Magnets are so cool. They are really a blast to play with! For today’s play activity, I got out some big magnets and magnetic items and let my kids explore! To set up, I put magnetic items into a bin. I put things in like nuts, bolts, pipe cleaners, magna-tiles, magnetic letters, bells, tin can…
Marshmallow play dough is a unique dough for children to play with. It’s soft, stretchy, and smells great! Your kids will LOVE this unique play dough! Materials Needed Of course you’ll need marshmallows for this play dough! You also need the following: Steps to Making Marshmallow Play Dough You can make this play dough in…
One of my favorite books to read in the fall is Leaf Man! It’s a sweet book about a leaf that goes where the wind blows as he journeys across the world. This is a playful and whimsical book that highlights the imaginative life of children. If you are using this book with your students,…
The end of the school year is the perfect time to celebrate all your students’ hard work! I love using this End of the Year Alphabet Countdown Calendar as a fun way to finish the year! Wrap up the last 26 days of school with a fun activity for each day! About the Calendar The…
Disclosure: I am a blog ambassador for Lakeshore Learning and am compensated for my work. I received the product free of charge, but all thoughts and opinions are 100% mine. Are you teaching sight words to your students? Learning sight words is one component of learning to read. The best way to improve reading these…
Spring is here and we are so excited about it! This is the perfect time to do some spring crafts with kids. There are so many cute ideas, but today I’m sharing 16 spring crafts for kids. Spring is the perfect time for a craft for insects, birds, raindrops, life cycles, rainbows, and more! Check…
It is absolutely freeeeezing where we live! During this time of the year, it takes so much longer to get out the door because we have so many more items of clothing to put on. Can you relate to this, too?! One skill that is important for preschoolers to know, is how to dress appropriately for…
For 4 years now, I have taught 3 kiddos preschool to 1st grade within a jail size space. Admittedly, I had times when I wanted our unused nursery to be turned into this idyllic school room with individual desks, a big dry erase board, file cabinets of school supplies, and don’t forget the coveted Montessori…
The cutest apple book I’ve ever read is, “How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World”. There are so many things I love about this book, but what I love the most is how you can use this book to cover so many subjects: world geography, literacy, math, science, art, fine motor, and…
I found apple clothespins at Target a few weeks ago and I couldn’t wait to use them with the book, 10 Apples Up on Top! This is one of my favorite books to read, especially in the fall with preschoolers. But my boys actually like to read it year-round. It’s such a cute story and…
Disclosure: I am a blog ambassador for Lakeshore Learning and am compensated for my work. I received product free of charge, but all thoughts and opinions are 100% mine. I know it’s only July, but I also know that teachers like to plan during the summer months. When I was teaching, I never truly took a summer off….
Father’s Day is just around the corner! This is a great time to let dad know how special they are to us! It’s not always easy coming up with ideas for dads, so today I’m sharing with you some cute, homemade gifts for Father’s Day. There are so many great ideas, that hardly cost anything!…
If you’re looking for an alphabet activity to do outdoors, this is it! This alphabet ice excavation activity is sure to be a hit with your child. My son (3.5 years old) absolutely loved this activity and he keeps asking to do it again! The best part of this activity is that it’s SIMPLE! Disclosure:…
Do you have Magna-Tiles or some other magnetic blocks at home? They are such amazing toys that can be used in really unique ways! We’ve recently been discovering some fun ways to play with them, so today I’m excited to share with you some fun ideas using Magna-Tiles. Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. See…
The preschool age is such an exciting time! They are like sponges, soaking up so much information and changing by the day. I love teaching this age because there is a lot you can do! So much learning goes on during play activities and the children are eager to learn about so many topics. A preschool…
Disclosure: I am a blog ambassador for Lakeshore and am compensated for my work. I received product free of charge. As always, my thoughts and opinions are 100% mine. Setting up centers in an early childhood classroom can be a daunting task. It takes time and energy and let’s be honest, teachers don’t have a lot of…
Do you have a child who needs to work on identifying colors? Or perhaps you want your child to work on sorting colors. I have the perfect resource for you. This color matching activity is a fun way to work on recognizing colors, sorting them out, and even working on language skills! Disclosure: This post…
It’s back-to-school time! Which means it’s also time for me to share my home preschool classroom again! We just moved to this house a few months ago, so we had the chance to rearrange our things and make this room our own. I love how it turned out and can’t wait to show it to…
Rhyming is a very important skill for beginning readers to practice. It’s a phonemic awareness skill that helps kids hear sounds within words. It’s also a lot of fun! We love to play a game where we say a word and try to come up with as many words as we can to rhyme with…
It’s almost Valentine’s Day! If you’re like me, you’re incorporating hearts into your curriculum right now. I mean, hearts are so adorable and it’s fun for Valentine’s Day, too! Today I’m sharing with you my counting hearts for preschoolers. These are great for practicing counting, one-to-one correspondence, and recognizing numbers. This is very simple to set up. Simply…
Summer is winding down and my favorite season, fall, is just around the corner! I love fall and I love the clothes we wear during this season! I’m sharing with you my dress up busy bag for FALL! This post contains affiliate links. See my disclosure for details. Here’s what you need for the activity:…
Spring is here and we are so excited for the warmer temperatures and opportunities to get outside! I don’t know about where you live, but where we live it is so cold during winter and we cannot wait to get outdoors when spring arrives! This year we are putting together a small garden on our…
I’m often asked what I recommend for craft supplies. There are so many supplies out there that I thought I’d put together a list of my favorite and most-used supplies that we use for preschool! I’m kind of a craft junkie, so we’ve tried a lot of products and I believe these are the best…
If you’re like me, you love to buy toys for your kids that will last for a long time! Today, I’m going to share the best toys for toddlers! We have 3 boys and these are the toys the boys have played with the most. I’ll also be sharing a few non-toys that make great gifts for toddlers. …
I am obsessed with the colorful leaves this time of year! My kids and I love to pick up leaves when we are on walks, but they quickly get old and we can’t use them for anything. I decided to try using my laminator to preserve the leaves. It worked great! Here are some really…
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. See my disclosure for more information. Busy bags are an awesome way to keep toddlers and preschooler quietly occupied. Today I’m sharing all about busy bags, as well as some examples of how to put them together. What is a Busy Bag? Busy bags are simple activities stored in…
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. Please use discretion with these activities, especially if your child puts things in their mouth. Always be right next to your child. If you have a toddler, you KNOW that they constantly keep you on your toes! You already have your hands full and coming up with ideas for keeping…
I can’t believe it is already August! That means summer is almost over and school is just around the corner! I went to Target the other day and as I walked by the school supply section, I noticed all the excited and noisy kids hustling and bustling around to find their school supplies. I also…
Winter: Best Scented Ornaments Jolly Christmas Tree 4 Christmas Crafts Snow Ice Cream Playing with Snow Indoors Reindeer Crunch Recipe Christmas Imagination Box…
Fall: Painting with Apples Homemade Applesauce Apple Sorting & Graphing Melted Crayon Pumpkin Leaf Memory Game Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf Bird Treat Cork Painting …