The Letter “M”

Words that start with the letter “M”:

monkey
marble
messy
mixed-up
melon
macaroni
machine
mad
magazine
magic
magic carpet
magnet
magnifying glass
magnolia
maid
mail
makeup
mall
malt
manatee
mango
manicure
manners
mansion
manta ray
map
maple
march
Mardi Gras
mare
marigold
marine
market
marker
marmalade
Mars
marsh
marshmallow
mask
mat
math
May
mayor
mayonnaise
Maypole
maze
McDonald’s
meadow
meal
measure
meat
meatballs
medal
medicine
medieval
medium
meerkat
meet
megaphone
melon
memo
memory
menorah
meow
menu
mermaid
merry
message
metal
meteor
mice
Mickey Mouse
microscope
microphone
microwave
midnight
milk
milkshake
mill
millipede
mime
mimic
mine
mineral
mini
mint
mirror
mist
mittens
mixer
mockingbird
model
moist
molasses
Monday
money
monster
moon
moose
mop
morning
morning glory
Morse Code
mosaic
motel
moth
mosquito
mother
motor
motorcycle
mountain
mouth
movement
movie
mow
mud
muffin
mug
mulberry
mule
mummy
museum
mushroom
music
musical chairs
mustang
mustard
mute
mystery

Arts and Crafts

Megaphone

Have the children decorate black paper with chalk, paint, paper scraps, etc. Then fold into a megaphone shape. Tape or staple the megaphone.

Map

Tear a large piece of paper from a brown grocery bag. Lie the paper flat and have the children create a map on the paper. You may use black paint and markers for the map. They can use stamps, stickers, pictures from magazines or draw the animals they might see.

Toothpick and Marshmallow Ants

Supply older children with marshmallows and toothpicks. They can connect three marshmallows with toothpicks to form the body and head. They may use toothpicks for the legs as well.

Nature Mosiac

Use the items from the nature walk to glue on a piece of paper to create a nature mosiac.

Paper Bag Bird Masks

Let children use yarn, paints, crayons and paper scraps to create their own bird mask. You may have to cut out the eyes, mouth and shoulders for younger children.

Paper Plate Bird Mask

Have the children paint a paper plate. When dry have the children add feathers and a nose. Cut out holes for the eyes and add a popsicle stick to the back of the plate near the bottom with glue.

Felt Monkey Board

Make monkey faces and bananas from felt. Number each monkey. The children will place the correct number of bananas next to each monkey.

Magazine “M” Collage

Have the children cut out pictures of the letter “M” or things that begin with “m” from magazines, then glue them onto a piece of paper.

Lion Paper Plate Masks

Have the children paint a paper plate yellow or brown. After the paint has dried, have the children use a hole punch around the rim of the plate. Supply the children with yellow, orange and brown yarn pieces, about two inches in length. The children should place a piece of yarn in a hole and tie it. Continue until there is yarn all the way around the plate. At this point the children may cut out the facial features to make a mask, or glue on facial features.

Fingerprint Monkeys

Put a small amount of tempera paint in a small shallow container. (The metal lid of a juice bottle works well) Show your child how to dip his/her finger in the paint and make a fingerprint on a piece of paper. (Alternative: Use a non-toxic ink pad) have your child make several fingerprints using yellow or light brown paint. After the paint dries, add the facial features with a pen.

Marble Art

First, you need a large plastic container with a lid. (I used a shallow peanut butter container.) Next cut out paper that will fit in the lid of the container. Place a few drops of paint into the container with a few marbles (be sure to observe carefully as marbles are a choking hazard) then place a very small amount of paint on the lid and pre-cut paper on the paint. (I use the paint to make the paper stick to the lid.) Place the lid on the container, flip and have the children shake. When finished, remove paper and allow to dry, and place a clean piece of paper in the lid for the next child.

Messy Art

Use a paint brush to splash slightly watered down paint onto a piece of paper taped to the floor or the ground outside to make messy artwork.

Macaroni Art

Use colored noodles to make many different colors of macaroni noodles. Have the children glue the colored macaroni noodles to a piece of paper.

Macaroni Necklaces

Use colored noodles noodles to make many different colors of macaroni noodles. Have the children string the noodles onto a piece of yarn to make a necklace.

Marker Art

Have the children decorate the letter “M” with markers.

Mail Boxes

Have the children supply a small shoebox for this project. Cut a small slit in the top for the mail to go in. Then have the children decorate the box with paint, markers, crayons, scraps of paper or whatever else you can think of.

Magnolias Art

Have the children paint a picture using a magnolia as a paint brush.

