Goldilocks and the Three Bears - Counting Activity - Free dot-to-dot printable worksheet!

If you are learning about the classic Goldilocks and Three Bears this week with your group of little ones, counting, a toddler or preschooler's first form of mathematics, will and should come into play. The title of the story itself is number based - referencing he number of bears in the story. The human child, Goldilocks, can also be counted as one, unless you are reading a modified version of he tale. There are three chairs, three bowls of porridge, and three beds, aside from the number of bears. Putting a play on counting can really add to your Three Bears-themed lesson. Here is a great worksheet you may use to help add early mathematics to your preschool, home school, or daycare program. This worksheet is a dot-to-dot sheet kids will love. It is also a coloring sheet where children can use what they remember from the story to complete. At the bottom of the worksheet, children can trace the letters of the words to complete the sentence straight out of the classic fairytale.

Learning the letter d - lowercase - Preschool Worksheet and Coloring Activity

Preschoolers love learning the alphabet. Most toddlers learn the "Alphabet Song" right around the time they start talking. Once the song is learned, toddlers progress into preschool age when then they can learn how alphabet letters look. One of the first words toddlers learn how to identify is DOG. The first letter in DOG is the letter D. Writing the letter D comes easy for most preschoolers as it consists of just one vertical line and a curved line like a backwards C. The lowercase d can be a bit tricky as many young learners get it confused with the letters b, p, and even q. Using an activity sheet like this "d is for door" letter finder is a good way to introduce the lowercase d into your lesson plan.

Preschool Tea Party Ideas!

A great way to encourage socialization and friendship in your early learning group, daycare, library, classroom, or home school setting is to get children to sit together and engage in a group project together. Some children, especially younger kids at preschool level, should be monitored during group activities to ensure fairness, sharing, and organization is harmonious. A good way to introduce preschoolers to group activities is via tea parties! Tea parties are not only fun, they can also be educational. Celebrate a special event, holiday, child's birthday, or just any day with a tea party. Since little ones are too young for real tea, substituting with apple cider, cocoa, or grape juice will work. You may also add in animal crackers, fruit slices, or celery sticks. Since some children may have allergies, it's good to find out before planning an event featuring foods. If you do plan a tea party, why not reinforce the theme with an educational worksheet activity. Here is a C is for Cup activity sheet which is free, printable, and allows children to use their favorite crayon colors.

Children identify and locate the lowercase c's throughout the letter finder, coloring each c box with a crayon. The cute cup illustration can also be colored for added fun. This is a great way to mix a little educational fun in with your tea party themed lesson plan!

Math and Literacy Activity - Count The Chocolate Chips!

A delicious way to get children working on activities is to work on food-themed learning sheets shortly before lunch or snack. Most kids love cookies - especially chocolate chips. Counting food items make learning fun for children as they can easily associate the task with familiar objects. Have fun with your student or child completing this counting activity together. This printable worksheet is especially good for early readers as they may be able to associate numbers with words. This worksheet allows children to draw a line from a cookie to the number word. Match the cookies up based on the number of chocolate chips on each one.

Learning lowercase a through penmanship- tracing!

Early readers really benefit from the use of illustrations. Children can pair words with pictures, better helping them learning small words at a quicker rate. The best way to teach new readers how to read and write is through tracing activities. Learning how to trace helps children hold pencils in the correct way, allowing them to get use to writing.

Helping preschoolers and early reader learn the letter A this week? This is a good worksheet to use while teacher the lowercase a. Children can have fun coloring the apple and the ant and then practice their penmanship while tracing the words at the bottom.

B is for Bird! Why fun learning is important to development

 Having fun while learning the alphabet is essential for preschoolers to maintain retention in a positive educational atmosphere. Offering a nurturing learning experience is the duty of every educator, caretaker, and parent. Children that have fun while learning view education in a positive manner, encouraging them to excel as a lifelong learner - a person who admires and respects literacy.

