Teaching By Preschool Themes

This week I have finished two of the preschool themes I am offering on my website, farms and butterflies. Themes are a great way to teach preschoolers, especially when you are working with all different learning styles, like the activities I have included. By using a variety of activities, your child can completely learn about a concept through all senses and using many different skills. I am going to continue putting together new themes for you to use to teach your preschooler.

Eric Carle- Read the books, visit the site

I love Eric Carle! I love the great pictures and wonderful stories he creates. I have even decorated my children's room with insect pictures from his books. Today I found the Official Eric Carle Website.

Eric Carle books are great for reading to your preschooler. I used to recite Today is Monday for my son when he was an infant. The sing song pattern calmed him when he was screaming in the car. The Grouchy Ladybug and The Very Hungry Caterpillar are excellent for teaching time and veggies.

After you read some of the book, visit his site. There is even a virtual tour of the Eric Carle Museum for Picture Book Art. It is more of an adult site that a child's site, but it does give a lot of information about the author.

To see more books by Eric Carle, visit my preschool amazon store.

Writing Shapes

When I was doing some research for my Preschool-Activities-Everyday website, I found some interesting information on pre-writing skills using shapes. When you are teaching children to draw a square, you should teach the over (top), over (bottom), top to bottom (left side), top to bottom (right side). This is the way an "H" would be written. For a triangle, you should have the start at the top and go left, go right, then across. A circle should start at 2 o'clock and go up and left. This will teach you child to use the proper formations for making letters later.

So do not allow your child to make his own short cuts- teach them the proper way. And don't let them make any shape in one swoop, except for the circle. This will help them have better handwriting habits later.

Dance With Your Preschooler!

Turn on the music and dance, dance, dance. It does not matter what the song or what type of music, preschoolers love to move and shake. Tonight, my little girl (she is 2) and I danced to Old MacDonald Had A Farm over and over. She wiggled, jumped, and twirled around. She also laughed and giggled too!

So get up and get moving. Dance with your preschooler and have fun!

Assign Preschoolers Chores

At the earliest ages, children can learn to have responsibilities around the house. Things such as picking up their toys, putting away clothes, and clearing or setting the table are all easy things to teach them. And believe it or not, it is educational. They are not only learning to be a part of a family, they are also learning to classify and sort. Toys go in a certain location, silverware is placed in a certain position, and clothes go into certain drawers.

I have a friend with four children under 8, the youngest is 2. They all have chores. One of the things she does is have them put away their own laundry. Because they put it away, she does not even fold it. She irons everything as it is worn. She separates the clothes, the children put them in the drawers. Everyone has a job.

So do not be weary of doing all the cleaning and picking up. Assign some chores and teach your child to be a functioning member of your household.

Sink or Float?

Preschool science activities can include many different scientific activities without the scientific explanation. Can I really explain why things sink or float? Actually, I taught middle school science, so I hope I can. But most parents cannot explain it. And that is okay. Your child needs to experience science activities without the parental worry about what the true reasons are that explain the fact.

An example to use is sinking and floating. This is a simple exercise that can bring hours of delight to a preschooler. Get a tub full of water- the real tub or a plastic tub. Brainstorm (talk about) things that might sink in the tub or float in the tub. Then go find those things or some new ones. Let your child choose what you are going to use, as long as it won't ruin in the water (let's not let them try this with a book, unless it is a bath book). Continue on testing objects until they are satisfied. Then ask them WHY? Why do they think some things floated and some things sunk. You don't have to tell them why, just let them think about it! Ask them what was the SAME about the things that floated and the things that sunk. And that is it- activity over... until they want to try it again!

And in case you just want to know, here is the explanation of displacement.

Math and Singing

I was working on my math activities measurement page today and a great song came on the tv kids music channel called Tall. It worked so well with my measurement page I went to go look it up. The video, plus a lot more by the artists called Milkshake, on YouTube. Check this one out! It is great when curriculum goes along with a song!