It is the end of an era. My youngest child finally knows his alphabet well enough that these homemade wall letter posters no longer make sense to display in my home as if we were a full-time preschool. Before I take them down, I thought I would share some of the ways these wall posters have worked ...
Baby/Toddler Learning
Dialogic Reading Cheat Sheet
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Everyone knows that reading picture books to children is good, but what you might not know is that NOT "reading" books might be even better. Don't worry...I’m not suggesting that you part with your child’s personal library quite yet. However, rather than simply reading the words on the page to your ...
Homemade Color/Pattern Card Game
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This homemade color and pattern matching card game was taken directly out of the book, The Toddler's Busy Book by Trish Kuffner. It's an easy way to teach kids colors and matching using leftover wrapping paper or construction paper. For older children, you can turn it into a traditional memory game, ...
Homemade Colored Shapes
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When I first learned about laminating with contact paper from the book, The Toddler's Busy Book, I admittedly got a little carried away with "laminating" everything. One of the things I made was this set of colored shapes to help my toddler learn both his shapes and colors. Recommended Age Range: ...
Which One’s Different? Cards
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Being able to classify objects is an important skill, and I can't think of anything easier than making these "Which One's Different?" cards (or making new sets once kids get tired of the first set). They remind me a lot of standard worksheets for preschoolers, though I'll admit I wouldn't think ...
Pocket Matching Game
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This idea was taken straight out of The Toddler's Busy Book by Trish Kuffner (pg. 177). Now that I have multiple kids, I don't need ideas to keep my toddler busy. The bigger kid does that without trying for the most part. However, when it was just me and my first toddler home alone all day, I used a ...
Homemade Letter Cards
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In general, I don't really think "flash cards" are useful tools to teach little kids anything (though I relied on them endlessly in college and grad school). The idea of drilling children to get them to memorize something doesn't appeal to me. However, my son really enjoyed looking at these cards ...
Homemade Color Cards
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I had fun making these homemade color cards when my son was around 15 months old. I get a lot of magazines (mostly for free through the e-rewards online survey program). When he was that age, he loved looking at pictures and naming things he knew. We didn't use these at home very often, but they ...
Michelle has a PhD in Engineering from Stanford University and a Bachelor's Degree from the California Institute of Technology. 