Preschool Powol Packets

What are you doing with your preschoolers this winter? Do they love dinosaurs? Or games? What about... dinosaurs AND games?!   The Christmas Dinosaurs Pre-K Pack is full of fun math, language arts, and logic (pre-science) activities! *** Purchase here ! November ONLY : Click HERE to find out how to get it for free!! *** Christmas Dinosaurs Pre-K Pack If you've ever wanted to merge Christmas lights and trees with smiling dinosaurs, this is the perfect packet for you! It has 50 PAGES of printable activities to keep you and your little dinosaur-lovers playing and growing! I've always been slightly obsessed with dinosaurs (my first picture book was even about dinosaurs!), and I am always delighted when my kids go through dinosaur phases! We always pull dinosaurs out for "Dinovember," so I was just thinking about what kind of fun dinosaur activities we needed, and I realized: Christmas Dinosaurs!! So, what's in this packet? Here's a list: 1- Shadow Matching Cards ...

The other day I was in a group, and we were talking about using things our preschoolers are excited about to teach them. I came up with this activity as an example of something you could do with a kid who gets excited about volcanoes to help him learn letters. I am a strong advocate for learning by play and learning with hands-on activities. You will recognize this popular preschool science activity, but I added a small change: mystery letter cups! Three cups are labeled with "B," "S," and "F" (or whatever letters you want to work on).  Inside the cups are a few tablespoons of baking soda (my "B"), salt (my "S), and flour (my "F"). I used the first letters of each word in this example, but it's really not necessary if you want to work on other letters. Inside the vase, let your preschooler pour about a cup of vinegar. He can add red or orange food coloring, too! (My kids are a little obsessed with food coloring! I should do ano...

How to teach reading: Is there a more controversial topic in preschool and kindergarten?! There are a few skills that we get to share with our children that are incredibly life-changing. They open up new possibilities and opportunities for independence and growth in ways that most other lessons can only approach.   Learning to read changes a child's life as much as learning to speak or use the bathroom! It is one of the last major milestones of early childhood, and it propels a child into a new world that they can learn about and decipher, to a large measure, without an adult explaining everything for them. Watching this new skill become part of a child is thrilling! I have, however, seen many people feel more overwhelmed by the responsibility of the idea than excited about the potential. Is this you?  Have you ever wondered,  "How do I teach my child to read?"  "Should my child be reading already?"  "How do we get ready to ...

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 o...

It's time for the Letter B in this set of free printable minibooks! Each minibook focuses on a letter of the alphabet and I'll be sharing one about every week! It's a perfect preschool printable for learning, reviewing, or previewing letters! Like the Letter A, this book has nine coloring-book style pictures that start with the featured letter. You just print them off, cut out the pages, and staple them together! Or, even better, let your preschooler or kindergarten kiddo cut out the pages! They get to practice writing their name on the front page, trace the letter on the front page, and see the letter again on each page in the minibook! You can also print two sets, paste them on construction paper, cut them out, and play memory or matching games. It just reinforces the sounds that B can make as you remind your children that all the words in this book start with B. My preschoolers LOVE "reading" their books after they color them! You could also display...

My favorite order for teaching letters is to start with the letters in our preschoolers' names. This pumpkins-on-a-gate name activity is perfect for that...and it ties in our favorite fall theme:  5 Little Pumpkins!! We've been working on name recognition and letter recognition a lot this fall, and our kiddos can find their own name easily, but some of them lose track of some of the letters in their name as they try to write them. And, since this week is the Virtual Book Club's Pumpkin theme, I decided to make upper case and lower case pumpkin letters to use with our name activities. (They're also working great for some spelling activities with the older kids!) To make your own Pumpkin Names on a Gate, you just need the free printable (link below), blue construction paper for the background, yellow construction paper for a moon, and scissors and glue! 1- Print and cut out the pumpkin letters. I did this in advance. ;) 2- Make a "pumpkin patch...

This week we're talking about squirrels and acorns, and I'm sharing a fun action rhyme for kids all about squirrels! Our featured book for this week is Scaredy Squirrel (image below is an Amazon affiliate link): This squirrel rhyme for kids is perfect to do after you read the story...and it's fun with one kiddo or a classroom! After you read the story, do the action rhyme 2-3 times, and then find a picture in the story and discuss one or two of the squirrel fun facts below! Squirrel Action Rhyme for Kids: I am a squirrel in a tall, tall tree.   Stretch up tall toward the sky! I like to look around and see, see, see!     Make hands into binocular shapes and look around! I am picking acorns for my lunch, "Pick" invisible acorns out of the air. I love the way they crunch, crunch, crunch! Make exagerrated crunches with your mouth. Sometimes I stretch my arms up to the sky, Spread arms out wide. Take a leap, and start ...