Circus Theme

Art Activities

Circus Tent
Cut out a simple circus tent shape from a piece of red (12"x18") and a piece of white (12"x18") construction paper. I simply cut a pointed roof onto each. They must be the same size. One the red tent only, cut a slit from the bottom to the middle to create an opening. Fold back and you have created the "door".

Next, glue the red tent on top of the white tent and draw a picture of a circus scene in the opening. Decorate the outside of the tent using white crayon. Add a flag on top.

Circus Train: Gather a clean, white meat tray for every child. Precut several small slits on the top and bottom of the tray, about 1"apart. Allow each child to illustrate a circus animal and cut it out. Glue the animal on the meat tray. Give each child a length of yarn to wind through the slits to create bars on the cages. Finally add wheels and display on the wall.

Shape Elephant: Pretrace the following shapes for the children to cut out and assemble into an elephant. Circle (head), 2 rectangles (ears), large oval (body), 4 squares (feet), long rectangle (trunk-curl on a pencil to make it more realistic), 2 triangles (tusks). Assemble and add facial features.

Elephant puppet: Paint a paper plate gray, add construction paper ears and draw in facial features. Cut a circle out of the center of the plate. Child can stick his arm through to make the trunk. Or, you can add a sock or dryer tube to the paper plate to make the trunk.

Paper Plate Clown: Using the paper plate as the face, add a hat, yarn hair, big smile, happy eyes and other features, BUT NO NOSE! Cut a tiny hole where the nose should be and insert a small red balloon!

Handprint Clown: On a large sheet of white construction paper, have the kids add features to a pretraced outline of a clown's head. Add a handprint ruffle to the clown by painting the children's hands with paint.

Shape Clown: Pretrace the following shapes for the children to cut and assemble into a clown. 1 large triangle (body) 1 circle (head) small circle (nose), triangle (hat) then trace the child's hands for the clown's arms and the child's feet for the legs. Too Cute!

Clown hat: Children decorate a half circle with bingo markers. Fold into a cone and add a string so that it stays on the child's head.

Clown Bow Tie: Decorate a 12"x18" piece of construction paper with bingo markers. Accordion fold, staple in the middle, and open up to form a bow. Secure a pipe cleaner around the center of the bow and use this to attach loosely to the child's neck.

Tactile Cc: Cut out a large cotton candy shape. Add a cone holder to the bottom. Write Cc on the center and allow kids to glue pink cotton balls to the letters.

Class Book:

Cut paper in the shape of a circus tent.
"If I was in the circus, I would..."
Laminate and bind together for use in the reading center.

"Hand-y" the Clown
Make a big white circle for a clown's face. Add a big triangle for a hat. Then add a round nose and eyes etc. For the hair have children cut outhand prints. Glue them on as hair...hands will be glued so that the palm is
near the face...do 2 hands on each side by the hat. Then for a clown collar do some more hand prints...and again glue so that palm is near face and fingers are "out".

Clown glasses-two plastic, lids, tin foil, glitter, glue & chenille stems.
Cut out the center part decorate by crunching foil around the lid, you can use glitter glue instead. Join the rings by placing them side by side and wrapping a chenille stem (pipe cleaner) around them in the spot they meet. Wrap one end of a pipe cleaner around the outer side of each ring and fit over ears.

Hats-plastic flower pot turn upside down and hot glue a bright flower in the hole, punch a hole on each side by the top to attach elastic so it will fit like a birthday hat.

Place different shapes of flannel on your flannel board and let the children make clown faces.

Recipe For Clown Paint
3 tbls. of Crisco
3 tbls. of Cornstarch
Blend well, add coloring
Put in margarine tubs

Clowns from paper plates
Tell the kids to make everything EXCEPT the nose.Use whatever you think is the cutest: draw or use wiggle eyes, precut huge lips or use facial features from magazines....yarn hair or triangle hats etc. ..The cutest part is when you cut a small hole in the center of the plate. Then stick in a small balloon and blow up partially as the red nosed clown.

I'm a Clown!
Materials: Butcher paper, marker, scissors, crayons, tissue paper, glue.
Process: Have each child lay on butcher paper and trace around them. Cut out child outline and have the child color in a clown face.

Them help the child design the clown outfit by gluing pieces of tissue paper on the "clothing". You can add a clown hat if you wish. You can also use as class decorations.

Make Clown Hats

1. The teacher makes a simple cone shape hat out of poster cardboard for each child. Provide crepe paper and ribbon for streamers, tissue paper, feathers, buttons, glitter for the children to paste onto their hats.
2. Use paper bags just big enough to fit the child's head. Help the child cut eye holes. The child can draw clown faces on their paper bag masks.

Paper Plate Clowns
Use one regular white paper plate, and one smaller paper plate. Fold the large on in half to be the clowns ruffle. Children color the ridges edge. Staple the smaller plate to the ruffle. If you staple it to only one half of the ruffle, the clown will rock back and forth when finished.

Children draw a clown face on the paper plate. Cut out a triangle and decorate it for a hat. Glue or staple it on the clown.

Be A Clown

This clown face will make everyone laugh. For eyeglasses, cut the top rims from an empty egg carton, and paint it a bright color. For the nose, cut a bottom cup from an empty egg carton, and paint it a bright color.

Now, cut a half-circle, about four inches in diameter, from black construction paper. Then, for a mustache, cut a half-moon shape. Now you're ready to put your clown face together from the back. With the smooth edges of the rims facing you, tape them to the top of the nose. Then paste the mustache to the bottom
of the nose. Roll up a piece of cellophane tape, so the sticky part is facing out, and put on the inside of the nose. Stick the whole thing onto your face and presto- you're a clown!

