Learning how to write alphabet letters is an important skill developed during the early childhood years. Before handwriting is introduced, there should be a lot of practice with fine motor skills. Fine motor skills are the actions that are performed in the small muscles in the hands, fingers and wrists. Your child practices using fine motor skills when they are playing with play dough, using tweezers, lacing, stringing beads, and more. Once a child is ready to learn how to write, it's … [Read more...]
Winter Songs for Preschoolers
I love to teach songs and chants to my little ones. They enjoy music, especially ones that go along with the season! Today, I'm sharing with you some songs and chants about winter. They are great for toddlers and preschoolers! You can use them in a classroom or in your homeschool. At the end of the post you'll find a link to download the PDF copy of the songs. Snowball -- This is a fun song that you can incorporate actions into! You could even have kids wad up paper into "snowballs" if … [Read more...]
Fizzing Candy Canes
We tried out a really neat experiment this past weekend using candy canes! For this fizzing candy canes experiment, you will just need candy canes, baking soda, vinegar, and food coloring. Your kids are gonna love this experiment! This post contains affiliate links. See my disclosure for details. Here's what you need to make fizzing candy canes: 1 box of baking soda 1 bottle of vinegar food coloring candy canes tray - use a cookie sheet! If you use a small container, … [Read more...]
Winter Clothes Activities for Kids
Mama, it’s cold outside! This recent weather really put me in the mood for our theme this week: winter clothing. With it snowing this whole week where we live, I can’t count how many times we took on and off coats, boots, scarves, hats, etc. So, it was a very fitting topic! We covered the usual standard items (phonics, math, writing) but I always love doing extra activities with a theme. These are the 3 activities we did to foster truly understanding why clothing is important is certain … [Read more...]
Winter Clothes Dress Up Busy Bag
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 the weather. Today's activity is a Winter Clothes Dress Up Busy Bag and it is a great way to talk about the appropriate clothes worn during winter. Plus it's a fun and easy busy bag to put … [Read more...]
Winter Scavenger Hunt
Winter is almost here! It feels like winter in Iowa already, so I decided to create a fun winter scavenger hunt for kids! I made one for fall, and it was a big hit! I know we stay indoors more often in the winter, but this scavenger hunt would be a great chance to get some fresh air outside! There are three sheets to this scavenger hunt. The first one is one you could do from indoors, if it was too cold outside. It's basically a "search for" activity. The goal is to try to find all ten … [Read more...]
Christmas Book Countdown
This post contains affiliate links. See my disclosure for more details. I love the Christmas season! While there are so many things to do this time of year, we still make it a reading a priority. Today I'm sharing with you a FUN way to countdown to Christmas with books! To set this up, I gather our Christmas books and check out books from the library. Then I wrap them up with paper from the Dollar Store. I place them in no particular order by the tree for the kids to see. My … [Read more...]
Snow Activities for Preschoolers
We're right in the middle of winter, which means it's snow season here in Iowa! My kids love it, especially when they can go out and play in the snow! I've been doing snow activities with my preschooler and I'm excited to share with you what we've been up to! Here's a quick summary of our snow activities: alphabet and name recognition with our snowball letters writing practice in snow cream counting and one-to-one correspondence with our snowman game art and fine motor … [Read more...]
Snowy Tree Craft
One of the most beautiful things to see during winter is a snowy evergreen tree. There's something so calm and majestic about snow-covered trees. I was inspired by the trees to make the craft I'm sharing with you today. This snowy tree craft for little ones is one they will love because they can shake and watch the snow swirl around in the cup. What you need for the snowy tree craft: plastic cup glue (hot glue gun works well!) bottle brush tree (I found mine at Target) micro … [Read more...]
Homemade Snow Paint Recipe
Do you have snow where you live? We normally get a lot of snow in Iowa, but this year we haven't. It is not very fun for the kids to have a cold, brown winter! However, we just got some snow last week and we've been so excited about playing in the snow! Sometimes it's too cold to go outside, so we bring the snow indoors to play with. Today I'm sharing with you our homemade snow paint recipe. It's super simple to make and kids love it! Here's what you need to make snow paint: … [Read more...]