Books and Giggles
Playful learning activities for young children
These free editable playdough name mats are a fun, hands-on way for preschoolers to learn about the letters in their names. If you’re teaching kids about their names, you’ll want some fun activities in your bag of tricks. In addition to making name crafts and reading aloud books about names, your students will enjoy working…
Grab a little flashlight for your preschoolers to practice spelling their names with this interactive summer name craft and activity. Summer means staying up late, and that means fireflies! At least it does in some places (unfortunately we don’t have many here, but we see them when we visit cousins back East). If your kids…
Inside: Capture your preschoolers’ interest with this easy prep letter Y sensory bin. I had fun creating a letter X sensory bin for you last month, and readers said they liked it. So I thought I’d create another one for the letter Y. This one is a bit simpler – and Y is a little…
If you’re teaching your preschoolers or kindergartners about the letter X, you may want to focus on words that end in the /x/ sound, like fox, box, and fix. These letter X activities, crafts, and printables can help. I hope you found some valuable ideas here that help you teach the letter X and the…
It’s tricky to teach preschoolers about the letter X! Unlike all the other letters, no words start with the /x/ or ‘ks’ sound. This activity and free printable will help you teach it playfully. Say hello to the Letter X Sensory Bin, featuring a pretend fox den and a set of engaging printables… Let’s dig…
Inside: these hole punch activities include crafts, math and literacy activities, and art projects. All of them are great fine motor skills work for kids! Are you looking for an engaging way to help your kids work on their fine motor skills? Many (but not all) hole punches are perfect for strengthening those little hands,…
Inside: This s’mores writing tray is a fun way for preschoolers to practice letter formation. Use these free printable cards during your camping theme week! Today I’m sharing a guest post from Karen at ABC’s of Literacy. Karen is a former kindergarten teacher and instructional coach turned homeschooling mom with a ton of creative early…
Inside: These summer five senses games all use a free printable spinner and cards. Students can use them to practice matching each sense to an example. Ahhh, summer! Imagine the taste of watermelon, the feel of sand between your toes, and the smell of the barbecue grill. Add in the sound of bees buzzing and…
If you need some inspiration for things to do outdoors this Spring, this post is packed with good ideas. Longer days, warmer weather, and that feeling of endless possibility can only mean one thing… Spring is here! As the weather warms up but isn’t too hot yet (this is Texas after all) we’re delighted that…
Inside: Grab these free printable community helper hats and read about ways to use them. Printable Community Helper Hats It’s fun “trying on” different ways to be a community helper! I’m super excited to share these free printable community helper hats with you today! You can use these in a variety of ways: (*Of course…
Inside: This construction alphabet sensory bin is a fun way for preschoolers to practice letter recognition while engaging in a playful activity. A construction activity filled with bulldozers, dirt, and digging is sure to grasp your little one’s attention! If you’re looking for an enjoyable activity for letter recognition practice, what’s better than a sensory…
Here are some adorable gingerbread man activities for preschool and kindergarten. Add these to your December lineup! Over the past few years, we’ve created a variety of gingerbread man activities for preschool and kindergarten. I’m excited to share them with you all in one place here today. Plus, I’ve added a few more from some…
The challenge with teaching sight words is that children need so much repetition – and that can get boring. So having a big list of fun ways to practice sight words can help you keep your students engaged longer. If you teach kindergarten, then you probably already know that sight words are a big step…
Inside: a free printable dinosaur counting activity that uses connecting link math manipulatives. This would make a fun hands-on math center for preschool or kindergarten. Today’s activity comes from Yara at Sea of Knowledge. I’m super excited to share it with you today! Dinosaur Counting Activity Looking for a fun way to get kids to…
Inside: 35+ engaging farm activities for preschool and kindergarten. Find literacy activities, farm crafts, dramatic play ideas, STEM related activities, and real world experiences to help you plan the best farm unit ever! It’s important for preschoolers and kindergartners to learn about the world around them, and part of that world is agriculture. Farmers have…
Inside: These social-emotional activities for preschoolers can be used all in one lesson or pulled into your own SEL lesson. Today’s post comes from guest writer Audra Jensen. Audra is a Board-Certified Behavior Analyst, Special Education teacher, and published author on the subject of autism. She has an adult son with autism and has dedicated…
Looking for some fun polar bear activities this winter? Start with this huge list of literacy ideas, STEM activities, sensory play setups, and adorable polar bear crafts. These creative, educational ideas will help you hit it out of the ballpark! Alphabet and Literacy Activities First up, here are some ways to work letter recognition, sight…
Inside: This simple preschool and kindergarten map activity helps develop spatial awareness and introduces kids to some beginning map concepts. Today I have a special treat for you – a guest post from teacher Camile Clarke. Camile is a National Geographic Certified Educator and Geologist with a passion for writing and teaching curious kids about…
Inside: This polar bear sight word activity uses an editable free printable so that you can use your own word list, or even work on just the alphabet. With the winter weather keeping a lot of us indoors, now is a great time to explore some winter-themed activities. This cute polar bear “fishing” game is…
Inside: this months of the year craft helps you teach preschoolers and kindergartners about what happens each month. It will work really well as a collaborative class craft, but families could also make and display a version at home. I’ve been wanting to add a craft to go with my printable paper plate months of…
Inside: These arctic animal alphabet worksheets for dot markers include fun facts about each animal for grownups to read aloud to little learners. Whether you’re teaching about lots of different arctic animals, or just one in particular, these free arctic animal alphabet worksheets will keep children engaged. What Animals Are Included? This free set of…
Inside: These free printable gingerbread playdough mats provide a playful experience with sequencing, a valuable early literacy skill. Every year at the holidays we make gingerbread playdough here – it’s turned into a tradition here. I made up the batch shown here to try out the two new gingerbread playdough mats I made for you….
This Stone Soup activity is a fun and delicious science experiment to pair with the classic folktale. You can do this with any age kids, but my focus here is on how you’d do it with preschoolers or kindergartners. I have a weakness for soup. Vegetable soup, chicken noodle, cream of tomato, and my favorite, tortilla soup –…
Name activities for preschool are naturally engaging! Kids are interested in anything involving their very own names. Even better, you can use name activities as a stepping stone to alphabet activities. I like to start with teaching children just to recognize their name in print. Then, you can progress to talking about the letter their…