Flying Trapeze Performer
Materials: One 9 X 12 in. piece of construction paper, crayons or markers, scissors, tape, 2 pipe cleaners, white craft glue, glitter and buttons for decorations, 1 plastic drinking straw

Procedure: Fold paper in half crosswise. Draw a circle on the folded edge and then draw the body below the circle. Cut out. Draw a person's front and back. For arms, bend one pipe cleaner to look like the letter C.
Use another pipe cleaner for legs. Decorate costume and then attach straw to pipe cleaner. Performer will do a 'flip' if straw is twirled. Item can be suspended from ceiling.

Circus Ponies
Use paper bags (They may need to be tied under the chin.) For the mane, use a 6-in. wide strip of construction paper.

Fold back 1 in. of the strip, lengthwise, and glue to the horse's head. Paste on eyes, triangle ears, and if desired, some brown or black spots. Add a plume. Measure a band to fit around the child's waist. Staple on a crepe paper tail made the same way as the Lion Tamer's whip.

Cereal Box Elephant

You will need an oats box for each child in your classroom,
Construction: paper, toilet paper rolls, tope, and scissors. The oats box is the body of the elephant. Cut out the trunk and ears from construction paper. Tape them to the body. Tape a piece of yarn to the bottom of the oats box for a tail.

Use the toilet paper rolls for legs. Eyes can be added with color crayons or markers.

Elephant Headdress

Materials: 4 - 2 1/4 X 12 in. strips of construction paper, crayons, markers, or colored pencils, scissors, tape, one 9 in. paper plate or one 9 in. paper circle, ruler, one 9X12 in. piece of construction paper.
Procedure: Make headband with one of the strips of paper taped or glued together to go around the child's head. Cut a paper plate in half and attach to headband for ears. Draw or attach eyes. With the final strip of paper turn and fold until all the paper if folded. Tape to headband.Tusks can be added if desired.

Paper Plate Elephant

The children paint paper plates gray.Then add construction paper ears and eyes(the BIG wiggly ones look cute)Then cut out a circle from the center of the plate.This is where the children stick their arms through to make the trunk.

Make A Circus Tiger
To make your circus tiger, first cut out a piece of paper about five inches long and four inches wide. Fold it the long way so it's about two inches high and five inches long. With crayon draw stripes. Keeping the paper folded, cut a small triangle from the open side. To make the tiger's head, cut a small circle, about an inch and half in diameter, from white paper. Draw a face. For a tail cut out a thin strip of paper and draw stripes. Now paste the head and tail onto the body.

Roaring Big Cats

Materials: 6X9 in. red construction paper, crayons, scissors, black paper and appropriate 'cat' color paper. Procedure: Fold 'cat' paper in half, cut one side of paper out in the shape of a circle. (Do not totally cut out.) Cut red paper in the shape of an hour glass and glue into the of colored paper. Glue another piece of paper for the tongue. For teeth draw or paint white dotes around the edge of the mouth. Glue the flap on each end of the Big Cat Nose to the face. Glue buttons onto the face for eyes. Draw the whiskers or glue pipe cleaners to either side of the Big Cats nose. Glue on eyes.

Paper Lion

Cut a "hill" from the bottom of a rectangular piece of yellow construction paper. The hill will be the lions head (its like half a circle); the remaining part of the yellow paper will be his body. Paste the head in the center of a square piece of brown construction paper. Cut the edges of the brown square fringed to represent the loin's mane. Paste the mane and head to the upper left-hand corner of the body shape. Cut ears from another piece of yellow paper, and paste in place. Make the eyes, nose, tongue, whiskers, and tail from different colors of paper

Lions

Make lions out of yellow playdoh Use a large sheet of news print four by four feet. Have one child draw
a large lion on it with crayon. Then have 4 or 5 children paint the lion with gold tempera paint. When dry, glue on yellow yarn for a mane. Add to a circus mural.

Make A Circus Tiger
To make your circus tiger, first cut out a piece of paper about five inches long and four inches wide. Fold it the long way so it's about two inches high and five inches long. With crayon draw stripes. Keeping the paper folded, cut a small triangle from the open side. To make the tiger's head, cut a small circle, about an inch and half in diameter, from white paper. Draw a face. For a tail cut out a thin strip of paper and draw stripes. Now paste the head and tail onto the body. That's some tiger you have there.

Games and Movement

Walk the tight rope (tape on floor)
Ring Toss
Juggle Scarves
Elephant Walk
Circus Parade

Pin the Nose on the Clown (just like the donkey game)
Pretend to be a circus animal or performer
Put a tumbling mat on the floor and help the children do somersaults and other clown tricks.

Have a relay race with the children wearing a pair of men's shoes for "clown shoes".

Pin the Nose on the Clown
Use poster board to draw a clown's face with the nose missing. Tape poster to the wall. Blindfold each child when it's his/her turn. Use index cards to make a red nose for each child and write their name on the card. Place a piece of double-sided tape on the back. Depending on the child's age, turn him/her around 2-3 times and point the child in the right direction.

Talk about lion tamers/lions, elephants, and horses (use toy figures if you have them) and how they perform.

Circus Ring Toss
Use decorated 2 liter soda bottles set on a card table. Fill with water for balance. Place bottles 6 inches apart. Make a ring using rope cut into 15 inch lengths. Tape the ends together with duct tape. Have children take turns and limit the number of throws. Everyone should get a prize for playing and the winners will get special prizes.

