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)