500 Five Minute Games: Quick and Easy Activities for 3 to 6 Year Olds [Paperback]

Jackie Silberg (Author), Rebecca Jones (Illustrator)

Book Description

From the best-selling author of Games to Play With Babies, Games to Play With Toddlers, and Games to Play With Two Year Olds comes this exciting new book for three to six-year-olds. Arranged by activity: alphabet, animal, birthday, color, counting, drama, guessing, imagination, language, listening, math, music, nursery rhymes, relaxing, rhyming, science, thinking, transition, and weather games. Also includes a skills and terms index. Great for group use!—Reviews from Parent Council

The concept of short activities which can serve as "fillers" and can make transitions and waiting times more pleasant and productive is an excellent one. Teachers will welcome these 500 great ideas, and will build their own "repertoire" from these suggestions."—Education Coordinator, Project Head Start, Detroit Public Schools

"When you’ve done ‘This Little Piggy’ and ‘Itsy-Bitsy Spider’ as many times as you can stand and the kid still wants more, what do you do? Turn to 500 Five Minute Games . . . this new book by Jackie Silberg will give you enough games to keep going for a long time. And they’re good games. They’re simple and teach such basic skills as listening, counting, science, music, weather and more. The book includes a skills index, so you can quickly find a game that emphasizes the skill you want to teach."—Kansas City Family

Editorial Reviews

Review

Packed with games, fingerplays and activities to use with preschoolers, this book would be very useful for parents, teachers, daycare workers, and librarians in need of quick and educational activities to complement their school day or story hour . . . a well organized and helpful tool for anyone working with young children. -- Juvenile Service Coordinator St. Tammany Parish Library, Louisiana

The concept of short activities which can serve as "fillers" and can make transitions and waiting times more pleasant and productive is an excellent one. Teachers will welcome these 500 great ideas, and will build their own "repertoire" from these suggestions. -- Education Coordinator Project Head Start, Detroit Public Schools

When you've done "This Little Piggy" and "Itsy-Bitsy spider" as many times as you can stand and the kid still wants more, what do you do? Turn to 500 Five Minute Games. . . this new book by Jackie Silberg will give you enough games to keep going for a long time. And they're good games. They're simple and teach such basic skills as listening, counting, science, music, weather and more. The book includes a skills index, so you can quickly find a game that emphasizes the skill you want to teach. -- Kansas City FAMILY

From the Back Cover

All you need is five minutes to teach children essential skills.

Counting Games, Guessing Games, Alphabet Games and Birthday Games are all a part of the newest book from Jackie Silberg. Just as her previous books have been applauded by thousands of parents, teachers and young children, 500 Five Minute Games is jam packed with games, songs, and learning-fun ideas perfectly suited for three to six year olds. Quick and easy ideas, organized by theme, and designed to capture the energetic enthusiasm for learning of young children.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 270 pages
• Publisher: Gryphon House (May 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0876591721
• ISBN-13: 978-0876591727
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 8.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #82,709 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jackie Silberg, who has an M.S. in child development, is an early childhood advocate and popular keynote speaker. She received the Distinguished Alumna Award from Emporia State University, recognizing her current achievements as well as her long and prolific career. Jackie founded and directed the Jewish Community Center School of Music in Kansas City, Missouri, and worked for Channel 41 television, planning the music and performing her original music for a children's program called "41 Treehouse Lane." She wrote and produced a television show for Time Warner called "Just Kids," which addressed children's needs and interests. Jackie has worked as a consultant with the Discovery Channel, setting up their music streaming website. She has given workshops, keynote addresses, seminars, and family concerts throughout the U.S., Canada, Australia, Germany, and in Singapore. Jackie has served as an adjunct instructor at both Emporia State University and the University of Missouri at Kansas City and lectures at Johnson County Community College. Jackie is the owner of Miss Jackie Music Company. Jackie Silberg lives in Leawood, Kansas.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Overall Great Activity Book, December 17, 2009

By 

K. Freund "Forever a Student of Life" (Fort Collins, CO) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: 500 Five Minute Games: Quick and Easy Activities for 3 to 6 Year Olds (Paperback)

I absolutely love the layout of the book and how well it is organized. The easy-reference table of contents in the front helps you find games and activities by genre. Some examples include active games, language games, listening games, math games, music games, relaxing games, science games and weather games. Listed under each genra are not only the names and pages of the activities, but also what skill the game works on or what lesson it teaches. In the back there is a terms index (say you are looking for something about dancing, or ice cubes or specific circle or rhyming games) as well as a skills index. The skills index allows you to search for games based on specific skills targeted, such as coordination, colors, counting, body awareness, self-esteem, social and friendship skills etc.

With the ease of searching the internet today for activities, many reference books seem to be becoming obsolete. However this book, I have personally found, helps me to determine what it is I am looking for, as I am often just searching for a fun idea and am not sure what types of games to search for that would be appropriate for the setting.

One thing I have found is that many of these are for a classroom setting and may not work for small groups of children (2-4 kids). Also, some require a little prep-work, although whatever is needed is typically minimal. My biggest (and relatively small) criticism is that a lot of rhyming or music is involved in many of the games, more than I personally would like to use. When you are working with a small group of kids and don't have much for musical equipment or talent for that matter, remembering the rhymes or songs and helping the kids in a productive way can be a bit of an unexpected challenge. But, as I said, this is a minor criticism that many will not find an issue.

I highly recommend this book for teachers, group leaders, day-cares or anyone working with groups of children. Many of the games can be slightly adapted to include 2 year olds and I am sure 7 year olds as well, which slightly broadens the age range given. I would not recommend this book as a primary purchase if you are only working with small groups of kids (1-3 kids) as many of the games require more participation to really make good use of. If you have 4-5 children many of them can work if slightly changed, and some activities can definitely be done with one child. So for a primary book with small groups, not my favorite. However as a supplemental book, even for small groups, I would definitely recommend it.