Learning Tools and Activities for Preschoolers

As a former teacher, I love to find ideas to help my little guys learn.  My two boys both learn very differently.  Logan, my 5 year old, has an excellent memory and learns by seeing and hearing very easily.  Luke, my 3 year old, is much more of a hands-on learner.  To help him learn his letters, I had to think of a different approach, since he doesn't remember them just by seeing them.  We got some foam letters (see-One Step Ahead ) and we put 6-8 or so of the letters on the floor at a time, and he jumps on the ones I call out, or throws bean bags at them.  The motion and movement has helped him to connect to them better and with less frustration than sit-down learning.

Here are a few other programs that I have tried with my boys and had success with.

Handwriting Without Tears (they have a curriculum for younger kids called Get Set for School that focuses on letter formation and pencil grip)    Here are some of their specific products I love:
1)  Wood Pieces for Capital Letters Set (has kids "build" their letters!)

2)  Roll-A-Dough Letters (more hands-on letter creation)

3)  Stamp and See Screen

4)  Flip Crayons (encourages proper pencil grip)




Kumon Workbooks (These books encourage basic pencil skills and motions for the early ages)  The books I especially like include:
1)   My First Book of Tracing
2)  My First Book of Mazes
3)  My First Book of Cutting
4)  Amazing Mazes (for the older preschoolers)

Hoodies!

My 5 year old has a thing for shirts with hoods.  Since I'm always on the look out for cute ones, I thought I'd share some of the ones I've come across.

77kids by American Eagle- Geo Block Hoodie

77kids by American Eagle- Houndstooth Hoodie

77 kids by American Eagle- Hooded Zip Striped Sweater

Children's Place- Hooded Rugby (this comes in toddler sizes only)

Kohls- Tony Hawk Striped Hoodie

J Crew- Popover Hoodie Sweater

Target- Oshkosh Striped Hoodie (This was out of stock online when I looked, I did find it at our local Target)

Amazon.com- Striped Hoodie- Light Weight

Mini Boden-  Striped Double Layer Hoodie    













Mini Boden- Icon Hoody (this comes in several cute styles)  

For the Easter Baskets...

Here Comes Peter Cotton Tail.... Hopping Down the Bunny Trail... Looking for some cute Easter Basket ideas for your preschool boy?  Here are some ideas!


ltd- light up bubbleizer














ltd- Geosafari Sea Scope











amazon- Jesus and the 12 Dudes Who Did







ltd- Milk Chocolate Dinosaur Egg










amazon- The Lord's Prayer












target- Hop DVD










target- Treasure Buddies DVD










target- Puss in Boots DVD














amazon- Angry Birds Umbrella










amazon- Thomas Uno (this game is very age appropriate and easy for preschoolers to understand)









Other Easter Basket- sized ideas include:  sidewalk chalk, markers, crayons, paint, stickers, sunglasses, hats (see my hat blog entry for ideas there!), matchbox cars, transformers, a new train for their set, playdough, nerf footballs, little flashlights, mini etch-a-sketches, bubble bath, or even new toothbrushes (nothing wrong with being practical too!).

Books for the 2-6 Year Old Boy

We read books everyday.  Our boys like a variety of them, but sometimes it is hard to know what to get to try something new.  Here are a few that have been  hits at our house.




Pirates Don't Change Diapers


















How I Became a Pirate













Elephant and Piggie Books





















Good Night Sweet Butterflies















This Little Light of Mine

















Chicka Chicka Boom Boom




















Chugga Chugga Choo Choo

Cool Gift Ideas for the 2-6 Year Old Boy

Before I had boys, I never had any idea of what one might like for a present!  Well, now I have lots of experience in that department, so here are some ideas to pass along (note, just for ease of posting, I have linked many of these to amazon.com... please know that there are many other sites out there that carry the same items!):

Amazon.com- Laser Light Star (great for your future astronauts or astronomers- this has beautiful laser lights that project a moving image of the constellations)




















Amazon.com- Hide and Seek Elephant (Our 3 year old got this for Christmas and LOVES it!  It comes with a wand that trumpets like an elephant, so you can hide the elephant and wave the wand... as you get close to finding it you can hear it trumpeting. )

















Amazon.com- Snowshoes- Snow Paws















Amazon.com-  Voice Changer













Amazon.com- Castle Marbleworks (this has bigger "marbles" and is good for the younger range of this age group- 2-3 year olds)

















Amazon.com- Trunkis by Melissa and Doug (these come in other colors too and are a must-have for the traveling kids!  Our kids rode them through the O'Hare Airport on a recent trip and had so much fun!)














Amazon.com- Mighty Machine DVDs (there is a whole series- our boys adore these "real life" movies!)















Amazon.com- Bruder Trucks (I have a whole blog post just about these trucks, I am such a fan!)














Amazon.com- Fisher Price Better Batter Baseball (a major "hit" every summer in our yard!)










Lego.com- Duplo Lego Farm  (my boys play Legos everyday-  at their ages 3&5 they still use the Duplo bricks most often when they play on their own.)





Lego.com- Lego Fire Transporter (this would be for the upper ages of this range- the 5 and 6 year olds who have played legos before

Pottery Barn Kids- Pirate Pool!








Mindware.com- Mindware Marble Run (this is for the upper age range- 4-6 year olds.  It comes with small marbles for use.)

Bruder Construction Toys- the BEST!

Our boys LOVE construction trucks.  We wanted to get them some new ones for Christmas this past year, but didn't want to get what they call "baby" trucks.  We were looking for something high quality and life like.  We found it in the Bruder line!  This line of construction and farm trucks is awesome.  They are well made and very real looking.  In fact, they are all over my living room floor right now!  My boys play with them almost every day.  If you are looking for a gift for your construction guy, check these out.  I have included the link to their main website, but you can also buy them on amazon.com as well.


Bruder Construction Series

Winter Coats on Clearance

I love to buy items off- season when possible.  I was looking for winter coats on clearance the other day, and came across some cute bargains.  Note that Sierra Trading Post often (almost always) has extra percentage off coupons- check Retailmenot.com before ordering!

Sierra Trading Post- Columbia Adrenaline Jacket
(I ordered this in the red/ grey/ black for my 5 year old for next year and really like it!)











Sierra Trading Post- Obermeyer Brody Jacket













Sierra Trading Post- Columbia Jack Frosty Jacket AND Snowpants Set











Sierra Trading Post- Snow Dragons Jet Jacket (This has cute detailing- meant to look like dragon scales)










Nike.com- Nike Fall Plaid Coat

Our Boys' Bedroom & Loft Beds!

Our boys share a bedroom, and we have an older house with limited closet space.  As they have gotten bigger, I have been running out of room in their little dressers!  This winter, we searched for a solution.  I wasn't quite ready for full-sized bunk beds yet.  They aren't quite old enough, and I was worried about my youngest growing up always being on the bottom bunk.  I want them to each have their own space!  We found a great solution- loft beds.  But the loft beds we found are not tall, they sit on top of extra storage space, AND they have a cool little cave that they boys can play in for a play place all their own!  Check out the link below.  They did take awhile to build, but were worth the effort!


South Shore Central Loft Beds