Last year, I wrote a post about how I was teaching ABCs, 123s, colors, and shapes to my toddler daughter. One year later, my daughter is now 3, and only attends her pre-school program 4 hours/week, so we still do a lot of supplementing at home. After she learned the above-mentioned skills, I needed to figure out what (and how) to teach her next. Here’s what we’ve been working on recently, and a few of our favorite resources.
School Zone Workbooks
There are so many options when it comes to buying children’s educational workbooks, but these are the ones that my daughter was gifted, and she loves them. School Zone sells workbooks, flash cards, apps, books, music, and software for toddlers thru 6th grade; and they offer a variety of free-to-download worksheets. We have the Preschool Scholar Deluxe Edition and Preschool Super Scholar workbooks. These two workbooks allow my daughter to practice and learn a variety of skills, including: letters and numbers, counting, tracing shapes and lines, patterns, sequencing, same vs. different, a lot of coloring, and too much more to list.
Handwriting without Tears
Handwriting without Tears is a handwriting curriculum for preschool thru 5th grade, and it’s what is taught in our school district, as well as the preschool my daughter will attend next year. So, when I wanted to get her started with writing her name, I downloaded this Capital Formation Chart PDF as our guide. There are a few other free-to-download pre-school documents, as well as many more paid materials, tools, and apps. I’m not going to pretend like I’m even beginning to skim the surface on this one, but at least I know that I’m teaching her the techniques that she’ll be expected to use.
Melissa & Doug Daily Calendar and Monthly Calendar
In our house, these might as well be called “Oh! What day is it today!?” which is what my daughter always asks right before she heads to update them. The daily calendar includes: the month, date, and year; days of the week; seasons; weather; and holidays. Personally, I think the activity magnet options better suit a school-aged child, but the monthly calendar has plenty of more age-appropriate activity options (play with friends, go to the park, go to the library, visit a museum, and at least 30 more!). Holiday magnets are included with both calendars, and are a good conversation starter about what we celebrate and why.
As for what to expect from your preschooler, between ages 3 and 4, I like to use these three guides*:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
HealthyChildren.org from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP)
PBS Parents
*These sites offer guides for a wide range of ages, but my links are specific to preschoolers.
What are your favorite preschool learning activities?
Leave a comment below, we are always looking for new ideas!
