Inside: Looking for a fun winter playdough activity that your preschoolers will love? Try building a snowman. This simple idea is also a great way to strengthen fine motor skills! Winter is here! And that means adding lots of snow activities to your winter theme. That also means making playdough snowmen. You might remember our love for snowmen, like when we stamped them with bubble wrap, and when we made “snow” covered snowmen....
Inside: Put together some easy and toddler transportation art using something you probably already have: Duplo-style cars! A fun process art activity for your transportation theme. I love learning what my students are interested in and finding activities that include them. It makes it so much more meaningful! My toddlers this year love Lego Duplos. To the point that if we don’t have them available, they ask for them. So, when I was planning our transportation theme, it was a no-brainer to add them to a simple process art activity....
Place the lid on the salad spinner. ‘Tis the season for lots of holiday crafts! You know the ones. They are cute, you’ve worked hard cutting out all those little pieces, you stand close by so you can gently suggest the pieces be arranged in a certain order. And, when finished, you either have a Pinterest fail because they look nothing like the photo that proudly sat on your computer screen a few days back....
Preschool art with tea bags is the coolest fine motor activity! I mean, really, who would have thought to paint with them? Not me. And I don’t take credit for inventing this. If you google it, you will find many people who have tried it. I wanted to be in on the fun, too! And so, I collected different types of tea bags so we could experiment how rich the color could be....
Preschool Easel Painting Activities The benefits of working on an easel: Fine motor: Moving the painting tool from the paint container to the easel surface requires focus and control. Large motor: Because of the angle of the arm, using the easel works the shoulder and entire arm. The bigger the surface, the more exercise this area of the body gets. Cognitive skills: There is a lot to figure out while using an easel, such as how the paint will get on the paper, how the different colors will mix, and how to handle the drips that occur....
Inside: This printable color matching snowman is a fun prop to use during circle time, especially while reading the book Colors in the Cold. A fun way to work on color recognition skills! You know when you find that perfect book that you know will keep your toddlers engaged? That’s exactly how I felt when I discovered a simple winter color recognition book called Colors in the Cold. In this book, a snowman needs to be dressed, and each piece of clothing is a different color....
Inside: Add a simple preschool pumpkin math activity to your fall theme with these free printable cards. Perfect for independent work and small groups! Our preschoolers are loving to count this year! They loved our apple counting activity a few weeks ago, and then our apple graph last week. So I put together simple pumpkin math activity. In fact, it’s been out all week because they are having so much fun with it!...
CLICK HERE to see our classroom set up for the pumpkin theme! Who knew that my salad spinner would get more use at school than at home! Seriously, I love this thing. If you’ve been following me for awhile, you’ve seen how we’ve made spiders, trees, and hearts using this nifty kitchen tool. But there are a few tips I’ve learned along the way, and will share those with you today....
The block center is an important part of the preschool classroom. This area can provide many different learning opportunities and is a wonderful place for creativity and imagination. When shelves and baskets are organized with a variety of toys and materials, young children are invited to create and build. While playing with blocks activities, many important skills are built. Scroll down towards bottom of this post to find a free printable list of materials and free labels for your block center!...
Inside: Handling transitions with toddlers can be tough, unless you have a plan. Here are my favorite tips that have been learned during my 20 years of teaching! The Secrets to Handling Transitions with Toddlers You have a specific classroom schedule to follow. Your eye is on the clock. But those toddlers have their own agenda. They are not going to budge. They are, after all, busy toddlers. They want to keep on moving....
Last year, when The Imagination Tree first shared their Kindness Elves idea, I was intrigued. During a season that can be focused on asking for gifts, I love the idea of instead focusing on what we can give others. So this year when I heard that the the Kindness Elves were going to be an actual product that could be purchased, I placed my order. Using the Kindness Elves with preschoolers is going to be a new tradition in our classroom....
Exploring the rainbow is our favorite way to expose young children to colors and color mixing. I’ve share how we’ve made rainbows on bubble wrap and sorted rainbow colors in the sensory bin. But what about science? How can you wonder what happens while working with ROYGBIV? I’m thrilled to have found 15 rainbow science activities for toddlers and preschoolers. Hands-on science that get young children excited about what will happen next!...
20+ Christmas Gross Motor Games that Keep Toddlers and Preschoolers Moving Hop or step on the path of Santa’s boots for a fun Christmas large motor activity. (Pink Oatmeal) There are a lot of Christmas ideas out there that require sitting at a table, or with little movement. But what about when the kids need to release some energy? I found 20 Christmas gross motor games that are perfect for home, school, parties – anytime you want to get moving!...
25+ Free Preschool Summer Printables Summer Activities Planner – Keep track of your kids’ summer activities, trips, bucket list, and more with these cute printables to help you keep organized. (Oh My! Creative) It’s summer and you are looking for something to keep your preschoolers busy in between activities. I’ve collected over 25 different preschool summer printables that you can print and give to your children at any moment. A great way to work on fine motor and other skills at home, or even while you are traveling!...
You are looking for an easy Mother’s Day gift that can be made by kids. You want it to be simple, yet much appreciated. I’ve got you covered! Throughout my years of teaching, we’ve made many different gifts for Mom. You all know how I am not thrilled about crafts and gifts that are mostly done by adults. However, that can be a challenge when finding a gift to give to an adult....
Recently I asked my Facebook readers what their favorite breakfasts for kids were. I loved all the varieties of food that were mentioned, from many parts of the world! Breakfast is so important for young children. It is the fuel to help them have a good start to their day. As a teacher, I can usually tell when a child doesn’t eat much for breakfast. It’s hard for them to concentrate and they are irritable....
Inside: This easy handprint ornament can be filled with small pieces and given as a keepsake gift for the holidays! Handprint crafts and ornaments are always popular when it comes to keepsakes. I know that decades later I still enjoy pulling our kids’ handprint memories from the Christmas box. Perhaps that’s why I love this handprint ornament. Simply fill a clear ornament with your choice of small items and add something personal on the ornament, such as a handprint....
The preschool age is a wonderful time to begin to introduce the concepts involved in STEM- that is, Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. These topics at first may sound too advanced for preschoolers, but there are wonderful age-appropriate simple activities that begin to introduce the qualities of STEM to preschoolers in a way that feels natural and fun for them! Below is a compilation of ideas to put your gears into motion....
How to Make a Terrarium During Your Preschool Gardening Theme Step 5: When we started our gardening theme, my co-teacher researched how to make a terrarium with kids. I had never owned a terrarium, let alone make one, so I was curious how she’d put this together for our preschoolers. I was in charge of helping the children put it together, and I admit I was a bit surprised at how much they loved this activity!...
Providing a writing center in the preschool classroom is a fun way to encourage young children to use writing tools. This area can have a variety of materials that strengthen the hands and fingers, while also exposing children to the alphabet. While some might be able to write some letters, or their names, others might be working on circles and lines. Having an open-ended center allows children of different learning levels to explore in their own way....
