Number Hop

I made numbers using painter's tape on the tile floor. Then I would call out a number and my little one hopped from one to the next. Great way to release energy and practice number recognition. Next time we may even try to do some adding or putting down some letters for letter and sound recognition. Great activity for a chilly inside day!

How Many Gum Balls?

I bought a cookie sheet at the dollar store and wanted to find a way to incorporate it to our preschool Tot tray weekly activities or "juegos" as my little one likes to call them. I once saw a printable on this blog that I thought my little one would enjoy. I decided to draw my own and hot glue some magnets to  pom poms and, voila! We now have a fun activity to practice numbers and counting. The numbers we used are just made from old milk jug lids and I used a sharpie to write the numbers.  

ABC's , 123's Scavenger Hunt

I wrote the alphabet and numbers 1 through 9 on a small dry erase board. We walked around the block and tried looking for all the letters and numbers. Each time my son saw one he erased it off the board. We looked for letters and numbers on street signs, traffic signs, the mailboxes, on cars, on home security signs, etc. It was a fun outdoor activity. 

Fly Swatter Game

Materials: New fly swatter, paper flies (using word), contact paper, tape, or lamination. Dry Erase marker, sticky tack.

1. First I made a word document with 26 flies and printed it out.

2. Then I cut out small squares our of the same paper to put in the center of the fly with glue.

3. I then put a strip of clear tape over the fly and cut them out. You can also used contact paper or lamination to laminate them and to have a surface for writing with a dry erase marker. 

To play: Decide what topic you want to review, such as, letter, lower and upper case, shapes, numbers, letter sounds, sight words, etc. and write them on your flies. Stick them with sticky tack on your wall. You can certainly put magnets on them and put them on your fridge to play. Call out a letter and have your child swat it! 

Juegos de Eric

I have struggled to really find a method that would help my active three year old learn preschool topics. I think he wasn't ready for some of the things I was trying to do with him, and my method wasn't meshing with his hands-on learning style. I really didn't want to force him or make it seem like a chore. I wanted him to start learning and have a good experience from the very beginning.

I month or so ago I found out about Tot trays. I lay out 5 trays every day on the counter with different learning activities about letters, numbers, handwriting practice, cutting, sorting, and other topics. It really has been a success so far. He calls him his "juegos" (games). He gets to choose which activity to do and how long to do it. He loves having a choice and usually does them all in one day. I switch one or two out every day to add variety.

The activities pictured above can be found here:

Number recognition bingo marker

(I made the printable, but got the idea on the website)

Name puzzle popsicle sticks

Name puzzle on cardstock

Foam numbers with beans

Pre-writing practice strips

Letter "C" sensory bin