Easy "open and go" pre-k that is just enough to keep the little occupied while the biggers do school

[DesertBlossom]

I'm not at all concerned about academics here. We can save that for kindergarten And I am NOT the "sit down and sing silly songs and do crafts all day" type either. I will be homeschooling my 2nd and 3rd graders next year. And I can see the 4 year old wanting to do school too and he will need something just to keep him busy.  What out there is easy, cheap and doesn't make a mess?  :)

[carriede]

If you like workbooks, we enjoyed Rod and Staff's About Three series. And Kumon workbooks.

[73349]

Kumon. They have cutting paper, folding paper, tracing, mazes, writing letters, writing numbers, telling time... lots of fun.

[Alice]

I keep some workbook kinds of things for schooltime. A lot of them you can just get at Target. Kumon, dot to dot, mazes, seek and find, etc. I also have a basket of art supplies that we bring out then and I've found that my youngest (who is four) especially loves playing with our math manipulatives. While the boys are doing math I'll hand her the cuisinaire roods and she'll build or just play. Or the pattern blocks. Sometimes I'll do something more directed like counting or "making trains" with the rods but mostly she just plays with them and builds. 

[Dramorellis]

My daughter just turned 4 and she enjoys the Kumon books and lots of crafts. What works best is pre-packaged or pre-arranged anyway crafting projects that I load in her boxes (workbox system) so she can sit down with her stuff next to me and do her thing. She went through the R&S for 3's in a day. We spend about 4 hours at the table doing "school" and she wants to sit with us for much of that time. I also do not care about anything academic necessarily but I try to make it hit some different preschool stuff like letter sounds, patterns, rhyming etc.

[Korrale]

The I Can series of books. They have cut, color, paste and possibly fold.

There is a Kumon series with the same things called Let's cut, color, paste, or fold.

[eeekaao]

I bought my son a a preschool workbook from target. I pull it out when my older two do school, and he gets his "school" and some crayons. He just colors through it for about 5 minutes, then he's off playing with his cars. It works for now. We also have a. School zone workbook for him, that we'll do occassionally. Tinker toys and blocks have also worked, because I'll only pull them out at school time.

[HeartatHome]

Love the Rod and Staff workbooks ABC Readiness and GHI Series.

[carriede]

Another idea, a magnetic dry erase board with letter and number magnets and dry erase markers. I got some magnets at Toys r us for about $6.

[lea_lpz]

Some of the stuff I do with my son:

 

HWOT multisemsory activities he can do independently- wood letters, play dough, letters, stamp and see screen

Other letter stuff from Confessions of a Homeschooler- lacing letters, pattern block letters, dot art letters

Rod and Staff A-F series most pages need very brief explanation and then he can work on his own

Name trace sheets- he used to do one a day but can write his name now by himself. I printed them online free.

MFW preschool package index cards activities- abiut half of the activities I can briefly explain and have him do it on his own

More.Starfall.com subscription- worth the extra $- I have him do the letter if the week and reinforce math concepts we've covered and then he gets to just play whatever. He lives it! Keeps him busy for a while.

 

I also have a variety of stuff in my school cupboard he can do semi quietly to keep himself entertained:

-play dough

-blocks

-dot art paint and color books

-crayons and color books

-puzzles

-Lauir toys from mfw preschool package

 

I just let him have a go with no "preschool assignment" and then they are toys, lol

 

In general I only spend 15 minutes needing to work one on one with him which I do when my dd does her independent work.

[Tanikit]

Easy Peasy getting ready 1 keeps my 3 year old busy - it does require quite a bit of printing, has a few crafts but is not messy. However I have never found anything that can just be handed to a 3-4 year old except maybe coloring sheets or games that does not require Mom's input - even scissors need watching if I don't want my furniture cut up. So we have puzzles and blocks and toys and even some DVDs for when I really need to concentrate on my eldest without interruptions and my youngest does occassionally get sent to her room where she reads books if she is interrupting too badly (this means if she is throwing a temper tantrum).

 

I have also used abcjesuslovesme.com curriculum with my youngest - it is free but also requires printing - this one seems to require more of me though for some reason.

 

[Suzanne115]

My daughter loves her books from Horizon Preschool.  They help her feel involved when I do school with my oldest.  She also loves Kumon books.

