Create a New World--100 Days of Play

Today I'm excited to share a simple, fun way for you to play with your children.  The fact that it is good for their fine-motor skills, language development, color recognition, creative skills, and relationship with you is just a lucky side effect!

I'm joining with 99 other bloggers to bring you 100 Days of Play, the brainchild of Rachel at Sun Scholars.  Click here for more details and *100* fun, simple ways to play with your children!

Today's activity is creating a new world with play dough!  Grab a pile of play dough (or make your own!) and start talking to your children!

Tell them it's time to create a new world.  Ask them what kind of people they should make.  Make some!
Ask them what kind of animals they should have.  Make some!
Ask them what kind of shops they should have.  Make some!
Ask them what kind of homes they should have.  Make some!
Ask them what kind of other places they should have.  Make some!

Use any kinds of props you want...paper, pompoms, and toothpicks work wonderfully.
Take pictures of your new world!

How will YOU play with your kids today?

100 Days of Play Blog Hop
Sharing simple ideas on how to connect with your children through play!
New ideas shared each day from 4/1 - 7/9. 

100 Days of Play is brought to you by these wonderful bloggers

SunScholars . Frogs, Snails & Puppy Dog Tails . Playful Learners . Train Up a Child . Fantastic Fun & Learning . Scribble, Doodle & Draw . Learn. Create. Love. . Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas . Nothing if Not Intentional . My Little 3 & Me . Buggy & Buddy . Sun Hats & Wellie Boots . Twodaloo .True Aim . The Educators' Spin On It . Blog Me Mom . Life At The Zoo . Putti's World . Kitchen Counter Chronicles . Triple T Mum . Busy Kids Happy Mom . Crystal's Tiny Treasures . Rainy Day Mum . Momma's Fun World . My Little Bookcase . Craftulate . One Perfect Day . MumCentral .Artchoo! . Little Artists . Simple. Home. Blessings. . JDaniel4's Mom . NurtureStore . Me & Marie Learning . Child Central Station . Mamas Like Me .Making Boys Men . Powerful Mothering . Craft to Art . 3 Dinosaurs . Domestic Goddesque . Lessons Learnt Journal . Royal Baloo . Smiling Like Sunshine . Adventures at Home with Mum . B-Inspired Mama . PragmaticMom . Eazy Peazy Mealz . Gluesticks . TheBoy&Me . Learning is Messy . My Nearest & Dearest . Growing Book by Book . How to Run a Home Daycare . Here Come the Girls . Think Magnet . Dandelions Picked . 123 Homeschool 4 Me . Our Ordinary Life . Parenting with Professor Poppins . 2 Little Hooligans . Fun-a-Day! . The Non-Martha Mamma . Angelique Felix . My Very Educated Mother . Creative Playhouse . Go Explore Nature . Zing Zing Tree . Sense of Wonder . Childhood 101 . Crayon Freckles .KZ & Me . Serenity You . This Mumma's Life . Leapfrog & Ladybugs . Blue Bear Wood . Growing Together . KC EDventures . Mommy Lessons 101. Nature & Play . Like Mama Like Daughter . Mums Make Lists . From Wine to Whine . Messy Kids . Babble Dabble Do . Sugar Aunts . Teaching @ Home . Preschool Powol Packets . Clothed in Love . Curiosity Creates . The Magnolia Barn . Strong Start . Toddler Approved. Learn with Play at home

I may share at any of these parties!

Read More

Summer Fun for Preschoolers: Sight Word Stomp

Today I am happy to welcome Selena from Look! We're Learning! with an outdoor reading activity great for short attention spans!

This is the fourth week in the Summer Fun For Preschoolers series! Each Friday for the rest of the summer I will share a guest post with wonderful ideas of ways to intentionally spend time with your young children!  Click here for a list of all the weeks, and check out the contributors in the left hand sidebar!

We all want our preschoolers to learn phonics and sight words, but keeping them interested in the process can be tricky. Here’s a simple way to help little ones get excited about reading simple words!

We started by writing simple CVC words on our driveway. This is a great place to get any older kids involved, by the way.

We were careful to use words in which every letter makes a sound so that the boys wouldn’t get stuck on silent vowels or blends. Then we wrote the same words on small index card pieces.

At first, we started by letting the boys pick up the card, look at the letters, and then run to the matching word. That turned out to be too easy for them.

So, we switched to reading the word from the card aloud and then asking them to run to the word that matches those sounds. When they found the right word, they stomped on it!

