Books and Giggles
Seasonal and holiday ideas for kids
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 here. I made up the batch shown here to try out the two new gingerbread playdough mats I made for you….
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…
I know I just posted a caterpillar craft last week, but this adorable idea for a caterpillar suncatcher craft hit me yesterday, and I just had to share it here! Like our button caterpillar craft, this one is based on Eric Carle’s book The Very Hungry Caterpillar. It’s a suncatcher made with a plastic strawberry…
Inside: This monarch caterpillar craft is fun and easy for preschool and up. A spring thunderstorm knocked out our power this morning, and suddenly it looked like we were done with distance learning for the day. It was a great excuse to get crafting. There are lots of great caterpillar crafts out there, but we…
Inside: The Mitten activities to go with the picture book by Jan Brett. Includes crafts, printable resources, games and more for preschool, kindergarten, and elementary students. Raise your hand if you love Jan Brett! Her now-classic version of The Mitten is a favorite classroom read aloud every winter. This cozy picture book is perfect for…
Inside: A free printable sight word activity that goes with the book The Mitten by Jan Brett. (Disclosure: Books and Giggles is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.) If your students…
Inside: 10 winter books for preschoolers that they’ll love and you’ll adore reading aloud There are so many lovely children’s books about winter. As I put together this list, I included some of my all-time favorite picture books. I also found you a great selection of newer titles that I think you’ll love. Pair your…
Inside: Ways to incorporate wintertime fun into CVC activities for PreK and kindergarten. This time of year means snow, sleds, and hot cocoa — so why not use those ideas to add some winter fun into your CVC activities! When it comes to teaching CVC words, engagement is key. 6 CVC Activities to Try This…
All of these Thanksgiving activities for preschoolers and kindergartners can be done in your classroom or at home. Kids will have fun, learn and be ready for Thanksgiving! Thanksgiving Early Literacy Activities Letter recognition is FUN when there’s a spinner! This Thanksgiving resource in my store includes 3 differentiated letter and letter-sound activities, including the…
Inside: 25 pumpkin crafts for preschoolers, categorized by type of material used. I love that look of utmost concentration preschoolers get when they’re busy crafting. They’re working those fine motor muscles so hard! And as little scientists, they’re fascinated with the results. All they need to get started is a little bit of inspiration, plus…
Inside: This apple tree craft is easy enough for preschoolers to do in the fall or when they’re learning about Johnny Appleseed. I’ve been posting seasonal crafts in this space for five years now, and somehow never created our own apple craft! I even wrote a huge roundup of apple crafts but didn’t have my…
These cute Halloween puppets are a fun way to support oral language development and story retelling. You can have the children paint the craft stick bases, and then help them add the unique features to each puppet. If you’re looking for Halloween craft ideas that are inexpensive and have some play value, these craft stick…