Author: Lauren Johnson

Community Helpers

Fire Safety Preschool Activities Teaching Tote with FREE Printable

Lauren Johnson

*This blog post contains affiliate links that can earn me commission at no additional cost to you. When you use the links to access the resources, you are supporting my small business, which is greatly appreciated!*

October is the perfect time to talk about Fire Safety with your preschoolers! I’ve curated a fun and hands on set of books and activities for Fire Safety Week to help your little ones learn about firefighters and their very important job. Of course, my favorite way to introduce a new theme is with books!

Out of all the fire safety books I included in this Teaching Tote, here are a few highlights from my favorites. If you’re interested in adding any of these books to your own fire safety collection, just click the photo for a link!

Flashing Fire Engines is one of my favorites from the Tony Mitton transportation series. The high energy illustrations paired with the playful prose are super engaging. Your preschoolers can see a day in the life of a firefighter and learn some important fire safety vocabulary as well. If you’d like to add this fun story to your library, just click the picture!

Fire Engine No. 9 is an absolute favorite in my house. The illustrations are action packed. This story depicts a group of fire firefighters responding to a fire at Luigi’s restaurant. The only words are sounds (alarm bells, sirens, etc.) or short demands from the crew like “Climb!” and “Pull!” In the end, the firefighters save the day! There’s even a page in the back that goes over fire safety tips at home.

Curious George and the Firefighters features the mischievous monkey, George who just wants to help on a fire call. He finds a way to get involved on his own. Right when the Fire Chief is about to scold him for being a nuisance, we find out how much he really helped. A must have for fans of this beloved character!

F is for Firefighting is an exploration of firefighting through the alphabet. Each page illustrates an element of the job that starts with a certain letter of the alphabet. From Alarm to Hydrant to Jaws of Life to Pumper Truck to Zones, this book takes a deeper dive into the job of a firefighter and is perfect for your preschoolers and young children who have lots of curiosity about the career.

Dot the Fire Dog showcases a house fire call through the perspective of the fire dog. Dot has an important job to do when he spots someone else who needs saving! This book highlights the important contributions fire dogs can make in a simple, engaging story.

I Love Trucks! is perfect for your littlest learners. It showcases many interesting trucks, including a fire truck and ambulance. The colorful pictures with the bold black outlines are especially enticing for toddlers. This is the perfect book for any truck lover!

In the fire safety Teaching Tote I gathered three Melissa and Doug firetruck puzzles. I love this collection because even though they are all firetrucks, they each require a little bit different skills to complete. The Melissa & Doug Chunky Firetruck Puzzle is perfect for preschoolers who need larger pieces to grip. The Melissa & Doug Firetruck Sound Puzzle has smaller pegs to master those fine motor skills.

The Melissa & Doug Giant Floor Puzzle is a fun puzzle for those preschoolers who are ready for jigsaw puzzles with more pieces (24 to be exact) but still need big pieces to put together the puzzle. Being able to stretch out on the floor and help each other piece together the big firetruck also gives preschoolers an opportunity to work together towards a common goal and problem solve together.

If you’re interested in adding the Giant Firetruck Floor Puzzle to your playroom, click the completed puzzle picture below.

One thing Teaching Totes can help with is rotating toys! A toy rotation can be an overwhelming thing to accomplish, especially when you have to figure out a way to store all the toys that are not currently in rotation. This Fire Safety Teaching Tote includes several emergency vehicles and firefighter toys to give your preschoolers a novel set of things to play with in order to spark curiosity about fire safety and firefighting.

One of my favorite playsets is this firetruck by Lakeshore Learning. It is a heavy duty firetruck with a retractable ladder, opening compartment, 2 firefighter figures and a fire dog. My 5 year old absolutely loves playsets with little figures that can sit inside or on top off things. This is a fun way to spark imagination with it comes to fire safety!

Dress up is the ultimate way to let your preschoolers immerse themselves in a world of imagination. This Fire Safety Teaching Tote includes two firefighter coats, 1 pair of fire pants, and two helmets. One of these sets was purchased from Costco years ago, so if it is Halloween season as you are reading this, you might have some luck finding your own there! The other set is from Melissa & Doug, however they’ve since changed the color of the jackets. If you’d like to add the current version of this costume to your playroom, click on the picture for the link.

Another toy that I’ve included in the Fire Safety Teaching Tote is this fun Lego Duplo Town Fire Truck Set. Preschoolers love the versatility of building and rebuilding the pieces. And every toy firefighter needs their chance to rescue a kitten from a tree! My 5 year old, even though she’s on the upper end of the recommended age, still loves it when I pull this one out. Click the picture if you’d like to add this set to your playroom.

Emergency vehicles!! No Fire Safety Teaching Tote or toy rotation would be complete without all the vehicles! These little firetrucks and ambulances are perfect for anyone who loves toys with wheels. You can also use these to introduce your child to the elements of an emergency vehicle (siren, ladder, pump panel, etc.). I am super thrifty so I gathered these over time from yard sales and consignment sales. But for those of you who are short on time, I will include a link to a similar set on Amazon that reviews very well. Click the picture to see!

I do want to take a moment to highlight this wooden Pop Up Firetruck. This toy was a gift from my sister in law, who is a Montessori teacher and always introduces me to the best toys. Each little firefighter peg has a spring underneath so that when your child pushes down, it will spring up and pop out. My littles LOVE this toy and find it incredibly entertaining. It is designed for toddles, but I included it in this preschool tote because my kids honestly still love to fiddle with it. Click the picture for more details!

Not only does this Teaching Tote have toys and puzzles but it also includes some hands on learning activities to introduce your preschooler to concepts like the alphabet and number forms.

The Fire Safety Alphabet Cover is a fun way to identify letters while using the “water” cards to “put out the fire.” I LOVE this game because each house fire mat only displays 5 – 6 letters. So you can choose how many letters you want to practice (focus on one card or focus on five). If your child is just learning letters, one or two mats might be best. If your child knows their letters but just wants to review, go ahead and use all 5 mats. The mats come in uppercase letters or lowercase letters and the cards also have uppercase, lowercase and beginning sound variations. This gives you some choice as far as what you would like to focus on with your child. Click the picture for more details!

Another activity included in the Fire Safety Teaching Tote is the Firefighter Number Sort. This activity includes Fire Stations 1 – 20 and four firefighter cards for each station. The firefighter cards represent numbers 1 – 20 in four forms, words, tallies, tens frames, and quantities. You can decide what numbers you’d like to practice with your child and gather the corresponding firefighter cards. Then have your child place each firefighter in the fire station where they belong. Take turns together and see how many numbers you can practice! If you need more information on this activity, click the picture.

This number sort is the first activity my 5 year old daughter pulled of the shelf when I set out this Teaching Tote. She loved practicing recognizing the numbers in different forms and helping all the firefighters find their correct stations.

One of my favorite things to curate and put together for Teaching Totes are the themed sensory bins. This Fire Safety Teaching Tote contains a sensory bin with a picture match activity. The sensory bin is full of black beans and orange acrylic table scatter (fire!). It also is hiding several fire safety pictures in the bin- firetrucks, firefighters, axes, cones, fire hydrants, fire alarms, boots, fire extinguishers and ladders. You child can sift through the sensory bin, find the pictures and match them to the picture match mat. This is a fun way to practice visual discrimination skills, fine motor skills, and fire safety vocabulary. Click the picture for more information!

Of course we need to talk about the FREE Fire Safety printable craft template that I’ve included in the Teaching Tote. One of the most important things I teach preschoolers is not to be afraid of the firefighters that come help us. It is important to show them that firefighters wear masks that cover their faces and that might look scary. But firefighters are the same friendly helpers under all their gear and it is important never to hide from them in an emergency. Here is an easy prep printable to help reiterate that important safety tip with your preschooler. The “Don’t hide, go outside!” can be colored however your preschoolers(or you) choose- with tissue paper, dot markers, dot stickers, markers, paint, etc. You can grab this printable for free by clicking the picture below.

I hope this post was helpful to you! If you’re local to the Mount Airy, MD area and you are interested in renting all of these fun items, please click the Teaching Totes icon to visit my Teaching Totes website and contact me for booking!

