Week 1 Preschool Homeschool Activities Round Up

We’ve finished week 1 of our Preschool Homeschool Learning Moments. If you missed my description of what learning moments are and how I’m using them for early preschool activities, you can go check that out here! 

One of the important things about homeschool is setting a routine. Since Camden is only 2 1/2, our routine is pretty loose. The most important thing I’m looking for him to understand is: right now it is learning time. That means, we have an activity we need to do, and we’ll have regular playtime afterward.

Two and a half is just starting to head into an age where he can understand that, so I’m just going with the flow.

Here are the activities we did this week:

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Guided Learning Moments – Week 1 Preschool Homeschool

Nature Scavenger Hunt

𝘚𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘴 𝘗𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘥: listening to directions, using visual/tactile clues, observation, problem-solving

𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘰 𝘔𝘢𝘬𝘦: Grab the printable nature scavenger hunt here. 

𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘰 𝘜𝘴𝘦: Head out to a natural/green space and go searching! Read each clue and then look for the objects together. Ask questions when your child finds each object(s): 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘥𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘪𝘳𝘥 𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘭𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨? 𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘥𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘬𝘴 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 – 𝘴𝘮𝘰𝘰𝘵𝘩 𝘰𝘳 𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩? 𝘞𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘥𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘴𝘵? etc.

𝘉𝘰𝘯𝘶𝘴: 𝘍𝘰𝘳 𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘭𝘦𝘳𝘴, 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘥𝘳𝘢𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘣𝘫𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘢 𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘳𝘢𝘸 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘩𝘰𝘮𝘦.

Color Sorting

Skills Practiced: color recognition, grasping, transferring objects, sorting, noticing similarities and differences, counting

How to Make: You can make color mats with simple construction paper. Laminate them if you want them to hold up better. Use half sheets for easier storage. I used craft foam sheets because that’s what I happened to have.
Collect object that can be sorted into colors. I used colored craft sticks – once again, use what you have – but some other ideas are: colored counters, crayons, blocks, magnet tiles, math cubes, legos, even stickers will work! If you have none of that, cut pieces of construction paper or craft foam into fun shapes to use as color sorters!

How to Use: Lay out the mat and tell your child he is going to match all the colors with their ‘home’ or ‘base’ or whatever is fun for them to call it. Camden says he is putting them with their mamas. 😂 Then have them sort and verbalize the color as they sort. “Red!” or “This is red!”

Bonus:
1. Time them and challenge them to beat their time.
2. Count the objects after sorting. Cam struggled with 4, so I pulled one off each so he was just counting to 4 to practice a hard skill.
3. Ask them to walk around the room and find more colored objects to put on the mat.
4. Ask them to mix them all up and put the wrong colors on every mat. It’s just as important to be able to unmatch as it is to match!

Independent Learning Moments – Week 1 Preschool Homeschool

Water Sensory Bin

𝘚𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘴 𝘗𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘥: pouring, scooping, sinking/floating, splashing, tactile

Click here for the full Water Sensory Bin post, including how to make, use and extend the activities!

Construction (Packing Peanuts) Sensory Bin

Skills Practiced: scooping, pushing, transferring, pouring, grasping
.
How to Make: fill a bin with packing peanuts (or small foam blocks). Add construction toys – we have a pack of $10 friction push cars from Amazon. If you have a crane or dump truck, those can be great for practicing transferring. We have also poured the peanuts into a large box lid to give more space for scooping and pouring.

How to Use: it’s independent play, so let your child have at it! You can make suggestions – show her how to scoop, pour, transfer, but leave it up to her if she chooses to do those things.

Bonus:
Stick some removable road track tape  to the bottom of the box or bin, so as they push the peanuts or blocks, they discover the road.

Treasure Chest Learning Moments: Week 1 Preschool Homeschool

Making Cookies

Skills Practiced: cutting, measuring, following directions, creative/decorating, baking

How to Make: Put all your supplies for cookie making in the treasure chest. I used premade cookie dough because it was in our fridge, but you can put dough ingredients – flour, sugar, etc – too. I also ended up adding some cookie cutters in (not pictured).

How to Use: Have your child open the treasure chest and guess what you’re doing today! Then have him take the lead on making cookies; preheat the oven, roll out the dough, sprinkle decorations, etc.

Bonus: When you’re all finished, ask her to tell you what you did to make the cookies. Practicing retelling your day or parts of your day is an important skill for kids, and making cookies has some clear-cut steps they can repeat!

Embrace the mess of cooking with your child! There WILL be sprinkles everywhere; you can vacuum later.

My focus is to provide Camden with at least 1 structured activity each day, as well as one independent activity.

My plan right now is to ‘school’ 3 days a week, have a playdate with his best friend once a week, and have a playground/grocery pickup/errand morning once a week.

But sometimes he is asking for more activities, so as long as I have something ready to go, we’re all good!

Coming up this week: painting (treasure chest), movie night/popping popcorn (treasure chest), shape sorting magnet board, and the color drop sorter from our newest Lovevery box!

If you want to follow along in real-time and see videos of the activities, make sure you’re following my preschool Instagram account – HomeLearningWithLisa . Or subscribe to the blog to get weekly updates on all our preschool activities!