Morning Routine for Preschoolers

Now that Andrew is attending school 5 days a week, I decided it was time for him to start taking more responsibility for his morning routine. He's been doing most morning tasks on his own for the last six months or so, but needs constant reminders and repeated requests to get the jobs done. I wanted to create an easy checklist for him that wouldn't require any maintenance (erasing check marks or reprinting) and that would be easy for him to manipulate on his own. A quick Pinterest search put a number of "morning routine" options at my fingertips and I selected and adapted the one that I thought would work best for us.

To make this Morning Routine Flip Chart, I cut a file folder that I had on hand. Then, using my Silhouette and some adhesive vinyl, I cut out some simple images for the tasks Andrew needs to complete as well as some check marks and a morning message. I added a small piece of magnet to each flap and covered each magnet with some of the orange vinyl (just because it looked better!).

I kept the morning routine tasks very simple; potty, brush teeth, put p.j.'s in the laundry basket and get dressed. I've also started setting out his outfits for the week in a hanging shoe organizer like this. I have not labeled the days of the week, which gives him some choice in what he will wear each day. 

This morning routine has worked better than I imagined it would! Andrew took to the flip chart right away and has stuck with it for a few weeks now! I'm hopeful that the novelty of the chart doesn't wear off, because it will be worth it's weight in gold once baby #3 arrives in November!!

Sharing...

A Bowl Full of Lemons: One Project at a Time

Printable Flash Cards for Preschoolers

Over the past few months Andrew and I have been working really hard on his reading. We have been using lessons from this book, along with other activities and seeing some great progress! The book suggests to work through one lesson everyday. This pace is starting to be a bit fast for Andrew, so we often do other activities to reinforce what he's learned before moving onto the next lesson.

Flash Cards have been very helpful when working on sight words and letter sounds. I like to make my own flash cards using PicMonkey, so that I can add graphics or phonetic notation.

This week I decided to spice things up a bit for Andrew, and threw in some of his favourite Super Heroes and Villains. I made two sets of these cards, one with a small image and one without. These words are a bit difficult for Andrew, but once he practises enough with the image I will bring out the others and he should be fine. After all, he sees these words in many places!

We use our flash cards in a variety of ways. Andrew's favourite is to read the word and then smack it with an object from my utensil drawer (odd, but whatever motivates him!). We also like to turn them all upside down and take turns flipping them over and reading the word. 

I thought that some of you might be interested in printing these off for your little one, so below are the first five lists of common sight words, a blank template, and our first set of Super Heroess. Just right click on the image and save it to your computer, and then print the JPEG!

A simple number recognition activity...

I am always looking for simple ways to motivate Andrew to engage in more learning activities. He has just turned four and his abilities are really sky rocketing, unfortunately his focus is not, so we have to keep it fun!

This is a super simple Number Recognition activity that I put together today. It was a huge hit and Andrew made noticeable gains within the ten minutes that we played. It is basically a flashcard activity with the added bonus of some gross motor skills and a tasty reward!

I cut out 12 paper circles, wrote a number on each and popped them into a muffin tin. Andrew then tossed marshmallows into the cups and identified the number he landed on. If he could identify the number he got to eat the marshmallow.

As you can see, he is quite motivated by sweets... I think we'll try blueberries next time!

Looking for other simple ideas for learning at home with your little one? Check out my Pinterest Board, Learning at Home, or some of these older posts:

Patterning with Preschoolers

Fall Colour Hunt

Learning Letter Sounds

A cozy learning nook...

Hello!! Today, I am excited to share with you one of the first (and only) decorating projects I have completed in our new home! It is a cozy little learning nook that incorporates a few simple DIY projects, some dollar store finds, and an ikea purchase or two!

Our new house has two floors with a pretty standard setup,  bedrooms and bathrooms upstairs, kitchen/dining and living room down. The staircase connecting the two levels is split, with a sizeable landing at the halfway point. There is a great built in bench or "niche" on this landing, that I was at a complete loss for how to decorate.  It is at the perfect height for little fingers, so a "no-go" for anything breakable or "toddler tempting". 

We had been here for a few weeks when the perfect purpose for this space came to me... a learning space for Andrew! We have the stairs gated at the top and the bottom which means Andrew can work away without being tormented by his eager little brother. 

I picked up an outdoor cushion that fits nicely at one end of the bench and added a couple of Ikea throw pillows to create a nice place to cuddle up with a book. I also used two Curtain Wires from Ikea to hang these adorable alphabet cards that I found over at The DIY Frau. The colours in these cards are wonderful, bright but muted, and I used them as a pallet for the rest of the space.

I hung a few little pails for Andrew's art supplies and made a simple art display out of clipboards and scrap booking paper (you can find the tutorial for this project here). 

When Andrew is working on some art or practising his writing, he kneels on the floor and uses the bench like a desk. He squirms around quite a bit when he is tying to focus on a learning activity, so this is a good alternative to a chair. 

I'm not sure if Andrew really appreciates how cute this space is, but that's ok, 

I can love it enough for both of us!!

Linking Up...

I Heart Organizing

Tips and Tricks Party

The Humble Brag

Organize It Link Party

A fall colour hunt... {learning at home}

Even though the temperature here in Baltimore has just started to dip, the vibrant colours of fall have managed to creep through and take over our surroundings. Our walks have been full of new discoveries as the trees prepare for winter, dropping leaves and all sorts of interesting treasures in our path.

