Preschool: What were your favorite things?

[AndyJoy]

Anyone care to help me brainstorm?

 

A friend and I are making plans for doing our own cooperate home preschool this fall with our boys who will be 3 and 3 1/2 when we start.

 

I'm not looking for true curriculum suggestions so much as just your favorite activities, outings, books, etc. from when your children were that age.

 

What things do your children remember fondly from that age? What experiences really excited them or sparked a love of learning?

 

Do you have any specific learning games, songs, books, etc. that you loved and would like to share?

 

What did you cook, grow, paint, visit, play, build, do etc. that was memorable?

 

From an organizational standpoint, have you done something similar? Can you share your schedule or plan and anything that succeeded or you would do differently?

 

Thanks!

[AndyJoy]

No one?:confused:

 

I think I'll crosspost on the General Board.

[Guest Ashlee0703]

subbing... we have a similar situation

[ALB]

We did Before Five in a Row for that age along with lapbooks from homeschoolshare.com. I also teach letters and their sounds at 3 yrs. old, and try to make it completely hands on and fun. We spent a week on each letter doing something like this:

Day 1: introduce letter, read poem or rhyme that begins with letter, read book

Day 2: make a craft on an outline of the letter, practice poem, read book

Day 3: "build" on the letter with blocks or other 3D object, practice poem, read book

Day 4: finger paint or dot paint on the letter shape, practice poem, read book

Day 5: do coloring page for letter, sort lowercase/ capitals of the letter, practice poem, read book and review letters from previous weeks

[ssavings]

We had zoo, aquarium, and children's museum passes. We enjoyed all of them, very much.

 

We visited lots of parks, botanical gardens, and the beach.

 

The kids grew a container garden (they picked their own flowers), did lots of crafts (they have unlimited access to craft supplies), played games, took walks, etc.

[Aspasia]

I tried organizing a little preschool "book club" where all the moms took turns hosting. The host mom would choose the book and then when we got together, we would read the book (which the kids had been reading all week) and do some activities and then play. So it was kinda, loosely, like FIAR. I had a ton of interest and a lot of moms joined. But after a couple months people started dropping out. Most of them had older children and this was just "one more thing". Since it was just preschool, it sort of didn't get priority.

 

After that, I joined another group of moms who were doing something like what you're talking about and that fizzled. Meh. I ended up doing my own, very informal thing (if I can even call it a "thing").

 

It sounds like you and your friend have the energy and commitment to do this. If I were you, I would do the classic letter-a-week thing, combined with lots of fun field trips. I saw this fun book at the Scholastic sale (only $1!): http://teacherexpress.scholastic.com/the-big-book-of-alphabet-activities.

 

Another option is to go at it from a literature-based angle and save the letters for your second year of preschool. You could use something like Peak with Books or Story Stretchers.

[5 Hikers]

I loved the Williamson Little Hand and Kids Can! series. They have Art, Science, Math, Reading and more.

 

We read a lot. There are lots of free Letter of the Week curriculums.

 

I did a lot of Montessori learning games. http://whatdidwedoallday.blogspot.com/ Here is an awesome blog

[Chris in VA]

You might like the book La Leche sells--Preschool At Home. It's a great resource for setting up a home co-op, and has sections for things like crafts, art, field trips, number/letter lessons, science, etc. As a preschool teacher, I found it helpful even in the classroom.

 

I really like having a shelf for "works," in the Monti vein. I think teaching kids to pull out a towel or a rug, then go get a work, work it, put it back, and roll up the towel, is super-helpful. I made a bunch of things like you will find on pinterest for busy bags. You can do things like matching sets, sorting, sequencing, etc. Keep your materials in cool little baskets and make sure they are attractive.

 

As for the day, here's what I'd do:

Start with a circle time where you do a beginning song, then have a helper count all the kids or if it's a super small group, count objects in a special container (the "Counting Box" or something--fill it with different things every meeting--shells, pinecones, erasers, plastic animals, pennies--you can relate it to a theme if you want to go in that direction).

Continue with the date/calendar, say the days of the week (or sing them) and graph something--How do your shoes fasten? Favorite color? What did you eat for breakfast? Do you like beach? (Yes/no graphs are great) Do you have a dog? What kind of pet do you have?

