Teaching Mama

playing, creating, and learning at home

Success! Now check your email to confirm your subscription.

There was an error submitting your subscription. Please try again.

facebook twitter pinterest instagram googleplus email bloglovin
  • Home
  • About
    • Disclosure
    • Privacy Policy
    • Meet the Team
  • Contact
  • Toddlers
    • Sensory Play
    • Fine Motor Skills
    • Gross Motor Skills
    • Toys
  • Preschoolers
    • Homeschooling
    • Alphabet
      • Printable Alphabet Packets
    • Fine Motor Skills
    • Gross Motor Skills
    • Math
    • Music
    • Reading
      • Book Activities
    • Science
    • Technology
  • Shop
    • Your Account
    • Cart
    • Checkout
  • Printables Club
  • Member Login

Apple Smash Activity

by Angela Thayer 6 Comments

apple smash activity

Happy September! When I think of September, I think of apples! This is the perfect time of year to do activities with apples. Preschoolers love it! Today I'm sharing an apple smash activity. Now I know it may sound strange to have your child smash things for an activity, but I promise there is purpose for this! Materials for Apple Smash about 20 cotton balls 1 cup flour 1 cup water red food coloring tin foil baking sheet whisk bowl fork foam poster board … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Fall Activities, Gross Motor Skills, Kindergarten, Preschool Tagged With: apples, gross motor skills

Brain Breaks for Kids

by Angela Thayer Leave a Comment

brain breaks for kids

It’s vital to use brain breaks throughout the school day with children. These types of activities are used to activate, energize, and stimulate a child’s brain. When you incorporate brain breaks into your day, this helps improve a child’s ability to concentrate when you go back to classroom work. Research shows that children should have some sort of brain break every 25-30 minutes. You could use songs or chants with actions, games, fingerplays exercise, and more! Just a quick 5-10 minute break … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Gross Motor Skills, Music Tagged With: brain breaks, songs, transitions

Wobbly Worm Toy Review

by Angela Thayer 2 Comments

wobbly worm review

Disclosure: I received this toy for free and was compensated for my time reviewing it. As always, all opinions expressed are my own. We were so thrilled to receive the Wobbly Worm toy in the mail last week. As soon as we got this toy out of the box, we started playing with it. My boys were on spring break and were delighted to have a brand new toy to try out at home. I always am very honest with my reviews and I have to say the Wobbly Worm was a big hit at our house! This is a toy that has … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Fun Kid Activities, Games, Gross Motor Skills Tagged With: preschool toys, toddler toys, toy review

Bubble Wrap Fun

by Angela Thayer 2 Comments

Today's play activity is very easy and it's probably something you already have at your house...playing with bubble wrap! Before I start, please make sure your child is old enough to play with bubble wrap. If they are toddlers and still put things in their mouth, this would not be a good activity to try. I rolled out bubble wrap on the floor. I let my preschooler explore the bubble wrap and have him try different ways to pop it! He jumped, rolled, crawled, and ran on it. Then … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Fun Kid Activities, Gross Motor Skills, Indoor Activities Tagged With: 31 days of play, bubble wrap

How to Keep Preschoolers Busy with Newspaper

by Angela Thayer 6 Comments

Before you throw out the newspaper, let me tell you about some awesome ways to practice motor skills and keep kids busy with just a newspaper! If you need a rainy-day activity or are looking for a way practice following directions and motor skills, then this is the activity for you! Start by placing a newspaper (folded in half) in front of your child. Explain that the newspaper is their house. Say the following directions to them: 1. Step onto your house. 2. Jump off your house with … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Fine Motor Skills, Gross Motor Skills Tagged With: letter n

Feed the Caterpillar Activity + Life Cycle Activities

by Angela Thayer 1 Comment

Yesterday I shared our caterpillar and butterfly crafts. Today I am sharing our Feed the Caterpillar Activity, which is a great activity for toddlers. In The Very Hungry Caterpillar book, the caterpillar is so hungry that he eats 1 apple, 2 pears, 3 plums, 4 strawberries, and 5 oranges and then he eats a bunch of junk food before finishing off with a big green leaf. In this activity, the child will feed fruit (foam pieces) to the caterpillar. This is a good movement activity and … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Book Activities, Crafts, Gross Motor Skills Tagged With: bugs and insect theme, eric carle, the very hungry caterpillar

30 Outdoor Gross Motor Activities for Kids

by Angela Thayer 6 Comments

Summer is the perfect time to work on gross motor skills outdoors! Today I am sharing a round-up of outdoor gross motor activities for children.  Here are 30 fun outdoor gross motor ideas! (Click on the links below to take you directly to the post with more details!) Number Recognition Play from Danya Banya Walk the Word Phonics Game from Coffee Cups and Crayons Sum Splat! Learning with Water Balloons from I Can Teach My Child Hula Hoop Games from Learn, Play, Imagine Gross … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Gross Motor Skills, Summer Activities Tagged With: outdoors

Gross Motor Skills {and why they are important!}

by Angela Thayer 3 Comments

You’ve probably heard me talk about gross motor skills. But what are they? And why are they important? I learned so much about movement and gross motor skills at a class I took this summer. Movement is SO important to incorporate into every single day, especially with little ones. I realized that we do a lot of fine motor activities at home, but I tend to do fewer activities focused on gross motor skills. Yes, my kids love to play at parks and jump around at home, but I am starting to plan a … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Gross Motor Skills Tagged With: development, movement

Motor Skills Practice {With a Bug Theme}

by Angela Thayer Leave a Comment

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. Motor skills are very important to work on in the early years. Both fine motor and gross motor skills are equally important to work on. Today I’m sharing a gross motor and fine motor activity to do with toddlers or preschoolers with a bug theme (and we focused on ants, since that is the bug of the week!) Gross motor skills are the coordination of movements that are required for large movements. Some of these skills include running, hopping, … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Fine Motor Skills, Gross Motor Skills Tagged With: bugs and insect theme

Toddler Tuesday: Sensory Balloon Bugs

by Angela Thayer 28 Comments

Don't you love a simple activity that keeps kids busy for hours? Well these sensory balloon animals are perfect for keeping little ones busy. A sensory balloon is filled with material that kids can squish around and it's really a great way for children to explore the sense of touch. These little critters are so much fun to squish around. Not only is this a sensory activity, it's also great for building up fine motor skills. When the kids squeeze the balloon animals, they build up hand … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Gross Motor Skills, Sensory Play, Toddlers Tagged With: bugs and insect theme, sensory activities

Next Page »
about teaching mama
sensory play crafts printables fall winter spring summer

Search Teaching Mama

Archives


Copyright © 2023 Teaching Mama · Privacy Policy · Disclosure

Copyright © 2023 · Teaching Mama on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

We are using cookies to give you the best experience on our website.

You can find out more about which cookies we are using or switch them off in settings.

Teaching Mama
Powered by  GDPR Cookie Compliance
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.

If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.

Cookie Policy

More information about our Cookie Policy