Preschool Powol Packets

Children love to give, naturally!  Honestly, I am constantly amazed at children's ability to give.  Sometimes though, especially during the holidays, they need a little reminder to look beyond themselves and share with the bigger community that they are a part of. That is why I absolutely fell in love with {affiliate link} Christmas from Heaven  by Tom Brokaw.  It is the true story of the "candy bomber," a United States airman who dropped handkerchief parachutes full of candy and gum to children during Christmas in a war-torn Berlin in 1948.  It captures the idea of someone giving up a treat for themselves to serve others who need the treat even more.  My children were captivated by the story-telling and the pictures.   Amazon affiliate link: There were a few pages that I summarized for my younger preschoolers with shorter attention spans, but when we finished the book everyone was pleased with Hal's decision.   And  (the best p

Christmas is coming!  This post is a HUGE celebration with 20+ Christmas busy bags and Montessori bins (and it includes a $500 giveaway)!!  Plan your preschool and pay for your holiday! In December, we do even less formal school work and loads of fun, seasonal activities.  I absolutely love "busy bags" and "Montessori bins" for a couple reasons: They are easy to set up, easy to transport, fun to engage in, and your kiddo can usually play with them independently if you need to run check on dinner or help another child!   Busy bags are self-contained activities that can be sealed up in a bag--I usually use a large freezer bag and store them in a file cabinet box.   Montessori bins are self-contained Montessori-inspired activities that your child can explore independently...they just pick up the bin and get to work!  I usually prepare 2-3 Montessori bins that are available at all times. These activities all tie in to popular Christmas them

Festive, fun, and absolutely delicous!  Our preschoolers loved making and eating their Healthy Holiday Treats!     Yum In the past, we have enjoyed dipping pretzels (and all sorts of other things) in chocolate during the holidays.  This year, however, I have a kiddo that cannot have any  refined sugar, so I adapted our normal pretzel sticks to this healthy recipe that she can enjoy with us! All of the kids (sugar free and not!) had a blast dipping their pretels...and eating them too!  You can make healthy holiday treats too!  You just need these Simple Supplies: * yogurt (we used plain greek yogurt sweetened with stevia.  Amazon affiliate link:  Liquid Stevia ) * freeze dried strawberries (many grocery stores carry these, but you can also get them online...here's an Amazon affiliate link: Freeze-Dried Strawberries ) * pretzel sticks * wax paper (optional, but very convenient!) * freezer Easy How To: 1- Prepare your sprinkles by crushing the drie

These placemats are a fantastic way for your preschooler to contribute to Thanksgiving and other fall festivities next week! Making them is also intense fine motor exercise and a bit of an art project!  Fortunately, they are super simple to set up -- your kiddos can even make a whole batch while you do some baking! Simple Supplies: * construction paper * scissors * optional: laminator Easy How-to: 1- Prepare your supplies by cutting strips of colored construction paper about 1 inch wide and then cutting strips in your "base" construction paper (we used brown) about 1 inch apart. 2- Show your kiddos how to weave the papers through the strips, alternating over/under/over in each row. 3- When you're done, throw a party!   Optionally, you can laminate your kiddos' homemade placemats and use them for Thanksgiving and other special meals too! Have you made woven placemats before?  I'd love to

Hurricane season is almost over, but it is still a fun topic for kids of all ages...and we always love a good science experiment! This is the perfect science project for helping kids understand these massive storms. We actually created this model after discussing how hurricanes form.  My oldest daughter wanted to do an experiment to see if she could make her own hurricane.  Her brother was ready to add to it, and I love how many actual analogies they were able to make!  They loved it so much that they repeated it almost every day for a week! I'm sharing the entire experiment (set-up and everything!) in this short video...I hope you enjoy it!  And -- just in case you are reading during nap time and have the volume muted -- I added captions too!  Let me know what you think! If you have trouble viewing it, you can click here and watch it on YouTube . Like all models, this science experiment has its inherent strengths and weaknesses.  Older children may e