Valentine's Day Don't Eat Pete

 We love Don't Eat Pete and I love adding in new ways to use them to teach new skills.  This time we are working on color recognition.  Your little ones will love playing and learning with this fun Valentine's Day game.  This FREEBIE can be found in my Teacher's Pay Teacher's shop here.

Free Roll and Cover Sheep Craft

We finished the cutest little sheep craft during preschool. The best part is it's also a math activity.

The little ones rolled a dice and find glued a cotton ball on top of the number.  They continued rolling and gluing until all 6 numbers were covered.  

After they colored their picture.  They were pretty proud of their adorable little sheep.

 Download Free Sheep Craft Here

Free Valentine Counting Clip Cards

*(This post contains affiliate links. That means if you use my link, I make a small commission at no extra cost to you. As always, thank you for your support.)*

I have a cute freebie for your little ones today!  These clip cards are a fun way to practice counting and number recognition.  They will count the number of hearts and clip a clothespin on the correct number.  There are cards for numbers 0-10.  To prep print either on cardstock or laminate for durability.  Cut the cards apart.  Super quick and easy.  My preschoolers have been loving clip cards and hope your kids do too :)

You can find this FREEBIE in my TPT store.  If you do not have a Teachers Pay Teachers account I highly recommend it!  It's free to sign up (you don't have to be a teacher) and you will find tons of amazing resources for teaching your kids.  Lots and lots are free! 

Free Turkey Color Games

We are focusing on colors this week and these adorable turkeys make learning so much fun.  I have three game options and a couple of additional ideas for you.

 The I spy hunts are always a favorite!  I also love to get the most out of my printables as I can that is why I plan to have my kids find the turkeys.  Identify the color, match it to the recording sheet and then "feed" the turkeys pom poms or buttons.  You can also add a dice to get in some counting as well.  So many options with this set.  I love it.

 How cute are these turkeys :) If you have really little ones you do not need to use all of the cards.  I sometimes put out 4 to 6 for my little one and then add more colors as we go.

Normally I add the free download right here but I decided to try something new.  I just opened a Teacher Pay Teacher store and have added this download for free in my store.  You do need to sign up for a free account but it is totally worth it!  You will find tons of amazing activities and this is where I get all of my adorable clip art.  There are lots of free options as well as paid.  Anyway head over to my new shop and grab your free printable turkey game :)  

*I have not decided if I am going to start posting all of my preschool printables over there or keep some here.  It will probably be a mix.  All of the Come Follow Me lesson helps will stay on my website.

Free Spider Shapes File Folder Game

I have a fun Freebie for you just in time for Halloween.  

Practice shapes with this adorable spider themed match game.  You can glue the two pages to a file folder or use as is (that's what I do). Print the two pages full of webs and the page of spiders.  I recommend cardstock and laminate if possible.  Cut out the spiders and you are ready to go.  Help the shape spiders find their matching webs.  You can also add Velcro or magnets so your pieces don't slide. 

Download your free game here!

Create Your Own ABC Book

We are only a month away from school starting.  I have a little one headed to Kindergarten this year.  In fear that she may have forgotten many of those need to know before kindergarten concepts we are reviewing a letter day until school begins.

Each day we create a page for our ABC book.  We practice the sound and letter recognition and then brainstorm words that begin with that letter.  She loves to draw and write so that's what we are doing (plus is sneaks in additional letter practice).  We are going to combine all the pages to make her very own book! You can download our ABC book template and create your own book.  If you don't want to draw like we are you can cut and glue pictures, rainbow write the letter, fill in the letters with different materials, or use construction paper to create adorable letter crafts.

Download Free Printable Here

In addition to our book we are doing an activity or two that corresponds with that letter.  For the letter A we tried the apple volcano science experiment. 

 And used the smash art technique to create aliens.  You know where you paint one half of your picture and then fold the paper together. Squish it flat so when you open it you have a duplicate image on both sides of your paper.  We planned to add googly eyes and use sharpies to finish our aliens but they thought their pictures were perfect and didn't want to :)

Letter B day we were busy so we made our page in our book and bounced a beach ball on the trampoline.

You do not have to do a letter a day.  Maybe you want to do a letter a week or use your book through out the year.  As you start a new theme add some of your new vocabulary words to the book.  Its open ended so you can really create and use the book to fit the needs and style of learning for your family or class.

Big Bad Wolf Blow Art

Last week we had our Fairy Tales mini camp and it was so much fun.  One of their favorite activities was this big bad wolf craft project.  I love that it gave them freedom to create and also a chance to try a new painting technique.

Seriously how cute is this picture!

