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Inside: Keep your toddlers and preschoolers engaged with this printable Valentine’s Day circle time prop. Make one heart stick puppet for each child to hold while reading and singing! This printable Valentine’s Day heart prop is simple to assemble and fun for young children to hold during circle time. Simply cut the hearts from paper, tape to popsicle sticks, and give each child their own heart stick to hold. Use these heart props while reading related books, reciting rhymes, and singing songs....

Favorite Gardening Books I love it when our themes seamlessly join, such as when we move from our butterfly theme to our gardening theme. Both are related to nature in the spring, when we bring some the outdoors inside, while also going outside to explore. Our gardening theme not only invites our toddlers and preschoolers to play with gardening activities, but it also gets them involved in actually planting seeds that they will take care of and eventually take home....

The Best Singable Books for Toddlers and Preschoolers The Wheels on the Bus – Paul O. Zelinsky Some are planned, such as during circle time, and some just happen randomly, such as when we are in the middle of a transition to a new activity. You don’t need to have a beautiful voice, either. I used to be very self-conscious about my voice, knowing it was nothing close to my sister Lauri’s professional sound....

Free printables! Click on the photo to get the download: As soon as a holiday comes around, we teachers are looking for crafts. Now, don’t get me wrong. I do engage my preschoolers in crafts from time to time. But that’s not what I want my focus to be. As I plan activities, I am always mindful of what skills are being developed. Because yes, there are so many different learning opportunities in every activity we do....

Inside: Ready to add some pumpkin activities to your toddler and preschool day? This collection is full of hands-on fun, perfect for your pumpkin theme! My collection of pumpkin activities for kids keeps growing. Every time I get on Pinterest, I find amazing pumpkin activities! Fall is one of my favorite times of the year. I have fond memories of pumpkin carving as a kid. When I was a teenager, all the younger children would come over with their pumpkins and I’d help carve them....

Paint with Bubbles: Whip up a batch of vibrant bubble paint and make prints. Outdoor Canvas Painting: Collect flower petals and add them to a watercolor canvas art activity. Water Spray Alphabet Hunt: Work on letter recognition or letter sounds with water and a spray bottle! (Mom Inspired Life) ABC Excavation Sensory Bin: Fill ice trays with ABC beads and freeze for a fun letter exploration activity. (Parenting Chaos) Garden ABC Hunt: Get outside and enjoy some fresh air while practicing letter recognition....

When gingerbread men appear in our classroom, you know it’s December! You will find a gingerbread banner hanging in our window, little gingerbread men and a gingerbread house in the sensory bin, and gingerbread-shaped ice in trays, just waiting for paint! Today I’m sharing a color sorting gingerbread activity that will be another great addition to the gingerbread theme. It involves a free printable, and I’ve included multiple ways to use it....

It’s so easy to put together easy color recognition activities, and you really don’t need a lot of materials for many of them. Today I’m sharing enough activities that will last at least a week, most likely longer. These hands-on ideas teach a variety of skills while also focusing on lots of exposure to colors. Perfect for at home or in the classroom! A Week’s Worth of Shape Recognition Activities A Week’s Worth of Alphabet Activities A Week’s Worth of Apple Learning Activities A Week’s Worth of Pumpkin Learning Activities...

Inside: We’ve set up our toddler and preschool classroom this week for the friends and families theme. We made a family tree and a friendship banner and sang some fun friendship songs! Friends and family is always part of our toddler and preschool classroom, but we like to focus on it as a theme towards the beginning of the school year. On the first day of school we ask our families to provide a copy of a family photo that we can display on our family bulletin board all year long....

Inside: How to make a fun bear craft for the preschool hibernation theme. These sweet bears are fun to make and then get tucked into their beds for the winter! One of our favorite winter activities involves an adorable stuffed paper bear and a bed. As we explore our winter theme, we talk about animals that sleep during the winter. While bears don’t hibernate like other animals, they enter a lighter sleep-state called torpor....

How to Easily Manage Preschool Show and Tell CLICK HERE to see how we manage our preschool circle time! Preschool show and tell is a favorite with our 3 and 4 year olds. When they find the empty sharing box in their cubbies, they get so excited! They return the next school day with the box filled with 3 items that they chose to show their friends. When we gather for circle time and ask who brought the sharing box, that child just beams....

Fall is a nice time to take advantage of learning about nature. While on walks, take time to notice how the leaves are changing colors, and how they are starting to fall from the trees. Along with the leaves, there also might be pinecones scattered on the ground. Squirrels and other animals could be included in the leaves and pinecones theme as well, especially if they are busy running around outdoors in your area....

I love how colorful they turned out! I love those moments when I am shopping for nothing in particular, and there is the perfect item for a future activity. Yep, that was me in March. I was minding my own business, relaxing and seeing what was out there, and I found small canvas pieces in the shape of flowers. And right then I knew how I’d use them. As a keepsake Mother’s Day Gift....

Inside: Parents, build toddler literacy skills with a FREE subscription to Vooks digital library! Imagine having a library that is filled with animated versions of well-known children’s picture books. And this library is available whenever you need it. You know those times: On an airplane. During a long drive. Sitting in a waiting room for what feels like hours. At home, when naps just don’t seem to happen but you desperately need some quiet time....

Make sure to check out: Playdough Learning Activities We love using scented playdough recipes with our toddlers and preschoolers. Play dough is an every day staple in our classroom, and we place this table near the entrance for those that need some time to warm up before engaging in the day’s activities. Play dough is calming – even teachers love to sit down and play with it! 27 Christmas Playdough Activities Here is my Privacy Policy

Inside: Add some simple math to your preschooler’s day with this Valentine’s counting activity! Also promotes color recognition as the hearts are sorted. Free printable included! We love simple activities that build skills! This Valentine’s counting and color sorting activity is perfect for small groups or independent work. It can be done in the classroom setting or in the home. All you need to do is download the free printable that is shown at the end of this post (scroll down), add objects that are the same colors, and it’s ready to go!...

Inside: We created a winter dramatic play idea to learn about how bears sleep during the winter. We accompanied this with an adorable paper plate bear art activity! We love to use our dramatic play area for acting out ideas connected to our current theme. After reading one of our favorite books, Bear Snores On, we put together a winter dramatic play idea with a bear cave. We added a great big stuffed bear along with smaller stuffed animals....

It’s almost February, and we are planning some simple preschool Groundhog Day activities. On February 2 of each year, we wonder if Punxsutawney Phil will see his shadow. If Phil does not see his shadow, the legend is that spring will come early. This is a fun opportunity to teach preschoolers about light and shadow, plus there are so many cute props they can make to go along with fun poems and songs....

CLICK HERE for the best singable books! Pairing a hands-on activity with a book after you read it is a great way for preschoolers to comprehend what happened in the story. It provides an opportunity for you to discuss the lessons that the book is sharing with us, and helps children form a stronger memory of the story. From art to color sorting to fine motor, this list contains 15 fun activities based on popular picture books for you to experience along with your little ones!...

As the temperatures are dropping (it’s in the low 30s where I live right now), I am thinking of all the activities I can add to our winter unit! I found a fun collection of fun preschool winter crafts that I wanted to share with all of you. Actually, older children would enjoy them, too! If you are a teacher, these activities would work well on your classroom art table....