Dr. Seuss Inspired Preschool Math Activities

Dr. Seuss books and activities are wonderful any time of the year, but since his birthday is coming up on March 2nd, I want to share some preschool math activities inspired by his books.  I just love mixing math and literature!!

Studies show that "cross-curriculum" teaching, or using two subjects like math and reading within a common theme (like a Dr. Seuss book) tend to improve learning and increase children's abilities to apply new skills!

Each of the pictures below are Amazon affiliate links and will take you to Amazon, where you can learn more about the books.  Purchasing a book after clicking the link never costs you anything more, but we get a very small commission for referring you.  

Following each picture are links to fun math activities that tie directly in to the book.  I hope you enjoy them!!

Yertle the Turtle

Counting With Yertle the Turtle at Inspiration Laboratories

Hop on Pop

Hop on Pop Dr. Seuss Games at Coffee Cups and Crayons

The Foot Book

Dr. Seuss Theme--The Foot Book Activities at Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas

The Foot Book at Putti's World

The Lorax

Roll a Dice Lorax Game at Smashed Peas and Carrots

Cat in the Hat

Dr. Seuss Hat Pattern at H is for Homeschooling

Car in the Hat Math Activities at Coffee Cups and Crayons

Ten Apples up on Top

Ten Apples Up On Top at I Can Teach My Child

6 Activities for 10 Apples Up On Top at School Time Snippets

Counting With 10 Apples Up On Top at Buggy and Buddy

One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish

Dr. Seuss Theme-One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish at Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas

F Fish Day-Preschool Style at From the Hive

One Fish Two Fish Counting Game at Mama Miss

I may share at any of these parties!

Read More

Life Sized Abe Lincoln & Poppins Book Nook & Giveaway!!

Abe Lincoln was the tallest president and a great role model in many ways, so we focused on him for our Presidents-themed Poppins Book Nook!

Abe Lincoln was six feet and four inches tall!  Do you know anyone else that tall?  One other president (Lyndon B. Johnson) was the same height!  Click here to see the heights of all the presidents...you may be surprised by how tall most of them were!

I love to talk about Abe Lincoln with my kiddos for many reasons.  Here are a few:

• Abe Lincoln was born in one room log cabin in 1809.  He did not have electricity, a car, or the internet!
• He loved to learn!  He gave himself an education by studying books any many subjects.  He learned so much on his own that he was even able to become a lawyer!
• He and his family had very high morals.
• He worked hard.  Even though he did not love farmwork, he did all the "chores" he was expected to do as a young man growing up in a rural community. 
• "Honest Abe" stories are fun and great conversation starters.  

We made a life-size Abe Lincoln to visit "school" today!  I modeled it on Doodle Bug's Abe Lincoln, but made it from sheets of paper attached with tape.  This way, it can easily fold down and rest in a drawer.  The kids loved touching his hat and hand!  

You can easily make one too!  To make him life-size, you need 17 sheets of computer paper.  Here are the easy steps:

1.  Using a large table or floor, attach the papers according to this diagram:

2.  Lincoln was six feet and four inches.  To make him life-size, you will need to draw him taking up 6.6 sheets of computer paper.  Use the diagram below to make it just right!  :)  I drew Abe using a pencil first, and then I traced over him with a black permanent marker.  Then the kids and I colored him in!  

3.  Tape him to your wall!  We had a Lincoln interview where the kids asked him questions and I "helped" him answer...I have to say, I have a pretty awesome Lincoln voice.  :)

You can also read (or let your kiddos read) this awesome book all about Abe Lincoln.  I love it because my daughter can read it and it has fun pictures with a child-friendly format.  Note: The picture is an Amazon affiliate link.  You can click on it and learn more about the book at Amazon.

This post is part of the Poppins Book Nook, a monthly themed book children's book club!  

Be sure to visit these blogs for more Presidents Reading Fun:  Enchanted Homeschooling Mom – 3 Dinosaurs – Monsters Ed – Chestnut Grove Academy– Growing in God’s Grace – Life with Moore Babies – Teach Beside Me – The Usual Mayhem – Kathys Cluttered Mind – Adventures in Mommydom – Edventures with Kids –Learning & Growing the Piwi way – A Gluten Free Journey – Preschool Powol Packets –To The Moon and Back – Our Craft ~N~ Things – Fresh Farm Adventures – Are We There Yet? – Afterschool for Smarty Pants – Hopkins Homeschool

If you have a Presidents themed book-related post, feel free to link it up below.  And if not, be sure to visit the links for more great ideas!

