A celebration of life for the preschool/kindergarten age child
The children enjoy celebrating their birthdays at school with a walk around the sun! This celebration also includes a little science and history.
The birthday child understands that the earth orbits the sun once a year.
The teacher lights a candle representing the sun and places it in the middle of the floor.
The birthday child holds a small globe and walks around the candle the same number of times the earth has been around the sun since the date of his/her birth.
As the child makes each orbit around the candle the teacher tells something about the concurring developmental stages. (Infant, crawling, walking, coming to school) Classmates count each orbit the child makes around the candle.
When the birthday walk is finished classmates can sing "Happy Birthday" and clap for the birthday child. The birthday child blows out the candle.
Parents can send in pictures of each year of the child’s life. This creates a timeline of cherished memories to add to this special celebration of life.
It is important to let the child know that he/she was created for a purpose and is a gift to the world and to the school family.