Tight Rope Walkers

Make tight rope men/women from clothespins by painting faces an clothes on the pin and twisting pipe cleaners around the head for arms. Now put the tight rope walkers on a string and the performance is underway.

Throwing skills can be reinforced by two children holding a hoop while another throws stuffed animals through it.They can be a trainer training the animals.

Throwing Peanuts to the Elephant

Paint a box with an elephant's face on it.Cut out the opening for a mouth. Children could throw peanuts into the mouth to feed the elephant.

Snake Charmers
Kids wear bathrobes and towel turbans.A wooden stick will have a piece of invisible fishing line attached to an old tie stuffed in a basket. Children sway as music is on and slowly the "snake " comes out of the basket.

Jugglers carrying stacks of plates and cups that never seem to fall? paper plates glued at various angles to look like balancing act.

Lion tamers and lions. Lion manes made out of tissue and lions jump through hoops.

Make barbells out of a dowel and styrofoam or nerf balls and pretend to be the weight lifter.

Hoop Fun Movement
Let the children pretend they are circus animals who have been trained to jump through hoops. Have the children line up in a single line and take turns stepping or jumping through a hula hoop. Adjust the height of the hoop according to the age and skill of each child.

Explain to the children that sometimes at the circus the lion tamer will have lions jump through a flaming hoop. Have the children pretend that they are animal trainers and are teaching their animals to jump through a hoop. Let the children take turns throwing stuffed animals through a hula hoop or other large ring.

Have children jump through a hula hoop like lions. You can add paper "flames" to the top of the hoops.

At the Circus
I see an elephant
and a horse.
I see a monkey
that's funny of course.

I see the lion,
and an acrobat.
I see a clown
in a funny hat!

Books
Mirette on the High Wire by Emily McCully
Wonderful Circus Parade by Roy Doty
Circus by Lois Ehlert
A Color Clown Comes to Town by Jane B. Moncure
Paddington at the Circus by Michael Bond and Fred Banbery
Morris and Boris at the Circus by B. Wiseman
The Circus Baby by Maud and Miska Petersham
Oliver by Syd Hoff
Circus Numbers by Rodney Peppe'
Carousel by Donald Crews
Ernest and Celestine at the Circus by Gabrielle Vincent
Henrietta Saves the Day by Coby Hol
Circus Girl by Michael Garland
If I Ran the Circus by Dr. Seuss
Randy's Dandy Lions
C is for Circus by Bernice Chardiet
C Is for Clown - by Stan and Janice Berenstain
Circus by Brian Wildsmith
Curious George Goes to the Circus by Margaret & H. A. Rey

Under The Big Top (felt cutouts)
Under the big top, what will I see?
Look there's an elephant smiling at me.
Behind the elephant, what will I see?
Look there's a bear dancing for me.
Behind the bear, what will I see?
Look a wild lion is roaring at me.
Behind the lion, what will I see?
A little seal doing tricks for me.

Sky Circus
I saw an elephant today,
And a kangaroo, and a whale,
A tall giraffe, a wobbly calf,
And a bird with a long, long tail.
I saw them march in proud array,
I saw them all this very day.
Why don't you ask me where I've been?
To the circus? No, not I.
I've been swinging on Grandma's gate,
Watching the clouds in the sky.

The Circus
One, one! The circus is fun!
(put fingers on sides of face to show smile)
Two, two!! Is that a kangaroo?
(fingers point.)
Three, three!! The monkeys look at me.
(cup eyes)
Four, four! Hear four lions roar.
(cup ears)
Five, five! Five dolphins dive.
(fingers dive)
Six, six!! The clowns do tricks.
(pretend to juggle)
Seven, seven!! The seals think they're in heaven.
(point upwards)
Eight, eight! The elephants wait.
(make trunk with arms)
Nine, nine!! Horses march in line.
(fingers march)
Ten, ten!! Tomorrow may we come again?
(place both hands together saying "please?")
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10!!
Yes, we'll surely visit the circus again!!
(count 10 fingers)

Funny Clowns
(sung to "Frere Jacques")
Funny clowns, funny clowns,
Jump around, jump around.
Sometimes making faces,
Sometimes running races.
Funny clowns, funny clowns.
Funny clowns, funny clowns.
Spin around, spin around.
Sometimes with big noses,
Sometimes with big toes-es.
Funny clowns, funny clowns.
by Jean Warren

Little Clown
(felt cut out)
Little clown, little clown with a big red nose,
Little clown, little clown, with funny clothes.
Little clown, little clown with a suit of yellow,
Little clown, little clown, a happy fellow.
Little clown, little clown with a blue pointed hat,
Little clown, little clown, short and fat.
Little clown, little clown with a fancy green collar,
Little clown, little clown, wants to be taller.
Little clown, little clown with hair orange and bright,
Little clown, little clown, a jolly good sight.
Little clown, little clown with two purple feet,
Little clown, little clown, a real circus treat!

Little Sad Clown
Once there was a little clown
Who looked so very sad,
No matter what trick he did,
It always turned out bad.
He tried juggling balls
And running up the aisles,
But no matter what he did
The crowd would never smile.
Everybody liked him, But he always looked so sad,
Everyone would start to cry, And for a clown that's bad.