Mad Faces

Have the children create a mad face with a paper plate and markers. Alternatively, they can cut out facial features from a magazine and make a mad face.
Maple Leaf Collages
Cut out different maple leaf shapes out of fall colors and have the children glue the shapes onto another piece of paper.

Maple Leaf Rubbings

Have the child place a maple leaf under a piece of paper, and rub the paper with crayon, and the leaf shape will appear. This works much better with green leaves.

Maple Leaf Prints

Obtain a maple leaf for each child. Have the child paint the vein side of the leaf. Press the leaf onto a piece of paper to create a leaf print.

Maple Leaf Hands

Trace your child’s hand onto a fall color of construction paper, and cut it out to make it look like a maple leaf.

Maple Leaf Tree

Use brown construction paper for the trunk of the tree, and tape up fall maple leaves to the wall to make a huge fall tree in your classroom.

Maple Leaf Painting

Have the children paint, using maple leaves as paintbrushes.

Have the children make a leaf mobile
Have the children glue them onto a piece of paper for a leaf collage
Hang them from the ceiling
Have the children glue them onto a piece of paper with a trunk to make a tree
Put them up on a bulletin board
Hang them from a classroom size tree

Math, Science, and Games

Mining for Gems

Hide some stones and gems in your sand table for the children to find. Show the children how to sift through the sand to find the gems.

Act Like a Monkey

Have the children pretend to be monkeys. Have them hop around the class making monkey noises.

Mouse Bowling

Obtain 10 half-gallon milk cartons or 2-liter bottles. Fill the bottles about 1/8 full with water and seal the lid. Then, decorate the bottles like mice, adding construction paper ears, and use permanent markers for the eyes and nose. Set the bottles up like they were bowling pins and have the children roll a ball to try to knock them over. If they don’t knock over easily, remove some of the water.

Mouse, Mouse, Moose!

Played like “Duck, Duck, Goose” except the children will go around the circle, and say “Mouse” instead of “Duck” and “Moose” instead of “Goose.”
Substitute for other “M” animals

Musical Chairs

Arrange the chairs in a circle. If you have younger children, it is best to have too many chairs. This can be a game where everyone wins. Have the children walk around the chairs until the music stops. Then everyone finds a chair.

Musical “M”

Cut out “M” shapes from colored paper. Laminate them and cut them out. Place them on the floor. It is best for younger children to have more letters than children. Play music and have the children walk around the room. When the music stops, each child needs to find a letter to stand on. You can use other things that begin with the letter “M”.

Mommy Says

Played like “Simon Says.”
Replace mommy with other things that begin with the letter “M.”

Mother, May I?

This classic game is fairly easy to play. Have one person be the “Mother” in this game. Everyone else stands on the other side of the room and asks if they may move a certain amount of steps or direction closer (ex. “Mother, may I take two small steps forward?”). If the “Mother” says “You may,” the child can move forward. However, if they do not say “You may,” the child should head back to the start. The first person to reach “Mother” is the next “Mother.”

Mystery Can

Send a large coffee can home with a child. Send a letter with the can similar to this: Dear parents: This month we are going to be playing a game called “Mystery Can” I am sending the can home with your child. Please help your child find something to place inside the can that is special to your child and return it tomorrow with three clues written on a piece of paper. The children will try to guess what it is and the first person to guess correctly will take home the can.

Matching Game

Trace 3 to five different cookie cutters on one piece of paper. Ask you child to match the cookie cutters with their outlines. Try this with leaves, buttons, or different-sized blocks. Another variation, take an oblong block, and trace its three different sides, give your child the block and ask them to make the block match each of the outlines.

Muffin Tin Sort

Use a muffin tin as a sorter for small objects. Have your child sort colored marbles, monkeys (from monkeys in a barrel), colored macaroni, or other items that start with the letter “M.” To enhance small motor muscles in the hand, have your child use a pair of tongs to sort the objects.

Homemade Memory Game

Index cards (blank on both sides)
Crayons or Stickers

Use each color of crayon to color one side of two index cards, or place matching stickers on one side of two index cards. Place the cards colored side, or sticker side down. Take turns trying to find a match by turning over two cards per turn. If you find a match you get another turn, if not the next player gets their turn.
You can also play with a deck of cards, try to match red “M”s and black “M”s.

Marble Game

Use a long tube from gift wrap and a marble. Hold the tube at an angle, and ask your child to put the marble in the top, and watch it come out the bottom. You can attach the tube to a box, and use cars instead. It’s a great game.

Magnet Fun

Set an array of different items on a tray. Some that the magnet will pick up, some that will not. Ask your child to predict which items the magnet will pick up. Test the predictions.

