I love using mystery boxes during large or small group time to make learning fun! This year I am going to use the mystery box idea to play a getting to know you game. First, I printed off photos of all the kids in my preschool special education class, along with the staff members. I like using 3 inch by 3 inch pictures if I am making a mystery box out of a tissue box. It is also a big enough size for everyone to see the photo well. We take turns passing the mystery box to each student and having them pull out a photo. When the child pulls out the photo we have that student stand up or stay in their chair whichever they prefer and then sing to them, “Hello Johnny, Hello Johnny, Hello Johnny, Were Glad You Came To School.” You can also attach the photos to giant dice and play the game by rolling the dice and when it lands on a student you can sing to them.
I made templates for small and large tissue boxes to make your own mystery box: MYSTERY BOX TEMPLATE
You can also make your own using any type of box or even a fun bag!
There are so many fun games and activities you can do with mystery boxes to reinforce academics such as colors, shapes, letters, and numbers. The kids love the element of surprise. I also like to use these boxes for partner work. So I make several different boxes and have the kids take turns pulling out different academic items, objects, or vocabulary words.
You can make your own by using 3 inch by 3 inch cards or check out my circle time mystery box resource for academics:
Academic Circle Time Activities Mystery Box
Happy Teaching!