Little Sad Clown
Then one day he tried a trick
Of walking upside down,
Soon everyone was laughing
At this funny clown.
He wondered why they all would laugh
When he was upside down,
He didn't know that turned this way
His face was not a frown.
For when he stood upon his hands,
And walked around a while,
The frown that was upon his face
Turned right into a smile

This Circus Clown
This circus clown shakes your hand. (shake hands)
This circus clown plays in the band.(play flute)
This circus clown has enormous feet. (show foot)
This circus clown dearly loves to eat. (pretend to eat)
This circus clown has a round red nose. (point to nose)
This circus clown has white teeth in rows.(point teeth)
This circus clown has very sad eyes. (look sad)
He laughs, and frowns and then he cries. (demonstrate)
This circus clown bends away down. (bend down)
What would you do if you were a clown?

We Are Clowns Today
Sung to: 'The Farmer in the Dell'
We are clowns today,
We are clowns today,
Heigh-ho the derry-oh,
We are clowns today.
Additional verses: We do tricks today. We make faces today. We fall down today.

Did You Ever See A Clown
Sung to: 'Did You Ever See A Lassie?'
Did you ever see a clown,
A clown, a clown?
Did you ever see a clown
Move this way and that?

Did you ever see a clown
Move this way and that?
Move this way and that way,
Move this way and that way.

Did you ever see a clown
Move this way and that? (One child perform actions. Take turns.)

Clown Song
(tune: I'm a Little Teapot)
I'm a little clown short and fat.
Here is my tummy, here is my hat.
I can do a trick as you will see,
Just turn around and look at me.
At the end of song, the teacher points to a child to do a trick.
Make 6 felt or construction paper clown faces with different color hats and collars. The hats and collars on each clown should match. The hats should not be attached to the head. Using a felt board line up clowns and
recite this poem:

There were once 6 clowns
Who went into town.
As they took their walk
The wind began to talk.
Whoo-whoo-whoo!

Well what do you suppose
happened to the clowns with the red nose?
The wind blew and blew
And away their hats flew!
As you are reciting the first verse mix up the hats on the board. Have the children match the clown hats to the collars.

I'm a Clown!
Use a flannel board and five felt clowns.
Five silly clown coming through the door,
One ran away, then there were four.
Four silly clowns smiling just for me,
One fell down, then there were three.
Three silly clowns looking at you,
One went to the circus, then there were two.
Two silly clowns looking for some fun,
One fell asleep, then there was one.
One silly clown standing in the sun.
She came to my house, now there are none.

Flannel board and felt clown shapes
This little clown is jolly and fat; (hold up thumb)
This little clown wears a big red hat; (hold up pointer finger)
This little clown is tall and strong

This little clown sings a funny song;
This little clown is wee and small,
But he does the funniest tricks of all!

Carl the Clown
My name, boys and girls, is Carl the Clown I wear my hats all over town. Each one has its own color name, which you can learn if you play my game?

Oh, here's a hat, and it is red It fits so nicely on my head.
Now when I wear my hat of yellow, I'm told I'm quite a dandy fellow.
I hope you like my hat of blue. I'll put it on now, just for you.
My purple hat is just for good. I'd wear it always if I could.
I wear a white hat on a sunny day. It looks quite nice, my friends all say.
I put on my green hat to visit the park, But I take it off when it gets dark.
And when it's dark, I put on brown
This hat is for a sleepy clown.
(Make a clown face and have the different colored hats to put on as said.)

Circus Clown
Did you ever see a circus clown
When he goes out to play?
He doesn't just play like you and me,
He clowns around all day.
He jumps and bends and twists around,
And makes a funny face.
He runs and crawls and hoots and toots,
And laughs in every place.

Song from Sharon, Lois and Bram show:
One elephant went out to play
On a spider's web one day
He had such enormous fun
That he called for another elephant to come

Teacher is first elephant, chooses a child to be next one, child choses another, and so on. Walk around the room as space permits as you sing this song, holding hands as you form a long chain of 'elephants'.

Five Big Elephants
Five big elephants - oh, what a sight,
Swinging their trunks from left to right!
Four are followers, and one is the king.
They all walk around in the circus ring.
(To pantomime, the children crouch over and clasp their hands, then move arms left and right as they walk. Choose four children to be elephants who follow one chosen to be king. The 'elephants' walk around the room several times as the rhyme is recited.)

Elephants
Five little elephants
Standing in a row
Five little trunks
Waving to and fro
"Good day" said an elephant
"I must go".
Four little elephants standing in a row.

Continue with
Four little elephants...
Three little elephants
Two little elephants
One little elephant.
Actions

1. stand in rows
2. swing arms and trunks
3. as one elephant goes the children sit down
4. stand in rows again for next verse

Elephant
Right foot, left foot, see me go.
I am gray and big and SLOW.
I come walking down the street
With my trunk and four big feet.

One Elephant Went Out to Play
Materials: Rope
What to Do: Put the tightrope (rope) down in the center of the circle.
Have the elephant (child) to stand on the rope. children sing the following song:

One elephant went out to play
On a tightrope string one day.
He had such enormous fun,
He called for another elephant to come.
- first line of the song and the next three lines increasing the number of elephants until each child has a turn.

Then sing the following verse.)
5 (Or the number of children) elephants went out to play
On a tightrope string one day
They had such enormous fun,
But the tightrope broke and they all fell down!

