Category Archives: Preschool Age

Egg Carton ABC Penny Drop (Workbox Wednesday)

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201504 egg carton abcs
My son’s Math and Science Club teacher through the park district came to class with a pile of amazingly large egg cartons recently. They played a math game, but my daughter and I used a blank one to make an ABC Penny Drop game.
All we needed was the egg carton, a marker, and a handful of pennies. Strawberry had a ton of fun dropping or throwing the pennies at the egg carton and then delightedly telling me what letter she had landed on.
We also used some ABC flashcards to match the letter we hit to the letters of the alphabet. She was delighted whenever we landed on a letter we had not yet landed on! Continue reading →

Dinner is Art Class with a Scribble Tablecloth

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It was a tired night for me. The kids were cranky, but we still had dinner to go before I could send them to bed! To make matters worse, it was a leftovers night (spaghetti) and I knew that my kids would whine about that too. My husband would not be home for quite some time.
It was up to me to change the mood of the evening. It was up to me to not go crazy as I did so.
It’s a good thing I have been reading The Giant Book of Creativity for Kids. I don’t see myself as a very creative person, but the author of the book certainly is. On a whim, I took up Bobbi Conner’s brief suggestion: I unrolled butcher paper on the table and grabbed some crayons. This was our tablecloth for the night.
1503scribble-tablecloth
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Toddler Busy Box Organization (Workbox Wednesday)

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201502toddler busybox organization
If there is one thing parents know about toddlers, it is that they have a short attention span. They are unpredictable, too, so if you are headed somewhere and you want to keep them busy, it is best to have a number of options for them to choose from.
Busy boxes for toddlers, then, need to have a variety of different options. If you are taking them with you, it also must be easily portable! Here are some of the things I do to keep organized when preparing a busy box for my toddler. Continue reading →

ABC Peg People Busy Bag

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peg people2I love how I get great ideas from Pinterest and from great blogging moms who have fantastic ideas. Other moms have been there before and have great ideas and words of wisdom to share. Making letter people is one idea I found that I simply love! When I stumbled upon No Time for Flash Cards‘ post about Alphabet Peg Dolls, I knew ABC peg people were something my daughter would love to play with, especially as she begins to learn her letters. Continue reading →

Numbers Busy Box

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numbers busyboxThis week I thought I’d send some fun numbers activities and games in my daughter’s workbox. I’m finding that because she’s such an active one, I’ve got to give her lots of active games each week. I can picture her spreading these games out on the floor to enjoy.

  1. Numbers (1-5) tubes. I found this activity on Pinterest (see the blog post here) and I loved it! I was able to replicate it without too many difficulties, and Strawberry enjoys playing with the set.
  2. Ducky Counting (posted as a freebie at my shop). I made this a few months ago. My daughter loves her ducks!
  3. Numbers counting mats. This was an inexpensive game I bought for my son when he was young. My daughter likes matching the numbers and the backside has places to match the items to the correct room it belongs in.
  4. Self-Correcting Number Puzzles (1-6). These game from a larger game (afflink) that I got years ago! I only selected out the 1-6 cards so Strawberry can play with a limited number of puzzles at a time.
  5. Puzzle Counting Book. Books are so much fun when they are also puzzles! This Caillou book was a gift (afflink).
  6. Miscellaneous picture books about numbers concepts. (not pictured). I have 5 Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed and Chicka-Chicka 1-2-3 (afflinks). I may find more to add in!

What do you do to introduce number concepts to your young child?
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ABCs Busy Box Ideas

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Strawberry loves the LeapFrog videos that teach the letters. She is quite adept at recognizing letters (especially uppercase letters) as we go about our daily life, and often recalls the LeapFrog word most frequently associated with it. Thus, the “C” is “Cold” and the “H” is Hot. I decided to send a few letter activities in her busy box this week. She’ll loved the ABCs Busy Box! Here’s what I had for her.

abc workbox
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Shapes Workbox

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shapes workboxThis week I want to clarify that I try to keep all the activities that my daughter is to do during her “preschool” time need to fit in one box! I found a great carry-all craft box like this one (affiliate link) that has a few compartments. It works really well, and I need it to be self-contained since I usually have my arms full of other things for the class that I teach!
My daughter has shown an interest in shapes recently, so I decided to put together a few shape activities for the adults who watch Strawberry to do with her. Here’s what her workbox includes this week. Continue reading →

Trees Read and Play

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I’m glad to be a part of a great Halloweeen Read and Play blog hop today as well. The Halloween-ish book I chose to focus on is The Spooky Old Tree by Stan and Jan Berenstain. I loved this book when I was a child, so I love that it has lived on in to my children’s generation. Strawberry loves the “three bears” (as she calls them).
For my toddler daughter’s workbox this week, then, I decided to continue the fall-ish theme started with apples last week by playing with trees!
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