{Learning to Read Activities}

Mr. 4 has become very interested in reading and learning, I think mainly because his 'big bro' is a very independent learner and also partly because we encourage it a lot in our house. 

Each week I put up a new word on the fridge for each son. They are each at a very different stage of learning, so the words account for that variation. It takes no time at all to prepare, especially when the template is done and you just update the new word. I have a few 'word of the week' templates saved and just print off the next one each Sunday night ready for the week ahead. 

Some examples for my 4 year old learning his 2 letter words:
at - it - be - on - to - do - am - so

Some examples of the words my 6 year old is learning:
perseverance - versatile - isolated - contemplate - fortunate - collaborate - persuade - satisfy
(I also add the meaning and an example of the word for my older sons word).

Another step I have taken with my 4 year old to help him practice the words we learn, is a game he has called the 'car park game'.  This is a great way to take something my son loves and use it to benefit both the fun element and the learning too.

Here I just printed off the page and added it to the quiet book I made for him a while back {link here} after laminating it.
Simply said, you get a few different cars and I challenge him by asking:
- "Can you drive the red car to the number 13?"
- "Can you drive the train to the word 'at'?"  etc...

He gets such a kick out of it, but in all honesty I thought he would play with it for about 5 minutes. He carried it around with him for the majority of the day and just played. Little did he know he was actually practicing sight words. In my opinion, the best learning with kids is done when they are actually having fun! 

Lauren x

{Nativity & Advent Calendars}

A few weeks ago, I visited 'The Yellow Dresser' for the first time. I picked up this gorgeous Advent calendar (and a few other gorgeous things) and couldn't wait to fill it with things to count down to Christmas. 
I searched for ideas, and there were a tonne of them thanks to google and pinterest mainly. I decided to keep it simple and I came across a lady who had a free printable on her blog of exactly what I wanted. All the hard work was done for me! {Here is the link} to the printable for the advent and this is an example of one of the days.





I chose not to add treats, as I wanted the excitement each day to be mainly about what happens next in the story. They definitely remind me to do it and it has become a real highlight for us.
Another good advent printable I found from one of my favourite bloggers, Be a Fun Mum, can be found {here} also. 

The other addition this year (which I wish I had found years ago) was an idea I had to make some visual aids to support the bits of the story we read each day. I found some images of the nativity online and simply printed them off, laminated them and glued magnets to the back.


Both my kids have been playing with them on the fridge and we sometimes use them to act out or help tell the part of the story we are up to. 
***tip: rather than buying expensive magnets form the craft store, save the large 'calendar magnets' you get given free in the mail from tradespeople etc... and cut up and glue on laminated pictures. Because of this and the laminating pouches I had, this cost me nothing***
{click for image of the nativity characters}
{click for image of the background}

I hope the lead up to Christmas isn't too stressful and you are taking some time to enjoy it with your loved ones.
Lauren x

{Preschooler Craft Day}

Yesterday I had one of 'those days' with my three year old. If you have had a three year old, I know you are on the same page right now. Mister mischief just seemed to wake up on the wrong side of the bed and the day followed suit until he crashed at 6:00!

I was determined to not repeat this performance. Once the kids went to bed, I had a cuppa, took a breathe and decided to plan craft day. I visited the only place open after normal hours, my local Kmart.

These kits were $5 each and such great value!!

DIY Cars

The great thing is that there is no glue needed, as they are all adhesive stickers. So, no sticky mess! There is plenty of opportunity to practice fine motor skills. There were a tonne of stickers left over, so just print off some plain car templates and you can keep the fun going.



He was so proud of himself and has been playing with them ever since! We might try this one later today also:
Can definitely recommend to have these on hand for an easy preschoolers craft. I think my 6 year old would even enjoy this!
Lauren x

{The Number Car Game : Sneaky Learning}

Well, yesterday I had one of those days with my 3 year old where I bet grey hairs were getting ready to sprout and I wanted to tear every one of them out!
So. Today. New Day.
There are a tonne of things I could have done this morning, but I made the choice to focus on him today. I made up a game that he absolutely loved! Better than that, it cost me nothing and took minutes to create!

Whilst we used cars, you could use whatever you like for this (stuffed toys, dolls, a button collection, little toy farm animals etc). I am focusing on 1-20 numbers here, but again, do what your child is comfortable with (1-5, 1-10).