Miss Mary Mack
Miss Mary Mack, Mack, Mack
All dressed in black, black, black,
With silver buttons, buttons, buttons,
All down her back, back, back,

She asked her mother, mother, mother,
For fifteen cents, cents, cents,
To see the elephant, elephant, elephant,
Jump over the fence, fence, fence,

He jumped so high, high, high,
He reached the sky, sky, sky, (Touch, knees, shoulders,
And never came back, back, back, and (clap hands together,
Till the first of July, ly, ly. (clap partners hands 3X
(Spin around at end)

Elephants
The circus elephants are so big,
They never gallop or dance a jig.
They never trot like the ponies do,
But walk around slowly, two by two.

Sometimes they stand up all in a row,
And flap their ears, or point a toe.
While monkeys chatter and say, "That's fine",
The elephants "lunk-a-long" in a line.

Elephants
(Tune of "This Old Man")
One elephant went out to play
at the circus for the day,
Thump, thump, thump, thump,
thump, thump, thump, thump.
He played and played the day away.

Two elephants went out to play
At the circus for the day,
Etc.
Pantomine this song by having one child dance during the first verse and choosing another child to join in at each additional verse.

The Elephant
The elephant has a trunk for a nose,
And up and down is the way it goes; (clasp hands together and raise and lower them.)
He wears such a saggy, baggy hide! (relax body)
Do you think two elephants would fit inside? (hold up 2 fingers)

The Acrobats
I'll swing
By my ankles,
She'll cling
To your knees
As you hang
By your nose
From a high-up
Trapeze.
But just one thing, please,
As we float through the breeze-
Don't sneeze.
~ Shel Silverstein ~

Putting Up the Big Top
Everybody circle round
Lift the canvas off the ground.
Pull and Pull and watch it rise,
The Big Top grows before our eyes.
Everybody circle round,
Form a ring upon the ground.
Now we're set to watch the show,
Circus acts both high and low.

The Tightrope Walker
The the band is playing,
Back and forth I go, (pretend to walk tightrope)
High above the people,
Sitting far below. (cup hand over eyes and look down)
While the crowd is cheering,
I sway from side to side. (Sway back and forth)
Now my act is over,
And down the pole I slide. (Pretend to slide down pole)

Tiny Tiger
This little tiger is very wild. (Growl like a tiger)
This little tiger is a loving child. (Pet the second finger)
This little tiger has some big black spots. (With thumb and forefinger of the right hand, for a circle. Place it over the middle finger for spots)
This little tiger likes to prowl and smell. (Dot the ring finger with the pointer of the right hand)
But his teeth are too small to bite quite well. (Let the little finger prowl all around the lap, smell, smell, smell)

Snacks

Amazin' Raisin Nibble Mix
This treat tastes great anytime - and it's good for you.

For Amazin' Raisin Nibble Mix, use 4 cups popped popcorn, 1 cup peanuts, 1 cup round toasted oat cereal, and I cup raisins. Mix everything in a bag just as you would for Big Top Nibble Mix.

Big Top Nibble Mix
Mix 4 cups popped popcorn, 1 cup peanuts, 1 cup animal crackers, 1 cup chocolate pieces Put above in a plastic bag and shake. You can decorate bags with stickers before putting treats in bags.

Snow Cones

Give each child crushed ice in a paper cup. Dilute punch syrup slightly. Pour over the ice and enjoy.

Munchy Merry-Go-Rounds
Apples, Peanut butter, Animal crackers
Wash and core the apples. Slice into 1/4 to 1/2 inch circles.
Spread with peanut butter and insert animal crackers in stand up fashion around the ring.

Old Fashioned Cracker Jacks
Pop 4 quarts of popcorn
Melt 1/2 cup margarine or butter in a heavy pan
Add to this 1 tablespoon of molasses and 1/3 cup of honey.
Mix into the popcorn. Add peanuts.
Spread mixture in a greased pan and bake for 12 minutes at 350 degrees. Stir once. Let the cracker jacks cool and serve in paper cups. Add a small prize to each if you want

Banana Ice Cream
This banana ice cream can be made without any special ice cream freezing equipment. It does require a blender however. The recipe below makes about 1 gallon of delicious ice cream:
Put into blender 8 peeled bananas and 1 cup sugar mixed with 2 teaspoons lemon juice. Blend till smooth. Remove half of the mixture. Add 30 marshmallows. Whirl until the marshmallows blend with the bananas. Add to this 3 1/2 of heavy cream that has been whipped. Pour this into freezer tray. Repeat the marshmallow mixing and adding the whipped cream to the reserved half of the banana mixture. Pour this into a freezer tray too.Freeze until they are the right consistency for enjoying.

Jello Circus Animals
4 envelopes unflavored gelatin
3 packages flavored gelatin
4 cups boiling water
In a large bowl combine gelatin and boiling water. Stir until dissolved. Pour into shallow baking pan. Chill until firm. Using cookie cutters, cut out shapes. Decorate with tube frosting. Set up a popcorn stand and sell popcorn, using play money. Make paper cones to put the popcorn in.

Circus Superstitions
Never look back during a parade. (Some shows fine those who transgress)
Never sit on the ringcurb facing out.
Never whistle in the dressing room.
Peacock feathers are bad luck.
Accidents happen in threes.
Elephants must always have their trunks up in pictures.
Hair from the tail of an elephant is good luck. (Often made into rings or bracelets.)

