Learning Time – Activities to do with your Preschooler at Home

September 5, 2012 By

This year, my youngest child is in Kindergarten but two years ago, she missed the cut-off for VPK because of her age.  We are always learning new things but I wanted a more structured learning environment.  We spent about 15 to 20 minutes each day learning new things by studying the letters of the alphabet and I shared those activities here.  When Little S was in VPK last year, I recycled the activities and posted them weekly.  This year, though, we are in school full-time and I am focusing on some other things but I wanted to share those activities with you.

I set the activities up so that we would cover one letter each week with some holiday weeks in between.  If you click the links below it will take you to a loose plan.  If you find a link that no longer works, please let me know.

Happy Learning!

Holidays and Other

Dr. Seuss

Celebrating Fall

Halloween

Thanksgiving

Hanukkah

Christmas

Groundhog Day

Valentine’s Day

The Letters

The Letter A

The Letter B

The Letter C

The Letter D

Review of Letters A – D

The Letter E

The Letter F

The Letter G

The Letter H

The Letter I

The Letter J

The Letter K

The Letter L

The Letter M

The Letter N

The Letter O

The Letter P

The Letter Q

The Letter R

The Letter S

The Letter T

The Letter U

The Letter V

The Letter W

The Letter X

The Letter Y

The Letter Z

Filed Under: Features, Learning Time

Valentine’s Day Activities

February 12, 2012 By

Here are some Valentine’s Day activities to do with your little ones this week!

Puzzles, Poems, and Printables

Paper Conversation Heart Wreath

Valentine’s Handprint Poem

Heart Shaped Finger Puppet

Heart Shaped S’mores Pops

Candy Rings

Cornstarch Hearts

Napkin Roses

Paper Love Bugs

How do you celebrate Valentine’s Day with your kids?

Filed Under: Learning Time

From the Archives: The Letter L

February 6, 2012 By

Last year, Little S and I completed learning time activities each day.  It was a fun way to spend time together and I feel like she learned so much.  This year, she is attending a VPK but I am posting our activities from last year for those of you with little ones at home.  We have missed the past few Mondays, but are trying to catch up!  To see all of the learning time activities, go to Just For Fun>Learning Time.

The Letter L

Monday

  1. Color the letter L.
  2. Trace the letter L.
  3. olor the Hidden Letter L.

Tuesday

  1. Read The Grouchy Ladybug by Eric Carle.
  2. Do a ladybug craft.  We are going to make the ladybugs with movable wings!
  3. Color the ladybugs!

Wednesday

  1. Read The Tawny Scrawny Lion by Kathryn Jackson.
  2. Make a lion mask.
  3. Watch Lion King.

Thursday

  1. Read/sing Mary Had a Little Lamb.
  2. Lamb Craft – On a sheet of colored construction paper, glue cotton balls in the shape of a sheep.  Draw the legs and eyes!

Friday

  1. Read a book about the library.  (Library Mouse and Stuart Little at the Library were two I spotted on BN.com)
  2. Go to the library and have a little scavenger hunt (I will post a scavenger hunt document late this week)!
  3. Check out some books!

Filed Under: Learning Time

From the archives: The Letter K

January 8, 2012 By

Every Monday I am reaching back into the archives to share the learning activities that we did last year when Little S was home with me.  Each week, we worked our way through the alphabet and we read stories, did crafts, and played games that helped reinforce the letter we were learning that week.  This week we are sharing activities for the Letter K!    If you have any activities to go with ours, let us know! 

Monday

  1. Color the Letter K.
  2. Trace the Letter K.
  3. Color the hidden picture.

Tuesday

  1. Read Spot’s Windy Day by Eric Hill and Curious George Flies a Kite by H.A. Rey.
  2. Color the picture of the kite.
  3. Fly a kite.

Wednesday

  1. Read a book about a king.  We don’t have any in our home library, but I did a quick search and found one called The Frog Who Would Be King by Kate Walker.  I might look for this one at the library or the bookstore.
  2. Make a crown with construction paper and decorate it with glitter, stickers, etc.

