Holidays
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Gifts for Preschoolers 2024
Preschoolers really start to have opinions about what they want for Christmas, which can make the holidays feel a little more expensive. They’re also still at an age when they can surprise you with how much they love a completely random gift. My favorite tip when shopping for preschoolers is to gift them things that they can DO. They really like to be busy, but they still have pretty short attention spans, so a variety of quick and easy activities will be appreciated by kids and parents. Here are my picks for 2024 (all links are affiliates). STEM Board Game – This game requires some thought and attention (both very…
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2024 Toddler Gift Guide
There’s no such thing as a perfect gift for a toddler – in most cases they’ll prefer to play with the box it comes in – but that also makes it easy because they love pretty much anything. When it comes to choosing the perfect gift for a toddler my number one rule is to pick something that won’t drive their parents crazy. Tons of tiny pieces are an automatic no because toddlers would much rather dump them all over the floor than pick them up. Any obnoxious lights or noises are ruled out because a toddler will repeat them endlessly and then lose their mind when the batteries die.…
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2024 Gifts for Babies
It’s my favorite week of the year! I’ve got the Christmas music playing, I’m sipping my gingerbread latte, and I’m bringing you my holiday gift guides! this marks the 10th year (can you believe it?!) of these guides from Preschool Ponderings and I’ve got an excellent line up for you this year. My goal has always been to highlight products that are recommended by early childhood professionals to support development, while also being gifts that children will love and parents won’t hate you for giving. Let’s start with all of the babies on your shopping list. It can be so hard to shop for little ones who are truly only…
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Thanksgiving Dramatic Play
Thanksgiving can be a bit of a minefield to explore in the classroom. It’s really hard for preschoolers to understand the historical significance of the holiday – they can’t comprehend just how long ago the first Thanksgiving took place. It’s also a challenge to represent the holiday in a way that is culturally competent while also remaining developmentally appropriate. This is why I try to stick with two common themes related to Thanksgiving; Food and Family. Food is ideal for Thanksgiving-themed dramatic play. Here are three different ideas for this holiday: Family table – give children all of the materials that they might need to create beautiful Thanksgiving table scapes.…
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Classroom Materials for Thanksgiving
My favorite part of any holiday or season is making sure that it is reflected in my classroom materials. These are the kinds of things that children are seeing in their homes and in local stores and businesses, so it makes sense that they would also be able to to interact with them in the classroom. Thanksgiving holds a special place in my heart for a couple of reasons. First, it’s so easily forgotten in the rush to get to Christmas, and that makes me want to dig in my heels and make sure that it’s recognized. Second because I love to cook and bake, so it seems just made…
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Teaching Thankfulness in Preschool
Thanksgiving is a two-part holiday – first, you’ve got the historical references, and then there are the social emotional lessons. Thanksgiving is the perfect time to help children practice being thankful, and for very young preschoolers, this may be the first time they’ve ever considered the fact they they are lucky to have certain people and things in their lives. There are a number of ways to help children focus on what they are thankful for this holiday season, here are a few ideas; Host a food drive. This doesn’t have to be just for Thanksgiving, make it last until your winter break. Families need help all winter long! Some…
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After Halloween Plans for the Classroom
This year Halloween is on a Thursday, which means we all have to come back in to school for Friday before we can really crash. The day after Halloween can be ROUGH in the classroom. Honestly, it makes perfect sense – the routine has been totally off, most kids were up way later than usual for trick or treating, and we’ve all had more sugar over the last few days than are bodies are used to processing. It’s completely normal for everyone to be super cranky the next day. Knowing this, there are some things that you can do to make the day go a little more smoothly. In planning…
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Tips for Planning a Class Halloween Party
Whether you are planning a Halloween party or a Harvest Party, it’s time to start thinking about it! I know some people dread party days, but I love them. Parties are the perfect time to build classroom communities. They give the children a common event to look forward too and opportunities to bond over their anticipation, and throughout the actual party. Over the years I’ve come up with quite a few tips for making those crazy party days run just a little more smoothly. The planning makes all the difference, so consider your party details as I run through some of the questions you might want to ask yourself.
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Halloween Costume Anxiety
Many children LOVE the opportunity to wear costumes on Halloween. They jump at the opportunity to dress up like someone else and truly enjoy the process of choosing a costume. There are some children who do not share this joy and really struggle with Halloween because of their feeling about costumes. Children may not like the way that a costume feels when they wear it. If this is the case then getting creative and identifying costumes that can be created with the types of clothing that a child already enjoys wearing. Other children struggle with the idea of dressing like someone else. They may not want to be anyone or…
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Creative ways to use pumpkins in preschool
Pumpkin exploration is synonymous with Halloween in preschool. But if you’re ready to try something other than painting pumpkins and sending them home, then check out this list!
