Want to know more about preschool and kindergarten math standards? Let me simplify it for you. (This post contains affiliate links.) I don't know about you, but when I hear standards, my head starts to spin. These days, the word "standards" means a lot of different things to a lot of different people. What are standards, anyway? Standards are broad areas of learning. When we're talking about math ... Read More
Word building cards
Are you looking for a fun activity to help kids sound out words? My preschooler loved these! Over the past year, I've been doing a lot of pre-reading activities with my Four (almost five). He's ready to learn to sound out words. I created this activity without an expectation that my son would be ready for it. Imagine my surprise when it was just the thing he needed to get sounding out to "click!" Woo hoo! To ... Read More
Letter B Activities for 2-Year-Olds
Check out our fun collection of letter B activities for 2-year-olds! Each week, I do a set of hands-on activities with my Two to help her learn a new letter. We keep it light and simple, and on the days we do "formal" learning we spend about 15 minutes. Sometimes she plays longer if it's a sensory activity. These ideas are meant to inspire you to do a little learning with your toddler, if he or she is willing and ... Read More
Elkonin boxes
Elkonin boxes are a wonderful tool to help kids build phonemic awareness! Have you heard of Elkonin boxes? These simple tools help kids build phonemic awareness by helping them divide words into their individual phonemes. Some quick vocabulary review: phonological awareness - the ability to hear differences in the ways words sound. If children have phonological awareness, they can identify beginning ... Read More
Sorting mats for short and long vowels
Today I'm shorting a set of free sorting mats! They're perfect for helping kids learn the sounds of short and long vowels. Have you seen our popular consonant sound sorting mats? I use those to review beginning sounds. When I created the set, I didn't include vowels because there are very few words that start with vowels... at least, very few words that can be represented with pictures. But due to popular ... Read More
Letter I Activities for 2-year-olds
Today we're sharing some fun letter I activities for two-year-olds! I'm doing letter of the week with my Two. She asks for more "tivities" all the time. Even though we only spend about 15 minutes a day, she's learning her alphabet week by week. Will you try some of these ideas with your little learner? We began the week with a simple review of the letters we've learned so far. I wrote the letters on paper triangles ... Read More
CVC word missing letter clip cards
Today's freebie is a wonderful way to help kids hear beginning, middle, and ending sounds. Try this missing letter activity! Now that my son knows all his letter sounds (thanks to our letter of the week activities), we're moving on to hearing those sounds in different parts of words. A few weeks ago, we did this activity. He looked at the letter on the top of each card, said the picture's name, and figured out ... Read More
Letter R Activities for 2-year-olds
Check out our collection of fun, age-appropriate letter R activities for 2-year-olds! We spend about 15-20 minutes each school day doing "tivities" to help my Two learn the letters and their sounds. We're starting with the letters of her name and are almost ready to go back to letter B and work through the alphabet in order. To see our progress so far, visit this page. We started with rock activities, since they're ... Read More
One-player multiplication bingo games
Today I'm sharing a set of free multiplication bingo games - perfect for practicing those tricky facts! Our oldest just began fourth grade and is required to practice her multiplication flash cards five times a week. After a week, she already knew her facts. But we're still asked to practice them. I don't know about you, but doing flash cards with a child who already knows her facts - every night - makes me crazy. ... Read More
Shape identification games
Today I'm sharing a set of games that will help your child master shape identification. I'll be honest with you - my Four often asks for activities, but he doesn't always like what I create. In fact, he's kind of a tough audience But this was a game he loved - and he even asked to play it as soon as we'd finished. So I'm confident that you'll find someone who likes it, too! To play, simply print a board game of ... Read More