Macaroni Measuring

Place a good amount of different kinds of macaroni noodles into a dishpan. You can add food coloring to dry uncooked noodles to color them. Provide different containers and cups for your child to place the noodles in. Small and large. Let them experiment on their own, and with you. Let them pour the noodles from one container to the other. Which container holds the most noodles, or the least?

Macaroni Sorting

Use the directions for coloring noodles to make many different colors of macaroni noodles. Supply the children with a muffin tin with six compartments to sort the noodles according to color.

Macaroni Measuring

Use the directions for coloring noodles to make many different colors of macaroni noodles. Place the noodles in a dishpan with some measuring cups and other objects for the children to explore.

Magic Carpet Make Believe

Have the children pretend to fly on a magic carpet. You could make magic carpet hats from paper rolled up into a cone.

Magnet Fun

Supple the children with a variety of magnet and other objects to explore. What objects does a magent attract? Have the children pick out an ojbect and guess whether the object will stick to it. Record their answers, then try it.

Magnifying Glass

Supply the children with a variety of objects to look at with a magnifying glass. Try feathers, cloth, dirt, sand, bugs and other items.

Microscope

Supply the children with a variety of objects to look at with a microscope. Try feathers, cloth, dirt, sand and other items.

Magnolias

Supply the children with a variety of magnolias and a magnifying glass. Have the children make observations about the magnolias and record their observations.

Pretend to be a Mailman

Ask parents for junk mail for the children to use in the dramatic play area. The children can pretend to be a mailman and deliver mail to the mailboxes made in the crafts above.

Mail Sort

Ask parents for junk mail for the children to use. Have the children sort the junk mail. Ask the child how they decided to sort the mail.

Mall Dramatic Play

Set up the dramatic play section like a mini mall. Have a clothing store, a jewelry store, etc.

Manners

Ask the children to help you make a list of things we do to be polite. Post the list in the classroom.

Marching

March around the classroom, march in place to a song, or play marching musical chairs.

Maple Leaf Blow

Have the children blow a maple leaf across a table with a straw. Have a leaf race. See who can blow their leaf across the table first.

Marine Animals

Talk about animals that live in the ocean.

Market

Turn your dramatic play area into a market. Have a fruit and veggie stand (with pretend food) with a scale and a cash register. Ask the parents to save empty food containers to add to the market.

Marshmallow Jar for Older Children

Fill a small jar with mini marshmallows. Ask each child to guess how many marshmallows are in the jar. For younger children, limit the number of marshmallows to less than ten. Record each child’s guess. Count the marshmallows.

Marshmallow Jar for School-Age Children

Provide three identical jars with pre-counted mini marshmallows of 20, 30, and 40. Label these jars 20, 30 and 40. Place 20 to 40 marshmallows in a fourth identical jar. Allow the children to examine all four jars before they guess. Record the children’s approximations. Count the marshmallows.

You can also use M&M’s, macaroni noodles, or marbles in place of marshmallows.

M&M’s Sort

Set out a muffin tin and ask the children to sort a pack of M&M’s by color. How many red ones are there? How many blue? (Alt. do the activity with marbles, colored mini marshmallows or colored macaroni noodles)

M&M’s Count

Place the numbers 1 – 6 in the bottom of a muffin tin. Ask the child to place one M&M in the one container and 2 in the two container and so on. (Alt. do the activity with marbles, mini marshmallows or macaroni noodles)

Songs

The Bear Went Over the Mountain

Sung to “For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow”
The bear went over the mountain,
The bear went over the mountain,
The bear went over the mountain,
To see what he could see

To see what he could see,
To see what he could see

The other side of the mountain,
The other side of the mountain,
The other side of the mountain,
Was all that he could see

Was all that he could see,
Was all that he could see,
The other side of the mountain,
Was all that he could see!

This Little Pig Went to Market

This Little Pig went to market
This little pig stayed home
This little pig had roast beef
This little pig had none.
And this little pig went wah wah wah all the way home

Five Little Monkeys

Five little monkeys jumping on the bed
One fell off and bumped his head
So Momma called the doctor and the doctor said
No more monkeys jumping on the bed!
(Sing with 4,3,2,1 little monkeys) then…
No little monkeys jumping on the bed
None fell off and bumped his head
So Momma called the doctor and the doctor said
Put those monkeys back in bed!