If you would like more information about the learning activities featured in this post, click the icons below. Happy playing!!

Fall, Forest Animals

Fall Squirrels and Acorns Preschool Activities Teaching Tote

Lauren Johnson

*This blog post contains affiliate links that can earn me commission at no additional cost to you. When you use the links to access the resources, you are supporting my small business, which is greatly appreciated!*

Hi!! If you’re looking for some fun fall themed activities, you have come to the right place! This post will highlight all of the books, toys, games and activities that I’ve included in the the Fall Squirrels and Acorns Teaching Tote. Teaching Totes are a play-based learning kit available to rent, learn and return. If you are not local to the Mount Airy, MD area, that’s okay!! I’ve included lots of links to resources so that you can pick and choose the things that inspire you and will help you facilitate play based learning with your own children or students, including a FREE craft template.

Whenever I am curating activities or planning lessons for little learners, I always start with the books. Books are such a fun way to spark curiosity and build connection with preschoolers. In this tote, the stories and non fiction texts focus on squirrels, acorns and trees. I will highlight a few below.

Because of an Acorn is a simple and beautiful way to introduce to children how the living creatures in a forest interact with each other. The text is minimal, so it will keep the attention of your littlest learners. Yet the illustrations are full of details, color and a few little peek throughs. It is a perfect addition to the squirrel and acorn themed Teaching Tote!

Little Acorn tells the story of the tree’s life cycle through the perspective of the acorn. Each page depicts a different part of the process and explains with playful rhymes how an acorn can sprout and grow into a big tree, able to produce another little acorn and start the process all over again.

A Tree for All Seasons depicts the changes a maple tree endures throughout the four seasons of the year. While not an Oak tree like the other books, I still chose to include this one because of the stunning way it illustrates the importance of that tree to the living things around it. The photographs are engaging and sharp. And you may find a squirrel in there too!

The Golden Acorn is such a fun story about a confident little squirrel who is determined to win the gold acorn in the neighborhood competition. However, only teams can enter the race and he is used to working by himself. The independent squirrel must learn how to recognize the strengths of others around him and find out what is more important- winning or friendship. This story is such a sweet addition to the Squirrels and Acorns Teaching Tote!

The Squirrel Manifesto is a clever anecdote about how squirrels gather, save and share their acorns. It is told in verse with catchy rhymes and includes vibrant illustrations to accompany the words. It is a simple way to introduce finances to young children and how to handle money. Some of it can be enjoyed, some saved for later and some given to others, just like the acorns!

Acorns Everywhere! is a fun story about a squirrel who is busy hiding his precious acorn collection. With minimal text, we rely on the zany mixed media illustrations to see the obstacles squirrel is running into as he tries to hide away his stash of acorns. He might just change his whole approach!

For this Teaching Tote, I’ve selected two fun puzzles. The Towering Tree Puzzle is a unique one because it builds a towering tree in an unconventional shape. The pieces literally branch off like a tree, which is fun for little ones to put together. Its pieces are also double sided so there is more than one way to put it together.

I’ve also included an adorable squirrel wooden puzzle. This one is a simple, 4-piece puzzle with traditional fall colors and a tail and ears made out of fall leaves. I love taking the puzzle apart and presenting it to preschoolers undone. This becomes like an invitation to put the puzzle back together. This puzzle is part of a set of six. I’ve divided the set up among my different Fall Teaching Totes. If you are interested in adding these to your own collection, click the photo for a link.

Of course I cannot create a squirrel themed Teaching Tote without including the game The Sneaky, Snacky Squirrel. This game is such a fun way to practice colors, counting and fine motor skills all in one! It is a simple game so it is easy to learn and does not requiring any reading to play. Use a dice to determine which acorns you can collect, but watch out for the sneaky squirrel!! This game is the perfect way to begin learning social emotional skills like taking turns, sharing and winning and losing gracefully.

Speaking of games, Acorn Soup is another great addition to the Squirrels and Acorns Teaching Tote! This simple game includes 24 adorable wooden ingredients, a wooden spoon and 8 recipe cards. Take turns rolling the dice and creating different soups with the recipe cards and ingredients. I especially love this one because it inspires play that can extend beyond the game. Use the pieces to set up a pretend meal in your play room. Practice setting the table, enjoying your meal and tidying up. You can even talk about table manners as you play! It is recommended for ages 2 and up so even the littlest learners can participate and enjoy.

One of my favorite elements of every Teaching Tote is the sensory bin!! I love putting together themed sensory bases and loose parts to entice your little learner into some sensory play. The Squirrels and Acorns Sensory Bin comes with a dry pinto bean base mixed with green dyed spaghetti. On top of that, I added some loose parts – acrylic acorns (Dollar Tree), felt leaves (Michaels), small squirrel figures (Hobby Lobby), a small wooden spoon (Hobby Lobby) and a small wooden bowl (I had this handy in my kitchen- it is from Pampered Chef). Together it looks like a fun fall retreat! This can also serve as a fun extension to the game Acorn Soup. Little ones can mix up their own soup with the sensory ingredients. Or you can put the game pieces into the sensory bin and have your child hunt for the pieces as they complete each recipe. So many ways to play!!

When it comes to learning through play, dice games are a winner!! I created this adorable Squirrel Roll, Count & Cover game to practice number recognition and counting. I love adding hands-on elements to my activities, so I put together a tree with a mini-crate (Dollar Tree) for collecting acorns. Preschoolers can roll the dice, count the acorns and place them in the basket, then cover the number with a little squirrel. Little ones can play independently or take turns until all the numbers on the mat are covered.

If your preschooler is ready to count higher, the Acorn Counting Chant is the perfect way to practice counting, naming and writing numbers up to 20. First you teach your preschooler(s) the catching chant, “Acorn, acorn, on the ground. How many acorns have you found?” As a teacher, you can do this activity together in circle time or small groups.

Or you can set it up like a “write the room” activity and display the acorn counting cards around the room. Have your preschoolers find a card, count the acorns and trace the number on their recording sheet. There are 3 recording sheets to choose from (1 – 10, 11 – 20 or 1 – 20) so that you can cater to your learners’ needs.

Learning letters can be a tedious task for preschoolers so embedding letters into their play is an easy way to make letters recognizable, familiar and part of their language. This set of Alphabet Acorns from Learning Resources provides adorable little acorns, lids and objects with the matching beginning sound to explore, manipulate and match. Let me show you how I set these up in my playroom.

I decided to add in some gross motor movement when I set this activity up. Instead of just setting the trays side by side, I put them at opposite ends of the room and placed a balance beam in between them. Then I challenged my 5 year old to carefully travel across the balance beam to retrieve a shape them match it to the corresponding acorn. When she put each acorn together, she placed it in the tree trunk bucket.

She absolutely loved this set up and was super motivated to engage in the activity. She decided to make up her own moves between the two trays. She started with balancing, then tried crawling, scooting, and walking. Eventually, she placed the two trays next to each other and finished the activity sitting in one place.

I also want to mention that when I set this activity up, I only included 12 letters of the alphabet. I find that including all the pieces at once is cumbersome for my daughter and she does much better matching the letters and their beginning sound shapes when there are not as many pieces.

Please note: The balance beams are not included in the Squirrels and Acorns Teaching Tote. However you can easily incorporate the gross motor movement into the Alphabet Acorns game without them, which is why I wanted to share how we used them!

The last element of the Squirrels and Acorns Teaching Tote that I would like to share is the Squirrel Process Art Project. This craft is so fun and preschoolers at any age can participate in creating a squirrel. In order to do this craft, you will need the squirrel template, paint of your choice (I included brown in the Teaching Tote), and acrylic acorns or marbles.

Place the squirrel template inside a deep lid (like a copy box lid) or container. Squirt some paint in various places on the squirrel template. Add the acrylic acorns or marbles. Let your preschooler manipulate the lid so that the acorns roll around, leaving trails and spreading the paint all over the squirrel. Keep going until most of the squirrel is colored in. Set the template aside to dry. Then cut it out and glue it to a piece of construction paper.

If you would like a copy of the squirrel template, click the button below for the FREE download.