An InLinkz Link-up

And, of course, a book giveaway!!

So You Want to Be President? is the book that you can win this month!  Keep reading to enter!!

Poppins Book Nook Giveaway! Every month the Poppins Book Nook group will be offering readers a chance to win a brand new storybook that ties in with our theme for the month. This month one lucky entrant will win a copy of So You Want to Be President?    The winner must reside within the United States. This giveaway is brought to you by the company Enchanted Homeschooling Mom, who is owner and founder of the Poppins Book Nook. By entering this giveaway you are also acknowledging that you have read and agree to all of the Rafflecopter terms & conditions as well as Enchanted Homeschooling Mom's disclosures found here {http://enchantedhomeschoolingmom.org/disclosures/}.  Just enter the Rafflecopter below to win:

a Rafflecopter giveaway




I may share at any of these parties!

Read More

Preschool Math With Valentine Candy

We gathered up all our Valentine Candy yesterday and had a great time doing simple preschool math with it!  

I feel like we somehow collected even more candy this year for Valentines than we did at Halloween time!  Putting it to good use (as math preschool manipulatives!) made me feel a little bit better about all the sugar in our house!

You could use candy for these activities at any time of the year, but there are only a few times when we have so much at our fingertips!

Here are the preschool math projects we did:


#1.  Graphing.  I drew a graph on a sheet of computer paper, let each child grab a handful of kisses, and then graph which colors they managed to pull out of the bowl.  This was inspired by Fantastic Fun and Learning's graphing activity!

#2:  Patterns.  I put all the kisses in the middle of our kiddos and let each child create a pattern on the back of their graphing page.  The kids made ABAB patterns, AABB patterns, and I made ABB patterns and let them take turns filling in the next color.

#3:  Adding/Subtracting.  I gave the kids a verbal math equation and let them model it with candy and give me the answer.  Then I let them give me math problems!

#4:  Shapes.  The children chose a shape to create with candy!

#5:  Designs!  This is where the preschoolers arranged the candy in whatever cool designs they wanted!

And, of course, I let them all choose a piece of candy to eat when we were done!

What do you do with candy after holidays like Valentines?

I may share at any of these parties!

Read More

Planting Peas & {FREE} Printable!!

Peas are a wonderful plant to grow with young children because they grow measurably every single day!  Preschoolers just love to see their own little plant getting taller!

We planted out peas on our "Letter P" day, but you could also plant them just for fun, to celebrate Spring, to go with gardening, seed, or plant units!

Planting peas is easy!  

You will need these supplies:

• potting soil 
• pea seeds (we used snap peas)
• paper cups
• optional:  {FREE} cute labels

Here's the Easy How-to:

1- Scoop soil into the cup.

2-  Place the seeds about an inch under the soil.  This distance is not too important...it can be anywhere from just under the soil to two inches deep.

You can print out the {FREE} cute labels here:

3.  Place your cups in a sunny window and water daily!  My kids had a tendency to over-water, so I poked holes in the bottoms of the cups to let the extra water drain out.  In one week, our little pea plants looked like this:

We waited another week before we planted them outside.  One of the awesome things about pea plants is that they can tolerate cool weather (and even a little snow!).  They also like to grow along a string or trellis, and children love to watch them climb!  Click here to see a picture of them growing outside and to get a fun character object lesson you can use with your pea plants (scroll to the end of the post)!  

Peas are on of my Top 5 Plants to Grow With Preschoolers!  Click here to see the other four!

Do you plant a garden with your children?

Amazon Affiliate links:

I may share at any of these parties!

Read More

Happy Valentines Day!! & 15 Ways to Make Today Memorable

We'll be spending today celebrating Valentines Day, but I wanted to take a moment first and thank you for being here!  I love sharing our preschool adventures with you and I truly hope you have found some inspiration while you've been here!  

