Blog Archives

Dinosaur Shape Tracers

4/25/2016

dinosaur alpha tracers also added to the member's section

I made dinosaur shape tracers for fine motor development and pre-writing skills. I printed the patterns on cardstock paper ... cut them out and then laminated them.

I set them out with some markers. We use crayola washables because they are easy to wipe off the laminated tracers.

The first step is to trace the shapes with their fingers. The children also try to name the shapes that are on each card.

dinosaur shape tracers for prescool and kindergarten

The children then trace around the shapes with markers. Play continues until all the shapes have been traced. As of 2022 this activity can be found in the member's section which is also where the dinosaur alpha tracers are located.

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Shaped Pasta Find

4/23/2016

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shaped pasta that can be used in preschool and kindergarten

I went to Walmart today and found bags of shaped pasta that would be awesome for sorting and counting activities. They price was listed at 3.50 per bag but that may vary from store to store.

There were three different themes:

- ocean
- transportation
- space

Each bag contains three different colors of pasta in a variety of pasta shapes.

ocean themed pasta

transportation themed pasta

space themed pasta

How fun are these? We are going to sort by shape (cars ... trains ... airplanes etc) and then we are going to sort by color. We will then count how many we have sorted.

Because the pasta is small remember to user supervision when working with children under the age of three and those still in the stages of putting items in their mouths.

Let me know if you were able to find the shaped pasta and where. Also what activities you will be doing with them!!

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Birdhouse Alphabet Match

4/12/2016

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birdhouse alphabet match for preschool and kindergarten

birdhouse number match also added to the member's section

Here is a birdhouse alphabet match for letter recognition and fine motor development. I printed the patterns on cardstock paper ... cut them out and then laminated them. I then separated them into two piles ... one for the birdhouses and one for the birds.

This is a great activity for letter recognition and review. The matching set comes with both uppercase as well as lowercase letters so the children can practice matching the letters in a few different ways.

In this activity children pick a birdhouse and match it with the bird with the same letter. We used clothespins to make match and clip activity (and to work on fine motor development) Play continues until all the letters have been matched. As of 2022 this activity can be found in the member's section which is also where the number match is located.

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Play Equals Learning

4/8/2016

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Play is the best way for young children to learn and yet many parents and even some teachers and caregivers do not understand the relationship between play and learning.

Here are a few ways in which play benefits the development of young children:

Cognitive:

problem solving skills
critical thinking
use of imagination
learn and master new concepts

Personal:

builds self-confidence
builds self-esteem
reduces stress
develops self-expression

Physical:

self-help skills
gross motor development
fine motor development

Social:

learn to share
resolve conflicts
communication building
learn to take turns

Learning through play is a way for young children to explore their environment and make sense of the world around them. It also help prepare them for future learning and social skills needed to become happy successful adults.

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Playdough Umbrellas

4/7/2016

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playdough umbrellas for preschool and kndergarten

We do a lot of work with playdough because of how wonderful it is for fine motor development. We made playdough umbrellas and the children really did an awesome job with them.

They chose the colors they wanted to use and then flattened out the playdough so that it could be cut with a circle shape cookie cutter. They then took a craft stick and cut the circles in half. They made the umbrella handles by forming black playdough into letter J shapes.

Playdough Umbrellas Fine Motor Activity For Preschool and Kindergarten

They used buttons to decorate their umbrellas and rolled blue playdough into small balls which represented raindrops. We did a color match with the buttons and the playdough which I think turned out really cute. If you do not have buttons you can also use pony beads.

You can see a video of this activity by clicking below: