This time of year it’s all about Valentine’s Day! My favorite workbox activity for my preschoolers this time of year are my Valentine’s Day Counting Cards to use with manipulative: puff balls, candy pieces, and so forth!
Continue reading
When Strawberry was more consistent at getting to the number 10 when counting on her own, and yet numbers even higher than that seem incomprehensible to her, we decided to grasp the concept of 100, a high number, by making a paper clip counting 100 train together.
In the simple train book Crossing by Philip Booth, the gates go down at a small town railroad crossing in the earlier part of the century. Kids jump and cheer as it passes. They peek at each other underneath the cars and name the brands they see on the train cars. They count the cars (although not every number is shown in the book), and at the last car they yell “caboose!” I love the rhythmic rhyme in Crossing, and I also love that the illustrations are so rich. One two-page spread even shows the entire 100-car train! Continue reading
We play games for kindergarten this year. It’s the new normal. I’ve learned to adjust my expectations of Kindergarten learning. When Raisin was in kindergarten, he, as my first and only school-aged child, had to deal with what I’ll call, “An overload of curriculum.” There were many tears. Now, five years later, I’ve learned to adjust and adapt to my second child’s unique learning style. Enter our current math activities: Skip-Bo kindergarten math games.
Continue readingHere’s something to add to your Christmas sensory activities list for your toddler! Gather the textures of the first nativity in a basket, as based on a favorite Christmas Carol. My daughter loves sensory activities and this Nativity textures activity encourages exploration, as well as developing a growing understanding of the story of the first Nativity. What could be better for the Christmas season?
Continue reading
My mother and father found themselves celebrating their first Christmas together away from home during my dad’s assignment in Germany at the end of the Vietnam War. To decorate their humble Christmas tree, they purchased a few supplies and made Christmas elf pipe cleaner ornaments. Making these easy elf Christmas ornaments has become a family tradition.
Continue readingFor my preschooler, this angel kids craft was a nice alternative to snow play. The craft can also be converted into an angel Christmas ornament. The angel uses an outline of the child’s hands and one foot to form the wings and body, and a personal photo of the child’s face makes it personal. My daughter has a spitfire personality, so I loved the ultimate result of this craft thanks to the addition of her face to the angel.
Continue reading
In pondering ways to make learning kinetic for my active one, I decided to use the idea of a Christmas tree number hop, with a Christmas tree outlined on the floor. Our simple Christmas tree only needed ornaments with the numbers on them. I made our number recognition practice into a Christmas dance party! When the music stops, it is not “musical chairs” but rather a preschool gross motor activity, a Christmas number hop! Our Christmas Tree Number Hop is a great gross motor activity to get moving, even while still practicing number recognition in a fun activity.
Continue reading
It is so much fun to play games, and my daughter simply loves everything Christmas related! Here is a fun North Pole Mix-Up free printable Christmas game for kids to play together this season.
Continue reading
This week, my kindergartner and I decided to work on recognizing beginning blends. To practice sorting the beginning blends sounds, I made a beginning consonant blends game just perfect for the autumn season, since it involves sorting turkey feathers and returning them to the correct beginning consonant blend turkey.
Continue reading
Strawberry may be kindergarten aged and learning to read, but she does not want to sit down and do a worksheet, thankyouverymuch. So to make sure we get a bit of school in our exploring, I have to be creative and turn it in to a game. This week we played an autumn-themed game to help us recognize the short vowel sounds. The colorful autumn cards gave it a nice seasonal twist that my daughter appreciated as we played in her Halloween costume!
Continue reading