Ideas for Pre-K & Preschool Teachers
In my classroom, we have a Play Dough Bakery that stays in our classroom all year. This is a creative and fun way for kids to practice building the fine motor muscles they need for gripping a pencil and writing. Children love to make play dough food and “serve” it to their teachers and friends. Sometimes they create their own pretend-play restaurants, ice cream shops, bakeries, and pizza parlors using
Here are some fun songs to use while teaching a Pond Life unit! These songs are great for Pre-K, Preschool, and Kindergarten. This is a curated list of songs from YouTube. Five Green and Speckled Frogs, by The Learning Station Five Little Speckled Frogs, by Super Simple Songs Little Green Frog, by The Kiboomers There Was a Little Turtle, by The Kiboomers Six Little Ducks, by The Kiboomers Be Kind to
The Nuts Keep Rolling is the newest book by bestselling author Eric Litwin. This new book will be available soon on April 18, 2017. Eric Litwin is the author of the first four Pete the Cat books, the Groovy Joe series, and the Nut Family series. Keep reading for activities to go with the book and the giveaway for a signed copy! In The Nuts Keep Rolling, Hazel and Wally
This Jumping Frog Alphabet Game is a fun way to practice or beginning sounds. Prepare the Game You will need the printable mat and a set of plastic “jumping frogs”. The jumping frogs are usually available in dollar stores or the party section of discount stores, and they’re very inexpensive! The printable letter mats come in lowercase letters and uppercase letters, as well as a color version and a black
Old Tracks, New Tricks, by Jessica Petersen is a new book recently published about old train tracks who learn how to do new tricks. Here is a counting printable and more activities to go with the book. About the Book: Old Tracks, New Tricks In the story, Old Tracks, New Tricks, children will get new ideas for ways to use train tracks. You can add other materials to them, such as
Read the story of Easter to children and use this printable for sequencing the story. This printable goes with the story beginning with Jesus entering Jerusalem to when He rose from the tomb and showed the disciples the marks on His hands. There are two printables: one with 3 pictures to sequence and one with 4 pictures. Download the printable of your choice at the link below. Have children cut apart the
Read the story of Saint Patrick to children and use this printable for sequencing the story. There are two printables: one with 3 pictures to sequence and one with 4 pictures. Download the printable of your choice at the link below. Have children cut apart the pictures (or cut them in advance if children are not able to do this by themselves). Discuss each picture with children. Have children put the pictures
This Space Same and Different Game will help preschool and kindergarten children practice visual discrimination skills. Visual discrimination skills help children identify letters and numbers, as well as distinguish the difference between similar letter shapes such as p, q, b, d, and number shapes such as 3 and 8, 6 and 9. You could use this activity with your Space Theme. To prepare the cards, just print them out (see download below) and cut them apart. There are four
This set of 19 Farm Picture-Word Cards includes farmer, tractor, wheelbarrow, barn, pitchfork, sheep, chicken, eggs, cow, pig, donkey, goat, horse, cat, dog, cotton, corn, hay, and wheat. There are more sets in the Picture-Word Cards collection. Be sure to check out the other sets at the link! This set goes with my Farm Theme. How to use the word cards: There are a few ways you can use these picture-word cards and display them. Use these
These games help pre-K children practice Letter Sound learning in a fun, hands-on way. Sound Cups Use 26 disposable clear punch cups and label each cup with a letter. Letter cup labels can be downloaded below. Collect a set of small trinket objects (you can ask parents and friends to send things in), such as plastic lizard, small block, watch, plastic frog, bandaid, necklace, button, dice. Place the trinkets in a basket. Children
This printable rhyming set could be used in many ways and includes several pairs of matching rhyming picture cards. To play this Rhyming Match Game, print out the rhyming mats and the picture cards. Cut out the picture cards and put them in a bowl or basket with the corresponding mat. There are three sets of Rhyming Match Games. Children will take a card from the bowl and find the
For a long while, I’ve been making play dough counting mats that you can download and print. This past Summer, I had the opportunity to create some play dough mats as a freelance product designer for Kaplan Early Learning Company. I made a set of Alphabet Play Dough Mats and a set of Bird Nest Math Play Dough Mats. I was honored that they asked me to make them, and
Read the story of Saint Valentine to children and use this printable for sequencing the story. There are two printables: one with 3 pictures to sequence and one with 4 pictures. Download the printable of your choice at the link below. Have children cut apart the pictures (or cut them in advance if children are not able to do this by themselves). Discuss each picture with children. Have children put the pictures
These Ten Frame Puzzles help teach kids number concepts. Kids will put the puzzles together to make the 10 frames complete. To prepare the ten frame puzzles: Print out the ten frame puzzles. Cut the ten frame puzzles like the photo shown below. The puzzles have two different pictures on them, so be sure to separate those. For example, if you print out the Farm set, each 10 frame has cows and pigs.
