learning

Children’s books about sound: Exploring the 5 senses

catherinemryan

A few weeks ago, we hosted Kiwi’s homeschool preschool, and we explored one of the 5 senses: sound. Although the highlight of the day was having a dance party on bubble wrap (see my post about a sounds theme and activities for details!), the kids got a chance to listen during story time. I read aloud a few of these children’s books about sounds during the preschool lesson, and I gathered recommendations for even more picture books here.

My friends told me that after our homeschool preschool lesson about sounds, their kids practiced their listening and observation at home! “I hear vacuum,” “I hear plane,” “I hear doggie,” one preschooler told her mom in the days that followed our lesson about sounds.

I love these books about sounds because they offer a chance to learn about the 5 senses every day. They encourage kids to pay attention to noise, an often-overlooked sense, and gives them the language to describe sounds. What’s more, they’re fun! Kids crack up at their parents imitating everyday noises like a tea kettle, a jackhammer or even falling leaves.

If you need to up your noise-making game, there’s lots of practice in these children’s books about sounds. Or you can make your kids make all the noises! They’ll love that, too. So put a few of these children’s books about sounds in your cart, or request them from your library, and read on!

8 best children's books about sounds to teach the 5 senses. Ten Thousand Hour Mama Read more →

Toddler activities about color: Homeschool preschool curriculum

catherinemryan

The other day I hosted the first meeting for our new toddler homeschool preschool. I wanted our first topic to be “classic preschool”—as well as something accessible to our 2-year-olds. I thought about doing a back-to-school theme but figured it was too abstract; instead, I chose to focus on toddler activities about color.

Kiwi is constantly learning about the world through colors. When she asks for a bowl, she specifies what hue she wants. She calls on things not just by their name (“dog”) but by what kind of dog (“white dog”). And about 100 times a day she holds up one finger and announces, “Blue. My favorite!” (Followed immediately by, “Purple. Peeper’s favorite!”)

A homeschool preschool curriculum filled with toddler activities about color, then, was right up these kids’ alley. They enjoyed the fine motor skills-tuning project, the sorting activity that works on pre-math skills, and of course plain ol’ art.

Do you have little ones that would love toddler activities about color? Try these! Even if your toddlers don’t know yellow from red, they’ll enjoy these activities—and learn at the same time.

These toddler activities about color, for your homeschool preschool or just a fun project, are a great way for kids to learn about colors—and to have fun! Ten Thousand Hour Mama Read more →

Bear curriculum for homeschool preschool

catherinemryan

Think back to your childhood and, probably, a treasured teddy bear was there to comfort and cuddle you. Your kids might be the same—Peeper is. Although she sleeps with a stuffed Elmo and a Findus the Cat most nights, a few bears are among her most treasured lovies.

I thought it would be fun, then, to structure a homeschool preschool meeting around a bear curriculum. Grrrrr!

Want to use a bear theme to teach your preschooler, too? Here’s the bear curriculum we used at preschool recently.

homeschool preschool bear curriculum

Books

I started the bear curriculum by reading two books. First we read The Teddy Bear Picnic (which, by the by, is a song). The kids had such a fun time spotting bears in the book that looked like the teddy bears they brought from home!

We also read We’re Going on a Bear Hunt. It’s fun to do motions for each obstacle the family traverses—wave your arms for the wavy grass, tiptoe when they go through the cave. (FYI, you should totally check out Michael Rosen acting out his book—he is hilarious!)

These books also set up the later activities. Read more →