Download Free Squirrel Template

I hope this post was helpful to you! If you’re local to the Mount Airy, MD area and you are interested in renting all of these fun items, please click the Teaching Totes icon to visit my Teaching Totes website and contact me for booking!

If you would like more information about the learning activities featured in this post, click the icons below. Happy playing!!

Apples, Fall

Apple Activities for Preschoolers- A September Teaching Tote

Lauren Johnson

*This blog post contains affiliate links that can earn me commission at no additional cost to you. When you use the links to access the resources, you are supporting my small business, which is greatly appreciated!*

Welcome!! I’m creating this blog post to inspire some apple themed play and learning between you and your preschooler. If you’re looking for some engaging and hands on apple themed ideas, you’re in the right place!! I will use this platform to explain in detail all the elements of my first Apples Teaching Tote – a play based kit that I’ve created for families like you to rent, learn and return. If you are not local to the Mount Airy, MD area, don’t worry! I will describe all the resources available in this bin so that you can find exactly what you need for your preschoolers. Click the photo for a direct link to each item or activity!

Let’s start with the books!

This tote includes seven apple themed books to help immerse your preschooler in the apple season. I’ll explain each one and if you are interested in a direct link, just click the photo!

Mine! By: Candace Fleming

Mine! is a beautifully illustrated story about a juicy red apple that catches the eye of several forest animals. Each animal claims the apple as their own without knowing that the others around them all have the same idea. When the apple falls, a scuffle ensues and a unsuspecting forest friend obtains the juicy treat. This is a wonderful way to start a conversation about sharing and considering the feelings of others, while celebrating the sweet red fruit.

Apples A to Z By: Margaret McNamara

Apples A to Z introduces each letter of the alphabet page by page by describing a word that connects to apples in some way. Vibrant and lively pictures accompany each description. Your preschoolers can learn more about the parts of apples, types of apples, all the things you can create with apples and the process of creating these things. The book is a great choice to accompany any alphabet activity or preparing a yummy apple treat.

Apples, Apples, Apples By: Nance Elizabeth Wallace

Apples, Apples, Apples follows a sweet bunny family to an apple orchard to pick apples for snacks, baking and crafts. The collage style illustrations are absolutely adorable and add dimension to the story. During their visit, the farmer shows them different types of apples, the parts of an apple and how an apple tree grows. The family goes home to have their snack, make applesauce and do an apple craft. An applesauce recipe and directions for the apple craft are included in the story! A eye-catching mix of story and facts, this book is a must have for an apple theme.

Ten Apples Up on Top! By: Dr. Seuss

Ten Apples Up on Top! is a silly story about three animal friends who compete to balance as many apples on their head as they can. Of course, the fun story is written in verse, so it supports important language skills like rhyming words and rhythm. The apple stacks also get bigger as the story progresses so that you can practice counting numbers 1 – 10 with your child throughout the story. This book is a perfect companion to an apple themed counting activity.

The Season’s of Arnold’s Apple Tree By: Gail Gibbons

The Season’s of Arnold’s Apple Tree details the characteristics of Arnold’s Apple Tree throughout the four seasons of the year. As he spends time by his apple tree, he notes the buds in spring, the full leaves in summer, the juicy apples in fall and the bare branches in winter. This book even provides an apple pie recipe and explains how a cider press works. And it’s all through the eyes of a boy who loves to play outside by his apple tree.

Apples By: Gail Gibbons

Speaking of Gail Gibbons, can you even have an apple theme without this book?! Apples is a nonfiction story about the types of apples, Johnny Appleseed, parts of apples, how apples are used and how to grow an apple tree. The details are accompanied by lively and colorful illustrations to draw your child in. Even if you have younger learners who may not be able to attend to all the information, the illustrations are certainly worth sharing to introduce everything apples.

Tap the Magic Tree By Christie Matheson

Tap the Magic Tree is one of my absolute favorite apple stories. It is an interactive journey through a year with the apple tree. Each page invites your child to interact with the story by tapping, shaking or blowing the tree (and more!). You get to see the tree grow buds, flowers, drops its pedals, grow apples, drop it’s leaves and go dormant for the winter. This is also a wonderful way to introduce seasons to your little learners.

Also included in the Apples Teaching Tote are a collection of puzzles, toys, games and activities centered around apples. Read on to see what I’ve chosen for this tote!

We absolutely love the Magnetic Apple Number Maze from Melissa and Doug. It allows your child to use their fine motor skills and dexterity to use the magnetic wand and guide each little apple to the baskets. Each basket is numbered so they have to work carefully, adding just the right amount of apples to each one. This one is also perfect for on-the-go because it is interactive but all the small pieces are contained!

Wiggly Worms is a fun game that explores colors and challenges your memory! The worms wiggle around while you try to find a color that matches your card. You can replay as many times and you want and your child does not need to be able to read to play the game. Wahoo!

Another apple themed toy that I am so excited to include in this Teaching Tote is the Apple Picking Magnetic Tree. This toy is an open ended way to explore apple picking and the apple colors red, yellow and green. Use the small grabbers to strengthen fine motor skills and sort the colors. The base even comes with different size mushrooms that you can sort into their different holes. You can also embed in some number practice while playing with this toy by counting the number of fruit you pick from the tree. Pretend to be a farmer or pretend to be visiting a farm, pick your apples then use them to play!

I will always include sensory activities in a Teaching Tote. This Apple themed Teaching Tote actually includes 2 different sensory activities that you can easily recreate in your classroom or at home learning setting.

Create your own apple bobbing station with a small bin and some foam apples. Using a pair of tongs, your preschooler can transfer the floating apples from inside the bin to outside the bin. Encourage them count as they go. If you don’t have foam apples, you can also use red foam blocks.

This is one of my favorite sensory bins! I created the base by dying dry chickpeas with liquid watercolor paint. Then I added apple mini erasers (linked in photo) and a small grabber. The apple icons are taped to small plastic bowls from the Dollar Tree. These labels can be found the the Apple Fine Motor Activities set from my TpT shop. You can find the link to that at the bottom of this post.

Every Teaching Tote includes hands-on activities to help your preschooler engage in early concepts like visual discrimination, the alphabet, counting, numbers, colors, and shapes. This tote includes 5 learning activities that perfectly accompany the books, games and toys that I’ve shared so far. You can click the photographs for the direct links to each activity. I will also link the icons at the bottom of this post.

Visual discrimination is such an important skill when it comes to identifying, sorting and classifying objects. In this Apple Teaching Tote, you will find a Build and Apple Tree activity designed to help your preschooler strengthen their visual discrimination skills in a hands-on and fun way. It is easy to play! Just set the Build and Apple Tree Mat in front of your preschooler and provide the apple cut outs in reach. Have your preschooler pick a card and build a matching apple tree on the mat. Ask your preschooler- what color apples does your tree have? How many red? How many yellow? How many green? What color has the most? What color has the least? Continue to pick a card and build the different apple trees, letting your preschooler set the pace. Challenge your preschooler to create their own apple tree and tell you about it.

I’ve included 2 learning activities in this teaching tote that are designed to strengthen number sense and counting skills, the Apple Tree Number Sort and the Apple Count and Build Cards. Both of the activities are a part of the Apple Counting Math Centers set available in my TpT.

The Apple Count and Build Cards are a fun and easy way to practice counting 1 – 10 and introduce your preschooler to tens frames, building a foundation for a strong number sense. Simply pick a card, count the apples in the truck and show the quantity in the tens frame. Click the photo to grab the apple mini erasers pictured. Click the photo below to grab the printables.

The Apple Number Sort is a wonderful way to introduce your preschoolers to number forms. The apple cards show numbers 1 – 10 in 5 ways: number, dice, quantity, tens frame and word form. Choose 2-4 numbers to practice and place the corresponding apples in a draw pile. Take turns picking an apple and placing it on the correct tree.

Of course I’ve included some letter practice in this Teaching Tote as well! These alphabet activities will have your preschooler identifying, naming and writing uppercase and lowercase letters. The Apple Find & Clip as well as the Apple Trace the Room are both included in the Apple Alphabet Activities resource in my TpT shop.

