We sure do! We’ve had lots of fun exploring spiders in recent years: Spider Science Spider Props with Music Spider Sensory Bin Spider Web Art Egg Carton Spiders Spider Puppets Spider Counting Snack So how about adding spiders to the light table with loose parts? That’s exactly what we did this year, and our preschoolers loved it! We add our own verses, such as the bitty baby spider and the great big spider....

Inside: Get out the colorful tissue paper for this fun and easy toddler Valentine craft. These heart suncatchers bring color to your home or classroom when hung in the window. Free printable heart template included! You know how it goes. You are walking down the aisles in your local dollar store and you spot it. You don’t know what you will do with it, but you just know it will be fun for something....

The first two weeks of October in our toddler classroom is all about apples. We do apple color sorting at the light table, stamp apples into playdough, play in our apple orchard, and make apple muffins. Since the focus is on red, yellow and green (the colors of apples), and our students really enjoy creating collages, I put together a super simple fall art idea that involves squeezing glue. Of course, allowing them to squeeze the glue onto the paper is probably the biggest hit!...

20+ Fun and Easy Toddler Activities for Home This is post is part of a series of At-Home activities for parents and caregivers. Make sure to also see our other posts in this At-Home series: You have a toddler at home. That toddler is busy, busy, busy! And you are looking for activities that you can do with them, or that they can do by themselves. This collection of easy toddler activities has something for everyone....

20+ Simple Toddler Sorting Activities CLICK HERE to enjoy 25+ number games for toddlers! When toddlers explore their surroundings they start noticing how some things are alike, and some things are different. They might start grouping the red blocks, for example. Or line up the blue cars separately from the red cars. Toddlers are also naturally sorting when they help with everyday tasks, such as putting toys away. When putting together math activities for our toddlers, we always add some sorting activities as they are simple and hands-on....

Inside: Looking for some pumpkin fun during circle time? Download the free printable to make your own 5 Little Pumpkins prop set! If your toddlers and preschoolers love the song 5 Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed, they are going to have fun with this pumpkin activity I put together! One of our themes during October is pumpkins, so while I was searching for songs, I found one that mimics the 5 Little Monkeys song, except it’s with pumpkins instead....

Inside: Looking for kid made ornaments? This amazing collection has over 50 fun ideas. Plus, I’ve included a free printable activity for you to do today! I love homemade ornaments. Especially when they are kid made ornaments. So when I was asked to contribute to a collection of 50 plus ornaments made by kids, I was all for it. We make quite a few ornaments each December in our preschool classroom, but our families have told us they most cherish those that include a picture of their children....

I confess that I start planning our spring theme earlier than the other seasons. I am ready for this season of new growth and color. Of flower petals and caterpillars that turn into butterflies, of bees and birds and baby chicks. This fun collection of crafts is the perfect compliment to your spring theme. If you are looking for some fun spring crafts for preschoolers, crafts that encourage exploration, you will love this collection!...

The Five Little Speckled Frogs fingerplay is a favorite with our toddlers and preschoolers. You might remember it from our fingerplay collection. Its cute lyrics combined with the hand motions and counting down from 5 to 1 are fun for circle time or transition time. Young children tend to get more involved in fingerplays when props are used. I’ve seen several different frog props used for Five Little Speckled Frogs, but I wanted something that the children could take home....

Inside: Preschool friendship activities are important for strong social growth. Here are over 20 fun activities that encourage friendship building! Starting from the first day of school, we include friendship activities in our day. At the age of 3, children are starting to play more with each other, forming new friendships. We talk about what makes a good friend. We do friendship activities, we read friendship stories, and we sing friendship songs....

Putting Together the Toddler and Preschool Apple Theme We like to kick off our fall themes with apples. There are so many fun ways to explore them – in fact, we could have extended this theme for weeks! We explored apples in just about every learning center, and we had our first cooking activity of the school year making apple muffins. I added a new fingerplay, we took a nature walk and found apples on the ground, and we did several different fun art activities....

Inside: Looking for some easy shamrock art for toddlers? This St. Patrick’s Day art adds fine motor building by replacing paintbrushes with cotton swabs. Free printable included! Our 2 year old class was full of energy as soon as they walked in the door. I’m talking running, pushing, screaming. I needed something to calm them down, and was thankful I had this simple shamrock process art activity planned. There is something about painting on slick foil that is so soothing....

Christmas Fizzy Painting: Learn what happens when you combine baking soda and paint! (Gift of Curiosity) Science activities are a wonderful way to engage preschoolers in active, hands-on learning. If you’ve done science experiments with young children, you’ve most likely seen the look of wonder in their eyes as the activity unfolds. Because my goal is to add more science to our daily schedule, I am always searching for great ideas....

Inside: Looking for some free preschool printables? This collection has a little bit of everything, and can be used in the classroom or at home! There are so many creative ways to use printables with preschoolers at home and in the classroom! I’m not a fan of worksheets, but I do love labels, picture cards, sorting activities, busy bags … well, the list goes on. If you are like me, you will LOVE these free preschool printables!...

Inside: If you are looking for easy, you will love this toddler shape art activity. It’s a great way to work on shape recognition, plus you can use toys you already own! During our shapes and colors theme, I wanted an art activity that would be open-ended but also give our toddlers a chance to recognizing shapes while painting. I’m sure I’m not alone here, but I love being able to use materials we already own....

Inside: Recycle cardboard to make this Valentine heart craft. Toddlers love the feeling of pom poms as they press them into tinted glue. Add some ribbon and hang! If you are looking for a super easy and fun Valentine’s craft for toddlers (and preschoolers!), you are going to love this activity. We’ve been having so much fun with different Valentine’s Day heart activities, such as painting hearts with cars (seriously fun!...

More» Winter Circle Time Favorite Activities Music is an important part of our toddler and preschool day. It’s a great way to build skills while also working on communication and listening skills. This collection of winter preschool songs is our playlist for January, working nicely with our winter theme. These can be done during circle time, during music and movement, or any time your children have an extra dose of the wiggles and need to move!...

Inside: Five Little Snowmen Winter Circle Time Activity – Free Printable! I just love finding songs that get our circle times active. You know when you find that song that lights the children up and gets them participating with you? While putting together my January playlist, I found a fun song called Five Little Snowmen by The Kiboomers. I just knew it would be perfect for our snowman theme, plus I could work on simple counting skills, too....

Watch: My Secret to a Successful Circle Time Circle time with young children can be a challenge. I not only this from experience, but it’s a topic in many messages and emails sent by my readers. It took me many years to realize that the key is getting them involved. Not just listening to you, but actually being part of the activity! This flower matching activity encourages young children to identify and match colors while holding props....

Inside: Wondering how to introduce preschool journals to 3 year olds? Here are some examples of our journal activities, and how we keep them simple. Journals are one of our favorite activities in our classroom. Often when I mention to others that we do journals, I get looks of disbelief. Some people have told me they are too young. But when I say we do simple journals with 3 year olds, I must emphasize SIMPLE....