Free Preschool Activities

Beading is a fun way for preschoolers to develop their hand-eye coordination, and also to have fun creating something. Below, writer Rachel Paxton shares an easy preschool beading activity with you. Depending on your child’s age, you can use brightly colored beads that are just right for smaller hands or smaller decorative beads that look like tiny jewels.

Preschool Beading Activity by Rachel Paxton

Young children love beads of all shapes and sizes.  This beading activity is great for older toddlers and preschool aged children.

All you need is a shoelace or string like from the hood of a sweat shirt, some large wooden beads, and a small pouch to keep everything in.  You can purchase the beads at most any craft store. My mom made my boys cute little drawstring pouches out of scrap fabric.

The object of the activity is to have your child string the beads onto the string.  Tie a large knot at the end of the string so the beads will not slip off.  You might need to wrap a small piece of scotch tape around the other end of the string to help guide the string through the bead.

Sounds too easy doesn’t it?  You’ll be surprised at how long this will keep your child entertained.  They love stringing beads! This is a great activity to take on the road (e.g., in the car, at a restaurant, etc.), and it also improves their hand and eye coordination.

Rachel Paxton is a freelance writer and mom of four. For resources for the Christian family, including parenting, toddler and preschool activities, homeschooling, family traditions, and more, visit http://www.Christian-Parent.com

Article Source: http://www.wahm-articles.com

by Rachel Paxton

Kids are never too young to write thank you notes.  If they are old enough to hold a pencil or crayon, they can help create a thoughtful thank you note to send to friends or relatives for a birthday gift they have received.

People won’t expect a perfect thank you note from a young child, so let your preschooler have fun with this project.  The point isn’t how good the finished product looks, but how much effort and thoughtfulness the child put into it.

Supplies needed:

Blank greeting cards and envelopes
White card stock
Crayons/colored pencils/paints
Paper cutter
Glue stick
“Thank you” rubber stamp
Ink for rubber stamp
Birthday photos of child

Your child’s artwork will decorate the front of the greeting card.  Give your preschooler a blank piece of white card stock and let him draw on the paper.  He can use crayons, colored pencils, or my boys’ favorite, paints.  Paints can be applied with a paint brush or with sponges.

If your child has chosen to use paint, you will have to wait until the paper is completely dry to start the next step.

Using the paper cutter, cut the artwork to fit the front of the greeting card.  Let your child use the glue stick to apply glue to the back of the artwork and glue it to the card.

Next let your child glue a birthday photo of himself in the center of the front of the card.

Open the card and have your child use the rubber stamp to stamp “thank you” in the center of the card.

Have your child sign his name in the card.  If your child is not old enough to write, just have him scribble in the card.  Older children can write their name with your help.  You can write a note in the card thanking the person for the specific gift the child received.

Encourage your children from a young age to be thankful for gifts they have received.  Make it a fun activity, and they will enjoy writing thank you cards.

Photos of thank you card:
http://www.christian-parent.com/preschool/thank-you-cards.shtml

Rachel Paxton is a freelance writer and mom of four. For resources for the Christian family, including parenting, toddler and preschool activities, homeschooling, family traditions, and more, visit http://www.Christian-Parent.com

Article Source: http://www.wahm-articles.com

This is an activity I tried with some preschoolers over the weekend, and it went over really well. We had a story about a boat in a storm. Then to bring the story to life, we made our own foil boats and turned our water table into a roaring ocean. I’ve also added some extensions to the end of this activity that you could try with your preschoolers.

What you need:

Basin of water
Foil
Objects/plastic people to put in boats
Towels!

What you do:

Give each preschooler a piece of foil. Show them how they can turn it into a boat. There’s no right or wrong way to do this, so let them be creative! We folded our foil in half then turned the edges up for sides.

Put the boats in the water and watch how they float. Invite your preschoolers to make a windy day by blowing on the water and making waves.

Extension activities:

Turn this into a counting activity! How many objects can you put into a boat before it sinks?

Put an island (a small saucer or other object) in your water table and read The Little Island to your preschoolers. Have them recreate the storm and other events of the story.

I just found this link to Halloween printables for preschoolers.

You’ll want to review them first and decide which ones you want to use with your preschoolers tonight. They’ll love the Halloween finger puppets and the Pumpkin Maze!