Circus Terms
Arrow ~ Paper sign, consisting of a simple arrow, used to mark the route between towns. Taped to road signs by the 24-hour man the day before the show
Back Door ~ Performer's entrance to the tent.
Backyard ~ The area behind the big top where props, animals, and performers are readied for the performance.
Bale Ringe ~ Large steel ring encircling a center pole, on which the tent is attached and hoisted up.
Blowdown ~ When the tent is destroyed by high winds or a storm.
Blow Off ~ Immediately following the end of a performance, when the crowd mills out of the tent and onto the midway.
Bull ~ Elephant.
Butcher ~ A concessionaire who sells his/her wares by carrying them into the audience.
Center Pole ~ The tallest pole holding the tent up, located in the center of the tent.
Cloud Swing ~ Aerial act in which an individual performs on a loop of rope suspended from the top of the tent.
Come-In ~ Just prior to the start of a performance, when the crowd is moving from the midway into the tent.
Cookhouse ~ Place where circus people eat. Also Pie Car.
Doniker ~ Toilet.
Doors! ~ Order used to open the gates and let the public enter the big top.
First of May ~ A rookie on the circus.
Floss ~ Cotton candy.
Guy Lines ~ Cables used to stabilize aerial rigging.
Hey Rube ~ A call for help among circus folk, usually involving fights with locals.
John Robinson ~ A shortened performance.
Lot ~ The property that a circus sets up on.
Mechanic ~ Safety harness worn by aerialists.
Midway ~ The area outside of the entrance to the main tent, typically lined with concessionaires.
Nut ~ The daily cost of operating a show. Legend has it that local authorities would remove a nut from the wagon wheel of the circus office and keep it to ensure that everyone got paid.
Pie Car ~ Place where circus people eat. Also cookhouse.
Quarter Pole ~ The second largest poles in the tent, between the center poles and the side poles.
Rigging ~ The equipment used in aerial acts.
Risley ~ An acrobatic act in which one person juggles another on his/her feet.
Roustabout ~ A laborer on the circus.
Sidewall ~ Wall of a tent.
Side Poles ~ The smallest poles in the circus tent, running around its outer edge.
Spec ~ A parade within the tent of all performers and animals in costume, usually at the beginning of the show.
Spool Truck ~ Truck which carries the tent canvas.
Straw House ~ A sold-out performance.
Tear Down ~ Take down equipment and ready the circus for moving.
Towny ~ Anyone not traveling with a circus.
Twenty-Four Hour Man ~ A circus employee who plans the route to the next town, marks the route with
arrows, and determines where the circus will be set up on the lot.
Web ~ Long ropes (actually cotton-filled fire hose) hung from the top of the tent for aerialists to perform on.
Windjammer ~ Circus musician.

General Activities

Balancing Act
Build a tightrope setup and go for a walk!
Make your dreams of running away to join the circus come true-at least for a little while. In this activity, you'll construct a tightrope setup, learn the basics of tightrope walking, and understand a little more about the physics behind balancing! Get an adult to help you build the setup, as well as to double-check cushioning and spot you as you learn.
Materials
one 8'-long two-by-four board
two 4'-long two-by-four boards
two smooth poles, one about 3' long, the other about 6' (The length doesn't have to be exact, so long as the two sticks have about 3' difference between them.)
sandpaper
hammer
3" nails
soft, grassy area or cushioned mats
2 half-gallon plastic jugs filled with water
broom
50 cm (20") of string or cord cut into two equal lengths
Place the two-by-fours on their thinner edges, forming an H. Center and nail the shorter boards onto the ends of the longest two-by-four. Sand down the entire surface, making sure there are no rough edges or slivers

Place your "tightrope" on the soft, grassy area. If you put it on cushioned mats, make sure there is enough padded area to protect your entire body if you fall.

First, try walking from end to end very slowly. Where do you find yourself holding your hands and arms? Try holding them still-first straight out from your body, then overhead, then stiff by your sides. How do these different positions affect your balance? Why? Try these same positions holding a filled plastic milk jug in each hand. Does the added weight make balancing easier or harder? Why?

Try walking your tightrope with your longer pole. Move your hands together until they touch in the middle of the pole and walk the tightrope holding the pole horizontally. Now spread your hands as far apart as possible on the pole and walk the tightrope again. Does your hand position affect your ability to balance? How? Why?

Try the two hand positions again with a broom. Is there any difference? Why? Using the hand position you found to be the best for balancing, try walking your tightrope first with your short pole, then with your long pole.

Which length helps you balance better? Why?

Tie the filled plastic milk jugs to the ends of your long pole and walk the tightrope again. Do the weights affect your balancing ability? How? Why?

Using the short pole, walk across your tightrope. What happens to the pole when you start to lose your balance? What happens to your body? Can you use the pole to deliberately make yourself lose your balance?

Add some tricks to your repertoire. Try walking backwards from end to end, balancing on one foot, or turning around on one foot. Can you think of other tricks you can add with practice? (Here are a couple ideas-try stepping over your balancing pole, or playing with a hula hoop.)

Questions:

What combination of factors gave you the best balance? Why? Here's a simple model to help you understand how center of balance and counterbalances work:

Take a piece of string about 30 cm (1') in length and form it into a circle. Take a ruler and a hammer and assemble them together Balance the end of the ruler against the edge of a table with the hammer hanging below. Where is the center of balance? Why does this look like it shouldn't work?

Hold a large book in your hands. Have a friend gently try to disturb your balance. Now hold the book in different locations. Which location makes it easiest for you to keep your balance? Why?

Stand on a pillow in a safe, open, soft area. Can you balance on one foot?

Now put on a blindfold. How does that affect your sense of balance?

