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preschool activity

1 Min Read November 12, 2012 1 Reply

Preschool Activity: Counting and Letter Matching

Activities and Crafts

This was a super easy activity I set up with my daughter. We did it with letters of the alphabet and with numbers.

By using numbers, it could easily be set up to talk about money as well.

To set up the activity, simply choose some items from the pantry and lay them out with a post it note labelling each a different letter or number.

sticky notes + stuff from the pantry = easy activity

Then, on a wall or closet, put sticky notes with the matching numbers or letters.

At random, have your child get a number/letter you call out. I quickly learned that my daughter had no problems finding the numbers, but the letter E was a bit trickier for her (so we are working on that one!)

This game was easy to set up and helps learn identification of numbers, letters and matching!

2 Min Read February 6, 2012 11 Replies

3 of our Favourite Boardgames to play with Preschoolers

Parenting

When my children reached the age where they could finally start to play board games, it was a wonderful new activity that we could do together.  But some games are simply too complicated for the toddler/preschool set.

Fortunately, we have 3 family favourites that my toddler can play but also my school-aged son is still interested in playing (this is essential for those afternoons when I am trying to make everyone happy!)

What are these three board games that have been well played, well loved and don’t drive mama crazy?

1) Memory

It’s a classic.  This Toopy and Binoo version is well used and fun.  But the game can be played with a deck of cards or a fun activity is to make your own cards with your favourite characters, upper/lower case letters and so on!

2) Hungry Hungry Hippos

Another classic that we all played as kids I’m sure.  Now the ‘marbles’ are plastic, but the game play remains the same.  Simple for little hands to get used to, and exciting enough for our mini competitors to get into the spirit of wanting to chomp chomp chomp!

Extend the game (and learning opportunity) by taking turns counting how many balls everyone got.

3) Cariboo Island

This is a branch of the popular Cranium game, but geared to the younger set.  There are two sets of cards, one for younger children, the other for older, which makes this game great for growing with the kids.  Select a card, then with the key open a box that fits the requirement (by colour, shape, letter etc) and search for coins.  Collect 6 coins to open the treasure chest!

ETA: Honourable Mention: Candyland.

How did Candyland become the game parents have grown to not love but the kids do? Especially those of us with special versions like Dora? This gets an honourable mention because we don’t own this game, but Grandma does, and it’s well loved and used each time we visit 😉

A really fun game for all of us.

What are some of your favourite board games for younger children?  Do you like playing board games? Honestly, I can’t wait for the kids to get old enough for games like Scrabble, Monopoly and Trivial Pursuit!

0 Min Read December 20, 2011 1 Reply

Preschool Activity: Make Reindeer Food

Parenting

This is an easy classic that gets the kids pretty excited. For those of you at Shopping and Sweets, you may have picked up a bag of Reindeer food that I made.

You can make it ahead and tell the kids it came in the mail, direct from the North Pole, or make it together and they can help give it magic with their Christmas spirit.

Either way, have a bag ready to put out on Christmas Eve so the reindeer can regain their energy and magic.

Have fun!

1-Combine sparkles and oatmeal in a small container or bag.  That’s it! A variation: Prefer to skip the sparkles? Use coloured sugar instead.

0 Min Read December 19, 2011 1 Reply

Preschool Activity: Make your own playdough

Parenting

With the holidays (and school break) just around the corner, be prepared for extra fun when the kids are home all day.

Here’s an easy to make playdough recipe.  Imagination will do the rest!

Playdough:

Mix together (I used my Kitchenaid Mixer which made this super easy)

  • 2 cups flour
  • 1 cup salt
  • 2 tsps  oil
  • 4 tsps cream of tartar
  • 2 cups boiling water
  • food colouring (or other natural colouring like jello)
Separate the dough into balls and colour with whatever colours you like.  Store in an air tight container or bag.
(recipe adapted from Navan Nursery School)
0 Min Read October 21, 2011 2 Replies

Preschool Activity: Creepy Crawly Spiders!

Parenting

Easy to make, but fun to do – check out these creepy and crawly Halloween spiders! (And for more activities, visit the Activity page!)

 

 

 

 

Materials you’ll need:

  • Scissors
  • Paper Plate
  • Black Pipe Cleaners
  • Paint
  • Googly eyes
  • Glue

 

1. Cut out a circle from the paper plate (if old enough, have your child do the cutting)


2- Have your child paint the plate

3-Stick on Googly eyes and legs with pipe cleaners – let the legs dry very well!


(seriously, how creepy is this one? This was my daughter’s. It’s spooky)

1 Min Read October 4, 2011 3 Replies

Activity: Cutting and Counting Ghosts

Activities and Crafts

Learning skills: Counting, using scissors, French

Here’s an easy activity to do with all ages.  For my toddler, I did the cutting (she tried a bit) while she did the gluing.  For my almost 5 year old, he did the cutting (which is also why there are fewer ghosts – cutting is not his favourite thing!) and I helped him with his writing.

I had my son count in French (actually, that was his idea) but being super smart, I thought I’d write out his numbers too.  Then realized later that I spelled the number ‘one’ in French wrong (it’s not UNE it’s UN).  So, Andy and I have decided Andy will take more of a lead on the French (ha!)

Enjoy!!

1- Give each child a piece of construction paper (my daughter insisted on pink instead of Halloween orange!)

2-For younger children, cut out the ghosts for them.  For older children, have them cut the ghosts.

3-Glue the ghosts anywhere on the page.

4-Using sticky backed foam (or felt, or black markers) add the eyes on the ghosts.

5-Count (in any language!) the number of ghosts you have.

(BUT be sure you are teaching your children the correct spelling of words! 😉

To go along with this activity, we also have the best Halloween Counting book – this is a favourite each year!

Halloween Countdown

1 Min Read September 5, 2011 1 Reply

Preschool at Home: Little sis wants to go to school too

Activities and Crafts

On Wednesday I kiss my big nearly 5 year old boy goodbye and send him back to school.  It’s only 2.5 hours a day, and he’s looking forward to it so it’s a very different feeling I have about it than I had last  year.

Meanwhile, his little sister is still at home.  She’ll be three in February and the idea of sending her to preschool this year did cross our minds.  But then she would be in preschool for two years before even starting regular school.  We thought it was a bit much (and selfishly, we wanted to keep her at home a while longer!).

But as I did with her brother, we will be doing some fun preschool activities at home.  Learning numbers and the alphabet, crafts, seasons, and reading.

Doing these short burst of ‘circle time’ activities was something her brother really enjoyed – and helped me fill the day.  I know she will enjoy it just as much.

I’ll be blogging some of the fun stuff we come up with, but in the meantime, I’ve added a new page (see top header bar) to keep the activities in one place for easy reference.  Not sure what to do today? Maybe you can find something you want to make!

Preschool Activity Page

Enjoy

0 Min Read July 15, 2011 1 Reply

Activity: Circle of Fun

Activities and Crafts, Kids

Sometimes, the most basic of activities create the most fun.  This is one of those easy to prepare activities that the kids love.

Start with a few pieces of construction paper.  Fold into quarters and cut circles.

On each circle, write an activity.  Examples:

-Sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

-Hop on one foot

-Make a silly face

Then place the circles with activities facing down into a large circle.

To music, have the kids walk (or run) around the cirlce.  When the music stops, they pick up a circle in front of them and do the activity.

Have fun and be creative!!

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