Scissor skills are an important part of preschool. Beginning with a highly successful task, such as cutting strips of paper into confetti, help them develop familiarity with scissors and how they work while being extremely satisfying. As a bonus, the confetti they create is easily converted into beautiful seasonal art! Confetti Cutting Practice The Importance…
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Autumn Trees on the Light Table
The light table is a wonderful way to engross students in an open-ended activity. It encourages language development, higher level thinking skills, and is a great tool for visual learners. It can also sometimes be a challenge coming up with different ways to use it. With a few simple additions, you can give…
Apple Taste Test
The Apple Taste Test is a wonderful way to incorporate the sense of taste into your lesson. Not only that, but it also sneaks in vocabulary, math, and science – all in one delicious lesson! The Taste Test Set Up Begin the lesson by showing the students the whole apples. It can be quite helpful…
Apple Play Dough Tray
Have you tried making our apple cinnamon play dough? We used it in our five senses lesson, but it is also perfect for Autumn and goes great with our apple taste test lesson. Using simple items, you can create an invitation to play that will make your play dough center even more irresistible! Setting Up…
Fabulous Fall Books for Preschoolers!
When there’s a nip in the air and frost in the morning, it’s time to get out some favorite books about Fall. Preschoolers enjoy being able to relate to the story. They might chime in with, “The leaves are falling off of MY tree too!” Extending the learning through centers is a fantastic way to…
Autumn Harvest Play Dough
There’s a little nip in the air in the mornings, and that means Autumn is just around the corner! At Play To Learn, we have our favorite play dough recipe is that it is very easy to substitute ingredients (like we did in this Apple Cinnamon dough) to make it into something new. Children love…
Pumpkin Counting Mats
One of our early math goals is to develop a strong number sense in children. We want them to be able to identify numbers, use one-to-one matching while counting, and also to be able to subitize (visualize) quantities. These Pumpkin Counting Mats are a great way to practice all of these essential skills, in a very fun, playful and developmentally…
Fall Sensory Bins
There’s really nothing better than the sights, smells, sounds and tastes of Fall, is there?! We get to experience 4 very distinct seasons here in Virginia, and fall is absolutely my favorite. Let’s bring all of the excitement of the season into our preschool classroom with these easy fall sensory bins. We like to change our…
Tape Resist Name Art
Learning our names is the first priority in preschool literacy instruction. We practice recognizing and spelling our names every day in a variety of developmentally appropriate ways. At the beginning of the year, many preschoolers recognize their names simply by the first letter. So, we spend a lot of time talking about “our” letters! These tape…
Apple Cinnamon Play Dough
One of our favorite thematic units is the 5 Senses. It’s perfect for all of the sights, sounds, and smells of fall and it’s also a great way to start off the school year. We plan center activities that incorporate multiple senses, that are inviting and of course fun! This Apple Cinnamon Play Dough is…