summer activities
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Preschool 4th of July Activities
The 4th of July has always been my favorite holiday – it’s that mix of sweet summer, patriotism, long days, and knowing that my birthday is right around the corner! Even when I’ve had to work the week of the holiday I’ve made sure to live it up in the classroom, determined to make sure that my students enjoy this day as much as I do. Here are all of the posts that I’ve shared over the years with 4th of July activities for some inspiration for your own celebrations. All Things 4th of July Children’s Books for the 4th of July 4th of July Bingo 4th of July Fruit…
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Frog Activities for Preschool
This is our first official week of summer! This year we’re exploring a different topic every week, inspired by our love of animals and science, and guided by our favorite National Geographic Kids books – You can read more about our summer plans in this post. Keeping with these weekly themes, I thought it would be fun to share some of the activities and learning experiences that we’re using to understand each topic better. Here are our plans for frog week: Exploring a local pond – whether you take your group to a pond or bring elements of the pond to the classroom, this is a hands-on opportunity to really…
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Memorial Day for Preschoolers
I have an whole collection of Memorial Day resources that I wanted to share as we head into this long holiday weekend. Hopefully these will make your planning for the next week a little easier! Memorial Day Pinwheels Children’s Books for Memorial Day Patriotic Resource Round Up Patriotic Ribbon Wands Teaching Patriotism Connecting Your Class with Service Members Have a wonderful weekend!
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Cheap Summer Activities for Kids
Keeping kids busy all summer can get expensive really fast – but it doesn’t have to! There are so many creative ways to encourage children to use their bodies and brains without spending a ton of money. Here are some of my favorites: Parks – Make a list of all of your local parks and visit a different playground each week. Explore nature preserves and walk every trail that you possibly can. Pack a picnic to really make a day of it (then you can challenge children to come up with new picnic foods AND help prep the lunches too) Play dates – connect with other families and schedule times…
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Summer Must Haves for Kids
My daughter has 2 days of school left, and between, the beautiful weather we’ve been having, and the upcoming Memorial Day weekend, it really feels like summer is upon us. I thought I’d share some of the products that we use over and over again all summer long. These are the basics that help keep my girl entertained, and mom a little more sane! All links are affiliate links. Sand toys – A good set cannot be underestimated! I DO NOT like sand personally (something about the way it feels just gets me) but my daughter doesn’t share this aversion, she’ll happily cover herself in it. I keep a set…
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Organizing summer learning supplies
As we get closer to summer (7 days and counting!) I’ve been trying to get organized so that all of our plans can run smoothly. I had to clean out our supply box and update some of the items, which made me think that I should share that again here. This has been so helpful in keeping all of the supplies we use regularly organized and easy to access. Here’s all of the info: It’s really important to me that we’re continuing to learn – but I also want to spend as much time outside as possible. Having a way to use these materials outside is kind of a requirement,…
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Preschool Lesson Plans and Activities for June
We’re halfway through the month of May already – I can’t even believe it! Many of you are almost done with school for the year, but I also know that a large group of you will continue working with all of your littles through the summer. It was really important for me to continue these Month of PreK sets for every month of the year so that you would be supported no matter what your school calendar looks like. Here is the great big list of everything included in the June Month of Preschool set. This set has 5 exclusive activities that are only available in the June Month of…
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Materials that make summer learning easier (and more fun)!
Part of preparing for summer is collecting the materials that will support all of our learning plans. Here’s what I’ve already gathered for this summer – and why (all links are affiliate links). Stencil set – My girl loves stencils and these are an excellent way to support handwriting. This set has so many different options that I know she love and use, plus it’s an activity that she can do completely independently. Supply box – Keeping everything in one spot is key, I can’t tell you how frustrating it is to stop what we’re doing and go find a pencil, or a glue stick, or a pair of scissors.…
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Summer with a First Grader
Yesterday I shared how I planned for our summer learning last year. Go check out that post! Last summer my girl had just finished kindergarten and my goal was to make sure that she didn’t lose any of the skills that she had learned during her first year of school. This year my goals are a little different. I want to really dig into the things that she finds fascinating and show her that she can take on her own learning. I also want to build a true love of reading for both fun and out of curiosity. Last year we kept one theme for a whole month, but this…
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Planning for Summer with Elementary School Kids
I’ve been hard at work at planning for our summer fun (and learning), but before I share what this year’s plans look like, I wanted to share how I put everything together last year. Here’s the post on how I organized all of it! If someone asked me to choose ONE word to describe myself it would definitely be the word “planner.” I truly love to organize my thoughts, lay them out on paper and fill in any missing pieces. It helps me feel in control and gives me the structure that I need. When it came to figuring out what our summer will look like, I started with daily…
