Education resources for parents and teachers
Cloud dough is one of those play recipes that you must make because it's just too easy not to. If you follow a lot of learning blogs, then you've probably seen it dozens of times. But for the sake of those who might not know what I'm talking about... This is all you need. Mix eight parts flour to one part baby oil. We made two big batches of 16 cups of flour to 2 cups baby oil. I used ... Read More
One child scribbles on a piece of paper and proudly announces, "This is my name!" Another preschooler writes a string of random letters and asks his mother what it says. Still another child draws a picture of a cat and labels it with a wobbly C. Which one of these children is writing? They all are. Just as children advance through different stages on the road to conventional reading and spelling, they also ... Read More
Today I'm back with another set of milk cap spelling mats - this time for short o You'll need to collect a set of milk or bottle caps for this activity --- or simply cut out paper circles with a large circle punch. Write letters on the milk caps, or print my set of letters and create your own milk cap letters with a bottle of Mod Podge. Here's my tutorial which will tell you just how to do it! Phonics practice ... Read More
Looking for a simple activity that will teach kids to sound out words? Try these free word slider cards! You can introduce "sounding it out" in different ways. 1. One way is to take out some letter tiles - H, A, and T for example. Lay out the tiles in order with large spaces in between. Show your child how to say each sound separately. Gradually squeeze the letter tiles together as you say the sounds closer ... Read More
Last fall, This Reading Mama and I teamed up to share a series of simple first and second grade writing lessons. We're back - and this time we're sharing ten preschool and kindergarten writing lessons. If your preschooler is only scribbling, you might think this series doesn't apply to you. I'm excited to share that this series is for any preschooler or kindergartner who can make a mark on paper. These lessons ... Read More
Even though you're seeing this post at the start of spring, we created these projects in cold, cold January. We're talking single digits here -- too cold to play outside! So all four of my kids had fun creating a giant set of preschool art projects and simple crafts for letter C. Preschool Art Projects & Simple Crafts for Letter C Cup Caterpillars This is a great open-ended art project, as you can see by the ... Read More
At our house, my dot sticker pages are most enjoyed by my two and three-year-olds. My Three (almost four) wasn't interested this time, so my recently-turned-Two got his first chance to try one. He loved it! He's just starting to learn his alphabet and didn't remember this was the letter Z even two minutes into the activity. No matter! It can take a lot of fine motor fun before it sinks in. ... Read More
Today I'm sharing a free letter Z preschool activity to help your little one learn the shape and sound of letter Z. (This post contains affiliate links.) Letter Z Preschool Activity: Z is for Zebra (dot sticker page) As I pulled out my newest dot sticker page, my Three (almost four) wasn't particularly excited about it. I realized that these have gotten so simple for him that they've lost their appeal. For ... Read More
Today I'm sharing a set of free handwriting pages for preschool -- this time in lowercase! If you follow my blog, you know that I don't recommend doing a ton of worksheets. In fact, most of the ways we form letters are creative and fun. But at some point it's necessary to form those letters with a pencil and paper. Thankfully, since we don't overdo handwriting pages at our house, my kids love them! When I first ... Read More
Do you do a lot of sensory play at your house? The kind where you give your child a container with a filler (like rice, dry pasta, shredded paper, etc.) and some toys and let him have some hands- on fun? I'm kind of new to sensory play, myself. I didn't do much of it until I started blogging a little over a year ago... and saw what everyone else was up to! Since my kids don't go to preschool, I feel like it's ... Read More