Five little Monkeys!!!!
Five little monkeys, swinging in a tree (hold up five fingers, and swing hand)
Teasing Mr. Alligator, can’t catch me, (make wings by placing thumbs in arm pits, and rock elbows up and down)
You (point to child) can’t catch me!!! (point to self)
Shhhh (index finger to your mouth)
Along comes Mr. Alligator…. quiet as can be (Place palms together thumbs pointing up, and fingers away from you, and move back and forth like a fish)
And he snaps (clap hands in front of a child) that monkey right out of that tree.
Repeat with Four, three, two and one. After the last monkey, say No more monkeys swinging in the tree.
(use gesture for “all gone” or “I don’t know”)

The Ants go Marching

The ants go marching one by one, hurrah, hurrah
The ants go marching one by one, hurrah, hurrah
The ants go marching one by one,
The little one stops to suck his thumb
And they all go marching down to the ground
To get out of the rain, BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The ants go marching two by two, hurrah, hurrah
The ants go marching two by two, hurrah, hurrah
The ants go marching two by two,
The little one stops to tie his shoe
And they all go marching down to the ground
To get out of the rain, BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The ants go marching three by three, hurrah, hurrah
The ants go marching three by three, hurrah, hurrah
The ants go marching three by three,
The little one stops to climb a tree
And they all go marching down to the ground
To get out of the rain, BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The ants go marching four by four, hurrah, hurrah
The ants go marching four by four, hurrah, hurrah
The ants go marching four by four,
The little one stops to shut the door
And they all go marching down to the ground
To get out of the rain, BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The ants go marching five by five, hurrah, hurrah
The ants go marching five by five, hurrah, hurrah
The ants go marching five by five,
The little one stops to take a dive
And they all go marching down to the ground
To get out of the rain, BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The ants go marching six by six, hurrah, hurrah
The ants go marching six by six, hurrah, hurrah
The ants go marching six by six,
The little one stops to pick up sticks
And they all go marching down to the ground
To get out of the rain, BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The ants go marching seven by seven, hurrah, hurrah
The ants go marching seven by seven, hurrah, hurrah
The ants go marching seven by seven,
The little one stops to pray to heaven
And they all go marching down to the ground
To get out of the rain, BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The ants go marching eight by eight, hurrah, hurrah
The ants go marching eight by eight, hurrah, hurrah
The ants go marching eight by eight,
The little one stops to shut the gate
And they all go marching down to the ground
To get out of the rain, BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The ants go marching nine by nine, hurrah, hurrah
The ants go marching nine by nine, hurrah, hurrah
The ants go marching nine by nine,
The little one stops to check the time
And they all go marching down to the ground
To get out of the rain, BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The ants go marching ten by ten, hurrah, hurrah
The ants go marching ten by ten, hurrah, hurrah
The ants go marching ten by ten,
The little one stops to say “THE END”
And they all go marching down to the ground
To get out of the rain, BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Love Song

Love my Mommy,
Yes I do,
Love my Mommy,
Yes I do,
Love my Mommy,
Yes I do,
Love my Mommy,
And I love you!

Special Song

Sung to “Where is Thumbkin?”
Mommy is special,
Mommy is special,
Yes she is,
Yes she is,
Mommy is special,
Mommy is special,
Yes she is,
Yes she is.

Mary had a Little Lamb

Mary had a little lamb,
Little lamb, Little lamb,
Mary had a little lamb,
Its fleece was white as snow.

And everywhere that Mary went
Mary went Mary went
And everywhere that Mary went
The lamb was sure to go.

It followed her to school one day,
School one day, School one day,
It followed her to school one day,
Which was against the rule.

It made the children laugh and play
laugh and play laugh and play
It made the children laugh and play
To see a lamb at school.

Old McDonald

Old McDonald had a farm
E-I-E-I-O
And on his farm he had a pig
E-I-E-I-O
With an oink oink here
And an oink oink there. Here an oink, there an oink
Everywhere an oink oink
Old McDonald had a farm
E-I-E-I-O
(Repeat using other farm animals like duck, cow, dog, cat, etc.)

Snacks

Easy Smores Snack

Spread marshmallow cream and fudge frosting on graham crackers for some easy and tasty smores with no campfire.

Taste Melon

Have the children taste different kinds of melon and vote for their favorite.

Macaroni and Cheese

Make mac and cheese for lunch one day. Try making it with different kinds of cheese or add different kinds of meat, like bacon bits, ham, sausage or hamburger.

Maple Syrup

Serve maple syrup with pancakes for lunch or breakfast.

Malt Taste Test

Make a malt for the children to taste. Make a few different flavors. Ask the children to vote on which they like the best. You can also graph the results.

Mango Taste

Have the children taste a mango. Ask the children to vote on whether they liked it or not. You can also graph the results.