Doin’ the Preschool Thing

My little guy turned three in December.  So far this school year, we’ve offered simple activities for him each day since he begs to be part of school time.  Now that he’s three, though, I’m trying to make his school time just a tad more purposeful.  Nothing serious, nor too academic, but things that will keep him excited about school time and teach him meaningful skills.

I’ve been using LOTS of wonderful online resources for ideas:

• Letter of the Week
• Tot School and Tot Packs
• Totally Tots
• ABC & 123
• Preschool Corner
• Preschool Playbook
• Paula’s Archive of Preschool Activities

I’ve also found a few books that have been very helpful in planning fun learning activities.

Preschool Math is full of lesson ideas for beginning math skills like one-to-one number correspondence, counting, patterns, nonstandard measurement, shapes, sorting, graphing, beginning addition and subtraction concepts and more.  There are well over 100 lessons!

The book is written for classroom teachers, but most of the activities are easily completed at home.  If you desire a planned out lesson with materials lists, vocabulary, steps to follow, assessment ideas and additional suggestions, this book will be perfect for you!  However, if you’re more like me and just want to grab ideas here and there, the book is still very useful!

I’ve found several ideas I can use now with a blossoming preschooler AND plenty more to keep us going through late preschool into kindergarten.  Chapters included are:

1. Art Math
2. Block Center Math
3. Body Math
4. Cooking Up Math
5. Math Center Math
6. Moving Math
7. Outside Math
8. Small Group Math
9. Wet and Messy Math
10. Whole Group Math

Like I said, some of the lessons (small group math and whole group math) are written specifically for the classroom setting.  (Although several of those lessons can still be completed in a homeschool.)  The other chapter titles should give you an idea of the exciting, hands-on type of learning the book offers busy preschoolers!

Many moms of preschoolers have already heard about Mudpies to Magnets and Everybody Has a Body.  The same publisher of those books, Gryphon House, publishes Preschool Math.  I just thought somebody might like to know!

Math Play and Science Play, both Williamson Books, are a little less heavy in the structure of the lesson plans as compared to Preschool Math.  Because of this, it’s a little easier to open the books and “go” with an idea, but the lessons don’t go as deep as those in Preschool Math.

In Math Play! activity ideas are given for counting, number recognition, size, shapes and patterns.  The lesson pages are written with lots of visual appeal for children and very simple directions that a parent can read aloud.  We’ve completed several of the suggestions, but plenty more await as my little guy is able to understand more.

Science Play offers a bit more of a lesson plan format with full color illustrations.  Topics covered are nature, water, air, sun, wind, rain, plants, earth, changes (beginning chemistry), sound and motion.  Even though many of the activities are still a bit too advanced for my little guy, I love this book!  It takes a concept and covers lots of topics with short and simple experiments that will give your child an experiential knowledge as the years roll on.

For example, in the water chapter alone your child will complete about 30 activities that cover deep vs. shallow, changing shapes, solids vs. liquids, water movement, floating and sinking, absorption, surface tension and water in art.  A few fun facts are thrown in for good measure and one or two books you might like to check out for more learning.  And all of this appropriate for the older preschooler or kindergartener!

So there you have it – some of my resources for preschool.  I’d love to hear about some of your favorite preschool websites and/or books!  (Pretty please.)

-Written by Cindy, eclectic Charlotte Mason mom of three.  You can find her blogging at Our Journey Westward and Shining Dawn Books.