You may want to print the Halloween picture frame and votives as a treat for yourself.

These ghosts are spooky and delicious too! One year we make these as gifts for my son’s preschool friends.  If you plan on giving lollipops to your trick-or-treaters this year, this is a fun way to decorate them ahead of time.

What you need for each ghost:

lollipop

tissue

tape

marker

What you do:

Cover the lollipop with the tissue so it looks like a ghost’s body. Secure the tissue in place with a piece of tape.

Draw a spooky or a happy face with the marker.

Enjoy!

These tissue ghosts are so simple to make and yet so cute! You can make just one or create a whole row of ghosts to decorate your window for Halloween night.

For each tissue ghost you will need:

2 tissues

twist tie

marker

What you do:

Crumple one tissue into a ball. This will be the form for the ghost’s head.

Cover the ball with the other tissue so the tissue hangs down like a ghost’s body.

Secure the tissue in place by wrapping a twist tie under the ball to form the neck.

Draw a face onto the head with the marker.

Have fun drawing different expressions and hanging them up for everyone to see!

by Rachel Paxton

Making placemats from fall leaves is a fun activity for kids of all ages. Even toddlers will have fun collecting leaves and creating their own placemat. For this craft you will need:

Roll of contact paper
Fall leaves
Scissors

This activity is very inexpensive. The only item you will have to buy is the contact paper, and you can pick this up for about $5 a roll. One roll will make many placemats.

Have your kids go out in the yard and collect some fall leaves. Have them look for a variety of colors and shapes. If the leaves are dry you can use them right away. If they are wet, let them set on a piece of newspaper to dry before you start the craft project.

Before you sit the kids down cut some pieces of contact paper into the shape of placemats. I used the width of the contact paper for the width of the placemat so I would only have to make one cut for each placemat. You will need two pieces of contact paper for each placemat. You can make the placemats any size you choose.

After the contact paper is ready, sit your kids down at a table and have them spread out the leaves in the center of the table. Give them a piece of contact paper with the backing paper removed. Let them arrange their leaves on the sticky side of the paper. After they are happy with the arrangement of their leaves, take another piece of contact paper and carefully lay it on top of the leaves so that the sticky sides of both pieces of contact paper are together. Carefully use your hands to smooth out any bubbles or wrinkles. You won’t be able to get them all out, but don’t worry, a few wrinkles will not be noticeable when you are done.

When you are finished you can use the scissors to trim around the edges to make sure they are all even and straight. This is an easy project that can be completed in about an hour. Remember the younger the child, the shorter their attention span, so if you are making very many you may end up finishing them yourself! My toddler boys spent about 15 minutes on theirs and they had a great time.

Don’t forget to proudly display your fall leaf placemats on your Thanksgiving table!

Article Source: http://www.wahm-articles.com

Photos of finished fall leaf placemats: http://www.crafty-moms.com/fall-leaf-placemat.shtml

Rachel Paxton is a freelance writer and mom of four. For scrapbooking, card making, gift-giving ideas, and more family memory-making activities, visit http://www.crafty-moms.com.

Paper Plate Scarecrow Craft by Rachel Paxton

Kids love scarecrows, and fall is a great time to do scarecrow crafts with your preschool aged child.  With a paper plate and some other items you may already have laying around your house, you and your child can create this scarecrow craft in no time.

Supplies needed:

Paper plates
Google eyes
Brown construction paper
Orange construction paper
Raffia
Red pipe cleaner
Craft feathers
Scissors
Rubber cement
Glue gun (optional)

Note: Many of the above items can be substituted with things you might already have. For instance, you can use felt or craft foam instead of construction paper, or straw or shredded paper instead of raffia. Your child could also draw the face with markers instead of gluing it on.

To get started, cut several pieces of raffia about 3-4 inches long.  This will be the scarecrow’s hair. Next glue the raffia to each side edge of the plate, toward the top. The hat will cover the top edge of the hair.  I chose to use hot glue for this step and did the gluing for my children. The hot glue works the best to get the raffia stuck on there quickly.

Next use the scissors to cut a hat out of brown construction paper.  You can make any shaped hat your child would like. If your child is old enough to cut out a shape, draw the hat on the paper for him and let him cut it out himself.  Then have your child brush some rubber cement on the back of the hat and glue it
on top of the scarecrow’s hair.

