DIY Learning Activities

We decided to incorporate preschool type activities into our weekly routine this year rather than sending Olive to preschool.  She's loving to learn and is picking up so many new things each day.  We're invested in giving her new opportunities like story time, music makers, Mother Goose programs, time with friends and field trips of our own.  I'm also looking into getting a family pass to our Children's Museum so that we can add some Science into our routine.  She is really learning so much so the teacher in me is thrilled to see her learning and excelling.

I thought I'd share some fun options for DIY preschool learning activities we are doing to give you some ideas of things you could do with your kids, your nieces and nephews or your students.

1. Ben the Rooster Pen Pal

We try to do daily practice with writing.  That means we are coloring, drawing, using a variety of materials and writing for a variety of purposes.  We mail real mail, write real thank you notes, doodle, color together, color independently and have to keep the writing utensils put up otherwise we'd be writing on walls and furniture.

We got our first letter from Ben the Rooster in the mail recently and Olive was so excited to get mail addressed to her.  I got an email from Ben's team announcing what to expect when my letter arrived and I appreciated the heads up.  It was nice to know it was on the way.

I read the card aloud to Olive and assured her Ben was a rooster and not a chicken :)

She learned a new word - pen pal - and was eager to get started writing him back.  She narrated as she was drawing... this is a pumpkin, a witch and they are spooky.  So I helped her when she asked for help on the picture and then wrote down her words for the back.  She made sure to write some of her own words on both sides and was so proud of her letter.  We are excited to drop it of fin the mailbox so that Ben will get mail all the way from Indiana.  (He's living a good life in Atlanta :)

You can get your first month FREE if you use the code LAUNCHPARTY when you sign up. 

You get two postcards a month and you get emails to go along with the postcards to help you with more ideas of things you can do with the cards and also with details so you know what to expect.  This would be a really fun service for family members to buy for your kids, for you to get for your kids on their birthdays, etc.  It's so nice to have something delivered to your house that is already prepped and ready for you to do a learning activity with your child.  Easy peasy :)

Head over to Ben's website to learn more about becoming his pen pal.

 

2. ABC Cookies

My friend Beth recommended these fun letter cookies and I knew we had to have them.  I picked them up a few months ago and they get played with all the time.  Sometimes I'll do the cards and activities with Olive and other times I just let her work with the letters.   The activity cards are great.  They're nice because there are some things Olive can do now and plenty of things she can do as her reading skills improve over time.

3. Lots of reading!  

Books, flash cards, counting books, matching games, read alouds, independent books... you name it and we are reading it. We're naming letters on signs we see when we're out and about, she's always pointing to words asking what they say and is starting to track the text as we read books together.  I read with her regularly and we are just starting to invite little brother to read with us (as long as he doesn't try to eat the book we are reading haha) and then I leave the books out for Olive to read independently after we have read them out loud.  It is sweet to see her retelling the story and pretend reading them.

 What learning activities do you do with your kids at home??