According the the Washington Post, brain research suggests children who are entertained by learning usually experience a higher level of authentic education and long-term retention compared to children who are forced to learn in an anti-fun setting. Children are most stimulated when they are having a good time and end up associating the educational activity as a joyous event. This encourages children to engage and be better receptive to educational fun rather than avoid such events. When children have fun, the brain releases chemicals - dopamines and endorphines - the same chemicals pharmaceutical companies copy to create pills meant to deter depression and anxiety. The only difference is that fun-stimulated chemicals are the brain's natural way to fight off negative moods and feelings. Having fun while learning is the healthiest form of learning with the best long-term benefits.

One of the most popular songs in the English language is the Alphabet Song. Almost everyone knows the song and most people learn the song as they begin to learn how to talk as toddlers. The song is a great way to mix fun with education. As your little one grows and is able to identify alphabet letters by site, it's beneficial to introduce worksheets into their daily routines. If you are celebrating the letter B or birds this week for your lesson, you're in luck! Here is a "B is for Bird" worksheet perfect for early readers.

A is for Ants!

Are you and your little ones reading about ants this week? Children, especially preschoolers and early readers absolutely love to read about ants. There are countless picture books perfect for an ant-themed lesson plan. Some of the more popular ant books are Elinor J. Pinczes's One Hundred Hungry Ants, Two Bad Ants by Chris Van Allsburg, and John Nickle's The Ant Bully. If you're unfamiliar with any of these children's picture books, you can read user reviews over at goodreads.com. An ant-themed lesson plan, story time, or circle time activity is never complete without songs and educational material.
Here is a StoryPear.com exclusive ditty you can use as a song, finger play, movement rhyme, or poem with your young students during your ants-themed lesson.

ANTS IN MY PANTS
(sang to the tune of The Itsy-Bitsy Spider)

The little bitty ants

crawled right up my pants

I shook my legs

and I started to dance

out jumped the ants

and they danced right along

and together we all sang

the ants in my pants song

© StoryPear.com

 To further reinforce the ants lesson you have created, try implementing a worksheet into your day. Here is a literacy based activity young students can work on. This "A is for Ants" free printable coloring sheet advises children to locate the lower case letter a's throught the letter finder. Children color all the letter a's and may also color the ant illustration. This worksheet is the perfect addition to any ant-themed educational plan.

Build Literacy with Disney Princesses

A popular misconception among parents and educators is that word searches and word finders are a waste of time educationally and offer little or no value to the learning environment for children. However, many educational researchers beg to differ. According to teaching professionals from readingrockets.org, many ESL teachers use word searches to promote literacy. Word searches can be used to strengthen vocabulary, help students identify consonant clusters, and memorize the spelling for vocabulary words, all while creating busy work for students. Although heavy emphasis is rarely placed on the completion of such worksheets, word searches and word finders can be an asset to a lesson plan.

To read more about using word searches in the classroom, visit http://www.readingrockets.org/blog/22430

StoryPear promotes entertaining ways of building literacy among children. Here is a fun Disney Princess word search you student or child may have fun completing.

Preparing Child for School

 As many parents prepare to send their little ones off to school, many often find themselves asking the same question: Is my child ready?

Crayola.com has some very useful tips for parents to  take note of in regards to school readiness for their little ones. The term "school readiness" basically refers to how prepared children are for a school environment - including social, physical, and intellectual elements. Parents and early childhood educators can assess a child's behavior to determine if he or she is ready for kindergarten.

The first scenario which should be looked at is how a child acts when he or she is facing a moment where the parent is going to the leave the child is another adult's care - whether it be daycare, preschool, or with another adult. Does the child often cry and find it difficult to separate or does the child quickly mingle with other children or quickly adapt to being apart from his or her parents?
Can the child work independently without the guidance or discipline of his or her parent? Is the child easily engaged by activities, stories, educational work, or playing with other children? Does the child understand the concept of taking turns and playing fairly with other children? Is the child able to let other know if something is wrong, if he or she isn't feel well or needs to use the restroom?

