• Tunnels captivate children and help them retain the lessons pertaining to the tunnel activities..playing girl image by Mat Hayward from Fotolia.com
  
  Tying tunnels into your preschool lessons allows children to be active and have fun while they are learning. Using a tunnel can increase a child's engagement, which, in turn, increases the retention of the material you are teaching. Physical play also helps keep children healthy while letting them use the energy that adults only wish they had. Break out the tunnels, and let the fun begin!
  
  

Ant Tunnels

• Have children imitate ants in a tunnel.hormiguero image by Cristina Bedia from Fotolia.com
  
  Read the book, Inside an Ant Colony, by Allan Fowler, to peer into the world of ants. Follow that book with The Ants Go Marching, a Sing and Read book and CD combination, written by Mary Gruetzke, which ties music into your lesson. Set up the tunnel next to a wall, so the wall can act as the end of the ant tunnel. Have children pretend to be ants marching along in a line collecting items such as balls or large foam blocks that have been scattered around the room. The "ants" deliver their treasure to the tunnel, then back out of the tunnel and begin marching again. Repeat until the tunnel is full or until every "ant" has made a delivery.
  
  

ABC Obstacle Course

• Tunnels can help children learn their letters.abc blocks image by Erin Cadigan from Fotolia.com
  
  Set up an obstacle course in your room with a tunnel, blocks and a letter station. Children will travel through the tunnel, weave through and jump over the blocks and arrive at a station. That station will consist of letters or pictures. Ask the students to find and retrieve the letter of the day or a picture that starts with the letter of the day and race back through the obstacle course.
  
  

Ring That Counting Bell

• Tunnels can help children learn their numbers.Various digits isolated on the white background image by Elnur from Fotolia.com
  
  Hang a bell near the inside middle of the tunnel. Ask the students to crawl to the middle of the tunnel, ring the bell a specified number of times and crawl backwards out, to demonstrate their knowledge of one-to-one correspondence. Some children may be able to handle addition problems. Ask students to ring the bell the right number of times to answer the question.
  
  

Cardboard Box Tunnels

• tunnel in cave image by Nikolai Sorokin from Fotolia.com
  
  Making a tunnel by attaching cardboard boxes together can create opportunities that are not as easily accomplished with a purchased collapsible tunnel. The tunnel can be a cave where the kids decorate the walls with their version of ancient cave art and then explore the tunnel with flashlights. You could also recreate the night sky by punching holes in the top in the shape of constellations.
  
  

Reading Nook

• Tunnels can be fun places to hide away and read.child reading image by Ryan Shapiro from Fotolia.com
  
  Put a couple of small pillows near the middle of the tunnel, and let students use the tunnel as a reading nook. Little hiding places are great for getting lost in a great book like Green Eggs and Ham. Hey, there's even a tunnel in that book.