Still looking for plans?  Here are 15 super easy ways to make today memorable:

1. Use a heart cookie cutter to make heart-shaped sandwiches.
2. Cut a bunch of hearts out of paper and tape them up all over your kids room.
3. Put red food coloring in your milk at lunch.
4. Find a "Valentines River" and throw rocks in it.  No really!  Take your kids to a river or lake or canal and throw rocks in it!
5. Go to a park ("Because I love you!").
6. Decorate sugar cookies.
7. Dip oatmeal cookies in chocolate.
8. Put valentines for your kids in the real mailbox outside.  Let them check the mail.
9. Roast marshmallows over your stove as a valentine treat.
10. Draw hearts all over a t-shirt with your child.   Or a pair of socks.
11. Make fancy Valentine boxes.
12. Draw hearts all over your sidewalk with sidewalk chalk.  Then jump in them.
13. Use a window marker to draw hearts on your windows.
14. Do some of the fizzing science experiments in the "Popular Posts" sidebar to the right!
15. Hang a giant heart on the wall and shoot rubber bands at it.

I love celebrating Valentines with my kids because it is an excuse to remind them how much I love them.  Letting children know they are loved is one of the most important things you can do for their healthy development.  Feel free to use any of these ideas any time of the year to celebrate the short time you have with your beautiful children.  They grow so quickly, and you never know just what activities they will remember. 

I may share at any of these parties!

Read More

Fizzing Shamrocks Science Experiment!!

There are a science projects that are always popular at our house:  things that change color, fizz, explode, and burn!  This fizzing shamrocks science experiment is perfect for some holiday fun and science!

We experimented with these fizzing shamrocks last year, but I didn't have a chance to share it before St. Patrick's Day.  So, this year you get it nice and early!!

Before you get started, make sure you have these supplies:  

* school glue (I used Elmer's)
* paper or cardboard
* baking soda
* vinegar
* green food coloring
* disposable pipettes (I prefer plastic 1 ml pipettes). Spoons also work if pipettes are unavailable.

To prepare your fizzing shamrocks, pour school glue into the shape of shamrocks on several pieces of paper.  Then pour the baking soda on your glue shamrocks.  Tip the paper up to pour the extra baking soda off.  (picture #1)  Save this baking soda for more fizzing fun when your shamrocks are done!  The next part works best while the shamrocks are still wet!

Tell the children that some crazy leprechauns came and turned all your shamrocks white!  I always say things like this with a wink and a smile so the kids know it's just for fun, but they love still love it!  

Let the children help you add a drop of food coloring to the vinegar. (picture #2)  Let them stir the vinegar and food coloring until it is all green.  Then, let them "color" the shamrocks by transferring the green vinegar onto the baking soda/glue shamrocks with pipettes.  (pictures #3)  Enjoy those "Oooh's," "Aahhhs!" and "It's fizzing!!"  When they're done, let them experiment/play with the ingredients some more.  (pictures #4)

This Fizzing Shamrock science experiment is great just for fun, but it can also be used to jump-start many lessons, depending on the age of your children.  Some possible topics include colors, reactions, experiments, acids and bases, solutions, glues, and polymers.  This science project is also excellent fine motor skill practice!

Do you love St. Patrick's Day?  Be sure to check out our Lucky Clover Bubble Painting, {FREE} Printable St. Patrick's Day Preschool Packet, {FREE} Rainbow Breakfast Printable, Lucky Mixed Media St. Patrick's Day Necklace, Making Green Science & Art Project!



I may share at any of these parties!

Read More

Love-ly Valentines Animal Charades & {FREE} Cards

We have had loads of rain today, so we tried something new: Love-ly Valentine-y Animal Charades!!  And, of course, I'm sharing the {FREE} love-ly animal cards with you today!!

Since our kiddos are all pretty young (and have a tendency to over-do competitive games), we just took turns drawing a card and acting it out.  I also let them make sounds.  It helped the 3-year olds a lot!  When someone in the group guessed the animal, it was the next person's turn.  We took turns by going down a line.  If you have older children, though, you could easily divide into teams and keep score as each team takes turns guessing what one person is acting out.

I also let the kids help me choose which animals to put on the cards.  The animal clip art is from the very talented MyCuteGraphics.com.   I included two sets in this file: one with just the pictures and one with the animal's name printed on each heart card.  We printed one set for charades and two sets for Memory (one of my daughter's favorite games!).

You can download this {FREE} Love-ly Valentines Animal Charades Heart Card set by clicking here!

Happy Valentines!!!

Be sure to see our Ladybug Valentines, Pop Up Valentines Day Cards, Mixed Media Valentines Art Project, Love Potions Valentines Science Experiment, FREE Valentine Shadow Matching, FREE Decomposing 10 printable, Dump Truck Valentines, and FREE Heart Cookie Game too!!

I may share at any of these parties!

Read More