3-5 years

10 fun ways of helping kids learn the abc’s | alphabet learning is FUN!

We were on a major word search kick a while back, but we’ve taken a good long rest from them. So in honor of our upcoming Disney Social Media Moms Celebration, I decided to bring back this oldie but goodie …

disney fun fact lunchbox notes | fun facts about disney world that will get kids ready for the trip or remembering fun times | walt disney world | lunchbox

homemade alphabet book: get personal with the abc’s | early literacy | how to make an abc book | teach kids the letters of the alphabet | teachmama.com

It’s been a busy few weeks for us, between school, sports, Blogalicious, Halloween, and my parents coming down to spend time with the kids while I attended the NAEYC conference this past week. But when I returned Saturday night to …

There may only be a few more days left until our Jack-O-Lanterns turn into lunch for the squirrels (if they haven’t already!), but the candy that my kids have collected this beautiful Halloween night will be around for days. Or …

Sometimes, simple is better.  Sometimes, more choices make us more confused. If Maddy, Owen, and Cora were shown an amazing pallet of face paints and were able to choose anything in the world they wanted designed on their cheeks or …

 Dissecting flowers–totally pulling them apart–is a little bit funny for some kids. At least it was for mine. We tell them they can’t pick the flowers in our gardens unless they have permission; we teach them to care for and …

Sometimes it’s very easy for teachers and parents to feel impatient with emerging readers. It’s hard to listen to kids sound out every word on a page and get through only five words a minute. It’s hard to know what …

With the end of the school year quickly approaching, we’re all getting antsy for summer. So I’ve had to be super crafty during our work time in order to keep Maddy, Owen, and Cora engaged and excited.  As I’ve said …

how to teach kids to tie their shoes | teachmama.com

  We’ve been very busy over here lately, as this week I helped organize and run our elementary school’s Kindergarten Orientation (so fun!) and I have been trying to get myself ready for the theMom 2.0 Summit in New Orleans …

Finding interesting and meaningful activities for Owen and Cora during Maddy’s homework time has kept me busy lately, but I’ve found tons of great things for these two to do.  Finally, it’s a natural part of our day for everyone …

Each year, we end up with tons of leftover candy canes after the holidays.  This year, I vowed I wouldn’t allow one candy cane in our house past January; I was determined to find some useful way of using them. …

remembering the importance of pretend play | teachmama.com | research-based post all about why kids need time to PLAY | imagination and learning

      Holiday time is here, and things are sure to be nutty around our house–and everyone else’s–for the next few weeks. Although I know it’s going to be hard to sneak in a little bit of learning each …

  It’s been a gorgeous fall week here, so one morning, Owen, Cora, and I spent a good while at the park with our buddies.  Turns out there were a handful of 4’s and 5’s there, and Owen made fast …

Maddy, Owen, and Cora had an absolute blast performing candy experiments using their Halloween loot this week, but I think the most fun they had stemmed from our own experiment missteps. We tried to conquer the Color Separation experiment, but …