Books and Giggles
Seasonal and holiday ideas for kids
Inside: a free printable birdhouse ABC activity where kids put alphabet bird cards into a birdhouse. Includes a letter spinner, uppercase letter cards, and recording sheets in both uppercase and lowercase letter versions. Spring and summertime are for the birds! Here in Texas, we love watching barn swallows build nests over the grandparents’ porch every…
Inside: Grab the free printable template and make an ABC or torn paper “pot of gold” craft with your preschool or kindergarten students. Today is your lucky day! I have a free printable “pot of gold” craft for you just in time for St. Patrick’s Day. There is the ABC version shown above, or you…
Inside: This easy prep reindeer antler craft helps preschoolers strengthen their fine motor skills and goes well with the picture book How the Reindeer Got Their Antlers. We love all the great picture books for the holiday season that are out there for preschoolers. (We even have a whole list of books about Santa Claus!)…
Inside: Free printable Christmas letters sounds cards that are hands-on interactive! Use these to help preschoolers learn letters and letter sounds this holiday season. Get ready for some festive learning fun with this Christmas-themed free printable! Children can practice naming letters (and their sounds, if they’re ready) before unfolding a ‘present’ to reveal a hidden…
Inside: This Christmas name activity helps preschoolers work on name recognition in a fun, hands-on way. There are so many fun ways for kids to learn in December! Last year I made free Christmas Name Puzzles to share here on the blog. And we have loads of other Christmas activity ideas here too. This year…
Room on the Broom, The Scarecrow’s Hat, Stellalua, and Pumpkin Jack are some of my favorite sequencing books for October. These much-loved stories all have structures that work well for putting events in order and retelling. At the same time, telling the story back helps young students with comprehension and oral language. I started creating…
Add these educational hats to your apple unit, and work on science, math, and literacy concepts with your preschool and kindergarten students. It’s apple season! Here’s a fun activity you can use with your apple unit, and it includes a cute free printable that adds a literacy element as well as science and math. Choose…
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…
Looking for a fun and easy summer name craft? This watermelon craft will help your students work on spelling their names – and also brighten everyone’s day. When I think of summertime I imagine hot days, dips in the pool, flip-flops, and perfectly ripe watermelon. I can remember learning how to spit the slippery seeds…
Just when winter is getting oh-so-dull, we hit the 100th day of school and have an excuse to liven things up in the classroom! These cute 100th Day of School printables for preschool and kindergarten will help you celebrate with your students. Has it really been almost 100 days since your kids donned their first…
Grab your watercolors for this cute little set of winter paint-by-letter worksheets. You’ve probably heard of paint by number. For your preschoolers who love to paint with watercolors, we’ve created an early literacy offshoot of that. Winter Paint by Letter With these free worksheets, students will find the letters and paint them a specific color….
Your kids will be thrilled to decorate their own winter hats with this editable winter hat name craft! They’re a fantastic way to practice letter identification, scissor skills, and spelling their own name, and they look fabulous on a winter or holiday bulletin board! These editable hats are so much fun and very easy to…
Your students can work on tracing curvy lines with this free printable winter tracing activity. Sometimes you just want a simple, no-prep activity that keeps your kids busy on a cold winter day. Other times you have specific fine motor skill goals that you need your students to work on. These free printable winter line…
Dive into a mini hibernation unit with these fun bear hibernation hats for kids! They’re the perfect way to practice sequencing while teaching about winter animals at the same time. Kids are fascinated by the concept of hibernation. It’s hard to imagine that animals can sleep for months at a time! This makes hibernation a…
With this free printable Christmas letter tracing activity students can also work on fine motor skills and uppercase lowercase matching. Today I’m sharing another low-prep Christmas alphabet activity with you. This one is very similar to my winter letter tracing activity. So if you get your students familiar with how to use these in December,…
Get your kids excited for the holiday season with these customizable Christmas tree lot name puzzles! They’re a fantastic way to practice letter identification, spelling their name, and fine motor skills all at the same time. There’s nothing quite like receiving something made just for you. These editable name puzzles will make your students feel…
Are your students learning lowercase letters? These Christmas tree ABC spinners are a fun way to practice discriminating easily confused letters while still getting into the holiday spirit! Christmas Tree Lowercase Letter Activity This easy prep letter-matching activity is such a perfect morning starter or independent activity during the holidays! Kids love using spinners, and…
Inside: free printable Polar Express alphabet worksheets and tips on how to use them with preschoolers or young kindergartners. Polar Express Alphabet Worksheets It’s that magical time of year! If you’re planning to read or watch Polar Express, then your kids will love practicing the letters B, C, E, H, and T with these free…
Help your students make the most adorable gingerbread houses this year without baking a single cookie! These printable color your own gingerbread house templates are so much easier than decorating cookies and are a wonderful holiday activity for pre-K and primary students! Your kids will absolutely love this gingerbread activity! It feels more like playing…
Christmas is just around the corner! Your preschoolers can help Santa’s elves build lowercase letters with this hands-on alphabet activity. Elf ABC Activity It’s the season of shorter-than-ever attention spans, but I hope these free printable alphabet cards will help you sneak in some fun early literacy practice! Skills Covered Once students can sing the…
This free printable reindeer alphabet activity is self-checking and also provides engaging fine motor skills practice. Letter Matching with Santa and His Reindeer When your students are wide-eyed with excitement waiting for Christmas, it’s not hard to turn that energy into engagement! Read aloud books about Santa and pull out this cute hands-on letter-matching activity…
This Halloween name craft for preschool uses simple materials that you probably already have on hand – so it’s basically free! It focuses solely on the first letter of each child’s name, so it’s perfect for littles early in their learning path. Teaching children about the first letter in their name is a super relevant…
Inside: a free printable uppercase and lowercase letter match activity that you can use after reading aloud The Three Snow Bears by Jan Brett, or with a polar bear unit. I love Jan Brett’s beautiful winter books and have made activities for The Mitten and a cute craft for The Snowy Nap. Today I’m adding…
Do you have a penguin lover in your life or are your students learning about penguins? Don’t miss these children’s books about penguins!