I love getting preschoolers excited about learning letters by adding a little movement into the activity. With this Trace the Room, I hid letter tiles (about 3) in small plastic apple containers. Simply set the apple containers around the room and challenge your preschooler to find one, open it, say the letters inside and trace them on their recording sheet. Continue until all the letters are found. Click the photo for a direct link to the apple containers!

Clip activities are such a fun way to practice fine motor skills! With this Apple Find & Clip, have your preschooler find a letter card and clip the matching letter on the Find & Clip Mat. You can choose to practice with uppercase or lowercase letters. Both of these alphabet activities are part of the Apple Activities resource in my TpT. Click the photo to check it out!

I want to end this blog post with an explanation of this adorable apple tree craft that is included in the Apple Teaching Tote. This craft makes an cute hand keepsake and classroom display and it’s super easy to prepare! Just have your preschooler trace their hand on brown paper and draw a tree leaf shape for the leaves (I explained it by saying it looks like a cloud). Glue these pieces to form a tree on a separate sheet of paper. Add apple color dot stickers (red, yellow and/or green) to the tree and Voila! You have a sweet craft to display proudly for your little learner.

I hope this post was helpful to you! If you’re local to the Mount Airy, MD area and you are interested in renting all of these fun items, please click the Teaching Totes icon to visit my Teaching Totes website and contact me for booking!

If you would like more information about the learning activities featured in this blog post, click the icons below! Happy playing!!

Alphabet, Valentine's Day

Valentine’s Day Alphabet Activities For Preschool

Lauren Johnson

Happy February! I have been busy whipping up some fun and engaging Valentine’s Day themed alphabet activities for your preschoolers! I am excited to share some alphabet cover up mats, a roll and write game, an alphabet building mat, as well as an alphabet clip card in this post. Everything in this post is designed to help your preschoolers develop letter recognition, writing, and fine motor skills. 

The idea behind this set of resources was to create several engaging activities that you could do with the SAME set of letter cards. My hope is that this saves some of your valuable time!! All you have to do is prep the cards once and you will have them ready to go for all of the activities in this post.

Alphabet cover up activities are always a go-to for practicing letter names and sounds. You can set the letter cards that you want to use (uppercase or lowercase) in a sensory bin for your preschoolers to find. They can take turns finding a letter, saying the name and/or sound, and covering it up on the mat. It’s always fun to add Valentine’s Day themed manipulatives for covering the letters. I am using Valentine heart table scatter from Hobby Lobby in the picture but you can also use mini erasers, flat marbles, pom poms or red or pink unifix cubes. If you don’t mind using the cover up mat only once, dot markers are always a fun choice too!

The cover up mats come in two variations – uppercase and lowercase letters. You can choose to have your preschoolers match uppercase to uppercase, uppercase to lowercase or lowercase to lowercase. The black and white version of each variation is also included if you prefer to print in black and white for single use on print on colored paper. 

This set of activities also includes a Color the Room and Trace the Room recording sheet for both uppercase and lowercase letters. You can place the alphabet cards around the room and have your preschoolers find them and color or trace the matching letter on their sheet. My 4 year old loves doing these activities because it gets her up and moving around and because it is like a little game of hide and seek with letters.

If you have a pocket dice, the alphabet letters are perfect for making a Roll & Write game. Simply choose the letters that you want your students to practice writing, place them in the pocket dice and give them a copy of the Roll & Write recording sheet. Students can rolls the dice over and over while writing down the letter that they land on each time. Make it festive by using colorful red, pink and purple markers. If you don’t have a pocket dice, that’s okay! Put the letter cards of your choice in a draw pile or inside a bag to reach into and grab. This is a fun and engaging way to practice writing.

Don’t put the letter cards away yet!! The Say, Build & Write mat can be used with the letter cards in a draw pile or bag. Students can reach into the pile, grab a letter and place it on the mat. The mat will prompt them to say the name of the letter, say the sound of the letter, build the letter with manipulatives, and write the letter. You can decide to use these mats over and over by placing them in a page protector and using dry erase markers or copy them for single use to really focus on your letter of choice. The manipulatives that work well with this activity are mini erases, flat glass marbles, small cubes, or even playdough. 

The last Valentine’s Day alphabet activity that I want to show you is the Find and Clip mats. These mats are designed to help preschoolers practice identifying and naming letters of the alphabet as well as strengthen fine motor skills. You can use these mats with or without the alphabet cards. If you choose to use the alphabet cards, you can present them face down in a draw pile. Have your students pick a letter card and clip the matching letter on the Find & Clip Mat. If you have the alphabet clips from Target, you can choose to just use those without the cards. It’s up to you!

I hope you were able to get some inspiration from this Valentine’s Day Alphabet Activities post. If you are interested in the activities highlighted in this post, click the icon below to visit my TpT shop.

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Alphabet, Arctic Animals, Counting, Fine Motor Skills, Sensory Play, Winter

MORE Penguin Activities for Preschool

Lauren Johnson

There’s been a lot of penguin fun in our playroom this week! Penguins are a perfect theme to explore during the winter months. There are so many fun penguin activity ideas for preschoolers. I’m excited to share with you some penguin sensory activities, loose parts play, a penguin number sort, and a penguin letter matching activity. Take a look!

Sensory bins are by far my favorite activity to prepare for preschoolers. I usually prepare 3 – 4 each month to rotate in and out of our playroom. They always inspire long stretches of imaginative play. This penguin themed sensory bin is super simple. It has a cotton ball base to resemble snow, foam snowflake stickers and plastic penguin figures (Amazon). My 4 year old daughter, Lillian, had a blast hiding penguins under the “snow” and making the other penguins look for them. She also set them all up in a circle and hosted a penguin dance off. She loved it!!

Another incredibly simple penguin sensory activity that we enjoyed was playing with penguins in shaving cream. I gave my daughter a tray with a generous pile of shaving cream and two small penguin figurines. These particular penguins are from the Safari LTD Penguin Toob that I purchased at Michael’s. I like these penguins especially because they are positioned on their bellies, perfect for sliding around in the shaving cream. 

We used the penguins to make letters, shapes and designs in the shaving cream. Lillian never hesitates when it comes to getting messy so she was happy to use her hands to make a design, wipe it away and make a new one. This is an activity that stays fun year after year. I keep it on hand for her older brothers too!

Now that Lillian has finally stopped putting everything little thing in her mouth, we are really diving into the world of loose parts play. I set up a fun arrangement for a penguin themed loose parts invitation to play and Lillian dived right in! This set up included blue and white pom poms, blue and clear flat marbles, acrylic snowflake scatter, reusable ice cubes, small blue and clear plastic cups, and blue and white unifix cubes. The clear plastic trays they are presented in are from Dollar Tree. I used felt sheets to define each child’s work space and more penguin figurines from the Penguin Toob. 

Lilly got right to work gathering up materials for her penguin world. She very carefully arranged the pieces and added her penguins in their new little home. She made them a bridge and some ocean to swim in. This activity held her attention for a while as she practiced manipulating all the little parts, strengthening her fine motor skills and improving concentration. 

I even joined in the fun too! It was so relaxing to build and create with all these little parts. When Lillian was finished, she asked me to leave it out so she could come back and build more later! We will definitely be adding more loose parts activities to our plans!

Here is her creation from the second round of building. I found her doing this completely independently a couple days after introducing this activity. She was so proud of what she had built, she wanted me to take a picture!

As with every theme, I like to work in some practice with math, especially counting. Lillian enjoys counting activities very much and is proficient with numbers 1 – 5. She still needs practice with one to one correspondence when it comes to number 6 and higher. To help her practice, I pulled out a Penguin Number Sort activity that I had on hand. This game has several penguin number mats (1 – 10) and fish cards representing numbers in different forms.

You can decide which penguin number cards to use and place the corresponding fish cards in a sensory bin. The fish cards represent numbers in word form, number form, tens frames and tallies. 

Because this was Lillian’s first time playing a game with tallies, I decided to stick with numbers she knows well. I chose the 3, 4, and 5 penguin cards and placed the corresponding fish cards in a sensory bin for her to find and sort. She still needs help with reading the words and that is fine. I just want her to develop a concept of print and know that numbers have a word too. We will worry about actually reading the words later!