Thursday

  1. Read Does a Kangaroo Have a Mother, Too?by Eric Carle.
  2. Color a kangaroo picture.
Friday
  1. Kangaroo toilet paper roll

Filed Under: Learning Time Tagged With:

From the Archives: Christmas Activities

December 22, 2011 By

I don’t know about you, but we are only three days into our school holiday break and my kids are already restless.  Rain all day only contributed to it!  Here are some Christmas activities that can help keep the kids busy, even if just for a few minutes at a time.  Some of these crafts will even make great gifts for family members.

Here are some craft ideas and activities for Christmas.  If you have any ideas to share, let me know in the comments or via email!

Christmas Coloring Pages

Colors and Shapes Christmas Tree

Christmas Tree Maze

Twelve Days of Christmas Coloring Pages and Number Practice

Handprint Angel

Puzzle Piece Picture Frame

Handprint Christmas Tree Craft

Christmas Pages – Mazes, math pages, cryptograms, etc

Filed Under: Learning Time

From the Archives: Hanukkah Activities

December 20, 2011 By

Every Monday I am reaching back into the archives to share the learning activities that we did last year when Little S was home with me.  Each week, we worked our way through the alphabet and we read stories, did crafts, and played games that helped reinforce the letter we were learning that week.  This week we are sharing activities for Hanukkah!   If you have any activities to go with ours, let us know! 

Here are some craft and activity links for Hanukkah!  If you have any Hanukkah activities to share, please leave a comment!

All About Hanukkah

Paper Menorah

Paper Plate Menorah

Word Searches and Crossword Puzzles

Coloring Pages

Activities for Preschoolers

 

Filed Under: Learning Time

From the Archives: The Letter J

December 11, 2011 By

Every Monday I am reaching back into the archives to share the learning activities that we did last year when Little S was home with me.  Each week, we worked our way through the alphabet and we read stories, did crafts, and played games that helped reinforce the letter we were learning that week.  This week we are sharing activities for the letter J!   If you have any activities to go with ours, let us know!  When the kids are home, I am going to get started with homemade Christmas gifts too!

Monday

  1. Color the letter J.
  2. Trace the letter J.
  3. Color the hidden picture.

Tuesday

  1. Read Jack and the Beanstalk.  (You can watch the story told here.)
  2. Jack and the Beanstalk coloring sheets – here,here

Wednesday

  1. Read Jellybeans for Sale by Bruce McMillan.
  2. Practice counting with jelly beans!

Thursday

  1. Read Rumble in the Jungle by Giles Andreae.
  2. Talk about the animals of the jungle.  Color Jungle pages.
  3. Watch The Jungle Book.

Friday

  1. Rudolph the Red Nosed Handprint
  2. Candle Jars (or you can just decorate some already bought candles)
  3. Hot Chocolate Cones
Filed Under: Learning Time

From the Archives: The Letter I

December 4, 2011 By

Every Monday I am reaching back into the archives to share the learning activities that we did last year when Little S was home with me.  Each week, we worked our way through the alphabet and we read stories, did crafts, and played games that helped reinforce the letter we were learning that week.  This week we are sharing activities for the letter I!   If you have any activities to go with ours, let us know!  When the kids are home, I am going to get started with homemade Christmas gifts too!

Until Christmas, I am using every Friday for Christmas Craft Day!  We are making almost all of our gifts this year and I really want the kids to help out.  I will post a few kid craft gift ideas on Fridays.  If you have any fun craft ideas that will make great gifts, please let me know in the comment section or send me a message via email or the Contact form.

Monday

  1. Color the letter I.
  2. Trace the letter I.

Tuesday

  1. Read Hungry Harry by Joanne Partis and talk about the different insects.
  2. Insect Coloring Pages
  3. Make a bug catcher (a craft video starts playing when you open the link) and go on a bug hunt. Let them go when you are through watching them!

