The Mama Workshop |

08/23/2017

Our First Day of Preschool at Home

I’m sharing our first day of preschool at home. We used materials we had at home. It required very little prep. Keeping it simple and fun!

We did our first day of preschool at home on Monday! I was so nervous. I had no idea how it was going to go. Was my son going to like it?

He did! Whoo hoo! Mom win!

I decided to call it Mikey’s Preschool. Naming it after him, made it really special. When, I would announce the next activity and say it was for Mikey’s Preschool, he wanted to do the activity even more.

I really wanted to keep it simple (meaning: using things I had around the house, doing familiar activities, incorporating life skills and making it fun). Keeping it simple was less stress on me and didn’t make it feel like a chore for him.

Plus, we are easing our way into a routine for preschool. So, for now, we are doing preschool on Monday’s and Wednesday’s for 3-4 hours.

So, Sunday night I sat down and planned Monday out on a piece of paper using a kindergarten-ready checklist I found on Teaching Mama. This gave me a base to work off of to plan activities and make certain I am prepping my son for kindergarten with the activities we do.

Here is the plan I came up with:

08/19/2017

Apple Picking Activity for Toddlers

Make this Apple Picking Activity for your toddler to practice fine motor skills and number recognition. Such a fun fall activity!

We’ve been picking apples (well paper apples) here at home and counting to 12! It’s been so fun! This really makes me want to drink a cup of hot apple cider or bake an apple crumble.

But, it is way too hot still! Can the cool weather come early this year?!

I made this activity for my daughter (who is 2) to practice her fine motor skills. It morphed into a counting activity for my son (who is 4) to recognize numbers 1-12. It’s apple-picking fun for both kiddos! Yay!

We also read 10 Apples Up on Top. We set aside numbers 11 and 12. As I read the story, my son would find the number I was reading about in the apple pile and then match it up with the number in the tree.

I can’t wait until we actually go out and pick real apples! It will really tie this entire activity together!

08/16/2017

Clock Craft for Preschoolers

Make this Clock Craft for Preschoolers to help your child recognize important activities in his schedule. Play a matching game too! Thank you Jord for sponsoring this post, so The Mama Workshop community has a fun clock craft to do! All opinions are my own.

It’s back to the daily routine! The school drop offs, the errands, the appointments, the pick ups. You know, mom life.

With all the set schedules, a mama has to be on time (and it would be so nice if the kiddos had some sort of understanding of time to help a mama out). So, I made a clock out of things around the house to help introduce time to my son.

He doesn’t have to master it just yet. No way! He’s just a preschooler. But, if he can recognize what time we have breakfast, when we do preschool activities, when it’s snack time and so on. It can really help me out.

So, of course one of the musts for this activity is having a real analog clock in the house. Also, wearing a watch for when you are doing errands will help too. You can show your kiddo the watch, tell him the time and say, “10 a.m. is errand time.”

I know after a few times of this, he will probably ask for a superhero watch. LOL. But, for now, he gets a paper clock.

08/08/2017

Apple Counting Activity – Apple Pie Pretend Play

Make this Apple Counting Activity for your child to pretend to be an apple pie baker and count apples! Learn to count to 12.

I am so excited that fall is right around the corner! Give me all the fall scented candles, drinks and sweet treats!

I tend to get in a baking mood when the weather cools down. I pretty much live in the kitchen during fall and love every minute of it (minus washing the dishes of course).

So, I thought I’d get my kiddos excited about baking with an apple counting activity! And, you know me, I love an activity you can also play with! So, it’s a learn-while-you-play activity! Mom win!

08/06/2017

Dragons Love Tacos Craft – House and Tacos

Make this Dragons Love Tacos Craft for some interactive fun while reading the book. Learn the letter T with the matching game!

We’ve been learning T is for Taco and reading Dragons Love Tacos** by Adam Rubin and Daniel Salmieri. It such taco fun!

Dragons Love Tacos is such a cute book! The little boy walks you through how much dragons love tacos, how to get dragons to your taco party, and why to avoid putting spicy salsa on the taco bar. What will happen if you accidentally set it out?! The suspense!

That part is my son’s favorite part! Especially with my sound effects (lol).

We’ve been reading this book over and over. So, I thought it would be fun to make a craft that goes along with the book (something he can play with while I read the book to him).

I was all over that! So, I researched Pinterest, and the main thing I could find was building a taco. Which is totally fun, but I wanted to make something different. I made a house to look like the one out of the book with little paper tacos he can dump into it with his toy boat; because: to get dragons to your taco party you must have a boat-load of tacos at your house.