I try to add an element of play and imagination to the learning games that I set up for the playroom. We weren’t just sorting numbers, we were catching fish for the penguin’s dinner! Lillian was excited to “fish” for the penguins and figure out who gets which fish. In the future, I would add a paper clip to each fish and use a magnetic fishing rod to make it even more fun. 

During our penguin week, we also took some time to practice letter recognition with this Penguin Alphabet Cover activity. This activity allows preschoolers to recognize, name and match uppercase and lowercase letters. The alphabet mats only present 5 – 6 letters at a time, so that activity is perfect for preschoolers with a shorter attention span or those to have trouble attending to activities that work with the whole alphabet at once. You can set this up as an individual activity, giving your students one mat at a time to “cover up” or a group activity, providing all 5 mats and having students work as a team to get them covered. As before, there is an element of play to this activity as well. You can pretend the penguins are all mixed up in the bin and need help finding the correct “home” on the icebergs.

 

Because I specifically wanted Lillian to practice identifying and naming the letters in her name, I quickly hand drew a new iceberg mat with the uppercase and lowercase letters of her name. I pulled the letters I needed from the letter cards and set them up in a sensory bin. I told Lillian to help me find each penguin’s spot on the iceberg and she was excited to help.

As she chose each penguin, we practiced saying the name of the letters, talked about uppercase and lowercase, then found their spot on the iceberg. When we were finished, we touched each letter and said their names again. Lillian has her L’s down pat because that one is first. To my surprise, she is doing a good job with lowercase i and uppercase I as well. The letters she is having the most trouble with is lowercase a and n. We will keep practicing!!

The last thing I want to share with you from our very fun week of penguin activities is our art. I decided to do a directed drawing with Lillian. She is newly four and just recently started drawing people in more detail. I figured this is the perfect time to introduce directed drawings to her. We used the directed drawing instructions from Pocketful of Preschool that I got as a free download several years ago. I just ran a quick search and wasn’t able to find it again (at least for free anyway). However, there are LOTS of options out there, including some free ones on TpT. Feel free to choose the one you like best!

We started by painting the “snowy sky” background first. I provided a palette of paints with white, light blue, and light purple. I encouraged her to paint the whole paper and she was happy to oblige! On a separate sheet of paper, we went through each step of the directed draw together. She did deviate a little (as Lilly usually does!) because she wanted the nose to be a circle not a triangle. Once the paint was dry on our background, I colored and cut out our penguins and Lillian glued them to the snowy scene. 

Tada! Lillian was so excited to see the finished products and we will proudly hang these in our playroom. 

Thanks for checking out our fun activities from Penguin week! I hope this post inspired you to do some purposeful playing and learning with your preschoolers or helped you plan out your week in the classroom! If you need any links to the activities mentioned in this post, you can find them below.

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Apples, Fall, Sensory Play

Apple Activities For Preschool *FREE Download*

Lauren Johnson

It’s apple picking season once again so I thought I’d share some more fun, hands-on activities you can do with your preschoolers to get them excited about apples. This post includes apple book inspiration, sensory play ideas, and some dramatic play inspiration, including a free download for your apples dramatic play center.

Whenever I am planning a new theme for the playroom, I always start with the children’s literature. I have grown a pretty big personal library over the years, but still scour the library for themed titles as well when there is a particular one that I want. If you’d like to see my full collection of apple books, click the Instagram link below.

There are so many fun apple themed books to choose from, so it’s hard to narrow it down to a few favorites. But I chose four titles to highlight in this post so that you can narrow down your search as well.

Apple Farmer Annie, by Monica Wellington, is a simple story about a farmer, Annie, who prepares her apples and apple products for a market in the city. The illustrations are vibrant and engaging. The text is straightforward and well suited to hold the attention of a preschooler.

Tap the Magic Apple Tree, by Christie Matheson is an interactive book about the cycle of an apple tree through the seasons. The really fun thing about this book is that each page asks the reader to do an action (i.e. tap the book, rub the leaves, blow on the leaves, ect.) and the kids love it! Each page reveals a new development from flower buds, to apples, to falling leaves. This one gets picked up off our shelf over and over.

Ten Apples Up On Top, by Dr. Seuss, is an apple book classic. Of course, the clever rhyme schemes in this story make it fun and silly. Because it follows three animals competing to see who can balance apples on their heads while doing different activities, it also lends itself to counting practice (Another post on counting apples activities soon!).

Ted Red Apples, by Pat Hutchins is also another favorite that tells the story of a farmer whose farm animals keep eating the apples on his apple tree. The story counts down from 10 as each new animal takes an apple. This book has sing-song verse that kids love and lends itself very well to teaching sequence of events as well as counting.

Sensory play is always a must when introducing a new theme. I like to make sensory bins for the playroom and alternate them every week. I also like to KEEP IT SIMPLE. Sensory bins don’t have to cost a fortune to be fun, most teachers and moms are on a budget. I totally get that! I keep several sensory bin bases on hand to use and reuse. Black beans are probably my favorite sensory bin base because I love how they make the other colors pop. I chose black beans for the apple sensory bin because they resemble apple seeds. I added red, green, and yellow pom poms which I already had on hand. The red and green scoops were a free giveaway from another teacher cleaning out her classroom (I will keep them handy for Christmas time too!) and the wooden bowls are from my kitchen. The only thing I purchased were the small foam apples (Amazon) and the cost was well worth it because that was several years ago and I use them all the time.

Play doh trays are another fun way to incorporate sensory play into your apple theme. This apple play doh tray invited my little learners to create apple trees with the materials. I offered green play doh, small sticks, red, yellow, and green buttons, and play doh rollers. The preschoolers got right to it, making a sweet little apple orchard. This activity allowed for conversation about colors, counting, and size comparison.

Dot stickers and butcher paper activities are a favorite here and when you put them together- wow!!! My preschoolers were very excited to decorate the apple trees on this butcher paper. I started by drawing the outline of three large trees. Then I gave them each a sheet of red, yellow and green stickers. I left this open ended, they could decide where to put the stickers. But you could easily make this a color sorting activity by labeling each tree with a certain color. If you draw the trees smaller and label them with numbers, this could become a counting game as well!

When it comes to dramatic play, I like to change out this Melissa and Doug Grocery Stand about every month or so. If you can get ahold of this exact stand, it is the best for small spaces in my opinion! I was able to grab one off of Facebook Marketplace for our playroom and it fits very well in the corner of our playroom. I love how versatile the compartments are in the front. 9 empty bins ready to be transformed! This stand does come with 9 chalkboard labels that hang on the front, but I actually never use those. When it comes to labeling the dramatic play area, there are so many fun and engaging sets out there that you can use. Because we have a small space dedicated to dramatic play, I prefer to just make my own labels using photographs of our actual space. The pictures on each bin label are actual photographs of the bins themselves. This helps preschoolers know exactly how to put things away when it’s time to clean up. Especially because so many components can easily get strewn about!

Our apple stand has lots of apple products for little customers to buy. There’s unopened apple juice bottles, faux apples (from At Home), mini pie tins (Amazon), felt pie crust, and red and green pom poms for the pie filler. The bushel basket is from Michael’s and I honestly wish I would have purchased at least two. The kids absolutely love filling the basket with apples then emptying it again.

If you would like to use the apples banner or any of the apple stand labels for your dramatic play area, you can download them for FREE by clicking the button below. The file is editable, so you can add your own photographs and text onto the labels.

apple-market-banner-and-labels-pptDownload Apple Banner and Labels Here

You may also be interested in these apple resources from my shop!

Name Practice, Summer

Summer Name Puzzles for Preschoolers

Lauren Johnson

A lot of teachers are in the final count down of the school year so I wanted to create something that could lead you right into summer. In this post you will find several summer themed name puzzles and book buddy suggestions. These puzzles are the perfect way for your preschoolers to practice and master how to spell their names. You can even send them home to use over the summer!

