Kids need independent skills to navigate the Kindergarten classroom. Being able to take care of yourself at school makes a child feel more confident and leads to success. Last year I shared the 3 Independent Skills Your Child Needs for Kindergarten and this year I'm going to share a fun way to practice them--with an obstacle course! Independent Skills Practice Game backpack lunch box with drink cup and other containers folder or … [Read more...]
Get Ready for Kindergarten by Playing School
Getting ready for kindergarten is both exciting and overwhelming for kids and parents! To make the transition easier for everyone we are bringing back our Get Ready for K Through Play series. During this weekly summer series we will be sharing simple, hands on learning activities that will help your child develop the kindergarten readiness skills they need in a FUN and playful way. We’re kicking things off this week with social and emotional … [Read more...]
Easy Graduation Cap Cupcakes
Graduation cap cupcakes are such a sweet way to celebrate a graduation! Make them for preschool or kindergarten graduation or even at a high school graduation party. I first made these on the blog a couple years ago when my oldest was graduating from kindergarten and now it's my son's turn for kindergarten graduation! I thought I'd share some updated photos since this is such a fun idea. Graduation Cap Cupcakes cupcakes or muffins without … [Read more...]
Letter Matching with Hearts
Playing games with letters makes practicing so much more fun--especially when kids get a chance to move and learn at the same time! That's why we love these lower case letter games so much. A couple of years ago my sister sent my kids a set of red and a set of pink lowercase letter cards. She made them by printing each lower case letter on pink and red paper. Then, being the superstar that she is, she cut them into heart shapes and even … [Read more...]
Cookie Math Play Dough Mat Busy Bag
Play dough mats make great busy bags--kids get a fun hands on activity that is easy to take on the go! We love to use play dough for math practice and came up with this fun cookie math counting and addition activity. Cookie Math Busy Bag Supplies: Play dough Chocolate Chip Cookie Play Dough Math Mat Free Printable That's it! This busy bag is super easy to put together. Just print the play dough mat printable and grab some play dough! … [Read more...]
ABC Ice Cream Gross Motor Game
My preschooler is in the process of learning her uppercase and lowercase letters. To make practicing more fun we decided to play an ice cream themed game. All of my kids LOVE to play pretend and kitchen and restaurant play is a favorite so this ice cream game was a hit! To make the game I used 12 ball pit balls and 4 paper towel rolls. I cut the rolls into thirds to make the cones and wrote lowercase letters on the front. Then I used a … [Read more...]
Move and Learn Activities for Kids
My kids learn best when they are active. Getting up and moving motivates kids to practice new skills and helps them to better retain the information. Plus, it's also lots of fun! Hands on : as we grow and The Pleasantest Thing and I are teaming up to bring Move and Learn! activities each week as part of a new series. To kick things off we are sharing move and learn activities from all over the web for each age group and I am focusing on active … [Read more...]
Gross Motor Phonics Game: Walk the Word
Kindergarten readiness skills include letter recognition, phonemic awareness, and phonics skills. If your child can already recognize letters and can hear and say letter sounds then you may be wondering what types of phonics activities you should be doing with him. The truth is that you don't really need to do anything other than reading together every day, but if your child is ready to start reading playing phonics games can be both fun and … [Read more...]