These questions may not seen very important, but parents should evaluate their child by using these inquiries to find out if their child is ready for school. You can find ways to observe your child's "school readiness" potential by watching how he or she interacts with other children at church, parks, daycare, birthday parties, or other situations where the child is around other kids his or her own age. A good place this goal can be accomplished at is your local library. Most library systems have free story time activities for preschool-aged children. Libraries can provide positive settings to introduce your child to being away from home and around other children.

Best New Games for Preschoolers

The internet can be a wonderful place to find and gather information on entertaining preschoolers. According to PBS.org, preschoolers that learn their ABC's and early reading words develop advanced verbal skills faster than other preschoolers. Assisting preschoolers with playing language building skill games will prove to increase speech patterns in two and three year old children. You can find dozens of really good educational games at pbskids.org

Fill in the blank - Words that rhyme with AT

Little ones, especially early readers, love rhyming words. Using rhyming words really help children remember important ideas and facts. Using rhyming in learning will provide a greater outcome of success for your children or students. Preschool children love rhymes when doing finger plays, foot plays, scarf plays, nursery rhymes, and movement activities.

One of the very first words children learn is the word CAT. Finding words which rhyme with CAT is a fun way for little ones to learn new vocabulary. Here is a worksheet which will provide preschoolers, kindergarteners, and early readers a good way to tie rhyming words into spelling and language skill building. This activity allows children to fill in the blank with the correct letter to finish spelling the word illustrated by the picture. Sounding out words and emphasizing on the beginning sound is the best way to finish this activity. Parents, caretakers, day care providers, librarians, and teachers may work on this activity with children. Perhaps this worksheet can be used twice during the week. The first time, an adult can work with the student. The second time, the adult may observe the student work alone and monitor for any needed support.

Bubbles! Children love bubbles!

Using bubbles is a great addition to any story time or circle time theme. Closing your program or day out with bubbles adds a "cherry on the top" touch to the playful learning experience children will enjoy while in your care or classroom. Counting floating bubbles is good for enriching learning. Jumping up to catch bubbles and stomping on bubbles which have hit the ground improves movement and motor skills in little ones. After playing with bubbles, introducing children to the word BUBBLE is a great way to add early reading skills to your day. Here is a great worksheet which features the word BUBBLE. Children learn how the word is spelled and then seek out to find and circle the words in the words jumble below.


Happy bubble blowing!

Groundhog Day Printable Activity Coloring Page!

Children love holidays featuring animals. A very interesting animal is the groundhog - which also has it's own day. Each February, Americans have fun with the legend of the groundhog -  a tradition which can be traced back to 1841 in Morgantown, Pennsylvania.

According to the legend, if the groundhog runs out of its burrow on a cloudy day and can not see its shadow, spring with arrive earlier than usual. If the day is sunny, the groundhog will see its own shadow, scaring it back into its burrow. This means winter will last for at least six weeks longer.


Using Groundhog Day to create a lesson plan is a great way to teach children about both weather and animals.To add, learning about the different letters of the alphabet is equally educational. Here is a groundhog-themed printable activity focusing on the letter g. This sheet can be used as part of your groundhog-themed day!

Coloring Pages - Free Rangoli Designs!

Here are several free, printable, rangoli designs. You may print them off to color with your favorite crayons, pencils, or markers. You may also save them to your computer and open them in your favorite paint program and add color to them there. Enjoy!

Fun with scarves! Two Little Blackbirds Movement activity

The addition of scarves to any story time, circle time, or classroom activity really increases the fun factor. Little ones love scarves and love to use them while singing their favorite songs. A good song to use during scarf play is the children's classic, "Two Little Blackbirds".

Take two scarves - one in each hand. Tell the children, "Let's pretend these are two birds!"

