Before having my first, I was a teacher. I honestly loved teaching---SO MUCH! I would go back in a heart beat....if it wasn't for my kids. Fortunately, I have kids who LOVE to learn, play, and experience life through what we call "activities". If I don't have at least one structured activity for my kiddos in a day, they go CRAZY! Seriously! That being said, I have googled, pinned, and brainstormed for the best activities that also have a learning aspect to them to come up with some new ones for my kids to do. Here is what I found that I am currently usin and want to try next.
Colors
- Button Sorting Activity- You know those disposable and reusable bowls with lids that you can find just about anywhere? Yes, grab some of those with some colorful buttons that match. Cut a slit in the top of the lids and show your little one how to sort the buttons by color. This is a great activity to know if your kids are starting to grasp the color concept. Most kiddos that I have seen know their colors before they can associate a name to them.
Here is the link to the blog where I found this idea from: http://aboutfamilycrafts.com/button-sorting-cups/
- Matching Clothespins to Paint Chips- I have seen this activity in a variety of forms. The cheapest and easiest way though is to go to Lowe's or Home Depot and snatch some of the paint chips off the shelf. Make sure you grab two of each. with one glue it to a clothespin so you have a match set of a paint chip and a clothespin. Show the little goober how to match the correct colors together. This is also a great fine motor activity as well.
- Fruit Loop Sort Game- This one is just genius and super duper inexpensive. Grab a piece of paper and draw circles with crayons that match the colors of the fruit loop cereal. Demonstrate to your kids how to sort the cereal by colors. BONUS: Discuss the circle shape while your at it, killing two birds with one stone while building a background knowledge for shapes and connecting it to real life (eating cereal).
Bonus Activity:
- If it's around Easter or you happen to be able to find the plastic eggs, grab some of those, mix up the colors and have the little monster match the correct colors again. We did that one year and my son LOVED it. Now that he is older, I am planning on using them again but writing Uppercase and Lowercase letters on either side and he has to match them.
Letters
- Q-Tip Painting-There are a TON of free letter q-tip painting links floating around pinterest. Print one off and let your toddler go to town. As he is exploring, talk to him about the letter and its sound. He may not understand right now but it will be planting some background knowledge for later.
- Building letters- Do you have a fish? Or some rocks lying around the house? Print out a coloring page of a letter or cut out one from construction paper and show your child how to place the rocks inside the lines of the letter to build it. Confused? Here is a link to a picture of what I am describing:
- Matching Magnets- Periodically at the dollar store you can find a magnet set of letters. If you grab a couple or more sets of those its easy to create some simple alphabet activities. One I have done is to write the alphabet on a piece of paper (or the kiddos name) and then instruct them to find the matching letters and place the magnet over the letter. My son had a blast doing this activity and since he is currently learning his name I plan on doing it with his name very soon.
- Letter Stamping-With those same magnets (or a fancy set of letter stamps) you can break out the much hated but well loved playdoh and let your lil one stamp letters into the playdoh.
Numbers
- Number Sort- Collect some number/letter stickers and a big piece of construction paper. Draw a line down the middle and then show your lil one how to sort the stickers; numbers on one side and letters on the other. You may need to do the first couple with them or just play with the number stickers discussing what they are during your play.
- Number Match with Popsicles and a Box-I saw this one the other day and I really really want to try it out. Essentially what it is: Cut some slats in a box and label the slats. For this age group I would do 1-10, but feel free to do more if you feel so inclined. Then get some craft sticks and label those. After you mix them, demonstrate how to match the craft stick and the slat by putting it in there. This could also be doubled for a hand-eye coordination activity! WIN WIN! Here is the link to where I originally saw the idea but honestly it just takes you to the homepage and I can't locate it:
http://adaycare.com/PreschoolCurriculumSample2.html
- Number Train Puzzle- My mother in law found this number train puzzle and my kiddos LOVED putting the puzzle together and pulling it apart. Sometimes, I would just let the kids play with it, listening to my three year old discuss the numbers with his 1-2 year old sister. Other times, I would casually comment or ask what number they were working on and how to count to that number. Make it casual. Make it fun!
- Cut the Cards-I believe everyone and their grandmother has an extra deck of cards lying around somewhere. This is seriously the easiest activity if you do. Take that deck and cut each card in half. Give the cards to your toddler and ask them to match them up.....well...maybe not the entire deck of cards, but start with a few and add more if they seem to catch on.
Shapes
- Matching Shapes-This is a combo of an activity I found on pinterest and the fact that I love busy bags/folder games. Cut some felt in different shapes and then draw the outline of that shape on a file folder game. Glue a Velcro piece to the inside of the outlined shape. And have your toddler match up the felt piece with the outline. Here is a link to the picture of the original idea that just used an old cardboard box. (which works also)
- Ice Cream Shapes File Folder Games- I saw this activity on etsy that you could buy but it is probably super easy to make through a computer program print outlines of the bottom of the ice cream cone with shapes inside and glue them to a file folder. Then print outlines of the ice cream part of the cone with the same shapes inside and have your crazy match them. If you have a laminator then use it, if not just use a heavy duty construction paper or cardstock.
- Bathtub Building- I had some foam pieces that I cut into different shapes. I then showed my son a picture of a city and asked him to build one of his own using the shapes while we discussed the different shapes he used.
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