Today I’m sharing a fabulous resource with “all about me” activities to use at home with your preschooler.
Today I’m privileged to be sharing an amazing activity book perfect for an All About Me unit at home with your preschooler. Preschool teachers will also benefit from the giant set of ideas found in Our Time to Learn: About Me.
5 reasons to love Our Time to Learn
- Big science concepts are written for young children.
- All children can succeed with these age-appropriate, hands-on lessons.
- While designed for preschoolers, younger and older children will also enjoy the activities.
- With 18 lessons and over 70 activities, it’s packed with fun.
- The book is a great value.
Book Lists
If you’ve seen my book lists, you know how much I value children’s literature. I love that Our Time to Learn has a book list to start each lesson. What an incredible resource! You’ll find recommended read alouds for learning about eyes, hair, and teeth; the lungs, heart, and bones; nutrition, health, and safety… and much more!
Crafts & Projects
When we first got the book, my four-year-old found the page with the milk jug skeleton tutorial and asked me every day (multiple times!) when were going to make it. When we’d saved enough jugs, I put together the skeleton, and the kids were crazy about him.
But the crafts in the book aren’t merely for the sake of doing them; they help your child visualize a concept. In the photo above, we breathed through straws into balloons to simulate how our lungs work. (It’s all in the book!) Plus, there are no hard-to-find materials. You can even view the supplies list before buying the book.
Here are just a few of the other crafts you’ll get to do:
- Make a body outline and glue down the organs (pssst… get those organ printables free on the website!)
- Create a family tree using your own photographs.
- Design a pasta person to model a human skeleton.
- Use Q-tips, rubber bands, and straws to demonstrate the parts of the human hand.
- Do straw painting to show the strength of your lungs.
Cooking
My kids love cooking with me, but a lot of the recipes I make aren’t great for little helpers. In Our Time to Learn: About Me, you’ll find a variety of recipes to do with kids.
- Make pretzels when you learn about grains (pictured above).
- Bake some simple (tasty!) cookies when exploring the five senses.
- Make your own butter when learning about dairy foods.
- Make fruit and vegetable salads when studying nutrition.
Other Learning Activities
I’m blown away by how well Our Time to Learn teaches science concepts that are typically saved until elementary school. With simple models, demonstration, and vocabulary, our preschoolers can learn so much!
Some activities we loved:
- Demonstrating how a heart pumps blood using a balloon and water
- Sorting food stickers into the proper food groups
- Doing a blind taste test of meat and dairy products
- Identifying dangerous spots around the house
- Organizing our first aid kit
I love how the book contains activities that I can easily modify for my three boys (toddler, preschooler, and kindergartner). And truth be told, when my daughter (second grade) paged through the books and learned she didn’t have one, there were quite a few tears. (No worries… she talked one of the boys into sharing with her!)
Meaningful Worksheets
I am not a big worksheet person, which is why you’ll find very few of them on my site. But the 27 printables included in the book (which you’re free to copy for your own use) are not your typical worksheet; they are top notch.
On this worksheet, kids color the food and draw lines from the food through the digestive system. What a great opportunity to build vocabulary – esophagus, stomach, small intestine, large intestine…
On this page, your child will match the stickers to the dairy products. Then follow the lines from the milk jug to all the foods that are made from milk. (Did I mention that the book comes with over 100 stickers?)
Your child will love to put germ stickers on the germy spots!
Final thoughts
The truth? Our Time to Learn: About Me was a huge hit at our house – for both the kids and me. It is a truly unique resource, unlike anything I’ve seen. And at $15.99 (and free shipping in the US), you won’t find a better deal.
If you want to use this with more than one child, you could buy more than one book OR photocopy the printables and share the stickers.
If you’re a teacher, the price is worth it just for the lesson ideas. Many of the printables do not require stickers or could be done without them.
The best news of all? Another book is in the works! When “Our World” comes out, you can bet that I’ll be first in line!
Learn more and get your copy here!
*This is a sponsored post on behalf of Our time to Learn. We loved this activity book and absolutely recommend it! All opinions are mine.
You’ll love our All About Me preschool & kindergarten theme!
© 2014 – 2016, Anna G. All rights reserved.
Ah! We already did our body unit this school year. This would have been a perfect addition.
Thank you. THIS is exactly what I was looking for. I know my daughter will have a lot of fun with it. Like your oldest, I am sure my oldest daughter will want a copy too :).
It’s really a wonderful resource, Tina – I think your kids will love it!