Hide the scarves behind your back during the "fly away" portions of the song. Reveal the scarves again during the "come part" parts. Your preschoolers will really get a kick out of their new and improved "Two Little Blackbirds" tune!


Have fun!

Shhh! The sound librarians make! Free activity sheet!

Preschoolers and kindergarteners love holidays - especially ones which celebrate shapes and colors. One of the best known American holidays that features a significant shape and color is St. Patrick's Day. The shape associated with St. Patrick's Day is the shamrock. The color associated with St. Patrick's day is, of course, green! Teaching young children about St. Patrick's Day would make for a very enjoyable story time, circle time, or lesson plan. Of course, holiday's are fun, but adding an educational element to your celebration really enriches the learning process for your little ones.

Shamrock is an interesting word for preschoolers and early readers. Adding some non-fiction information to your lesson plan can really make things interesting. Shamrocks are clovers. What makes shamrocks more special than clovers? Many believe a four leaf clover is a real shamrock, one which is said to be lucky.

The word shamrock begins with the consonant cluster sh, which makes the sound as if you are asking someone to be quiet. Shhhh!

Here is a fun sheet which allows children to circle items which begin with the sh sound.

Valentine's Day Educational Activity Sheet - Circle the biggest one.

Valentine's Day is a wonderful holiday which helps young children learn about shapes, colors, friendship, and love. If you are looking for new and free printable worksheets for your preschool student to have fun completing on Valentine's Day, you've come to the right place!

This free printable sheet let's children work on their comparison skills. Which item is the biggest in each row is the theme for this particular Valentine's Day activity. Children have fun identifying each image, circling the biggest image in each row. This printable sheet is the perfect addiction to your Valentine's Day story time, circle time, or school celebration.

Mermaid - Circle the letter M activity sheet!

Mermaids galore!

There are so many new TV shows, cartoons, comics, and children's picture books about mermaids right now. Having your student or child work on an educational mermaid activity sheet is a great way to enrich learning. Implementing the alphabet into a mermaid-themed activity sheet will really grab your little one's attention - especially if they are really into mermaids!

Here is a great educational, printable sheet featuring cute little mermaids. The letter featured on this page is the letter M - M is for Mermaids! Children will have fun locating and circling all the letter M's found on this activity sheet.

Mermaids! Free word finder activity attached!

Mermaids are so popular right now for girls under 12. If you're looking for free mermaid printable activities for your school-aged child, look no further. This mermaid word finder is especially good for children who are already at an early reading level. Since the other word needed to be found in the word search is the word MERMAID, this activity is best for children at first and second grade levels.

Have fun with helping your student learn how to spell the word MERMAID with this free printable activity.

Arthur Themed Activities featuring D.W.

Are you and your children reading Arthur books this week? Children love Arthur books and the Arthur PBS cartoon series. One of the most popular Arthur characters is D.W., Arthur's little sister. Have fun with your preschooler while completing this comparison activity. Which image of D.W. is different?

Cold Weather Printable Activities for Young Kids!

Yes, it is VERY cold outside! Many parents, caretakers, and teachers are forced to keep their little ones inside where it is safe and warm. Still, youngsters love to learn about cold weather. For many preschoolers, winter is a new concept. Learning about snow, ice, and temperatures is an exciting stepping stone for preschool aged children. A great way to enrich your winter-themed learning program or story time is to use relative worksheets. Have fun with your little one using these winter-themed printable activity sheets!



The first activity is a P is for Penguin sheet. On this activity, children locate all the letter P's and color them with their choice of color. The rest of the letters should be left blank. For added fun, children can also color the two penguins underneath the letter chart. The second activity is a polar bear maze. Almost all children love mazes. Mazes help children get familiar with holding a writing utensil in the correct position, keeping within the lines - increasing fine motor skills. This maze requires children to help the mother polar bear find her baby cub. The cuteness of the character come to life if children chose to color them.


Stay warm!