When kids get the wiggles, they need a Brain Break! These 20 movement songs will get kids up and moving to get the wiggles out! Use these songs for indoor recess or anytime kids need a break. This is a curated list of songs from YouTube. Freeze Dance, by The Kiboomers Color Freeze Dance, by The Kiboomers Clap Your Hands, by The Kiboomers Walking, Walking, by The Kiboomers Energy Song, by
Use these Cookie Jar Play Dough Mats to combine fine motor and math skills in a fun way. You can find many more Play Dough Mats here. To prepare these mats, print them and either laminate the mats or slip them in clear page protectors. I like to to put them in page protectors and bind them together with metal binder rings so the kids can flip through the mats like a book. That
Set up this Christmas Lights Science display in your science center and let kids explore and discover how to turn on the Christmas lights. This is a simple activity for Preschool and Pre-K kids that you can set up in the Science Center. Materials Needed: String of Christmas lights Scissors or wire cutters (scissors work fine) 9V Batteries The Christmas lights you use don’t have to be new ones, and
These Bible Story Print & Fold books are quick and easy to prepare for your Jewish or Christian preschool program. Print & Fold books are a great way to communicate with parents the Bible story their children have been learning in class. To prepare, all you have to do is print, make copies, and fold the books. No staples needed. The stories are simplified because each book has only 3
Read a story about St. Nicholas to children and use this printable for sequencing the story. There are two printables: one with 3 pictures to sequence and one with 4 pictures. Download the printable of your choice at the link below. Have children cut apart the pictures (or cut them in advance if children are not able to do this by themselves). Discuss each picture with children. Have children put the pictures in
This Owl Same and Different Game helps kids practice visual discrimination skills in preschool, pre-k, and kindergarten. Children need visual discrimination skills to help them identify letters and numbers, as well as distinguish the difference between similar letter shapes such as p, q, b, d. This activity works great with a Forest Animals Theme. To prepare the set, just print out the cards (see download below) and cut them apart. There are four
These are our favorite books about Gingerbread for Pre-K kids. These are great for the Christmas season. This list contains Amazon affiliate links. Visit the Gingerbread Activities page for lots of Preschool & Pre-K lesson ideas. The Gingerbread Man, by Jim Aylesworth The Gingerbread Man, by Catherine McCafferty Gingerbread Baby, by Jan Brett Gingerbread Friends, by Jan Brett Gingerbread Christmas, by Jan Brett The Gingerbread Girl, Lisa Campbell Ernst The Gingerbread Girl Goes Animal
Here are some songs to get your kids singing and moving while learning about shapes. This is a curated list of songs from YouTube. Shapes, by Jack Hartmann Shapes in the environment – move and make the shapes. Shapes Song, by The Kiboomers Identifying environmental shapes. Shapes Song, by The Learning Station Identifying a variety of shapes. Shapes Song: Square, Diamond, Star, Rectangle, by The Kiboomers Kids can find the
This Five Little Leaves Math Game is an interactive rhyme activity to help kids practice simple subtraction in Pre-K. Subtraction is a big concept, but with rhymes like this one (much like Five Little Monkeys and similar rhymes), preschool kids are practicing “taking away” in a playful, developmentally appropriate way. For this activity, just print the mats and rhyme, find some manipulatives, and have fun! I wrote this rhyme myself, but there are
Here are some Transportation same and different cards to help kids build visual discrimination skills. These skills help children identify letters, numbers, and shapes, and distinguish the different between shapes, such as p, q, b, d and numbers like 6 and 9 or 3 and 8. To prepare the activity, you will need to print the cards, laminate, and cut out each card. Children will choose a card and look at
Read the story of Adam and Eve to children and use this printable for sequencing the story. There are two printables: one with 3 pictures to sequence and one with 4 pictures. Download the printable of your choice at the link below. Have children cut apart the pictures (or cut them in advance if children are not able to do this by themselves). Discuss each picture with children. Have children put the
Painting is an important part of education in Pre-K. It’s messy, but purposeful. Here are some tips to help preschool teachers with painting in the classroom. Choosing Paintbrushes I prefer paintbrushes that have the handle made all of plastic rather than the metal and wood ones. The metal eventually rusts and the wood expands when wet and separates from the metal over time. Big, thick paintbrushes are one of my Pre-K pet peeves.