Our smallest student kept an eye on everyone for us.

All in all, it only took us about 10 minutes from start to finish to set this up and the whole family loved it! As the boys get older, we may try it again with more complex words that involve digraphs. We might even get our oldest involved using prefixes and suffixes. Hope you and your family get a chance to stomp on some sight words this summer!

Selena is a former tax accountant-turned-homeschooling mom of four. She and her husband Jay have committed themselves to homeschooling their children in an effort to give them the very best education possible and to strengthen their bond as a family. Selena is a homeschooling graduate herself who was able to go on to college and begin a career in finance, so she knows from experience that homeschooling works! Rather than committing themselves to a single teaching style, the family practices eclectic homeschooling and both Selena and Jay weave in aspects from all of the major homeschooling methods to create a well-rounded, relaxed learning style for their children. Selena shares her family's homeschooling adventures every weekday at Look! We're Learning! Readers can keep up with the family by subscribing via email or by following Look! We're Learning! on Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, or Google+.

 Loading InLinkz ...

I may share at any of these parties!

Read More

Writing Word Families on Mirrors Guest Post

Today I'm guest posting at the amazing This Reading Mama with a fun technique for practicing writing word families...with mirrors!  Check it out here!  While you're there, be sure to look at her {FREE} reading curriculum for preschoolers!

I may share at any of these parties!

Read More

Alphabet Activities from Teach Me Tuesday (6-25-13)

Good evening!  Welcome back to Teach Me Tuesday!  As you can tell, I'm changing the format: this week the features are all alphabet activities that you can do with your preschoolers.  I'm so excited to share this great group of printables and learning activities with you!  Be sure to check them out below!

#1: Jump In To Learning Beach Theme from 3 Dinosaurs
#2: Letter Formation Practice from Teaching Little Ones at Home
#3: Caterpillar Early Learning Pack from Life With Moore Babies
#4: Alphabet Learning Through Play from Little Bins for Little Hands
#5: How to Make a Montessori Alphabet Box from Wildflower Ramblings
#6: Lowercase Letter Recognition from Wildflower Ramblings

Also make sure you saw the most clicked on link from last week:

Most Clicked on Link:

Learning About Bugs at Trillium Montessori

If you missed any these ladies' posts, be sure to check them out!  And if you are featured, feel free to grab a featured button from the sidebar!

And now, for this week's party!

<div align="center"><a href="http://PreschoolPowolPackets.blogspot.com" title="Preschool Powol Packets" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1082.photobucket.com/albums/j368/cmg38/TeachMeTuesdayButton.jpg" alt="Preschool Powol Packets" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

I may share at any of these parties!

Read More

Stuck Truck Drama Play--Poppins Book Nook

Transportation is a theme that everyone loves here, so I am very excited to share our current favorite truck book and activity with you!

My Truck is Stuck by Kevin Lewis is a delightful story about a truck driver delivery a "great big load" who happens to get stuck in a hole.  The story incorporates different kids of trucks, counting to five, rhymes, and engaging pictures.  In fact, the pictures tell a whole additional story (about some very naughty critters) who take advantage of the stuck truck. 

My kids love this book--we read it very frequently!  So, for our Poppins Book Nook activity we used some dramatic play to act out the entire story.  The cars and trucks are the most important characters to my boys, and they had a wonderful time gathering the vehicles that would be in "our" story.  Everyone's favorite part was hooking the dump truck up to the tow truck--we had to repeat it several times so each child could have a turn!  Then we had to repeat it with three different tow trucks too!

Do you want to dramatize a story too?  It's wonderful for developing comprehension and other pre-reading skills.  Here's a few pointers:

• Make sure all he pieces are available--young preschoolers will lose attention if they need to wait or hunt for pieces.
• Mix a few non-essential toys in to the important ones so your children can choose what pieces they want to use.
• As you and your children enact a story, have everyone say repetitive or rhyming phrases from the book.
• Ask your child what happens next.  Pictures in the book are great hints!
• Try enacting it more than once and make up a new ending!
• Have fun!

