15 Hands-On Preschool Owl Activities that are Fun! Paper Plate Owl Craft – Use paper plates and paint to create a cute flying owl piece. As the weather begins to cool down and the leaves start to transition into fall, nature begins to really show its colors. Squirrels and bears prepare their habitats for the cold winter. Owls and rodents begin exploring more as the night begins earlier. Birds prepare to migrate as a group....

Want to save these ideas for later? CLICK HERE to pin and save! Most preschoolers know about the polar bears live in the arctic, but do they know about walruses, whales, snowy owls, seals, and so many more animals live there too? The arctic circle is home to a large amount of the Earth’s animals, and contains 10% of the waters on our planet. Temperatures there have been recorded to drop to as low as -90 degrees Fahrenheit!...

When thinking about fall and Halloween, one of the main visuals that comes to mind is bats. They are a prominent nature symbol of the season. While preschoolers most likely can identify bats, there are so many fascinating facts about bats that they probably do not know yet. Did you know that they use echolocation to find nearby objects, and that they have a keen sense of smell to identify their young?...

30+ Awesome Ways to Teach the Alphabet You can find more activities on our Literacy Board. Preschool parents are concerned their children won’t learn their ABCs. I get that. I was that parent. Then I became a preschool teacher. I relaxed. As a teacher, I know that alphabet learning should be hands-on. It’s about providing playful literacy activities that excite young children to want to learn more. If you are a preschool teacher, you might wonder at what part of your day should you include alphabet learning....

If you are like me while searching Pinterest, you might be overwhelmed by all the back to school activities for preschool teachers. Each of my 17 plus years of back to schools has given me a better understanding for what works and what doesn’t. I know I will continue to learn as the years go on, always tweaking things. Here is a collection of activities, books and songs that might be good choices for those first weeks of school....

Color Recognition Fish Ocean Sensory Bin CLICK HERE for more ocean activities! Hello fun color sorting fish sensory bin! It’s all about scooping and pouring with this age group. For this reason, I try to find fun ways to incorporate these in our sensory bins. Water is always a favorite, but sand and other materials work well, too. Also, if we have a child who likes to dump toys, we can redirect him to this type of sensory bin....

Inside: Learn how to make Mother’s Day gift wrap with bubble prints. This is a fun process art activity that involves blowing colored bubbles onto white lunch sacks. Perfect to wrap a homemade gift! Oh my goodness. I have fallen in love with this sweet Mother’s Day gift wrap – made with colored bubbles! Simply add some liquid watercolors to your bubble solution, aim the wand towards the paper, and blow bubbles....

Young children love to press toys into playdough! So when I was setting up our farm theme, I chose to add farm animals to the playdough table and it was a huge hit! Grab whatever farm animals you have on hand. I’ve tried this with small and larger animals and both provided lots of fine motor fun. I make sure this center is near our classroom door because it’s the first area children see when they arrive....

I can’t believe it’s almost the back-to-school season! Well, we still have a few more weeks, but I know other areas in the country have either already returned, or are super close. This collection of back to school printables would be a fun addition to your preschool day, especially when you are wanting (needing?) some quiet time. Oh, and teachers, I’m adding free printables for you, too! Scroll down a bit to find them....

Inside: Sort colors with this fun rainbow sensory bin! We’ve included different textures for extra sensory, plus tweezers for a fine motor challenge. Add this to your rainbow theme! After a grey winter, we cannot wait for our classroom to burst with color. So is it coincidence that one of our last winter themes involves the rainbow? I think not. During this theme I wanted a sensory bin that not only had every color in the rainbow, but also different textures and tools to strengthen the hands and fingers....

Note: Some of the products shown in these photos were given to me free of charge from Melissa & Doug Toys. All opinions are my own. Affiliate links are provided for your convenience. It’s raining outside. The kids have more energy than usual. You glance at the clock. It’s going to be a long day unless you can get them moving. How about some fun indoor activities for rainy days?...

You invite your toddlers to join you at circle time. You have the song Itsy Bitsy Spider cued on the CD player. You’ve planned this moment. You’ve written in your planner. Most of your toddlers join you at first. A few are busy in other areas of the classroom. You can deal with that. You turn on the CD player and the song starts playing. One child leaves the circle time....

What you will need: aluminum foil cotton swabs tempera paint liquid dish soap construction paper (optional) Setting it up: Because I wanted to display these on the wall, I stapled a piece of aluminum foil to construction paper. This gave it extra support, plus I cut the foil a bit smaller so that the construction paper framed it. I poured the tempera paint into a container and added a generous squirt of liquid dish soap....

Inside: Work on shape recognition and fine motor skills with this preschool shapes printable activity. Each shape contains dots that can be filled with buttons, pom poms, or dot markers! Working on shape recognition is so easy with this printable activity! Grab some small pieces such as pom poms or buttons, or use dot markers. Then, select what shapes you want to work on and invite your toddlers and preschoolers to fill in each dot....

Christmas TreesValentine Hearts Big Cardboard Preschool Snowman Art What we used: Big snowman shape, cut from cardboardXacto KnifePuffy glue (see recipe below)RollersBig googly eyesAssorted white loose parts Puffy glue: Squirt shaving cream and white glue onto a tray. I use about equal parts of both (it doesn’t need to be exact). Mix well. Preparing This Activity Cut simple snowman shapes from cardboard. I made one for each of my students. I find using an Xacto knife works better than scissors, especially if cardboard is a bit thick....

Inside: Put together a preschool winter light table with loose parts while exploring the colors white and blue. This activity also includes different textures for hands-on sensory fun! Invite your toddlers and preschoolers to explore the colors white and blue with this winter light table. We’ve added different shapes and textures for sensory fun, as well as bottles to shake and look through. The loose parts pieces we’ve used can be altered so that you use similar items depending on what you have on hand....

Inside: Grab this free printable bear circle time prop to use with a variety of books, rhymes and songs! Toddlers and preschoolers love learning about animals all year long. However, we like to include bears in our winter animal theme. While bears don’t actually hibernate (they go into what is called torpor), they do sleep very soundly. In fact, one of our favorite winter dramatic play activities is pretending to sleep in caves during the winter like bears do....

Big Collection of Sensory Table Activities for the Entire Year Note: Some of these sensory tables are more appropriate for preschoolers, as they may contain small pieces that can be a choking hazard. The sensory table is a favorite with our toddlers and preschoolers, and for good reasons. Each sensory table activity we provide encourages our children to explore using multiple senses. They get to touch different textures, move the pieces around, dump and pour, stack, measure, be creative, and use their imaginations....

Inside: Toddlers and preschoolers love this cardboard Easter egg craft. Using tinted glue and tissue paper circles make these cardboard eggs colorful and festive! Colorful Cardboard Easter Egg Craft This is also a great color mixing activity! When the green and blue paints were mixed, for example, green showed up. Grab some cardboard and a few other pieces and invite your toddlers and preschoolers to get creative. Let me show you how!...

When we added a pizzeria to our dramatic play area, my co-teacher put together a pizza kit out of felt. I knew it was going to be a hit, and, of course, it was! “Dramatic play is defined by experts as a type of play where children assign and accept roles and act them out.” (Source) When we plan our dramatic play curriculum, we make sure it somehow connects to our preschoolers‘ experiences....