You can’t teach a watermelon theme in preschool without reading The Watermelon Seed! This is a funny story about an alligator who accidently swallows a watermelon seed and worries about what might happen! Although this book lends itself very well to counting activities, I wanted to showcase how well these watermelon name puzzles compliment it as well. Mouse’s First Summer is a book about several summer icons, but I loved the big, juicy watermelon on the front cover!

The watermelon name puzzles include templates for names from 2 letters to 15 letters. The watermelon picture allows the puzzle to become self-correcting. If your preschoolers put the letters of their name in the wrong order, they will be able to tell because the picture won’t be correct. These puzzles pair perfectly with books like The Watermelon Seed or Mouse’s First Summer. You could even enjoy a watermelon snack afterwards!

When it comes to ice cream books, Should I Share My Ice Cream, by Mo Willems is one of my favorites. It touches on the themes of friendship and the balance between thinking about ourselves and thinking about others. The Little Ice Cream Truck, by Margery Cuyler is an adorable, nostalgic story from the point of view of the ice cream truck who travels around town making everyone’s day. Just One More, by Jennifer Hansen Rolli, is a relatable story about a little girl who always wants one more of everything. It’s hard not to ask for just one more scoop of ice cream! Ice Cream Face, by Heidi Woodward Sheffield, is a fun story about a little boy and the many stages of enjoying an ice cream cone. It’s a great way to start a conversation about emotions and sharing. All of these children’s books would compliment the ice cream name puzzles are are a great addition to an ice cream theme!

Who doesn’t love ice cream activities?? Ice cream is a summertime staple so it is an obvious choice for a summer preschool theme. These ice cream name puzzles are bright and fun. Several ice cream cone clips will help preschoolers determine the subsequent letters in their names. And if they get it wrong? Just match the ice cream cone colors to figure it out!

Speaking of sweet, cold, summer treats, popsicles are another fun summer theme! With that in mind, I designed these popsicle themed name puzzle templates as another summertime option. The rainbow sequence can help preschoolers fit together the letters of their names. Not to mention the colors are so eye catching and fun.

For books all about summer, I like to start with Summer Song, by Kevin Henkes. It presents all the characteristics of summer with soft, colorful illustrations and poetic, sensory language. Summer Color, by Diana Murray, describes a fun summer day with the passing of a thunderstorm in all the colors that go with it. It’s a fun rhyming text with lively, colorful illustrations. Summer, by Ailie Busby, is perfect for the younger preschoolers. Each page contains only a sentence or two. The illustrations show younger children enjoying the staples of summer. Summer Days and Nights, by Wong Herbert Yee, is told from the perspective of a little girl enjoying nature on a typical summer day and night. She catches butterflies, enjoys some lemonade, goes swimming, has a picnic, and goes exploring in the dark. Lastly, My Awesome Summer by P. Matis, by Paul Meisel, is the story of a fun summer told from a praying mantis’ point of view in diary form! It is very clever and engaging. All of these stories work perfectly to highlight the summer season and compliment the Summer Fun Themed Name Puzzles perfectly.

If you’re looking to focus on the fun activities of summer (swimming!!) then you might prefer the Summer Fun Themed Name Puzzles. These puzzles use clips of familiar summer icons, umbrellas, beach balls, floaties, an inflatable pool and flip flops to help your preschoolers arrange the letters in their name. Just like the puzzle templates above, this one can accommodate names from 2 – 15 letters.

Last but not least, my favorite summer name puzzle, the Summer Kids Name Puzzles! I love how adorable these summer kids toppers are and how they incorporate some of the elements of summer included in the other puzzles (beach ball, watermelon and ice cream). These puzzles are the perfect little end-of-the-school-year gift for your preschoolers to take home and practice spelling their names over the summer.

If your preschoolers are just being introduced to their names, especially if it is a longer name, there are some things you can do to support them. My daughter has 7 letters in her name and a lot of the letters look alike. Lillian- 3 l’s and 2 i’s all in a row! She was having a lot of trouble arranging the letters in the correct order. I decided to print her a second puzzle and not cut it apart. Then I put both the whole puzzle and all the puzzle pieces on a cookie tin. The individual puzzle pieces had magnets on the back so they didn’t move out of place. Lillian was able to pick up each piece and put it in the correct order using the whole puzzle to match the letters. We then practiced saying each letter in her name. This helped her tremendously!

Another way to support preschoolers just starting to learn their name is to give them the whole puzzle and letter magnets. Have them simply place the matching magnets on top of each letter in their name to practice putting the letters in order. This will save you time not having to print and prepare two separate puzzles!

That’s it! I hope you found some name activities inspiration! If you are interested in any of the name puzzles from this post, you can find them by clicking on the icons below. Thank you for being here!

Are you having trouble deciding?? I’ve got you! I went ahead a put ALL of the summer name puzzles into a bundle so that you can get them ALL for a discount. You can find the bundle by clicking the icon below.

Alphabet, Book Companion, Counting, phonemic awareness, Spring

Red Rubber Boot Day Activities for Preschool

Lauren Johnson

Before April comes to an end, I want to share a huge set of rainy day themed activities that I created to compliment the book Red Rubber Boot Day, By Mary Lyn Ray. All the activities in this post have a red rubber boot and puddle theme like the story, but they all compliment a rainy day theme, weather theme, letter r theme or letter b theme as well. Below you will find literacy and math activities to enhance letter recognition, beginning sound recognition, rhyming, syllable identification, writing skills, number recognition, counting, and subitizing.

First, let’s talk about the book! At the center of the story is a child who is trying to decide how to entertain himself on a rainy day. The book uses lots of sensory language to describe the rain- how it smells and how it feels on your bare feet. The child goes through lots of imaginative play during the rainstorm until the weather breaks and he can go splash in all the puddles.

Because the story is so relatable, I decided to start with a question of the day: Do you like rainy days? You can display this header on a vertical surface or pocket chart, then provide cards or sticky notes with your students’ names on them. Students can place their card under the answer that describes their own feelings. Either yes, they do like rainy days or no, they do not. I’ve also seen this done with popsicle sticks in two different jars. I would challenge you to revisit the question of the day before and after reading the story to see if anyone changes their mind.

The next activity in the set is a Rainy Day and Sunny Day Picture Card Sort. Each picture card represents a fun activity that kids like to do. You can challenge your students to determine if each activity is best for a rainy day or a sunny day and why. Some of the activities have an obvious answer and others might be up for discussion. Several of the activities are showcased in the book, including playing cars, reading, building with blocks, and making a cave in the closet.

A great way to develop phonemic awareness is to practice identifying syllables in given words. In this activities set, I designed a syllable card sort using picture cards to represent 1, 2, or 3 syllable units. The pictures on the picture cards are all spring related with a red rubber boot theme. They can be sorted onto the puddle card with the corresponding number of syllables.

Another great way to develop phonemic awareness is with rhyming activities! Here is a red rubber boot themed rhyming activity to help do just that. Each puzzle is red boot themed and self-correcting, they will only connect one certain way. Students who aren’t sure about a match can check the pattern on the puzzle to find out if they got a rhyming match or need to try again.

If your students are ready to practice matching beginning sounds, this literacy center is perfect! I created 26 puddle themed beginning sound picture cards, 26 red rubber boot themed uppercase cards, 26 red rubber boot themed lowercase cards, and 26 red rubber boot themed sound cards for this matching center.

I do think that centers with this many loose cards can become really cumbersome for little learners, especially preschoolers. When I do matching games like this with my kids, I select the letters that I want them to practice ahead of time. I usually don’t choose more than 10 – 12, depending on the learner. In this matching game, I lay out all the puddle cards on the table in front of them. Then I gather all the corresponding matches, shuffle them and put them together in a draw pile. When presented this way, it becomes more of a cooperative game. Preschoolers can take turns drawing a card and placing it on the correct puddle. They work together to complete all the matches.

If your preschoolers are still working on identifying and writing letters, you can simply use the uppercase and/or lowercase boot cards in a couple different ways. You can select 10 – 12 letter matches and make a concentration game. Or you can put the letters in a draw pile and give your preschoolers the Red Rubber Boot Alphabet Build and Write Mat. With this activity, preschoolers can draw an alphabet card, build it with a given manipulative, then practice writing it at the bottom. In the example, I used blue flat marbles, but pipe cleaners, beads, buttons, playdough, and wiki stix work well too!