 

Suzanne

[CadenceSophia]

He might be able to do the Before the Code series (Get Read, Get Set, Go). My 3.5 year old is doing them now except for the handwriting pages. There is lots of circling, coloring and drawing lines. I also like the very inexpensive School Zone workbooks, Mazes, Connect the Dots, Same or Different, Does it Belong, etc. A dry erase board and marker go a long way and you can find tracing dry erase workbooks too. I have Wipe Clean Trucks and I see the same company has Animals and one for fine motor I am considering getting. All three of my kids (5, 3 and 1) fight for turns with that book.

[Amie]

We like the Rod and Staff workbooks too.  Also, dollar store workbooks are nice if you have one who goes through them fast. 

 

A great (free) idea I got from another mom here: give them a pretty catalog or magazine you are done with and a pair of kiddy scissors; ask them to find and cut out objects of a particular category for you (like objects that are red, or things that begin with the 'b' sound, or animals, or food, or things you might take on a picnic...etc. depending on the contents of magazine).  Then they might enjoy gluing the pieces to construction paper or whatever. 

 

Keep certain educational play things put away until school time so they are more fun and special.  Rotate through them like "subjects" (Cuisenaire rods, abacus, geo boards, puzzles, legos, tangrams, stringing beads/buttons/pasta, pipe cleaners, sewing cards, magnet letters on a board...)

[MrsH]

Love all the suggestions. My little one also joins in with our morning basket, which takes about an hour. Definitely may manipulatives, she loves using them!

[cagirlintexas]

I know this is an older post but we have really loved the core knowlege preschool workbook.  Its not completely independant but does make him feel like he is doing school and he has learned a lot from them.  They have one for 3-4 and one for 4-5.

 

http://www.amazon.com/What-Your-Preschooler-Needs-Know/dp/1933486228/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1403272722&sr=1-1&keywords=what+your+preschooler+needs+to+know+activity+book+1

[Mnemosyne]

Kumon has a lot of good stuff at a variety of skill levels.

 

Your youngest may enjoy the Brainquest Pre-K workbook too.

[3curlytops]

We did a lot of do-a-dot worksheets at that age.  If you want them to take longer, get them to use stickers instead of the paint stampers.  

My 4 year old still naps.  We are doing K-4 with her this year, but I do a lot of it while the younger ones are napping since they nap much longer.  

 

[Artichoke]

Another vote for Rod and Staff. You really can't beat the price, and our dd loved them. We also did the leap frog videos and refrigerator magnets. I'm not sure if you can still buy those or not. Dot-to-dot books were great as well.

[calihil]

Just FYI, the Dollar Tree has a lot of craft kits already put together that kids can easily do. Keeps my 5 and 3 yr olds busy for a long time! Like tissue paper crafts, paint by number, friendship bracelets, etc. Good for fine motor skills. And of course lots of coloring books and workbooks there, too.

[calihil]

I also plan on letting my 3.5 yr old play on Starfall.com when Im schooling her older sister. :)

[Walking-Iris]

My dd will have HWOT and the ETC Get Ready Set Go books. I plan on starting the morning working with her on the handwriting and reading front, some early math, and then switching my focus to my older children. 

 

I always keep homemade Montessori inspired activities available for her on shelves. I know you said you don't like a mess and are not a crafty person, but I find that taking the time to put a few activities together and lay them out for her to explore on her own keeps her busy and learning more than just leaving her to her own devices or a screen.

[AdventuresinHomeschooling]

We did letter of the week with SSRW workbooks this year.  But I had some A Beka preschool workbooks and other workbooks from Barnes and Noble that he liked doing.  He especially liked dot to dots and mazes and writing his letters.  I also got a Saxon K book inexpensively used.  It does not have a workbook, just the meeting book, and we did lessons from it, but this would be teacher directed.  However, it's not a workbook.  You could just get some math manipulatives and have them do some fun math games too.  A laminated writing pad or chalkboard is great for writing their name.  Cutting and pasting is also a good activity from a workbook.  He loved that.  I also would get a plate of salt or flour and have him trace letters in the salt.  Playdoh is good too.

[Rachel]

I'm late to the party but my 4 year old is enjoying the Rod & Staff pre-K books mentioned above.  She also likes the Singapore Math Essential Math A book.  I've found several pre-writing sheets on Pinterest that I put in a sheet protector for her to use with dry erase markers too. 

[Holly]

Preschool Activities in a Bag is a great book.  We also like Kumon, R&S preschool books, and ETC Primers.