We started by drawing/creating a house on one side of our paper.  I set out crayons, makers, colored paper, scissors, and glue.  They were able to use any of the supplies to create their house.

Then we cut, colored and glued the wolf to the opposite side of our paper.

 Next add a few drops of liquid water colors (affiliate link)  between the wolf and the house (closer to the wolf so you have room to blow.)  Use a straw and blow the paint towards the house.  Your little ones will have so much fun watching the paint spread as they blow it like the big bad wolf.

 Here are a few more finished projects.

Want to create your own?  Grab this download.  It has instructions, material list, and the wolf template for free!

Humpty Dumpty Bingo

My kids love to play bingo and it is such a great learning tool.  This time we added a little something extra.  We raced to see if we could get a bingo before Humpty Dumpty fell off the wall (aka the jenga blocks tipped over). 

To play we stacked our jenga blocks and taped a plastic egg to the top.

 Print your bingo boards and cards.  There are 3 sets of cards-print and use the ones that work for the concept you are teaching.  Cards included:capital letters, lower case letters, initial sounds.  Cut the cards apart and stack in a pile.  

 Take turns drawing a card.  Find the letter that matches on your board.  

BUT if you get a humpty dumpty falling card you have to pull a jenga block!

 Set the block aside and keep going.

 Maybe someone will get a bingo

 or maybe humpty dumpty will fall!

 This is a fun game with a lot of learning happening!  

Download your bingo game here!

That face when the tower fell still cracks me up :)

Sheep Color Matching Game

Good Morning and happy Mother Goose Day!  (If you do not know what I'm talking about check out this post-really you should it's awesome :)  Yesterday morning I had the idea to create a huge packet for you full of nursery rhyme fun and have it all ready and posted before now.  Well lets just say the day didn't go as planned.  I have it almost done and I'll share the rest with you as soon as I can.  It will be worth the wait I promise and nursery rhymes are super fun any day!  But I did want to give you something to use so I have this adorable color sheep match game. Print 2 on cardstock or back with colored paper.  While you play teach your little ones Mary Had a Little Lamb, Baa Baa black Sheep, or Little Bo Peep!

Download Match Game Here!

Adorable graphics are from  Educlips and fonts from Kimberly Geswein Fonts

Rainbow Soup

Rainbow Soup is a fun, interactive way to practice colors and several math concepts such as counting, one-to-one correspondence, and sorting.

To play you'll need:

• the recipe cards included in the download
• the 10 frame (optional) included in the download
• a pot, bowl, or something to put your soup in.  I used a cauldron from Halloween but I've heard you can find them this time of year too.
• a spoon
• manipulatives for each color.  I used foam blocks and pom poms.  
• optional-tongs for extra fine motor practice and a container to hold your color manipulatives.

There are several recipe cards included.  Every card has 2 colors and clouds.  They all add up to 10.

  I included a 10 frame that works as a way to self-check their work.  They place each ingredient into one of the squares to make sure they have the correct number of ingredients.  If there is an empty box they will know to go back and check their work.  You do not need to use the ten frame, you can have them count their ingredients and make sure it adds up to 10.

After the ingredients are ready dump them into the pot and stir to make rainbow soup!

 Then the kids empty the pot, put the colors and clouds back by sorting, and grab a new card.

 You can also have them create their own recipes!  Set some paper out and add a writing element to this activity.

 Download Here

Adorable graphics from Krista Wallden - Creative Clips, and Fonts by Hello Literacy

Mardi Gras Masks

I love celebrating different holidays with my kids. Last year we had monthly calendars with fun

holidays to celebrate almost every day. Its a great way to break up the routine and make some

memories. Mardi Gras is one of those holidays that you and your kids might love to celebrate.

Mardi Gras officially starts on March 5 this year, but that doesn’t mean you can’t celebrate a little early.

These printable masks from Personal Creations are perfect for a DIY costume or pretend play idea!

To throw your own Mardi Gras bash at home, gather some plastic beads to throw to each other, play

some fun music to dance to and wear these masks to complete your look. Your little ones can have

a blast while learning about the official Louisiana holiday. Deck out the house in all things purple,

green, and gold and eat some traditional King’s Cake.

Along with classic Mardi Gras designs to choose from, there are also printable masks for other

occasions including a beautiful flower mask, a powerful superhero, and a dainty butterfly.

Personal Creations even included some black and white templates so your kids can color their

own masks and decorate as they’d like. This craft is the perfect activity to do at home and you’ll

end up with some great dress up accessories for the next celebration.

Head over to Personal Creations for instructions and download these adorable masks!

You can also check out our fun holiday preschool board on Pinterest for some more Mardi Gas ideas!