T is for Turkey

Since Thanksgiving is just a few weeks away, we have started to doing our Thanksgiving preschool activities. We are starting with T is for Turkey. I want to review shapes, colors, and letters with my son so I made these fun worksheets for him to do.

For this activity  cut out all the letters and put them in a bowl. Then have your child pull out a letter and identify it. Then say Turkey, Turkey, don't run away. I am going to stuff you with the letter ... and then say whatever letter was just pulled out. 

Just cut out each turkey and line them up on one row. Then cut the colored square and have your child match the colors and say what each color is. 

This activity is simple because your child does all the work. Have your child cut out each shape square and then glue on to the matching turkey shape.

DOWNLOAD HERE

Turkey Alphabet Stuff

Turkey Color Match

Turkey Shape Match

Looking for another turkey activity? Here is a link to a fun Turkey hunt!

Halloween themed letter recognition game

Here is a fun Halloween activity to do with your child. Practice letter recognition with a cauldron and "broom" aka paint brush.

Put the letters in the cauldron and have your child stir the brew 

while you say this chant. 

And then pull one letter out at a time and have your child identity.

 Repeat as many times as you want!

To DOWNLOAD the letters and chant click here.

Busy Bags: Round 2

This is round 2 of our favorite busy bags. If you missed Busy Bags: Round 1, you can find it here. 

PATTERN STICKS

These pattern sticks were made using color coding labels. I used this TEMPLATE to make the pattern cards and laminated them. Then put the color coding labels on the Popsicle sticks. You can make as many different pattern cards as you would like.

NUMBER WHEEL

Here is a free PRINTABLE for the number wheel. Once I printed it out, I glued it onto cardboard. You then write numbers 1-10 on a clothespin and have your child clip them on to the correct number of dots.  

BUTTON SNAKE

You can find free instructions on how to make this from Mama Gab. There are different versions of this activity but I liked this one because of the felt shapes. This activity was given to me and the person that gave this to me added a snake tail, eyes, and tongue. I think it is so cute.

POPSICLE STICK PUZZLES

These Popsicle stick puzzles are a popular activity but they are nice because they kids enjoy them and there are so many options on what pictures to use. These Popsicle stick puzzles represent the four seasons and are graphics of mycutegraphics.com You can print out each picture from HERE, cut on the dotted lines and then use Mod Podge to glue them onto the Popsicle stick. I store each puzzle in a snack size Ziploc bag to keep them from getting all mixed together. 

All of our busy bags activities are stored away in a Ziploc bag and then we have all the bags in a plastic bin so they can be easily stored away. Do you have any favorite busy bags? I would love to share your ideas!

Busy Bags: Round 1

I have participated in a few busy bags swaps and have made several of my own. I love having extra and fun activities for the kids. There are a few activities that my kids seem to never get bored of and so I wanted to share of some of our favorites. UPDATE: Round 2 of busy bags can be found here

KIDS CLOTHING LINE

My mother in law has a real clothes line that she still uses to dry her clothes so my kids love this activity because it is just like Grandma. This activity is probably there favorite! You can found a free instruction and pattern download from Money Saving Mom. 

POPSICLE STICK PATTERNS

These Popsicle stick patterns is something I made for my kids. This activity is more challenging for younger kids but my oldest boy who is 6 loves these. There are 2 sets of patterns. 

DOWNLOAD set 1

The first set are easier patterns and there are 8 cards. 

DOWNLOAD set 2

The second set are more difficult patterns and there are 6 cards. 

PAPER CLIP MATCHING

This activity is really easy to put together. All you need is colored paper clips and matching paint samples from your local paint store. My kids have fun sorting the colors and linking them together. For durability I would recommend laminating your paint samples. 

ALPHABET MATCHING

For this activity, I used 2 inch square wood disc and alphabet letter stickers. To keep the stickers from falling off, I put Mod Podge over the stickers. You can use these wood disc to play alphabet matching game, practice name spelling, and for older kids practice sight words. 

BE READY for round 2, next week I will be sharing more favorite busy bags ideas!

6 activities to help your child recognition their name

This year for preschool we are part of a co-op preschool group. I put together name recognition activities for all the kids in the preschool. Here are the activities.

