Activity time: 20 minutes

Materials for Activity

• Magazines to cut up, such as National Geographic, Better Homes and Gardens, or others rich with visual representations of diverse kinds of homes
• Scissors (including left-handed scissors), tape or glue sticks, and poster board
• Building toys such as wooden blocks, Lincoln Logs®, and/or Legos®

Preparation for Activity

• From the magazines, cut out pictures that represent all kinds of homes where people live.
• Glue or tape pictures to poster board to make collages about home. Mount the posters on the wall at the eye level of children when they are sitting on the floor to play with building toys.

Description of Activity

Children hear the term "family home," see examples, and experiment to build family homes on their own.

Gather the group in the floor space where they will use the building toys. Direct their attention to the pictures of family homes you have mounted and displayed. Ask them which ones they might like to live in, and why. Ask if any of the pictures have something in common with their own homes.

Now place the building toys on the floor. Allow the children to build all kinds of homes with the blocks. Visit individual children while they work and ask them to tell you about the house they are building.