Here are some other transportation books we love:




This post is part of the monthly Poppins Book Nook virtual book club!  Make sure you catch all the other transportation themed ideas from these other amazing bloggers:

(125 x 125)

Enchanted Homeschooling Mom - Royal Baloo - 3 Dinosaurs - Monsters Ed - Chestnut Grove Academy - Growing in God's Grace - Royal Little Lambs - Life with Moore Babies - Teach Beside Me - The Usual Mayhem - Mum Central - Fantastic Fun and Learning - Kathys Cluttered Mind - Play Create Explore - Toddler Approved - Growing Book by Book - Adventures in Mommydom - B-Inspired Mama - The Fairy and The Frog - Edventures with Kids - Learning & Growing the Piwi way - A Gluten Free Journey - Mom to Crazy Monkeys - No Doubt Learning - Preschool Powol Packets - To The Moon and Back - Our Craft ~N~ Things - Farm Fresh Adventures - Proverbial Homemaker

And if you have any dinosaur posts you would like to share, please link up here:





I may share at any of these parties!

Read More

{FREE} Beach-themed Number Puzzle Set Guest Post

Make sure you stop by B-Inspired Mama, where I contribute {FREE} printables, and grab your {FREE} number puzzle set!  You can download a 1-10 puzzle or an 11-20 puzzle...what numbers are your children working on?




I may share at any of these parties!

Read More

Summer Fun for Preschoolers: Chalk Color Wheel

Today I am happy to welcome Cassie from 3 Dinosaurs with an outdoor art project that doubles as a science experiment!

This is the third week in the Summer Fun For Preschoolers series! Each Friday for the rest of the summer I will share a guest post with wonderful ideas of ways to intentionally spend time with your young children!  Click here for a list of all the weeks, and check out the contributors in the left hand sidebar!

Chalk is one of our favorite summer activities. The girls will ask to do it a lot. I always try to do some learning when we do chalk. It does not always happen but when I can make it happen it goes great! It is also one of the easy activities you can do almost anywhere! Here is one of our fun Chalk activities.

What you need: white, blue, yellow & red chalk.

Draw 6 circles on the ground. (My first try at this I had one to many circles. The girls kept counting different numbers as I was drawing them.) 

Place the chalk where the starting colors should be. They rub the chalk all over the circles.

When they finished it looked like this. The chalk circles are very powdery.

They each picked a new circle and put hand prints from their starting color in the new circle.

After they filled up their new circle with hand prints they went to the circle on the left of their starting circle and put their hand prints there.

After they had mixed it really good we saw the new colors we had created.

When we were all done the color wheel was turned into a flower.

If you are looking for more fun Chalk activities check out:

Rainbow Chalk Hand Print

Multiple Level Learning Hopscotch

Fall Chalk Art

Cassie - 3 Dinosaurs.com

Cassie is a mom of three stomping, romping, and roaring girls. She blogs about fun art and craft activities and printables she makes. She includes the odd review of products every now and then. She also blogs about the places that she has taken the girls called trip reviews. She has a few free printable pack for kids ages 2 to 8 and is always adding more. She loves to get comments and feedback and is always looking for new things to try or do with her girls. 

 Loading InLinkz ...

I may share at any of these parties!

Read More

Milk Fireworks Science Experiment

Milk Fireworks are perfect for some 4th of July fun or just a fabulous science experiment! This science project is an excellent activity for younger kids because of the colors and the ease of experimentation.

Simple Supplies:

• milk (whole milk works best, though these pictures were taken with 2%)
• bowls
• food coloring or liquid watercolors
• liquid dish soap
• q-tips or toothpicks

Easy How-to:

1- Pour enough milk in the bowl to completely cover the bottom.

2- Put a few drops of color near the middle of the milk.  The top picture used liquid watercolors and the bottom picture used food coloring.

3- Dip the q-tip or toothpick in the dish soap and poke it in the middle of the colors.  Repeat as much as you want!

4- It's an experiment, so let your child mix things up and see what happens.  Do you have different types of milk?  Different types of color?  Does a toothpick work better than a q-tip?  Does the amount of milk matter?  Remember to encourage your children to predict what will happen, make a hypothesis, and then test it!

What's going on with this "magic milk"?

If your children are old enough to discuss some of the scientific principles at work in this experiment, here are   a few highlights:

• Food coloring (and liquid watercolors) will mix with water, but not fat.
• Dish soap breaks the surface tension of milk, allowing the color molecules to flow more freely.
• Dish soap will bind to the fat in the milk and create soap-fat molecules that shove the color molecules around the bowl in spectacular designs (aka fireworks!)
• Sticking the q-tip into the bowl also contributes to the currents of color and milk.

For more science project fun, check out my collection of over 150 preschool science experiments!  They're great for older kid science too!!

Happy Educating, Carla

I may share at any of these parties!

Read More