Preschool Powol Packets

Y is for Yellow Photography!  This is the perfect spring activity, though it also works well in any kind of warm weather or with a Letter Y letter-of-the week theme! This is the sort of activity you can do when you look outside and think that there is no possible way to stay indoors and do school work.  Grab a camera, your kids, and go outside! Talk about how yellow starts with y, the sounds y makes, and how pretty the yellow flowers are.  But also talk about everything else. We talked about flowers, super heroes, Star Wars, tree houses, decks, and more!  My kids decided that our "Yellow Scavenger Hunt" would only be for natural things, so the truck, fire hydrant, and a few other yellow items "didn't count!" They did decide to allow items that had yellow among other colors. As you find you yellow treasures, let yourkids take pictures of them!  This gives them technology experience and expensive modern tools at their fingertips! When they're done

What will you find underground?  This exploratory sensory activity is perfect for the letter U (U is for underground!) and spring, summer, fall, outdoor, and bug themes! Just give your kids a little hand shovel and let them get started!  Or use a big shovel!  You may be amazed by what they find! Or they may find exactly what you expect!  You never know! You can repeat the activity in your backyard, at the playground, and at the beach!  You will probably find different things underground at each location.  Ask your kids why! I also made a {FREE} Underground Scavenger Hunt printable page for you!  You can use it when you go outside, or for an outdoor challenge, or just to see what critters and objects you can find! Click here to get a {FREE} copy of the Underground Scavenger Hunt !! Also be sure to check out all my other  free insect and bug printable activities HERE ! We are joining with a group of kid bloggers to bring you A-Z Spring Outdoor Learnin

One of our favorite subjects is history!  My kids especially love the projects we've been doing at a homeschool co-op every other week that tie into each week's theme.  We loved learning about ancient Rome and making these super cool Roman roads! I love the huge age range of kiddos that fell in love with these roads: everyone from preschool to 5th grade had a great time making them and playing with them at home! We are using the Story of the World Volume 1 and its associated activity book as a history curriculum.  Chapter 28, The Roman Empire, suggests making these ancient Roman road models to help learn and reinforce how the Romans built roads. Our history group meets every two weeks at our wonderful host's home where everyone takes turns preparing different activities.  Our host prepared this one for the kids, and did such a wonderful job that I wanted to share it with you!  I'm sure you and your kiddos will want to make something similar! Ancient

Use this fun and colorful {FREE} ocean-themed counting page to practice counting and to teach 10 and one-to-one corresponding relationships! This {FREE} printable has 4 different ocean animals appearing 10 times each!  Practice counting the critters, mark them off as they're counted, and do it again!   Use coins or BINGO markers to cover the fish you've already counted, or use a dot marker!  Print on cardstock and laminate for repeated use!  Click HERE to get an Ocean-Themed Counting Practice Page for FREE!! Are you talking about oceans or ocean animals?  Be sure to take a look at my {FREE} Ocean Count & Clip Cards ,  {FREE} Dolphin Dots Pages , and my  Oceans Preschool Packet ! I may share at any of  these parties ! Never miss another post again!   Sign up for our weekly updates newsletter and get links to all our posts once a week in your inbox!  Sign up here !!

We absolutely love growing butterflies--it is one of our favorite spring activities!  Every time we do it, we hope to be able to see the butterflies actually "hatch," or break out of their chrysalises!  Sometimes we catch it, and sometimes we don't!  I thought I'd share some pictures from the Painted Ladies life cycle, how you know when they're about to hatch or break out of their chrysalis, and a video of one of them actually climbing out of the chrysalis for you!  You can use this as you plan your own butterfly growing experiences! You can order Painted Lady Butterfly caterpillars from several companies--I'll put Amazon affiliate links at the bottom of this post.  They usually arrive about 1-2 centimeters long in a little ventilated cup full of food. For about a week these caterpillars are the perfect pet: they require absolutely no care, but you can watch them grow and grow and grow!  They will outgrow their skin four times during this "l

Everyone here loves butterflies!  We especially love to see them landing on our own plants, and wanted to put more plants that attract butterflies into our yard.  The problem is that a lot of butterfly plants (including milkweed) are toxic, and we have preschoolers and toddlers that put flowers in their mouths.  The solution is simple: we're using edible plants that attract butterflies! Today I'm sharing five edible plants I love that are also supposed to attract butterflies. You can use garden planning time to talk about science concepts like life cycles and food webs or match concepts like space and measurements.  I have loads of math and gardening ideas here !  Let your kiddos pick out what plants they want to grow, record when they see butterflies, and taste their garden as it matures!  Pair planting with a life cycle or habitat discussion as you plan which butterflies you want to attract! Here are five butterfly flowers that are perfectly safe (even edible!) for y