Books and Giggles
Seasonal and holiday ideas for kids
Inside: These Earth Day books for kids include picture books, nonfiction, and even board books. You’ll find meaningful choices for teaching and celebrating with children ages 3-12. April 22nd is coming up soon, and it’s time to think about what you’ll do for Earth Day! Whether you’re planning a special “green” activity or an upcycled…
Preschoolers can practice their scissors skills with this fun cotton ball sheep craft. They can even help the sheep “grow” new wool so that they can shear it again! If you’re teaching a farm unit, reading farm books, or setting up a farm animals theme in your classroom, you’re surely want to include sheep. This…
Inside: These Groundhog Day emergent readers are special – you can personalize them with student names! Groundhog Day always sneaks up on me! I start thinking about Valentine’s Day as soon as I see all that candy in stores, but I forget about Phil and his groundhog friends. I should remember it though. It’s the…
Inside: This Valentine’s Day bee craft made with popsicle sticks wants you to “bee mine”! It’s starting to look like we’re going to have a whole collection of craft stick animals! Today I’m sharing this fun, friendly bee craft with you. He’s ready to show you some love… Valentine’s Day Bee Craft There are lots…
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 free printable Valentine’s Day sight word spinner activity helps children to learn any sight words in an engaging and enjoyable way. Valentine season is upon us again and in our house, that means candy and baking! My children love to share their love with their friends with a little something sweet. I designed…
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 free printable winter vs summer sorting activity helps children understand the differences between these seasons, exploring the weather, clothing, and activities for each season. Most of the kids in my life love Summer! Who wouldn’t? The weather is warm, the sun is shining and drinking ice-cold lemonade every day is a must. But…
Inside: this hot chocolate letter sounds activity will warm up your winter literacy centers and small groups! Nothing beats a warm mug of hot cocoa on a cold wintry day… except maybe a mug of cocoa with marshmallows! We’ve been all about hot chocolate here lately. My kids each have a special cocoa mug that…
Inside: a free printable winter letter tracing activity for preschoolers, with three ways to play. If you’ve been teaching your kids about polar bears, they’ll quickly recognize how silly these scarf-wrapped ice skating polar bears are. In fact, these friendly polar bears inspired me to make this winter letter tracing activity to share with you…
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: this printable penguin craft for kids features a dad hiding a baby chick in his brood pouch. Kids can cut out and color this fun interactive winter craft. There’s a scene I love in every penguin documentary and movie I’ve ever watched. It’s where a father penguin stands up to reveal a baby chick…
Inside: This preschool snowman craft is made with a surprising ingredient that gives it a fun texture and helps it look extra snowy! We almost never get snow here, but when we do, practically the first thing my kids want to do is build a snowman. It might be my fault. A few years ago,…
Inside: this free printable Christmas name tracing activity motivates children to practice writing their name and letters. What little Santa believer doesn’t want to pretend to help Old St. Nick write out gift tags? Today I’m sharing a quick free printable to help YOU fit in some holiday name tracing practice with your littles. Christmas…
Inside: how to make popsicle stick arctic animal crafts. Make a cute arctic fox, polar bear, or snowy owl using the free printable template. We’ve finally been having some winter weather here, and it makes me want to break out the wintertime crafts! Arctic Animal Crafts Today I have a brand new set of arctic…
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 at my house. I adore the seasonal scent, and my kids like the excuse to play with something they would otherwise…
Inside: This penguin mitten craft is simple enough for preschoolers and includes a template to make prep super easy for you too. We painted a mitten and turned it into a penguin for this cute paper craft. The thumb makes it look like he’s waving his flipper! This mitten craft would be a sweet choice…
Inside: This list of Gingerbread Man books is organized by grade and listed in pairs or groups of stories that are great to teach side by side. We’re a little gingerbread crazy here. Every year we like to make gingerbread playdough in December. I also love that there are so many Gingerbread Man stories out…
Last year we made a cute chalk art bat craft for preschoolers, and I thought I could check bat crafts off my list here. But sometimes inspiration strikes! These are completely different though… They’re also probably a little faster to make. So if you’re looking for a quick bat craft, this one could be it…
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…
Inside: free printable first day of online school signs for preschool through 12th grade 2021 Update: Since there are still some students attending online school this year, I’ve updated the file so that the banner at the top now reads “2021-2022 School Year”. Every year, I take First Day of School photos of my kids holding…
Inside: an apple beginning sounds digital activity for kindergarten or preschool students I created this fall digital letter sounds activity back when we were all doing distance learning, but it is still a great activity even when kids are there in person with you in the classroom. Apple Beginning Sounds Activity Do you have an…
Inside: This letter O craft features crayon-resist watercolor and a ready-to-go template. Easy peasy! Can you almost hear the crashing waves in this ocean themed craft? Can you just about feel a sea breeze on your face and smell the salt air? We haven’t made it to the beach yet this year – I keep…