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:

Materials Needed for First Day of Preschool

• Daily Calendar
• Alphabet Poster and Cards
• Small Chalk Board and chalk
• Kids Bible (if reading)
• Read Aloud Book
• Cardstock
• Glue
• Wooden Beads/Cheerios (I got my beads at Hobby Lobby)
• Shoelace
• Small Bucket/Basket
• Bowls and Spatulas

Please note: some of the links below are affiliate links. It doesn’t raise the price for you. It helps The Mama Workshop continue to provide fun activities for your kids.

Circle Time

• Sing a Good Morning Song (I made one up. But, I totally want to learn this fun Good Morning Song)
• Days of the Week Song (we learned this one pretty fast and sang it without using the video)
• Daily Calendar (We use this one from Melissa and Doug that reviews the Month, Day, Year, Day of the Week, Season, Temperature, Forecast, Activities, Emotions)
• Name Review (Hello, everyone! My name is ______. What is your name?)
• Birthday Review (My birthday is ______. When is your birthday? If he couldn’t remember, I told him the month, day and year and had him repeat after me a few times).

Read a Bible Story

We read one bible story out of his bible. I asked him what happened in the story to see if he can retell the main points to me. We use Jesus Calling Bible Story Book by Sarah Young.

Breakfast Time

I had my son pour his own bowl of cereal. I showed him how to hold the box with two hands (so he could hold it with more stability). He poured cereal to the brim! We had to pour some back into the box. But, with practice, he will learn this life skill. I poured the milk for him. I wasn’t ready for that yet.

Alphabet

Letter Review and Introduce the Letter K. We happened to be working on the alphabet over the summer. So, we are on the letter K. Start at A or letters that make a single sound (like M and T).

For the review:  I got out an alphabet poster that we bought at Target’s Dollar Spot and pointed to the letters out of order. I asked him, “What’s this letter?” This helped me know which letters we need to work on more. We also sang the ABC song after the review.

For the Letter K: I hung up cards we have for the letter K on our activity wall. And drew K on a chalkboard with a little king next to it.

Then, I pointed to each card and the chalkboard and said, “K is for Kite, K is for Key and K is for King!”

You can read more about the resources I use for teaching the Alphabet at: How to Teach the ABCs

Fine Motor Skills

We did a lacing beads activity. I shared it on Instagram. He did this activity for 30 minutes! He really loved it! Sister did the activity too (which it was a little difficult for her to lace beads). You can use Cheerios instead, if you don’t have beads.

The next thing planned was a puzzle. But, my son really wanted to build tracks. I figured building tracks and doing a puzzle were similar enough, so why not?

Music Time

We gathered bowls and spatulas from the kitchen and used them as drums. We sang songs and beat on the drums. It was a hoot of a time. I let this activity go as long as he wanted.

Lunch Time

I laid two slices of whole grain bread on his plate and had him spread the almond butter and jam on the slices. Then, he sandwiched them together.

Read Aloud

We laid out a blanket on the floor and sat on it. I read Tree by Britta Teckentrup (feel free to read whatever story you have at home). But, Tree is pretty awesome for exploring the different seasons.

Then, I asked him what happened in the story to see if he could retell it to me.

Art Time

We went outside and gathered leaves, stick and flowers. Then, I got a piece of blue cardstock and glue. I set it out on a table and had my kiddos make a tree by gluing the sticks and leaves onto the paper.

And that was the end of our first day of preschool! The rest of the day went on as normal. We played, watched a little bit of cartoons, played some more, did chores and had dinner.

I plan to share my days with you all. My hope is that we all learn together. I am in no way an expert at preschool. It’s trial and error. I will always be candid with what works and what doesn’t. And my schedule will adjust along the way. Any suggestion you have, I would love to hear. So, please share.

How was your first day of preschool?

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