Then introduce a work for the work shelf. Try to intro one twice in the day if you can until you build up a number of them.

 

Then do a center time where they can choose. Have the work shelf (this is mostly math/early lit stuff), a dress-up/dramatic play area, blocks, free art (you can set up easel painting every day), playdough, a cutting box (get a big box they can sit in and just cut paper--junk mail, strips of construction paper, etc. All scraps stay in the box, as do scissors--get a box only 2 can sit in), a manipulative area with things like magnet blocks/duplos/etc. and a sensory bin. You can vary the depth of the activities--sometimes one center will have lots of things in it.

 

To blocks you can add--cars, people figures, burlap/fabric, plastic animals, dollhouse furniture (fun to make houses for them), and later, a basket with strips of paper and a marker on which they can write the name of what they created--first they will just do a linear scribble, then you'll see stages of writing progress. Also put a couple of blocks to which you've glued a clothespin so they can attach their signs. Take a photo of block creations from time to time and make it into a block book for them to read. Put some construction books and houses/homes books in the block area, too, for inspiration! Even a famous landmarks book is good.

 

For art you can:

Collage--start with a single color and glue to a circle.

Paint/print--call them over one at a time to keep the mess down. You can easel paint, finger paint, paint on a shape, roll cars in paint, print with kitchen objects or veggies or stamps, paint on an old record and take a print of it to make a cool planet when you do a space theme, etc.

clay

playdough--make this a separate area. You can add plastic knives, scissors for cutting snakes, things to make an impression in the playdough, or just playdough--make balls, snakes, pinch pots, etc. Have a little hand sanitizer ready for before playdough play.

 

For sensory bin--

Oh my, there's a ton you can do. Look it up.

 

For dramatic play, there's--

housekeeping/kitchen (put in mixing bowls, spoons, table setting, dolls, recipe book, aprons, chef hat, etc)

costume shop for Halloween, if you do that (old costumes, scarves, hats, a cash register, a large mirror, green paper money they make with a 1 on each)

grocery store (line up two bookshelves or a table with a bin for plastic/play food, and collect boxes of things they may eat at home--good for environmental print awareness--add the cash register and the play money and a grocery cart if you can)

bear cave/rainforest/camping area/ castle/ etc

 

You can do an art project one on one during your center time--it's just easier than having 5 kids painting at the same time. Just position yourself so you can look up and see what the others are doing.

 

After you've done a center time, clean up and gather for a snack. If you make a snack instead of an art project it's lots of fun! Have a small pitcher and teach them to pour their own water (or juice or milk if you are going in that direction). Everyone cleans up. A helper can set the table for you. It's great one to one correspondence work. Eat a snack with them, so you can model manners.

 

After snack, call them over to a cozy spot (same as circle spot) and read a short story. If they can't sit on the floor, try those very low lawn chairs. You can introduce a new work if you have a second work/center time, but keeping preschool to 2 hours or 2.5 hours at home is also plenty.

 

Then go outside! If you can't, do a movement cd, or play with balloon or nerf balls, or dance with streamers, or run an obstacle course to practice prepositions (which are the last words to enter language)--step over the box, crawl under the table, jump over the cushion, crawl thru the play tunnel, throw the bean bag into the box, then jump/hop/march/whatever to the line and let the next person go!

 

End with a sharing basket--get a pretty basket that you can send home every time with someone and ask them to bring back something related to your theme. Attach a sentence strip or card or some sort of tag to the handle, with what they are supposed to bring back. Have everyone sit, and then the person comes beside you and you ask them little questions about what they brought.

 

End with a goodbye song, and off they go!

 

THere. How's that?

 

Give me any theme, and I can tell you books, art, blocks, dramatic play and other ideas for it. I love planning preschool!

 

OOPS--reread and found you only have 2 kiddos! Well, I'd consider inviting a couple more, to get the energy up. :-)

Edited May 22, 2012 by Chris in VA
oops....

[Mrs. Lilac]

Check out Five in A Row.

 

Definitely check out the preschool stuff from http://www.confessionsofahomeschooler.com. She's got 2 different downloadable curriculums for preK that are so cute, and affordable.

