What to Do During Your Preschool Snack Time

There is a lot you can do during your preschool snack time. You could use the time to clean or to prep activities. You could even just sit and eat with the kids. Snack time does not have to be a passive part of your daily routine though.

Like any part of your preschool day, snack time can and should be planned with intentionality. It is the perfect time to form meaningful connections with your preschoolers. Snack time is also great for skills practice and observations that can inform curriculum planning and assessments.

MAKE MEANINGFUL CONNECTIONS

Snack time is a time when preschoolers are often more calm and quiet. It is a great opportunity for teachers to ask open-ended questions.

Asking questions about their day or what they want to do after snack are great ways to connect with your students. These conversations also give your preschoolers another chance to develop their language skills while gaining meaningful connections.

Another great way to make meaningful connections with your preschoolers during snack time is through stories. Reading stories that your preschoolers can relate to helps them better understand what is being read.

Children are also much more eager to engage with stories that they can relate to. This engagement allows them to practice reasoning skills as they are lead by teacher guided questions. In this way, the teacher can scaffold the preschoolers learning, bringing them to the next level of understanding.

WORK ON SKILLS

In preschool you can turn snack time into play time! When you make snack time an engaging activity for your preschoolers they can practice skills that will help them reach their developmental goals without even knowing that they are “working”. You can have your preschoolers work on fine motor skills by giving them cheerios to stack onto dry spaghetti. Then letting them eat the cheerios, of course!

Your preschoolers can sort fruits by color. You can even have your preschoolers practice forming letters and shapes with pretzels. An extra fun, and sweet, snack time skill building activity is to let your preschoolers use toothpicks and marshmallows to build structures!

Preschoolers can also work on skills during snack time by being active participants in the routine. Having a daily helper to set the table for snack time is a simple way to practice math skills such as counting and one-to-one correspondence.

Allowing your preschoolers to pour their own milk/water gives them the chance to practice muscle control and measuring. It also gives them a great deal of self confidence when they are successful in these tasks. You can also give your preschoolers opportunities to practice fine motor skills by allowing them to use tongs to serve themselves and use scissors to open small packages.

MAKE OBSERVATIONS

Snack time in preschool is an incredible time to make important observations of your students. It’s a time that you can observe their social skills within a group. Observing your preschoolers as they work through back and forth conversations with their peers gives you insight into how you can best support them throughout the day. These observations should also be used as a tool for setting goals for your preschoolers to further their development.

As you can see, there is a lot that you can do during your preschool snack time, and it can be a lot of fun and beneficial, too!