Wednesday

  1. Talk about opposites using Inside/Outside.
  2. Draw a picture of things that are inside that begin with the letter I and things that are outside that begin with the letter I.

Thursday

  1. Read Curious George Goes to an Ice Cream Shop by Margaret Rey.
  2. If you have an ice cream maker, make ice cream together.  If not, take a trip to an ice cream shop (even though you might want hot chocolate with the way the weather has been the past few days!).  If you go at a time when it isn’t very busy, you might be able to ask them a few questions about how things work at an ice cream shop.
  3. Practice numbers 1-10 and colors with the ice cream cone craft.  Cut out the cone and ten scoops of ice cream.  Stack to make a complete ice cream cone.  Label the colors and numbers!

Friday

Begin work on homemade gifts from the kids.

  1. Rock Family Plaque Craft – This craft is supposed to be a Father’s Day craft but I thought it would make a great gift for the grandparents in the family.  The kids will have fun finding rocks that will be perfect for each family member.
  2. Reindeer Ornaments or Craft Stick Santa ornaments to tie on the tree
  3. Personalized Handprint Totes – These patterns are probably more springy and better suited for Mother’s Day but think of all the things you can do with handprints…Christmas trees, etc!  Save your Michael’s, Joann’s and Hobby Lobby coupons and this is a super inexpensive gift!
Filed Under: Learning Time

From the Archives: Thanksgiving Crafts

November 20, 2011 By

Every Monday I am reaching back into the archives to share the learning activities that we did last year when Little S was home with me.  Each week, we worked our way through the alphabet and we read stories, did crafts, and played games that helped reinforce the letter we were learning that week.  This week we are learning about Thanksgiving!   If you have any activities to go with ours, let us know!

This week we are taking a break from our letters to celebrate Thanksgiving and all things turkey!  Try one of these crafts with the kids when you have some extra time.  Make a fun snack!  Enjoy the time together as a family and, of course, don’t forget to explore Pensacola!

Preschool Activities

Turkey Coloring Pages

Crafts

Thankful Collage using magazine pictures

Pumpkin Decor (made with a toilet paper roll and fabric!  too cute!)

Lots of Different Thanksgiving Crafts

Pilgrim Bonnet

Crayon Transfer Turkeys

Tin Can Turkeys

Handprint Turkey

Paper Bag Turkey

Paper Cup Turkey

Spoon Pilgrims

Hand and Feet Turkey

Thumb print Turkey Place Cards

Snacks

Reeses Turkey Brownie Bites

Gobbling Turkey Apples

If you have a Thanksgiving craft link, leave a comment!

Filed Under: Learning Time Tagged With:

From the Archives: The Letter H

November 14, 2011 By

Every Monday I am reaching back into the archives to share the learning activities that we did last year when Little S was home with me.  Each week, we worked our way through the alphabet and we read stories, did crafts, and played games that helped reinforce the letter we were learning that week.  This week we are learning about the Letter H!   If you have any activities to go with our activities let us know!

Monday

  1. Color the Letter H.
  2. Trace the Letter H.
  3. Color the Hidden letter Worksheet.

Tuesday

  1. Talk about our homes (similarities and differences from friends/relatives/etc; what is in our homes).
  2. Make the 3D paper house activity.
  3. Practice your address.

Wednesday

  1. Read But Not the Hippopotamus by Sandra Boyton.
  2. Color the hippo.
  3. Make the Hippo Paper Bag Puppet.
  4. Make the Marshmallow Hippo craft (scroll down).  This calls for foam craft marshmallows, but I think we will use real marshmallows and frosting or toothpicks (be sure to help your little one with the toothpicks since they are sharp.) for a fun snack.

Thursday

  1. Read Old Hat New Hat by Stan and Jan Berenstein
  2. Make a hat or a hat out of newspaper.

Friday

  1. Make a handprint turkey.  I love this project.  We are not having family over this year but if Thanksgiving was going to be celebrated at my house, I would love to do this for my dinner table cloth!

Next week, it is all about the turkey and Thanksgiving!

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