[birchbark]

I like Waldorfy things for this age. Check out Wee Folk Art's free program for book and activity ideas. I have also enjoyed Christopherus' guide for K/pre-K.

[rcgenesis1]

We went to a nature center program when my son was 3. It met every week for 2 - 4 yr olds for 1 1/2 hours. It was very hands on and my son loved it.

 

I read to him every day for a couple of hours using the Before FIAR and FIAR books. I would just come up with last minute art ideas to tie in with the books. The guides were hard for me to incorporate because my son was very ACTIVE at that age and it was hard from me to prepare ahead by reading the guides beforehand. So I would just think of something after reading it.

 

Bible stories.

 

We did a lot of play dates with other homeschool families because my son was and is always asking to play with friends everyday.

 

I lot of nature studies.

[LoveBaby]

I like Waldorfy things for this age. Check out Wee Folk Art's free program for book and activity ideas. I have also enjoyed Christopherus' guide for K/pre-K.

 

:iagree:

 

Wee Folk Art guides are really great!

[JenniferLynn]

My kids are this age. I coop in their preschool (2 mornings a week) and we do a lot at home. In addition to the other posters' suggestions, they enjoy musical instruments (like the Melissa & Doug or Lakeshore Learning sets), shrinky sinks, making bowls and things out of clay then painting them, any kind of cooking, collecting and learning about bugs. They like making hats and jewelry - stringing beads and noodles. To practice cutting I will draw shapes that they will identify, then cut out. A friend just told me about doing different paper mache crafts, especially covering balloons to make them look like Easter Eggs.

[Alice]

A friend of mine and I did the same thing when our kids were about that age. It worked really really well for the first year when we had two kids. It worked much less well when we invited others, although I think that was more from an organizational standpoint.

 

We alternated teaching and did it once a week for a morning. I'd say we kept it to about 2 hours at the very most of activities. Often it was more like 60-90 minutes. And we switched activities a lot (mix of music, moving, coloring, outside time, etc). Usually they also had playtime afterward. The first year we chose topics, usually somewhat seasonally. We usually had a song, a book or two and a craft and or activity. Here's three of the weeks. We also had a color of the week as her daughter was having trouble learning colors. We had them each wear that color that week.

 

9/27- Apples Theme


Color: Red

 

Books: Johnny Appleseed: A Tall Tale Retold by Steven Kellogg

The Apple Pie Tree by Zoe Hall

 

Song: Appleseed Blessing

 

Activities: Made an Apple Pie

Apple Tasting/Sorting (Counting, Biggest/Smallest, Colors, etc)

Apple Stamps/Painting

 

 

10/4- Squirrels and Nuts Theme

 

Color: Brown

 

Books: Nonfiction book on squirrels

Squirrel Nutkin by Beatrix Potter

 

Song ; Brown Squirrel, Brown Squirrel

 

Activities: Made spice cookies

Looked/smelled spices (nutmeg, cinnamon, allspice, ginger)

Made “brown” collage

Acorn counting activity

 

10/11- Leaves Theme

 

Color: Yellow

Books: Be Good to A Tree (?)


Song: “Leaves of Gold are Falling Down” ( by T to tune of London Bridge)

 

Activities: Leaf identification/matching

Nature walk/Leaf hunting

Leaf crayon rubbings

Tree collage with cut out paper leaves

 

The second year we did it by month and did topics we knew they liked. So we did dinosaurs for a month or ocean or flowers/plants, whatever.

Edited May 22, 2012 by Alice

[AndyJoy]

Thanks for all the responses! I'm glad I checked again and can't wait to finish reading through all of them.

[MinivanMom]

We loved going to the art museum, zoo, children's museum, museum of natural history, botanical gardens, library, and even the grocery store and post office.

 

At home we mostly did real things like reading books, playing, baking, etc. My kids' best memories are of growing sunflowers in our backyard, making homemade butter (for homemade bread), building giant forts on rainy days, and putting on puppet shows.

 

For us it was important that it all be real. Too much planning and you lose the spontaneity of the preschool years. I wasn't recreating preschool in my home. We were living life. Make your school more like your home; don't make your home like a school.

[Aurelia]

Art and music were hits around here, also trips to the zoo, park, anywhere, really. Raising butterflies has always been a hit, though we haven't done it the past couple of years.