seasonal activities
-
All Things 4th of July!
The 4th of July has always been one of my favorite holidays, which is likely because of how close it is to my birthday. I love to go all in when it comes to red white and blue – and this includes in the classroom. I can’t believe that we’ve already made it to this point of the summer! Last week I shared a ton of patriotic resources, but If you’re planning for this week and next week here are ALL of the 4th of July posts that I’ve every written (you know, for inspiration): Children’s Books for the 4th of July 4th of July Bingo 4th of July Fruit…
-
New resources for summer!
I’ve been busy adding so many new summer resources to the Preschool Ponderings store! If you’re looking for preschool summer activities I’ve got you covered. Here’s what’s new: Ice Cream Clipart – These are perfect for any of your summer creations! I use them for planner stickers, prize stickers, and summer activities. They’re classic shapes and colors that instantly set the mood for summer fun. Bee Unit – Bees are fascinating and so important to our ecosystem, but they can also be very scary for young children. Taking time to understand them a little better and explore them in the safety of the classroom can help remove some of that…
-
Favorite Easter Traditions
I can’t let Easter sneak by without sharing my favorite Easter traditions! Check out these posts for some super fun ideas for your upcoming celebration: Egg Decorating Without the Mess My Favorite Easter Books Easter Bunny Trail Mix Easter Traditions for Preschool Easter Writing Centers Easter Math Activities Last Minute Easter Basket Ideas Easter Printables for Preschool Maybe you’ll find your new favorite Easter tradition in this collection of fun activities!
-
Friday Freebie – In Like a Lion
Happy Friday! March has definitely come in like a lion in my area – isn’t that a funny saying?! I distinctly remember learning the “In like a lion, out like a lamb” adage when I was in preschool. I know for a fact that we made lion and lamb faces out of paper plates. Isn’t it interesting what our brains chose to remember? Today’s freebie can help you explore this tradition with your own students. This In Like a Lion Out Like a Lamb Calendar and Weather set from Tina O’Block is adorable! Go download yours and have a wonderful weekend!
-
Seasonal Sensory Materials
While I was working on yesterday’s post I realized that I’ve posted sensory materials to explore for autumn, but I’ve never posted sensory materials for the other seasons. I decided to put them all together in one great big list. This will be easy to reference when you’re planning sensory experiences. I’ll start with Autumn: Colored leaves Acorns Straw Soybeans Pumpkins Pumpkin Seeds Field Corn Corn Stalks Soybean Pods Mini Pumpkins Black Walnuts Osage Oranges Gourds Mums Apples Candy Corn Fake Spiderwebs Slime Winter Ice Snow Cotton Balls Scarves, Hats, and Gloves Christmas Ornaments Tinsel Ribbon Gift Wrap Jingle Bells Pine Needles Cranberries Peppermints Pinecones Cinnamon Confetti and Streamers Marshmallows…
-
Everything autumn
The fall bug has bitten me hard! I put out all of my autumn decor this weekend and I have been savoring my fair share of pumpkin spice lattes. If you’re anything like me you’ve already started thinking about incorporating everything fall into the classroom, so I thought I’d round up some of my favorite autumn activity posts to share with you. Happy planning! Sensory activities with autumn spices Pumpkin compare and contrast sensory activity DIY fall classroom decor Autumn manipulatives for preschool Preschool leaf activities Printable centers for autumn
-
20 Uses for seasonal ice cube molds
I bought these molds last year on after-Christmas clearance and forgot all about them until I pulled out my Christmas decorations, so now I’m brainstorming a list of different activities that I can do with them. I’m hoping to do a week with the gingerbread molds and a week with the Christmas tree molds. Here are the lists I’ve come up with so far (Amazon links are affiliates): Sort colored buttons into the spaces Use them with Gingerbread Cloud Dough Sort Gingerbread Marshmallows Use them to make cinnamon dough ornamentsPlay with Gingerbread play doughMake Cream Cheese Mints for the holidaysUse letter beads to spell 3-letter words in each spacePractice using eye droppersDo…
-
Ultimate list of sensory materials
I have a love/hate relationship with the sensory table. I fully appreciate the awesome educational opportunities that sensory play encourages, and I love that children will spend FOREVER exploring these materials. On the other hand, there’s the mess. It doesn’t matter how deep the bucket is, somehow, whatever is on the table will end up on the floor. In the end, the mess is always worth it. Exploration and discovery always win. I like to switch out the materials in the sensory table often Sometimes I change the actual sensory materials, and sometimes a remove the tools and put in a different kind of tool to see how the children…
-
Using Vocabulary Cards in the Preschool Classroom
I love vocabulary cards. I love them so much that I’ve designed my own and there are always some available in my classroom, but before I get ahead of myself, let me tell you why I love them. I started using vocabulary cards when my students showed an interest in working on their writing skills. They kept asking me how to spell certain words, and how to write specific letters. I eventually got tired of writing certain words over and over on scrap paper so that kiddos could see what the words looked like, so I wrote some on sentence strips. This was a start, but then they couldn’t find…