We had a Clown Day and each child came dressed as a clown - hobos, baggy , traditional, large clothes that did not match, etc. My aide and I painted clown faces on the children and took individual pictures of them. On that day we learned some clown songs, listened to stories about clowns and learned about different kinds of clowns. We made clown hats and a clown face from a paper plate and a balloon for the nose. The children enjoyed the day and we all went home exhausted but happy.

At the beginning of the theme the children drew, colored and cut out animals we would see at a circus. The children glued these onto half sheets of construction paper. There were many choices of thin colored strips for the bars and larger rectangles to cut for the trim on the top of the wagon. They could use two or three colors for the wagons. Then attach the wheels. I hung them above the chalkboard at angles to make the circus train. Sometimes I had an engine or an elephant pulling the wagons. They were colorful.

We learned about the various workers, animals and performers. The last week of school tables were pushed to the sides of the room and we created our own circus. Parents and grandparents were invited to our room. Some years I used crepe paper streamers to create the feeling of the BIg Top- but one morning came in to find the humidity made all of the streamers sag to the floor!! We had programs so parents would know who the "performers " were.

I played music for the grand parade as the children marched around the room and back into the hallway where the aide helped them. There was a specific song for each act . We had Ringmasters, clowns, ponies that wore plumes in their hair and pranced around the ring, jumped over hurdles ( plastic ribbon and lace holders from yard goods stores- they are about 1 foot high and flat on two ends), lions jumped through red hula hoops for the flaming hoops, elephants walked around and did a few tricks, acrobats performed on gym mats, tightrope walkers walked on a very low balance beam ( 2 inches off the floor), strong men used large tinker toys for weights, clowns did some silly things:

• sitting on their mom's lap and tickling her nose,
  
• throwing torn up paper at the crowd like it was water
• one clown always closed the circus with the act Emmett Kelley used - sweeping the spotlight on the floor (we used a flashlight for the spot. The clown swept it out of the room.

Costumes were very simple

Elephant Parade!
Twenty-one elephants,
Oh, what a sight!
Swinging their trunks from left to right!
Twenty are followers,
One is the king.
They all walk around the circus ring!
Here's another poem I used:

The Circus is Coming!
The trumpets blow,
The bugles play,
The circus is coming to town today!
With a big elephant
And a jolly old clown,
A real live circus is coming to town!
The animals roar
And chatter and scream;
It seems like a wonderful magical dream!
With lions and tigers
And monkeys too,
It's hard to believe... but it's really true!!

Make tightrope walkers with an old fashioned clothes pin. The head is the knob at the top. They sit nicely on a string between two chairs.

I will get out the balance beam and we'll talk about balancing. There is a story I'll read called, The Saint and the Circus that is all about the balancing act on the tightrope - not a fabulous book but it fits right in.

We also spent some time talking about the three types of clowns. It is actually quite interesting! What I did was make phrases on flashcards. I had three pictures up on the board of the three main types of clowns (whiteface, auguste and hobo) Then I passed out the phrases. Things like: Never talks (hobo) Wears mismatched clothes (auguste) all skin is white (Whiteface) and then each child brought their phrase to the front, read it out loud and guessed where it would go. As we went along they started to see how each of the three types of clowns has a personality and they were very good at guessing where the phrase would be placed.

My idea was to make an elephant parade mural with each kid painting an elephant and adding 3-d stuff to make them decorated. We didn't do this in the end. Instead we are doing a mural of a Menagerie train:

Each child started by making a pair of wheels , step by step. They cut out a rim of a wheel from black and used strips of coloured paper taped to the back to make spokes. Then I had available lots of exotic animal pictures for looking at. They each chose one and drew in black crayon as large as possible, an animal. The next day we painted them. Now, tomorrow we will use strips of coloured paper to form a car around the outside of the picture and then we'll put cage lines on with black felt. I'll do this part. They will also use coloured bits of paper and paint and colored shiny paper to cut out shapes to decorate the menagerie car. Then we'll glue them to large squares of colured paper and put them up on the gym wall as decoratins for our circus. I'll ask a keen kid to make a colourful engine.

My partner focused more on clowns too by having a parent trace the body of each child. As she traced around them she made them wearing a clown suit. They looked at clown costures and then decorated their own with paint (diamonds, dots, stripes etc.) Then they made paper plate faces. She had tracers for cutting out large mouths, eyes, etc. They cut a hole in the plate and put an unblown balloon through the hole - water balloon size. Then with help they used a the little pump that came with them to blow up the balloon for the nose. They look great.

Then on another day they made colured paper hats (all unique) and used paint and bingo dabbers to decorate them. They added tissue paper hair. Again all the hair is different. Some had triangle hair out to the sides. Some had lots of hair. Some had curled hair etc. They are also making crepe paper ruffles around the neck. We will use these to decorate the gym as well.

Now this week they will add colurful socks and they have traced shoes and cut them out of coloured paper.

I had the kids make a book for the Kindergarten kids. It will be like their souvenir as they leave the circus. It's following this poem:

Under the Big Top
What will I see?
Look!
There's a __________(bear)
_______ing for me.!(dancing)

Each page has a circus tent on it (colured paper) Its a lift the flap book. Under it they filled in the words of the poem and drew an accompanying picture. Under the flap with the poem is also a picture of a ringmaster.

Concentration - make up a set of matching cards (ringmaster, lion through hoop, prancing horse, seal on a drum, big top, acrobats, clown, elephant, juggler, tightrope walker, wagons and what ever you can think of) - and away they go.

