Gotta love puzzles. You can find the wooden puzzles between $1-$5 at Walmart and Target. I bought the foam number puzzle from Dollar Tree.
Skills: fine motor, number/letter/animal/color recognition
I found these at Dollar Tree. Yep. $1.
Skills: fine motor, color recognition, patterns
This was a GREAT find…in Target’s dollar spot (for $2.50). Luci and I call this “sewing.” This is a great car and church activity also.
Sills: fine motor, animal/color recognition
Good ol’ flashcards. I found these at Dollar Tree. Right now Luci and I are working on letter recognition. At almost 3 years old, she knows A, B, L, and O all by herself, no help needed.
Skills (depending on the flashcards): color, shape, number, letter, sound, word recognition
Gotta love arts-n-crafts!! Coloring books, paper, markers, crayons, stamps, stickers, watercolors, play dough, cookie cutters…. I keep it all organized in bins so that it’s easy to get to and easy to clean up. Luci also has an art apron to keep her clothes clean (made by her oldest cousin). You can purchase art supplies $1-$5 depending on what you are looking for. We buy a lot of our art supplies at Dollar Tree.
Skills: fine motor, color recognition, creativity
Skills Luci and I are working on:
-numbers and counting
-ABC’s
-colors (she knows these VERY well…pink is her fave)
-fine motor skills
-shapes (she knows circle, square, and triangle)
-manners (she is very good at please, thank you, you’re welcome, and I’m sorry)
-sharing/taking turns
-gross motor skills (balancing, summer salts, running, skipping, riding a bike, etc.)
Teaching Tools:
-items shown above
-music/songs
-books
-pictures/posters (I make them or get them at Dollar Tree)
Luci’s favorite books:
One of Luci’s most favorite things to do is read and look at her books. Here are a few of her very favorites…
Great sites for songs/music for your preschooler:
Music & Rhyme Station
Everything Preschool
Preschool Rainbow
Videos of preschool songs
Here are links to a my favorite preschool/kid-friendly blogs:
Confessions of a Homeschooler
ABC and 123
delicateCONSTRUCTION
Melissa & Doug Blog
Kids Create
Totally Tots
Muffin Tin Mom
Modern Parents Messy Kids
Pink and Green Mama
Are you a mommy to a toddler/preschooler? Do you have any tips, tricks, favorite sites, books, songs, teaching tools? I would ♥ to hear about them!!
Your post was classic “Teacher”, from a “Mommy” point of view. . .love it, can’t wait for my little one to be at Luci’s stage! I never get rid of ANY of my teaching items because I know I’ll need them in a few years:)
I LOVE If You Give a Pig a Pancake! One of my faves in the series. Loved this mommy teacher post, when I add mommy to the list I’ll be rereading this!
Thanks for all the info! I have a daughter who is 4 and a half. We love doing activities together. This will definitely help.
I am having a giveaway on my site. A chance to win $15 store credit from LiaGeneFab11 to select fancy hairbands and clips for little girls.
http://houseonashwelllane.blogspot.com/2011/02/fancy-headbands-and-hair-clips-giveaway.html
I love the lacing boards. I remember doing that exercise when I was small.
megan
craftycpa.blogspot.com
One of the things I did with my children was teaching abc’s and 123’s by going around the car starting with one number or letter and they would say the next one. It teaches before and after. You can also do it with lyrics or nursery rhymes.
Great learning fun stimulating activities. The bin is great too. Have a super night! winks-jen
Thanks for the mention of MPMK and for all the helpful tips and finds!