Another way to practice letter identification is with the Raindrop Alphabet Cover Up Mat. I LOVE these cover up activities because they are so versatile. You can choose to match uppercase to uppercase letters, lowercase to lowercase letters, lowercase to uppercase letters, beginning sounds to uppercase letters, or beginning sounds to lowercase letters. You can set up the activity according to your preschoolers needs. They also work well as an independent center, partner activity or group activity. Of course the cards work just fine in a draw pile, but you can make the game extra engaging by setting the cards up in a sensory bin for students to search in. I included blue dyed rice, blue flat marbles and cotton balls. The blue flat marbles work well to cover up the letters on the cover up mat as they are identified because they are heavy and stay in place. You can also use bingo dotters, round counters, buttons, pom poms, whatever you have!

I love to sneak in some low pressure writing practice whenever I can for preschoolers to practice pencil grip and letter formation. If your preschoolers are ready to practice writing letters, you can use the Red Rubber Book Flip and Write with any set of letter cards (uppercase or lowercase). Simply make a pile of the letters you’d like your preschooler to practice and have them flip the pile one at a time. After flipping each card, have your preschooler write that letter in an empty box on the recording sheet. Keep flipping until each box is filled or the card pile runs out. You can use this same recording sheet with the number cards too!

The last literacy activities I want to highlight are the Red Rubber Boot Cut & Paste Printables. I like to include printables in my resource packs to compliment the centers. These are good assessment tools that help you gauge what a preschooler can do independently after practicing the same skills with you or a friend. All three of these printables have students cut out the boot cards at the bottom and glue them to the corresponding puddles at the top.

Now let’s talk about math centers! This resource pack includes several number cards that can be used lots of different ways. There are 20 puddle themed number cards, 20 red rubber boot themed number cards, 20 red rubber boot themed tens frame cards, and 12 red rubber boot themed dice cards.

Similar to the letter and sound matching game above, you can use the number cards to create a number matching game. Each puddle number card can correspond to a number boot card, a tens frame boot card and a dice boot card (up to 12). Select the numbers you’d like your preschoolers to practice and set up your matching game just like the game above.

I love incorporating tens frame activities into any number practice for preschoolers. They are great for building number sense, one to one correspondence, and help prepare your preschooler for subitizing. You can use the red rubber boot themed number cards to practice numbers 1 – 10 or 1 – 20 on the tens frames. Again, I used blue flat marbles in the example (I think they make perfect rain drops!), but you can use anything you have on hand- buttons, counters, playdough balls, anything!

You can also use these tens frames with a sensory bin to hold the cards. It’s fun for preschoolers to go searching in the bin for the different cards until they’ve practiced all the numbers. You can set this up for an individual or use it in a group and take turns fetching numbers.

Speaking of sensory bins, I made Cover Up Mats for numbers too! There are two mats: numbers 1 – 12 and 1 – 20. You can use these in several ways to match numbers to numbers, numbers to dice, or tens frames to numbers. Number card draw piles work just fine too if you’re in a pinch!

Of course every book companion pack needs a write and draw response activity! I like to keep it simple and let your little learners add their own personality to it. This printable is no prep at all. It simply asks your preschooler to draw a picture of what they like to do on rainy days. Then there is space in the puddle for you or your beginning writer (if they’re ready) to write down what that fun activity is. These would make a great bulletin board! Another idea would be to take a photo of your little learner jumping in the air (as if they were jumping in a puddle), print it, cut it out, and glue it to the page.

If you are interested in any of the activities in this post, you can find them here:

You may also be interested in these resources from my shop!

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Alphabet, Book Companion, phonemic awareness, Spring

Garden Activities for Preschool *FREE Printables*

Lauren Johnson

Gardens are a perfect spring theme for preschool! In this post you will find some creative garden themed activities to get your preschoolers engaged and learning. Some of these activities include, companion activities for My Garden, by Kevin Henkes, garden alphabet games, a flower syllable game (FREE), garden number games, garden visual discrimination activities, garden sensory bin ideas, and a garden craft template (FREE).

There are so many fun children’s books to choose from when planning a garden them for preschool. My Garden, by Kevin Henkes is one of my favorite stories to use when exploring gardens and spring time because it harnesses the imagination of a child who is gardening alongside her mother.

In the story, My Garden, a child imagines the changes she would make to her mother’s garden if it could do fantastic things. For example, if she picked a flower from her garden, another would grow right back in it’s place. She imagines that the strawberries light up at night and the garden can also grow useful things like umbrellas and buttons.

The story sets the stage for preschoolers to make connections to the story and imagine their own magical gardens. I created a response activity that asks them to do exactly that- create their own gardens. The activity provides pictures from the story for students to cut and paste onto a garden background to represent what they would want their garden to look like. There are also blank squares to add their own ideas if they choose. Once students are finished arranging their gardens, they can attach the writing prompt to add a description of their garden. The writing prompt reads, “If I had a garden…”

There is also the option to cut and glue the grass and the fence onto a sheet of brown construction paper to give students more room to work. If you’re in a hurry, substitute the grass image with green construction paper that students can cut to look like grass. This activity and much more can be found in the My Garden Book Companion at the bottom of this post.

Cover up games are my absolute favorite way to practice letter and number recognition. I am excited to share these adorable garden themed cover up games for both alphabet and numbers.

I created 3 sets of literacy cards for the Garden Alphabet Cover Up games: uppercase letters, lowercase letters and beginning sound pictures.

These letter cards can be placed in a sensory bin or presented in a draw pile. I chose to use pinto beans in the sensory bin because they are brown like dirt, but a bit of rice dyed green would be really fun too!

There are 3 Literacy Cover Up Mats to choose from: uppercase letters, lowercase letters and beginning sound pictures. You can decide how you want your students to match the letters or sounds, depending on their readiness level. Preschoolers are able to match uppercase to uppercase, lowercase to lowercase, lowercase to uppercase, uppercase to lowercase, uppercase to beginning sound, lowercase to beginning sound, and beginning sound to beginning sound. When a card is pulled from the bin or pile, students can cover it’s match on the cover up mat with a dry erase marker or a counter.

If you don’t have the time (or let’s face it, the patience) to cut out all the letter cards, don’t! These cover up mats also work perfectly with 1 inch letter tiles or alphabet erasers. You can hide them in the sensory bin or inside some fun containers. I used carrot Easter eggs from Michael’s and 1 inch letter tiles in the picture. Simply have your students find the letter and place it on top of it’s match on the mat.

Of course I couldn’t take the time to make all these fun cover up mats without including numbers too. With this resource, a set of number cards 1 – 20 is also included.

You can decide if you want to practice numbers 1 – 10 or 1 – 20 and set up your Cover Up Mat accordingly.

You can play the Cover Up game the same was as the letter version, with the number cards in the sensory bin, covering up the mat as you find each number. Or you can put counters in small containers to dump and count. Then cover up the quantity of the items found. I filled the same Easter egg carrots with carrot erasers to represent each number 1 – 10.

For those of you who prefer to use the cover up mat a single time, there are black and white versions of all five mats! These are great with crayons, markers, and dot markers. Then students can keep their work!

For the preschoolers who have mastered identifying letter names, both upper and lowercase, I love activities that bring together letter name and letter sound identification. I created a garden themed alphabet game to enhance letter recognition and letter sound recognition in the same game.

The biggest cards in this game are the watering can beginning sound cards. They are the anchor cards. Choose which letters you want to practice (I like to stick with 12 or less at a time) and lay the watering cans out on the surface in front of you.

The matching cards include the Seed Packet Uppercase Letter Cards, the Spade Lowercase Letter Cards and the Flower Pot Beginning Sound Picture Cards. Again, take out the cards that correspond with the letters you want your preschoolers to practice. These cards are the same size so they can be shuffled together and placed face down in a draw pile.

Have your preschoolers take turns drawing a card and placing it on the correct watering can. The object of the game is to work together to build all the matches. Each watering can has an uppercase letter, lowercase letter and beginning sound picture that will correspond with it.

