motor skills

At play with baby: bouncing balls

January 17, 2011

A big ball, medium ball, and a small ball too… A red ball, yellow ball, and one the color blue… What can Clara do with three balls on the ground? She can push them, and follow them, and roll them around! The small ball is soft… The red ball is bumpy… The blue ball is [...]

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We made paper plate snowmen globes in preschool

January 6, 2011

No Time for Flashcards is always such an inspiration to me and where possible, I share her ideas with our teachers so we can try them too! This week, our Pre-K classes borrowed Ali’s snowman – snowflake craft idea! We gathered up… Small and large paper plates (with a small circle cut out of the center [...]

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Preschool large motor fun with tape shapes

January 3, 2011

Wy and I had a busy new year’s night trying all kinds of fun art activities but it was also nice just to do something geared more towards using our large motor skills… I started us off by making some shapes with yellow painter’s tape on the floor. Painter’s tape is always better than masking [...]

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Working on weaving in preschool

December 14, 2010

I have learned so much from others since I started Teach Preschool. I am always amazing at the creativity of all the other bloggers out there and I am constantly sharing the ideas I read about with the teachers and children from my school. As I continue the process of setting up classrooms, I want [...]

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Holiday activity boxes for preschool play

December 2, 2010

One of the most invaluable employees in our preschools is our curriculum coordinator. She has a huge responsibility and is amazing at her job.  One of her many jobs is to create and prepare what we call mini- “centers” or they could be referred to as “work boxes” or as “activity boxes”. Mrs. F is [...]

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Making lid soup at home with a two year old

November 23, 2010

I had a surprise visit from little Wy this week and we needed something to do so I set out the little table and chairs I keep in my office and a basket of dishes for us to play with… Wy set out all the dishes and that is when I realized that we need [...]

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Colorful fine motor play in preschool

November 14, 2010

The children have been exploring this wonderful color matching game…. The game board was colored with markers then laminated and the clothespins were painted to match each color… The children simply used their fingers to squeeze a clothespin and clip it on to the matching color on the wheel… It is a wonderful way to [...]

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Take time to let twos tumble in preschool

November 6, 2010

Young children have a need to get their energy out. They will do it in all kinds of ways – some of which you, as a teacher, may like and some you may not like! Keeping in mind that children have a need to get out all that energy out – it is up to [...]

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G is for Green grass cutting skills in preschool

November 5, 2010

I like to work on a little snipping practice when first introducing cutting skills to young children. To try a little green grass snipping, start with a half sheet of green construction paper… Invite the children to snip little lines all the way down one long edge of the construction paper. Then show the children [...]

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Building paper houses in preschool

November 1, 2010

I just love paper houses made from shapes so when I happened to see these houses hanging up in the classroom, I just had to share them with you. The children glued paper shapes together to create a house then holes were punched down the side of the houses for the children to add paper [...]

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The value of scooping and pouring and counting candy corn in preschool

October 27, 2010

If there is one area in my own professional development that I have come to appreciate more than ever, it is the value of sensory play. I have always included sensory play in my lesson plans but it hasn’t been until this past year that I have really taken the time to sit down with [...]

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Rainbow tracing in preschool

October 25, 2010

Rainbow tracing is a simple technique for helping children work on their fine motor skills, eye-hand coordination, and beginning writing skills. The technique is fairly simple. You give each child at least three different colors of crayons and a shape, number or letter to trace. The children begin by tracing the shape with their finger. [...]

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G is for gumdrops in pre-kindergarten

October 24, 2010

Yesterday, I shared with you how the children enjoyed making AB patterns with gumdrops for the letter “Gg” week in pre-kindergarten. Another activity the pre-kindergarten children loved was making gumdrop sculptures and designs… The teacher set out a bunch of gumdrops and toothpicks.  Other than showing the children how they can connect two gumdrops together [...]

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Making game mats for preschool

October 13, 2010

Many preschool teachers and stay at home moms spend hours on making games and activities for preschoolers. When I make a game mat, I like to make it colorful, simple, self explanatory, and as open-ended as possible.. I like to laminate most of my game mats so they can be used over and over again. Sometimes, [...]

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E is for elbow in preschool

October 8, 2010

I have already shared how we integrate the letter of the week with a tactile experience but I wanted to take a minute to elaborate on what we did for the letter E. Trying to find something that the children could glue on the letter E that started with the sound of the letter E [...]

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Q is for queen in kindergarten and big bottles of glue

September 26, 2010

I always enjoy visiting the kindergarten classes and seeing how much they can do. This week the children were working on the letter Q and part of their “work” was making their very own queens. Before getting started on this type of activity, the teacher has already shared with the children what will be included [...]

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