This Classifying Sizes activity will help your students practice comparing small and large sizes for math skills. This activity goes with the story Goldilocks and the Three Bears, or you can use it as a stand alone activity. Find more Fairy Tale activities here. The Goldilocks story is perfect for introducing size concepts to children. In the book, you will find a small bear, a medium bear, and a large bear. The bears have
The nursery rhyme, Fall the Leaves, is perfect for the Fall season. It’s not as well known as most traditional nursery rhymes, but it is a traditional English rhyme for children, and I like to include it with the nursery rhymes we learn in my Pre-K class. This set of picture-word cards can be used to introduce vocabulary to children, but it can also be used in a word game. Play
Read the story of Jonah and the Big Fish to children and use this printable for sequencing the story. There are two printables: one with 3 pictures to sequence and one with 4 pictures. Download the printable of your choice at the link below. Have children cut apart the pictures (or cut them in advance if children are not able to do this by themselves). Discuss each picture with children. Have children put
This printable book of the Five Senses helps kids think about how they use each of their senses. You can use this book as a review after teaching the senses, or discuss each one as the children create the pages. Here’s how I used the Five Senses book with my class: I first showed the kids each page and read the words to them. I did this at small group, so I had
Here are some songs to get your kids singing and moving during your Pets Theme. This is a curated list of songs from YouTube. Rags, by Jack Hartmann A song about a dog — has lots of movement. I Have a Pet, by Super Simple Songs Have kids make the animal sounds and movements like the dog, cat, mouse, etc. The Cat Came Back, by The Learning Station Add movements to
This set of Body Parts Picture-Word Cards includes arm, elbow, wrist, hand, thumb, finger, fingernails, head, ear, eye, hair, lips, teeth, tongue, nose, legs, knee, ankle, foot, toes, shoulders, stomach, neck. Many young children don’t know words like wrist, ankle, elbow, etc. so these cards can teach kids new vocabulary. These could be used during an All About Me theme. This set has 23 word cards. Find more word card sets
Groovy Joe: Ice Cream & Dinosaurs, the latest book by Eric Litwin, is set to be released on August 30, 2016. You can bet there are songs to go with it! Eric Litwin is also the author of the first four Pete the Cat books and The Nuts series. Watch the Groovy Joe trailer and listen to the Groovy Joe book and song. I created a printable Favorite Ice Cream Graph to go
These Pets same and different games will help pre-k and kindergarten kids practice and build visual discrimination skills. Children need visual discrimination skills to help them identify letters and numbers, as well as distinguish the difference between similar letter shapes such as p, q, b, d. To play these visual discrimination games, just print these cards, laminate, and cut. Children will take a card and look at all four pictures. They will
Here are some fun songs that teach kids the colors! There are songs to sing, songs to dance to, and songs for interaction. All of these are great songs for Pre-K and Preschool kids, but I especially like the StoryBots videos which have a song for each color in a current music style. This is a curated list of songs from YouTube. Songs About Colors (A playlist of 8 color
Print these dismissal transportation posters to keep track of how your students go home each day. I have a variety of choices: large dismissal posters, a smaller set, and a chart. I also made a set of rainbow colored buses in case your school color codes different bus loads. My previous set of dismissal posters needed a new update, and for these, I used polka dot borders and new clipart. Laminated
This Favorite Color Graph is a quick and easy large group activity — just print and cut. This graph would be great for the beginning of the year. Someone asked me to make this and this seemed like a perfect time of year for it. All you have to do to prepare this is print it out, cut it, and glue it onto a piece of chart paper or use
Read a story about Noah’s Ark to children and use this printable for sequencing the story. There are two printables: one with 3 pictures to sequence and one with 4 pictures. Download the printable of your choice at the link below. Have children cut apart the pictures (or cut them in advance if children are not able to do this by themselves). Discuss each picture with children. Have children put the pictures in
Read the story of Joseph and the Coat of Many Colors to children and use this printable for sequencing the story. There are two printables: one with 3 pictures to sequence and one with 4 pictures. Download the printable of your choice at the link below. Have children cut apart the pictures (or cut them in advance if children are not able to do this by themselves). Discuss each picture with
Read the story of Jesus’ birth to children and use this printable for sequencing the story. There are two printables: one with 3 pictures to sequence and one with 4 pictures. Download the printable of your choice at the link below. Have children cut apart the pictures (or cut them in advance if children are not able to do this by themselves). Discuss each picture with children. Have children put the pictures