At the end of the game, your preschoolers can show what they know with these garden themed letter and sound match printables. You can find the link for all the Garden Letter and Sound Match materials at the bottom of this post.

Another fun garden themed activity is the Build a Flower Syllable Sort, which is FREE in my TpT Shop. Practicing syllables is an excellent way for your preschooler to build phonemic awareness and prepare them for kindergarten.

This activity includes 15 spring picture flower petals and 3 flower stems. Each flower stems represents a number of syllables in the word: one, two, or three. Preschoolers can take turns picking a flower petal and placing it on the correct flower stem based on the number of syllables in the picture.

Preschoolers can work together to build all three flowers then practice counting syllables on their own with the printable syllable counting worksheet. You can find the link to this FREEBIE at the bottom of this post.

Sensory bins are an absolute FAVORITE in my house, so I can’t start a new theme of stories and activities without switching out the items in our sensory bins. Truth be told, I actually really enjoy curating little items to put inside these bins for my kids to explore. Since I’ve been making these for several years, I store and reuse all my fillers.

This garden sensory bin features a mini gardening tool kit that I spotted a the Target dollar spot, faux flowers from dollar tree, and a small decorative bird and nest from Michaels. My daughter loved filling the flower pot with pinto beans and placing the flowers in it. I will definitely add more flower pots next time I put this bin together.

Another oldie-but-goodie preschool activity is always play doh trays. When you mix play doh, play doh tools, and several loose parts items together, it gives preschoolers such a strong invitation to create. Don’t you love the yellow tulip with pink leaves?? Have all your preschoolers work together to build a whole garden!

Finally, no preschool theme is complete without a good craft to top it off. I created a FREE watering can template for you to design a flower bouquet inside of. The preschool activity is very open ended- you can decide the medium for the watering can, stem, flower petals and leaves based on whatever you have on hand. I decided to color the watering can with my daughter in crayons, then cut it out and glue it to a new piece of paper. Then we used markers to draw flower stems and added flower centers and petals with our fingerprints and tempera paint. At the end, we drew leaves on the stems with markers again. I love this craft because it can be trimmed to fit an 8 x 10 frame or the watering can can be cut out and glued to an 8 x 10 canvas, making a perfect gift! If you’re interested in downloading this activity, you can find the link below.

I hope this post provided you with some inspiration as you plan some fun garden and spring activities for your preschoolers. As always, I thoroughly enjoyed creating these engaging resources for you through the help of my curious preschooler, Lillian.

Below you can find the links to all the activities mentioned throughout the post and more.

You may also be interested in these posts from the Mrs Mama Bird blog…

Alphabet, Counting, Spring, St. Patrick's Day

Rainbow Activities for Preschool *FREE Printable*

Lauren Johnson

There are so many fun ways to incorporate rainbows into preschool play and learning. In this post, you will find rainbow themed activities to enhance color recognition, letter recognition, phonemic awareness, number recognition, counting, writing and sensory play.

Whenever I am planning a theme to design activities around, I always start with the children’s books about that topic. Rainbow books can be stories with rainbows in them, books about rainbows, and books about the colors of the rainbow. A few of my favorites are A Rainbow of My Own, How the Crayons Saved the Rainbow, Curious George Discovers the Rainbow, Ready to Read Rainbow, Planting a Rainbow, and Bear Sees Colors. Of course, there are so many to choose from and my collection continues to grow. In this post, you will find a FREE craftivity to compliment A Rainbow of My Own, by Don Freeman and a catchy song you can use on your own preschool color hunt.

First, I am going to share the Rainbow Alphabet and Number Cover up activities that I designed and the different ways that they can be used. There are 3 sets of cards that can be used in these activities: uppercase letters, lowercase letters and numbers 1 – 20.

There are four different versions of the cover up mats: uppercase letters, lowercase letters, numbers 1 – 10 and numbers 1 – 20. You will need to decide what you want your preschoolers to use to cover up the letters and numbers that they are matching. Dot markers, mini erasers, flat marbles (I would use blue to represent rain drops!), and circular chips work well.

If you have the alphabet or number mini erasers from Target, that eliminates the need to use the cards. My kids love these erasers. They fit perfectly on the mat, they stay in place and they are fun to manipulate.

To set up the activity, laminate and cut out the cards that you need. You can place them in a sensory bin for your preschoolers to find, identify and cover. A colorful base works perfectly for a rainbow activity. I used pony beads, but Perler beads or dyed rice would be fun too!

If you don’t have time to prep a sensory bin, you can simply use the cards to make a flip or draw pile. Have students pick from the top, cover that letter or number then discard it. They can keep going until they’ve covered every letter or number!

For those of you who prefer not to print in color, there are black and white versions of the cover up mats as well. These are perfect for single use. Students can find the alphabet or number cards, match it on their mats and dot it with dot markers.

When I was planning all of these rainbow activities, I tried to find a wooden puzzle that separated by each part of the rainbow. Surprisingly, I couldn’t find one anywhere. So I decided to make my own using high quality clipart and color labels. Once it was printed and laminated, I added a few piece of magnetic tape to the back of each piece so that the puzzle could be built on a magnet surface. I used a small cookie tin from the Dollar Tree, but a whiteboard or oil pan would work well also.

My daughter, Lillian, absolutely loved putting this together. It took her a couple tries before she got the order of the colors right, but she did it! This idea led me to make several more rainbow themed puzzles.

I created three strip puzzles that divide the rainbow into narrow strips with clues along the bottom to help put it back together in the right order. One strip puzzle spells out the word rainbow and the others put numbers 1 – 10 and 11 – 20 in numeric order.

The next set of rainbow puzzles I created are several sets of 2-piece puzzles. One set connects an uppercase letter to its corresponding lowercase letter. Another set connects both letters to a picture of something that starts with the corresponding letter sound.

The last set of 2-piece puzzles I created are connecting a number to it’s matching value on a die or dice. This set of rainbow puzzles include numbers 1 – 12. This is the set I decided to set up for Lillian to practice numbers with. She’s only three, so we started with only puzzles 1 – 6. That is what I love about these large sets of 2 piece puzzles. You can use only the ones that you would like to practice with your preschoolers and save the others for later.

For Lillian, I set up at rainbow themed sensory bin and placed each piece of the six puzzles in the bin. I also placed a cookie tin inside the bin to act as our vertical surface. We worked together to find all the puzzle pieces and connect the rainbows back together by matching the numbers to their quantities. This is also a great way to introduce and practice subitizing with your preschoolers.

When we were done with the number puzzles, the sensory bin itself was a really fun activity! To make this rainbow themed sensory bin, I dyed some rice blue and let it dry overnight. Then I added blue flat marbles (rain drops), cotton balls (clouds), sun and rainbow mini erasers, rainbow “eggs,” and some various scoops and small bowls. Lillian had a great time scooping the contents of this bin from one container to the next and sorting out all the loose parts she found inside.

On of my favorite preschool rainbow activities is going on a color hunt! Color hunts pair very well with the story Bear Sees Colors, by Karma Wilson and Jane Chapman, but you can use them with any rainbow story or as their own stand alone activity. For this particular color hunt, we sang a very catchy song while we looked for all the colors of the rainbow. Here it is:

Can You Find The Color (to the tune of Have You Seen the Muffin Man?)

Can you find the color red, color red, color red?

Can you find the color red and put it in this basket?

Keep singing through all the colors until you have found every color of the rainbow! You can even extend this activity by building a big rainbow on the floor with all the colorful items.

The last rainbow activity I want to share with you today is an adorable craftivity that I made to compliment the story A Rainbow of My Own, by Don Freeman. This craftivity allows preschoolers to draw and write about what they would do if they had their very own rainbow, just like the boy imagines in the story.

There are two versions of the craftivity for you to choose from. One version has a sentence starter for your students to complete. It reads “If I had my own rainbow, I would…” The second version of the craftivity simply has blank lines. You can find this printable craftivity for FREE in my shop by clicking the icon below. You can also find the Rainbow Letter and Number Cover Up and Rainbow Puzzles below.

I hope you were able to find some rainbow inspiration today. Have fun planning fun rainbow activities with your preschoolers!

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