After you have the hair and hat in place, have your child brush glue where the eyes will go and have him stick the eyes on.  Next cut a small triangle from the orange construction paper and have your child glue the nose on the scarecrow’s face.

Next cut a red pipe cleaner in half, have your child shape half of it into a mouth, and then have him glue it on the scarecrow. Last but not least, have your child place some glue on the end of a feather and have him slide it under a corner of the scarecrow’s hat.

That’s it! Your preschooler will be so proud of his scarecrow, he won’t be able to wait to show it to everyone!

Rachel Paxton is a freelance writer and mom of four. For
scrapbooking, card making, gift-giving ideas, and more family
memory-making activities, visit http://www.crafty-moms.com.

Article Source: http://www.wahm-articles.com

by Rachel Paxton

Preschool-aged children love lacing cards.  Lacing cards allow children to practice “sewing” by threading a string in and out of holes in a piece of cardboard.  This is a great activity to help develop your child’s fine motor skills.

Lacing cards can be found most anywhere preschool supplies are sold.  The pictures on the cards can be anything from farm animals to construction equipment. They are enjoyed by both boys and girls.

If you want to be really creative, you can make your own lacing cards.  All you need is a picture, a laminating machine ($20 at Walmart), scissors, a hole punch, and some yarn or a shoestring.

First select a picture.  You can find many children’s pictures online.  Just search for pictures or drawings of things that your child likes.  If your child likes dinosaurs, then you could make a set of dinosaur lacing cards.

After you find a picture, print it out and use the laminator to laminate it.  Next use the scissors to cut around the outline of the picture, leaving about an inch of space around the picture.

Using the hole punch, punch holes about an inch apart in the white space around the picture.

Tie a knot in one end of the yarn or shoestring.  You may need to wrap the other end with scotch tape so that it will thread easily through the card.

That’s it!  Your lacing card is ready for your preschooler to use.  These are really easy and fun to make, and your child will really enjoy using them.

Keep in mind it may take your child awhile to get the hang of “sewing”. At around three years of age, your child may only be able to push the yarn through the holes but not understand the concept of threading it in and out of the holes.  Just let them play with the cards and keep showing them how to do it.  Eventually they will catch on and they will enjoy spending hours lacing different pictures and patterns.

Rachel Paxton is a freelance writer and mom of five. For resources for the Christian family, including parenting, toddler and preschool activities, homeschooling, family traditions, and more, visit http://www.Christian-Parent.com

Article Source: http://www.wahm-articles.com

by Rachel Paxton

Cutting with scissors is a learned activity. By three years old your child should have no problem holding a pair of child-sized scissors. It takes them awhile to master this new skill, however, so be patient with them while they begin to show an interest in learning how to do it.

Purchase your child a pair of his own scissors. If your child is left-handed, make sure the scissors can be used by left- or right-handed children. Many scissors can be used by both.

Let your child try to cut with the scissors, and encourage him to cut the best he can. It may take awhile for him to get the hang of it. My boys were four years old before they could hold a pair of scissors correctly and cut with them.

After your child has learned to cut with his scissors, it’s time to practice cutting shapes and lines. This activity helps your preschooler master his cutting skills so he can move on to cutting out shapes for his own craft projects.

Have your child start cutting lines. Simply use a ruler to draw several lines on a piece of paper, and then have your child try to cut on the line. It will probably take awhile for your child to get the hang of it, but after he catches on he will be so proud of his new accomplishment. After lines, he is ready to move on to wavy lines, then ovals, and, finally, circles.

Preschoolers love this cutting activity. One of my sons spent at least an hour two days in a row cutting out shapes I had drawn for him. He was so excited he could cut on the lines that he wanted to cut them out over and over again.

Another skill that can be practiced with this activity is tracing. Before your child cuts out the shapes, have him first trace them with a pencil. This is also a skill that takes time to learn and that your child will enjoy trying to master.

Children enjoying learning things. Open up a whole new world for your child by teaching him something as simple as using a pair of scissors.

Rachel Paxton is a freelance writer and mom of four. For resources for the Christian family, including parenting, toddler and preschool activities, homeschooling, family traditions, and more, visit http://www.Christian-Parent.com

Article Source: http://www.wahm-articles.com