Books and Giggles
Seasonal and holiday ideas for kids
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!
Inside: Match the snowmen to their hats with this cute printable winter beginning sounds activity for preschool or kindergarten. These snowmen need their hats, but they each want a certain hat… Winter Letter Sounds Activity In this hands-on snowman-themed activity, children will identify the picture that each snowman is holding, and then find the hat…
Inside: these free, editable winter name worksheets give your preschoolers practice recognizing and writing their names. Last fall I emailed out a simple “My name is…” worksheet for back to school, and I received a lot of positive feedback from subscribers. So, I thought I’d make you a winter themed one, decorated with a cute…
Inside: a list of polar bear books for kids with descriptions of each title so that you can choose the best book for your preschool, kindergarten, or early elementary students. Polar bears are such a popular animal for kids! Whether your young reader is obsessed with polar bears or you are preparing for a unit…
Inside: this winter syllable sorting printable activity is a fun, interactive way for preschoolers to work on phonological awareness. They will practice distinguishing one- and two-syllable words, and segmenting the two-syllable words. Weeeeee! Raise your hand if you love sledding! (or you did as a kid) Today we’re pretending to slide over a bump or…
Inside: this Christmas letter tracing activity has preschoolers tracing and finding lowercase letters. Imagine the squeals and laughter as children squirt frosting onto sugar cookies. These paper letter tracing “cookies” are almost as much fun, but not nearly as messy. (Not that you shouldn’t do both!) Christmas Letter Tracing Activity If you’re looking for an…
Inside: This free printable Christmas stockings letter sounds activity gives preschoolers hands-on practice working on letter recognition and initial sounds. “The stockings were hung by the chimney with care…” One of the exciting things about Christmas is hanging up stockings for Santa to fill. You can use that idea to make working with the alphabet…
This free Christmas fine motor skills printable is perfect for your Holidays Around the World unit, especially for Christmas in Hawaii or Australia. Preschoolers can use these to practice line tracing and scissors skills. Surf’s up! Santa is catching some waves in this fun, easy-prep activity. You can pair this with our tropical Christmas sensory…
Inside: this tropical Christmas sensory play activity includes a mini Santa hat tutorial, recommended books, and more. Whether you’re teaching a Holidays Around the World unit, live somewhere where there is more sand than snow, or are just looking for some interesting December sensory play ideas, your preschoolers will love this activity. You might even…
This holiday letter J activity for preschool is just right for the winter season! You can use it during Polar Express week, after teaching the song Jingle Bells, or whenever else it fits in your December or January plans. The ring of jingle bells always puts me in a festive mood. They remind me of…
Inside: download these free printable fall letter sound cards and read about some fun ways to use them with your preschoolers or kindergarteners. Fall is in full swing, and we’re loving all things autumn right now! I already have some fun fall crafts and a huge list of apple activities here on the blog. I’ve…
Inside: This fall letter craft takes leaf rubbings to the next level! Find out how we did it, and get a trick to make it easier for little hands. Autumn is finally here, and it’s time for a new fall letter craft! (Or even an old favorite leaf craft!) You can do this letter activity…
Inside: this list of hibernation books for preschoolers includes both picture books and nonfiction choices perfect for teaching and celebrating animals in winter. Kids are fascinated by the changing of the seasons. They naturally wonder what happens to the animals in the cold of winter. Where do they go? How do they stay warm? Where…
Inside: these free printable shark alphabet worksheets come with a fun spinner activity. Students can work on letter recognition and distinguishing easily confused letters. Cue your favorite the shark music – and get ready for a fun little activity. You can pull these out during shark week, add them to your ocean theme activities (like…
Inside: These rain and rainbow-themed spring letter sounds clip cards help children practice matching letters of the alphabet with their initial sounds. Today I’m sharing a simple alphabet clip card activity with you. You can use these as part of a weather unit, or after teaching your kids about “April showers”. Or, you can just…
These cute bunny crafts are for children of all ages, from toddler to preschool and kindergarten, through elementary. They use a variety of materials, so you can select a rabbit made of everything from paper plates to popsicle sticks. Hippity hop! Spring is around the corner, and with it come bunnies, farm animals, and flowers…
This cute paper plate bunny craft is fun for little hands to make – and helps them practice their fine motor skills too. Time to get ready for the Easter bunny! Spring is still weeks away as I write this, but I’m dreaming of flowers, pastels, and of course bunnies. I wanted to create a…
Here’s a set of quick and simple paper snowflake activities for preschool and kindergarten. Use these to work on both fine motor and visual discrimination skills this winter. I always love cutting out paper snowflakes. It’s a fun little creative moment, trying to turn out something beautiful and interesting. We rarely get real snow this…
Inside: A hibernation craft and writing activity to go with the book The Snowy Nap by Jan Brett. Use the free printable template to make it super easy! This hedgehog hibernation craft and writing activity goes with Jan Brett’s lovely book The Snowy Nap (ad). The story follows Hedgie the hedgehog as he tries to…
Inside: Teach beginning, middle, & end with these free Bear Snores On printable bracelets. Bear Snores On by Karma Wilson (ad) is a terrific book to include in your winter animals or hibernation unit. It also turns out to be an excellent narrative for story sequencing (as are these other books that are great for…
These free printable penguin hats include 5 interesting facts about penguins. Children can color and wear their penguin crowns, and learn a little bit about these birds too. Penguins are a fun classroom theme for winter. You can read some favorite penguin books (see below), do some cute penguin crafts, and incorporate science too. You…
These Christmas letter R activities have a cute reindeer theme perfect for the holiday season. Today I’m sharing a fun, low-prep Christmas printable that’s sure to make learning fun during this most festive month! Catch your kids’ attention with the cute little reindeer, and then keep them engaged by using the pages in a variety…