Lotto - make up 6 boards 3 x 3 and put appropriate circus pictures or stickers in each square....matching cards.....all you need then are the players and a caller.

I also have a clown game........ six clowns each with different colored clothes........cut into 6 pieces (hat, head, upper body, lower body and big shoes) each with a number from 1 to 6 on it. Kids roll a die and select the appropriate piece.....first to make up the clown wins. Can play it that they have to get the pieces in order - head then shoes don't go together.

SHAPE THE CLOWN GAME
Cut several large outlines of clowns' heads from tag board or construction paper and many eyes, hats, ears, noses, ruffles and bow ties. Make a large die with an ear, nose, hat, eye, ruffle and bow tie. (one on each of the six sides) The children can take turns rolling the die to construct their clown face. If a child rolls a die with the shape they already have, they must wait for their next turn.

Be a Clown!
Have children dress as clowns. They can wear oversized clothing, mismatched socks and shoes, shirts on backwards, etc. Paint faces (washable markers work great and can wipe off clean with baby wipes). Make clown shoes out of shoe boxes.

Balancing Act
Have the children do a balancing act by balancing bean bags on their head or shoulder.

Balloon Juggling
Practice batting balloons up and keeping them off the floor.

Dancing Bears:
A group of "child" bears can "dance" around in the center of the ring.

Elephants:
A group of "child" elephants can lumber to the center of the ring on all fours and do things like hold up one foot, etc.

Horses
Horses can gallop around in a circle.

Lions:
One child can be the "tamer" and others can be the lions. The tamer can direct the lions to do various things like sit on a stool, etc.

Snake Charmers
Kids wear bathrobes and towel turbans. A wooden stick has a piece of invisble fishing line attached to an old tie stuffed in a basket. Children sway as music is on and slowly the "snake " comes out of the hat.

Tigers
Tigers can jump through hoops (in advance, children can glue various sized pieces of crepe paper squares to the rim of a hoola hoop).

Tightrope Walkers:
Children can walk across a balance beam carrying an umbrella above their heads. They can walk forward, backwards, sideways, etc.

I am also doing a circus lesson this week and we are making microphones one day.

Another day we are taking white lunch sacks and having the children paint red stripes on them and filling them with popcorn.

We are also taking different types of shapes and creating clown faces.

Put a piece of masking tape on the floor and pretend tight rope walk.

Circus Concession Stand
Set up a ticket booth and sell --have tickets on a roll, play money.

Set up a popcorn stand: make paper cones to fill with styrofoam bit "popcorn" (It's a mess, but the kids love it.) "Sell" the popcorn!

Ideas for decorating your room and you:

• We had striped walls (walls were covered in butcher paper stripes), all notes had circus theme pictures.
  
• We had seals balancing balls on their noses for our discipline board, a giraffe for our measuring chart of children's heights, a smiling elephant for our tooth lost chart,
• Teachers were the Ring Masters for the first couple of weeks of the year until the children learned all the routines and things. Then the Ring Master took over the duties of a class helper.
• We took our outdoor parachute and stapled/nailed it to the ceiling for a big top.
• Made flags and string them around the room on string
• Put Gladwrap ( plastic cling wrap) on your windows. Draw onto the plastic, simple circus figures and then allow the children to paint the figures. I used a circus coloring book to get simple pictures with large enough areas for small hands to paint inside.
• As a door decoration, I drew a large clown as if we were looking at his back and put a real balloon in his hand. The caption read: "Welcome to the Circus.
• I bought rolls of crepe paper in bright colors and we cut these into strips.....then attached them to a hoop which we hung from a center point in the ceiling.....taking the ends out to the walls, where we attached them and let the extra length hang down.....really looked like a "Big Top" when we finished.......made a large circle using masking tape on the floor for the ring........and away we went......."COME TO THE CIRCUS, THE CIRCUS IS IN TOWN!" If you can get hold of the song.....it is great to have it blaring out as the kids come in the door on the day you are introducing the theme.......sets the scene.
  

MATH ACTIVITIES:

I made 1 - 10 cards for the bulletin board as follows:
1 - the Big Top; 2 - "dressed" Elephants; 3 - bare backed riders ; 4 - on the high wire; 5 - tumbling clowns; 6 - seals balancing balls , 7 - snarling lions; 8 - silly clowns; 9 - prancing horses; 10 - dancing dogs

Cut out matching pairs of clown's hat........mix them up and have kids match.......use patterned paper to make it a little harder.

Ordering: I photocopied six different clowns - enlarged/ reduced them in size each time until I had 10 of each, colored matching clowns same colors and kids order them by size......keeps them busy for quite a while. (Have also done this with dinosaurs - they love them.)

P.E. ACTIVITIES:
Throwing skills can be reinforced by two children holding a hoop whilst another throws stuffed animals through it..........they can be a trainer putting the animals through their paces!

Balancing - bean bags to practice walking the high wire......need to be very sure of where stepping...carry a bean bag on your head across the beam......as you walk along a rope......round obstacles.......

Throwing at a target.........paint a box any color except where you have drawn the elephant's face on one side....paint this grey...and cut out the open mouth. Children could throw peanuts into the mouth to....feed the elephant.

DRESS UP BOX:
Baggy overalls, silly wigs, dad's old shoes, any silly hats, capes, tutus, red noses (made from egg carton pieces/elastic, painted red), headbands etc......if game....add facepaint and a mirror. Let them rip into 'em....and when all are dressed up....have a circus parade. Select the right music and it can be fabulous!