Name sticks 

To make this activity. I got paint stick stirrers and used Mod Podge to glue the letters of the child's name on to the stick. Then used mounting tape to stick the letters onto the clothespins. Your child matches up the letters to spell their name. 

Name Block Matching

This can be made in any word document or you could make make it easily be hand.  

Name Puzzles

Here are free puzzles patterns for 4, 5, 6, and 7 letters names. 

 You can either hand write your child's name or 

open in a word document to add your child's name

Just right click on the each image,  save and print. 

I recommend printing on cardstock paper so it is more durable

4 letter name

5 letter name

6 letter name

7 letter name

Name Tracing

You can download free front from this website to make these tracing cards in a word document. The font is called ABC Print Dotted. This is laminated and so it can be used over and over again. 

Name Path

For this activity, you can use any word document and create a table. Then can choose what letters you want to use and what path to create to spell your child's name.  This is also laminated so it is reusable. 

Progressive Name Tracing

This idea is also part of the Preschool learning binder I put together.

I download free front from this website to make this in a word documents. The names of the fonts are ABC Print Arrow, ABC Print Arrow  Dotted, and ABC Print Dotted.

All of these activities are stored in a laminated  9 x 12 folder. I used an X-acto knife to cut a slip in the top. I like this folder idea because it keeps things together and can be passed around easily to each home when it it our turn to teach preschool. 

Printable preschool assessment form

Preschool assessments are a great way to record a child's progress throughout the school year. Last year, we had an cream party on the last day of preschool and I wanted to use an assessment that went along with our ice cream theme. Below is the assessment we used, you will also see a beginning of the year assessment with the same theme that has different wording. We had a lot of fun with this theme and will be using it about for this coming school year.

Beginning of school year preschool assessment

                     

 End of school year preschool assessment

One of our activities for the ice cream party was this coloring page and poem. 

Preschool learning binder

A few years ago I made a learning binder for my oldest child that focused on different subjects. I have LOVED this binder. It is great for quiet time, to take in the car, or those times they just need something to keep them occupied when you are somewhere such as the doctor's office. We have even taken it on vacations!

UPDATE 11/03/2018: You can now purchase a digital version of this learning book at Little Wiggles Design. It is personalized with your child's name. Not all these activities are included in the pearschool learning book and those activities not included are still available for free download here!

I recently  put together a preschool learning binder for my preschooler and I am excited to share all the worksheets and activities I have in it. 

I purchased a 1.5" binder to put all the worksheets in and used this cute cover from Joy of Kindergarten. There is a girl version available too.

So the worksheets can be used over and over again, I laminated all my worksheet and then we use washable dry eraser marker. The preschool learning binder is organized into categories and I have a page divider between categories.

Below are the categories 

Progressive name spelling

I downloaded free front from this website to make this. The names of the fonts are ABC Print Arrow, ABC Print Arrow  Dotted, and ABC Print Dotted.

Alphabet tracing and writing

Alphabet letter worksheets

Alphabet Tracing

Itsy Bitsy Fun

Letter sound matching A - Z

Other letter sound worksheets:

 The Kindergarten Pod 

The Education Highway

Beginning Sound Fill in the Bubble

 Finding numbers 1-10

Matching numbers 1 - 10

Matching numbers 11 - 20

        

Matching dots with numbers

                       

Progressive number writing 1 - 9

Tracing number 1 - 10

Shape tracing

Matching shapes

Shape pattern mazes

Education.com

There are 11 rhyming pages in this packet. 

You can download them all here. 

Line tracing

Kids learning station

Worksheet Fun

Picture tracing

Making learning fun

Worksheet Fun

Which one is different worksheets

Other which one is different worksheets

The Measured Mom

3 Dinosaurs
 (Look through each printable pack to find which one is different worksheets)

Beginner Mazes
Mr. Printables
Worksheet Fun

Easy word search puzzles
Mr. Printables

I like having all the worksheets together in one binder and that it is easy to put together.The best thing about this binder is my boys actually enjoy doing these activities. My preschooler always ask if he can do his "homework." Hopefully he will still be excited when he actually has real homework!