By coincidence, Andrew has recently started to notice the subtle differences between the shades of colours. He is no longer satisfied with the simple labels of Blue, Red or Orange and is looking for more descriptive ways to name the colours in his world. I decided to take this new learning interest as far as I could by focusing on all of the wonderful colours of fall. I had recently picked up a pack of cardstock with a variety of earth tones that was perfect for the activity I had in mind...

We simply cut out small circles, using six different colours, labeled each one and placed them in 

the bottom of a muffin tin.

We hit the trails and collected anything that caught our attention. As we sorted the items into our muffin tin we discussed the colours that we saw. We compared the items to each other and talked about which colours were the easiest to find and which were more difficult (the botanist in me is resisting the urge to conduct repeats of the sampling to make temp. vs. colour correlations!)

This was a great little learning activity! It was super simple and served as a springboard for some great learning opportunities! We focused on new colour vocabulary and the changing seasons, but counting and the life cycle of a plants would have been great too!

How have you been enjoying the beauty of fall with your family?

Looking for more fun ways to add some learning opportunities to everyday life? Check out my Pinterest board "Learning at Home". I have developed quite the collection!

DIY Binoculars for Kids

As I mentioned yesterday, we have been having a lot of fun exploring our new neighbourhood now that the weather is cooler. The boys love to get outside and go for walks on the trails around our place. The paths are paved, which is great for the trike Henry got for his birthday, and there is no traffic so Andrew can run around freely. It's the perfect activity for that crazy hour between naps and dinner prep!

For the past week or two, Andrew has been toting a set of homemade binoculars with him on our excursions. They consist of two toilet paper rolls held together with tape, then staples, then more tape (he accidentally rips them each day and then begs for a repair). This week I decided to try and make a more durable set of binoculars that would hopefully stand up to his vigorous play.

What better material to stand up to a three years old's antics than Duct Tape!? Andrew picked out a roll of camo duct tape and I went to work! It was super simple, I covered two toilet paper rolls, attached them with a band of tape and then created a strap by folding a long piece of tape into thirds. Andrew was super impressed with my efforts!

We set to the trails with the Fall Nature Hunt I shared yesterday and had a great time in the late afternoon sun!

Linking Up

Shine on Friday

Fall Nature Hunt...

After a very hot and humid summer (quite a bit stickier than what we are used to in Canada), the crisp days of fall have arrived. It's that wonderful time of year that requires a cozy sweater in the morning but a t-shirt in the afternoon. The sun is shining and the leaves are beautiful! This is such a great time for us to get out of doors, Andrew loves to run and explore and Charlie is super excited to be able to join us without getting too hot!

I have been trying to engage Andrew in some more educational activities these days... but he is not really one for structured learning (I can barely get him to hold a crayon let alone practise writing his name!). However, if I can sneak some learning into the things he does love he doesn't seem to notice! Lately he has been really into detectives.  He likes to sneak around the house and "spy" on his brother and I. So I decided to run with the whole detective thing and make a fun "Nature Mission" for him to take along on our next walk.

Feel free to grab one for yourself! (drag image to your desktop, open and print)

Linking Up..

Pinterest Power Party

It's Playtime - Kid's Activities Blog

Shine on Friday

Patterning With Preschoolers

It is really hard for me to believe, but my little man will be old enough for school in September! As a December baby he will most likely be among the youngest in his class, and this along with his rambunctious personality has me concerned with his ability to focus in the classroom. We have been working on many of the literacy and numeracy skills that he will need for school, and it has been very important that they remain super engaging in order to maintain his interest. This summer, my goal is to continue learning in fun ways, but to begin including more activities that will improve his ability to complete a task.

Patterning is a great skill to work on with children of all ages. It lends itself easily to crafty activities that kids can get excited about. This morning, Andrew and I created a fun "Snack Necklace" that had him learning about patterns, counting and developing his fine motor skills. As an added bonus, he sat in a chair and focused on the project for almost ten minutes (more than you can expect for a three year old)!

For this patterning activity we used Fruity Cheerios. We started by identifying all of the colours that we had to work with and then Andrew selected three different colours to use in his Snack Necklace. I drew three cheerios in the appropriate colours to use as a planning guide.

Andrew placed one cheerio under each drawing and then we placed those cheerios on a bobby pin attached to a length of yarn. Andrew pulled the cheerios to the end of the piece of yarn and started again.

After repeating these steps a few times, I challenged Andrew to try two rows of his pattern. We practised counting the pieces of cereal as they were added to the necklace. 

Andrew was quite proud of his finished product and is really looking forward to wearing it to the park later today so that he can snack on the go!

Here are some other learning activities that your little ones might enjoy!

Chalkboard Table Games

Letter Sounds

Sidewalk Learning

Linking Up
It's Playtime - Kid's Activities Blog

Stringtown Home - Tips & Tricks
Pinterest Power Party
I Heart Naptime - Sundae Scoop

Earth Day Projects For Kids

Monday April, 22nd is Earth Day! I wanted to share the Earth Day craft that Andrew and I made today, as well as a few other great ideas that I found on the web. I know that as a teacher, I was always searching at the last minute for an Earth Day activity to use with my class, so I hope these ideas help!

Andrew and I made this Earth Day craft by sponge painting a cardboard circle with blue paint. We then used green plasticine to make the continents and some red for a heart! It was a quick and easy activity, and he enjoyed playing with the clay!

Here are some other great Earth Day projects for all ages!

source

source

source

source

My favourite children's story to read on Earth Day has always been The Lorax, by Dr. Seuss. The message is so fitting, and the pictures are fabulous! Here is a great idea for making Seuss inspired garden out of recycled materials. 

source

Happy Earth Day!!