Free Valentine Day's Printable Sheets for Preschoolers!

Help yourself to any of these free Valentine Day printable activity sheets starring Valentine's most popular animal - Teddy Bear himself!
The first two are"Find the Letter" activities where children search for and circle the letters L and V. The third activity is identifying shapes where children locate and color hearts. What a fun way to learn about letters and shapes this Valentine's Day!

Enrich your child or student's learning and development with these free preschool printable Valentine-themed activities!

Valentine's Day Cupcake Activity

What's the best sweet treat to have on Valentine's Day?

CUPCAKES!

Will you be serving cupcakes to your class of preschoolers or young children? Many will and many are also looking for free printable activities to tie into their Valentine's Cupcake parties. A good way to help children learn their colors is by allowing them to frost their own cupcake. This is a very fun way to get children into the Valentine spirit. Mixing food coloring colors into white frosting can help children learn how secondary colors are made from primary colors.

Here is a printable cupcake sheet where children can color and count the cupcakes.

The Nut Job - Children's Movie Review and Free Printable Activity!

Going to the movies this weekend? The Nut Job, staring the voice if Will Arnett, features a frisky, fluffy-tailed squirrel by the name of Surly and his friend Buddy, a rat. They get in trouble while planning to steal NUTS!

The Nut Job opens January 17th in theaters near you.

Are you looking for printable activities to tie into your program after watching The Nut Job? Here is a great counting activity for your preschooler to have fun with while learning to count. Enrich your child's counting activities while having fun with The Nut Job's character Surly with this free preschool printable sheet!

Happy nut counting!

Learning about foods - Free Circling Activity!

Teaching preschoolers about different types of foods is a mutually fun learning experience. Children love to learn about which foods are healthy and different colors of foods. An especially fun activity is talking with preschoolers about things that are and are not edible. "Eating the Alphabet" by Lois Ehlert is a wonderful book to use to teach young ones about foods, colors, and the ABCs.

This fun printable activity sheet allows preschoolers to circle items which are edible. This a good sheet to use after reading about foods during your story time program.

Matching and Colors - Free Preschool Printable!

A great way to help your preschoolers learn matching and colors is by teaching colors first and them finding items with like colors to compare. For example, you could sit down with a box of 8 crayons and name each colors. Find items within that rainbow and have preschoolers point to the matching crayon. To better meet this goal, you can use the printable color and matching activity attached to this post.

This is a really nice activity to work on with your little ones after reading "The Day The Crayons Quit" by Drew Daywalt.

Happy matching!

Follow directions with The Three Pigs

Another classic - The Three Pigs! The Big Bad Wolf is likely the primary character in this beloved classic, but people always forget how some versions of this story begin - with Mother Pig.

Mother Pig told her triplet piglets it was time for them to oink on their own and become responsible boars in world. In this printable activity, you see the scene of Mother Pig saying good-bye to her youngins'. This is a good FOLLOW DIRECTIONS activity to tie into the story.

Goldilocks and the Three Bears Activity

Preschoolers love to draw lines almost as much as the love the classic story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. After reading the tale to youngsters, have them complete this match-up activity. The line drawing can be done with fat pencils, crayons, or whatever your little one is best at holding. Copy and paste the JPG to a word document for best printing.

Which sweet treat is different?

This is a great comparison activity for preschoolers to have fun with for Valentine's Day. This comparison activity features five different sweet treats. In each row, one differs from the other. Children have fun and learn while circling the odd sweet treat in each row.

Two Little Feet

This is a great rhyming activity which promotes movement and action. This finger and foot play can be used as an opening activity for your story time or circle time program

TWO LITTLE FEET

One little foot goes tap, tap, tap  (tap 1 foot)

Two little fingers go snap, snap, snap (snap with 1 hand)

Two little feet go clump, clump, clump (stomp with 2 feet)

Two little hands go thump, thump, thump (tap hands on thighs)

One little body turns right around

One little body will sit right down