• Friday Freebie – Pumpkin Science

    Happy Friday! Just in case I haven’t shared enough autumn science ideas with you this week, here’s another one.  This Pumpkin Science set includes printables to support your class’ pumpkin exploration.  Go download your set from All Things Preschool, 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…

  • Science center ideas for the whole year

    When I’m visiting preschool classrooms, the science center is usually the one center that seems the most neglected.  There might be a toy microscope, a few dried up leaves, and some plastic bugs – those are all science staples.  I always loved coming up with new ideas for my science center, so I thought that I’d share just in case you find yourself in need of inspiration. These are ideas that can be used year-round, and I hope that they will breathe new life into your science center! A collection of seashells and starfish, books about the ocean, photos of ocean habitats, and plastic ocean animals. Soil samples in clear…

  • Friday Freebie – Leaf Matching

    Happy Friday! Today’s freebie is a fun way to practice colors while celebrating autumn.  This leaf scavenger hunt asks children to find leaves that match the leaf on the card, what a fun game for outdoor time! Download your copy from Edventures with Kids and have a great weekend!

  • Autumn activities for preschool

    Autumn is a great season to explore in the classroom because there are so many natural materials the you can bring into your environment.  This also means that it is really important to have other materials in your centers that are related to those natural materials.  Here are some of my favorite autumn centers; Autumn vocabulary cards– These are great for reinforcing the new vocabulary words that students are learning.  This set includes the words acorn, apple, leaf, corn, leaves, pumpkin, tree, orchard, squirrel, and turkey and are wonderful for a writing center. Acorn matching set – This set includes letter matching, number matching, and color matching, making it easy for children…

  • Autumn Dramatic Play Themes

    I love autumn – pumpkins, sweaters, apple cider – it is my favorite season.  There are so many fun things to do in the fall, and those activities translate to wonderful dramatic play themes.  Here are some fun ideas to invigorate your dramatic play center. Leaf clean up: Inspire children to help rake the yard with this fun dramatic play center. Consider adding some of the following materials to inspire play: Rakes Gardening gloves Play leaves Leaf bags Apple orchard: Nothing says autumn quite like a trip to the orchard, it’s easy to create your very own orchard with some of these materials: Play apples (or real ones!) Bushel baskets…

  • Acorn Science

    Acorns are great for autumn inquiries because they naturally lead to a variety of questions, such as; Why do the acorns fall off the tree? If we plant an acorn, will it grow? What would it grow into? What is inside of an acorn? Do any animals eat acorns besides squirrels? These questions can lead to wonderful investigations about autumn, hibernation, and plant life. If you’re looking for some additional science activities to do with acorns you can easily adapt year-round favorites to help your students understand acorns better.  You could: See if acorns sink or float, and then explore the same question with other types of nuts Talk about…

  • 15 Things preschoolers can observe in the fall

    Autumn gives us plenty of examples to explore changes in our world. Here are 15 different things that you can use to practice observation skills with preschoolers: Leaves changing colors Leaves falling off trees Leaves on other plants (Are they falling off too? Is it just trees that lose their leaves?) Trees that are not changing colors (Why do some trees change colors while others do not?) Bugs (What are they doing? Is this different from what they do at other times of the year?) Squirrels Other animals (What animals do you see? What are they doing?) The temperature Weather patterns The clothing you are all wearing (Is it different…

  • Friday Freebie – Yarn Keepsake

    Happy Friday! I swear that the farther away from summer we get, the longer the weeks feel.  Thankfully, it’s Friday! Today’s freebie is the perfect ending to all of the yarn activities that I shared this week.  This cute keepsake poem is meant to be shared with a string that is as tall as the child at the beginning of the year, and another piece of string that is as tall as the child at the end of the year. Families will love this little momento and it’s a great way to practice measurement. Download your copy from Kidpeople Classroom and have a wonderful weekend!