Are you looking for a rhyming game to help your child brush up on this pre-reading skill? Try our free matching activity! Have you seen my popular rhyming clip cards? I've taken some of those rhymes and put them into a simple matching game. I hope you get a chance to try it! Free rhyming game The download includes 24 rhyming pairs, but I kept it simple when I introduced the game to my preschooler. We ... Read More
Phonics books for various vowel teams
It's time for another set of free phonics readers! You'll love this set of eight books that teaches ten phonics patterns: oi, oy, aw words, and more! (This post contains affiliate links.) Are you looking for free printable books to help your beginning reader? These are perfect for homeschooling, classroom use, and for parents who want to give extra reading practice at home. Let me tell you more about my printable ... Read More
Syllable clip cards
Today I'm sharing a free syllable count activity for your preschooler. Syllable. How would you definite it? Just yesterday I was having this conversation with my Seven. As she said, "Well, I know what syllables are. They're so easy! But I don't know how to say what the word syllable means. That's kind of hard." She's right, I think! Here's one definition: Syllable. "a unit of ... Read More
Phonics books with ending blends
Today I'm sharing another installment in my collection of free phonics books. You'll find books for ind, end, ent, est, itch, ink, ing and old words. (This post contains affiliate links.) This is set 13 of my free phonics books... out of 24 total, so stay tuned! Here's what you need to know about my phonics books: To keep interest high, the books are bright and colorful. I use funny clip art whenever I can. To ... Read More
Rhyming clip cards
If you're looking for a way to teach your child to recognize rhyming words, try these free printable clip cards! Free clip cards for teaching rhyming words I created a set of 48 picture cards to use with my toddler and preschooler. I started with my Two (he'll be turning three next month). He has just started showing interest in doing more "sitting" activities with me, and he was excited to try this ... Read More
Phonics books – and, ash, amp, ang, atch & ank words
We're moving right along with our free phonics books! The last set focused on short u words with longer endings. Today I'm sharing a set of books for short a words. We'll focus on these phonics patterns: and, ash, amp, ang, atch, and ank words. Let's take a peek at one of the books. The first page of each book starts like this. (By the way, I consider the a's sound in ank to be a long vowel sound, but it's often ... Read More
Sensory play ideas from A to Z
We've got 26 fun sensory play ideas! So... do you do a lot of sensory play at your house? You know, where you let your kids get messy? On purpose? If you're like me, you're already cleaning up a lot of messes all day long. This may not be something you want to add to your list. But sensory play is good for kids on so many levels. And you don't have to pull it out every day. Once a week is a great goal... for ... Read More
Phonics books for ush, unch, ump, etc.
Yay! It's time for another set of new phonics books! (This post contains affiliate links.) I've been working like a crazy woman to get all my phonics readers done by the middle of January! Ready for a new set? Today we're taking a break from the long vowel patterns to work on some short vowel word families. But these are more challenging than the short u books I shared in set 5. These add a few more letters after ... Read More
Short vowel worksheets
Today I'm sharing a set of free short vowel worksheets to help your child spell simple words. I created a simple set of worksheets for some beginning spelling practice. Short vowel worksheets We started with a short a page, because short a is often the easiest short vowel for kids to hear. After seeing the picture of a bag, he knew that a b was first. I asked him what was next, and he said a "g." This was an ... Read More
10 of the best books for 5-year-olds
If you're shopping for a birthday or Christmas, browse through our list of the best books for 5-year-olds. (This post contains affiliate links.) Today I'm sharing books that my children have adored listening to as five-year-olds. Each of these picture books would make a great birthday or Christmas gift! More of our favorite books! ... Read More