, or on the floor. On the back of each caterpillar body part (circle) is a different action movement for the children to do.

As the children are called to play the game they come up and roll a large cardboard box dice (the dice are made from a 6 x 6 mailing box) with color dots to match all of the colors on the caterpillar. Each child comes up, rolls the dice, identifies the color, and then finds that color on the caterpillar. Once the child finds the color, the teacher reads the movement that child needs to do before moving on to the next activity.

To make things run smoothly you could have 2 - 3 dice going at the same time. One adult runs the game and the other adult makes sure that the children are following the plan.

Taken from Teaching & Learning with Preschoolers