Preschool Powol Packets

A rainstick instrument is a sensorimotor activity perfect for older preschoolers to craft themselves and younger preschoolers and toddlers to play with! Bonus: it fits weather, rain, and Spring themes too! And it actually sounds like rain! The latest course I've taken with Childcare Education Institute (CCEI) is Bright Beginnings: Age Appropriate Activities for Infants and Toddlers . One of my favorite parts of the CCEI670 course was the discussion on sensory activities and how they are important for cognitive development. I love sensory activities, and this course inspired me to plan more sensory-based learning into our schedule. To start off my sensory-based learning, I decided to create rainsticks! Did you know that rainsticks were probably first made by indigenous people in Chile? They dried hollow cacti, broke the thorns off them, then pierced the thorns inside the cactus to make a bumpy path for pebbles that they added inside the stick. When the ends were sea

One of our new arctic animal  activities was visualizing how big (and small!) some of the animals that live in the arctic really are! We did this math activity with mixed ages, and our older kids were very sweet about giving the younger ones a chance to measure too! The only supplies you need are rulers and the measurements of some arctic animals (which I have for you below)! You can either copy down the list of measurements or just print off the Arctic Animals Mini Poster below! I did start out our lesson with a globe to compare our location with the arctic. Click here to get this Arctic Animals Size Mini Poster ! It's important to keep in mind that most of these numbers are the maximum sizes. In real life, animals (and people) come in a huge variety of sizes! The room we were measuring in was only 24 feet long, for example, so we said that the whole room represented an orca...though the kids were a little put out that we couldn't measure the whole 25 fe

Did you know that an active learning, full-body preschool activity also prepares your child to read? See how this fun winter-themed arctic animal preschool activity also counts as a reading lesson below! I just took an online course through  ChildCare Education Institute (CCEI)  called  Active Learning in Early Childhood.   This course explores how movement and active learning can be used to improve learning in reading, science, math, and other subjects!  (Keep reading for more details on that!)  I seriously loved it! I used my new knowledge from it to design this activity--you can do this activity with one child at home, or a whole group for an Arctic Animals Theme or Winter Unit Study! I did it with my preschoolers at home. First, show a picture (or use a stuffed animal) of an arctic fox like the one below.  Ask what it is. Talk about its characteristics.  Let your preschoolers touch some ice cubes to get an idea of how cold the arctic is. Share  a few of th

This Arctic Animals Preschool Theme has everything preschoolers love about the frigid north polar region, including arctic animal science, marine science, letter-learning activities, math fun, and more! We are starting out our year with an Arctic Animals theme! Of course, we've done this before, so I'm gathering up all our arctic animal preschool activities, and putting them here!  I'm not including any penguin activities in this collection, partly because they live in the antarctic (not arctic) and partly because you can find them all HERE ! I'll be adding some more in soon--I have some new projects planned already! (We'll also be doing some of our "old" favorites too--the polar bear STEM exploration is fantastic!!) Let me know your favorites! Arctic Animals Preschool Theme Arctic Animals Science   Polar Bear Science Experiment Reindeer Toothpaste (Note: This was originally published as a Christmas activity, but since

The homeschool STEM Conference--Online is coming up, and I still have room for a few more speakers, sponsors, and vendors! This is the first conference of its kind--a place for homeschooling parents to find practical advice and encouragement in teaching STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering, and math)! Because it is all online, THIS conference has none of the hassle of traditional conferences: * no worries about parking or transportation * no arranging childcare * no flights or hotels needed! What you WILL get is AMAZING: * classes from experts, teachers, professionals, and homeschoolers ! These classes are hosted on Teachable, and you get lifetime access--watch them during the conference and again as often as you want! Watch the sessions on any device you want! * access to a conference group in Facebook with "live" giveaways, freebies, drawings, and more! "Meet" other homeschoolers who care about STEM! * access to a "ve