Preschool Weekly Lesson |

Week 23 Lesson

Language Development:

Messy Books

Read some books about getting messy such as Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes, I Really Like Slop (Elephant and Piggie), Mud Puddle, and Harry the Dirty Dog. While you read talk about the characters reacting to getting messy and how they clean themselves up.

Social Emotional Development

Messy Fun

It’s important to stay calm when your toddler is messy and encourage safe, messy play when appropriate. Some children are worried when hands are sticky or dirty but staying calm and cleaning them up happily is a great way to teach your child not to worry – and to reinforce healthy handwashing routines!

Physical

Shaving Cream Writing

Work out those fine motor muscles while you get messy! Spread shaving cream on a tray or counter and see how many letters, numbers, and shapes your child can write.

Cognitive Development

Finger Paint Shapes

Take finger painting to the next level by encouraging your preschooler to draw shapes in the paint. You can also introduce a letter or two as your child is ready and willing.

Creative Activity

Splat Painting

Try out this fun and messy art activity using paint, water, sponges and a wooden spoon. http://taminglittlemonsters.com/splat-painting-process-art-activity-for-kids/

Week 22 Lesson

Language Development:

Spooky Stories

Setup a campfire in your living room (paper towel tubes and tissue paper) and take turns telling some made up silly stories. It’s important that your preschooler understands the different between reality and fantasy. This is a fun way to explore that while “camping” at home!

Social Emotional Development

Friendship Bracelets

Being apart from friends is so hard for everyone right now! Encourage your child to make a friendship bracelet with beads and string, yarn, or pipe cleaners. Send it in the mail to a friend or loved one. It’s great practice for their fine motor skills and a good way to connect with friends even when you’re apart.

Physical

Camping Fun

Camping is all about fun physical activities in nature. Go for a nature walk, a family hike, bike ride or fishing adventure to get your bodies moving. Add in a scavenger hunt for an extra challenge!

Cognitive Development

Rock Letters

Write letters on small stones or rocks and have children build their names, sight words, or rhyming words.

Creative Activity

Will Your Boat Float?

Provide various materials like straws, tape, tinfoil, and popsicle sticks to see who can make a boat that can float in the bathtub, sink, or pool.

Week 21 Lesson

Language Development:

Pete the Cat

The books in the Pete the Cat series are fun and easy to follow with a lot of repetition, making them perfect for our young learners. Enjoy an old favorite like Four Groovy Buttons or one of the newer selections like Magic Sunglasses. Encourage your child to read along with you and turn the pages on their own.

Social Emotional Development

“It’s ALL Good”

It’s all good is one of Pete the Cat’s mottos! He has a positive outlook regardless of what is happening around him. When your preschooler gets upset about something that happened, be positive and calm and remind him that “it’s all good!”

Physical

I Love My White Shoes

Head out on a walk and see how many colors you can walk through, walking along and singing a song.

Creative Activity

Magic Sunglasses

Design your own magic sunglasses and start seeing the world in a new way! https://picklebums.com/free-printable-crazy-glasses/

Cognitive Development

Four Groovy Buttons

Develop math skills with this fun counting activity: https://lifeovercs.com/button-counting-cards-for-numbers-1-10/

Week 20 Lesson

Language Development:

STEM Vocabulary

Incorporate terminology from STEM into your day to day play with your children. For example: Which one is longer? Is this short or tall? Which one is the largest? Let’s make a hypothesis – take a guess! What might happen? Etc.

Social Emotional Development

How Many Drops?

Sometimes preschoolers just need a quiet, repetitive activity to calm their anxiety. Provide an eye dropper and some watercolor liquid and see how many drops it takes to fill a saucer or cupcake tin. The repetitive motion and counting will allow your child to take a breath and focus energy in a purposeful way.

Physical

Cup Building

Stacking cups isn’t just great for hand eye coordination but also for developing cause and effect, problem solving and overall cognitive function.

Creative Activity

M&M Rainbow

Combine two favorites with this fun experiment that uses science and candy to explore the art of color mixing! https://littlebinsforlittlehands.com/mm-candy-experiment/

Cognitive Development

Spaghetti and Marshmallow Towers

Explore the design process by challenging your preschooler to create a tower with dry spaghetti and marshmallows.

Week 19 Lesson

Language Development:

Story Time with Laura Numeroff

Laura Numeroff’s books are predictable, repetitive, and fun! Read the series with your preschool child and they’ll be able to test out their prediction and retelling skills. These are pre-reading skills that will benefit your young reader for years to come!

Social Emotional Development

Cupcakes for Cat

Read If You Give a Cat a Cupcake and work together to bake cupcakes. Baking is an excellent exercise in math, science, turn taking, and following instructions.

Physical

Donut Cloud Dough

Work out those fine motor muscles and have some sensory fun with If You Give a Dog a Donut cloud dough. Check out the recipe here: https://lifeovercs.com/if-you-give-a-dog-a-donut-by-laura-numeroff-lesson-plan/

Creative Activity

Pancakes for Pig

Read If You Give a Pig a Pancake and have some fun making a paper plate pancake stack like this one! Mix brown and yellow to make a tan colored paint and then layer your painted plates to look like a stack of hotcakes. Drizzle on some syrup (glue mixed with a little brown paint) as a finishing touch!

Cognitive Development

Story Sequencing

Try out this fun If You Give a Mouse a Cookie story sequencing activity: https://homeschoolpreschool.net/if-you-give-a-mouse-a-cookie-sequencing-printables/ Story sequencing help children put events in order, pull out important details from a text, and work on important pre-reading skills.

Week 18 Lesson

Language Development:

The Scientific Method

Introducing your preschooler to the terminology of the scientific method is a good way to increase vocabulary and encourage communication. Ask questions, make predictions, experiment, observe, talk about the results, rethink and retry.

Social Emotional Development

Germs!

It’s more important than ever that your child knows how to properly wash hands independently. It’s also important for them to understand WHY! Try out this experiment to properly illustrate germs and the importance of proper handwashing technique. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KirHm_sYfI

Physical

Bounce!

Investigate what makes a ball bounce this week as you experiment with a variety of balls you have around your home – tennis, bouncy, wooden, whiffle, etc. See which bounce and which don’t and explore the different height of the bounces. Talk about the materials and the motion.

Creative Activity

Salt Painting

Squeeze a design onto cardstock using white glue, sprinkle with table salt, and tap off excess. Use a paintbrush or eye dropper with liquid watercolor paint to add some color to your design.

Cognitive Development

Balloon Rockets

Can you move a balloon from one side of the room to another without touching it? Construct a balloon rocket using straw, tape, a balloon and string. Problem solve and experiment to discover how to make it happen!

Week 17 Lesson

Language Development:

Retelling Stories

Many of the books by Eric Carle are familiar enough to your preschooler that you can explore retelling. Have your child “read” the book to you, turning the pages one at a time, and using words like first, then, and last. These are all important language skills for young children that will be learning to read very soon!

Social Emotional Development

Grouchy Ladybugs

Read The Grouchy Ladybug and talk to your child about what makes him grouchy and why being grouchy sometimes is OK. Make a journal entry with the prompt “It Makes Me Grouchy When…” and your child can illustrate their response.

Physical

Hungry Caterpillar Hole Punching

Using a hole punch is an excellent activity to boost fine motor skills. Use this link to download a Hungry Caterpillar themed hole punching activity. It’s also a good way to review counting, colors, and food vocabulary. https://booksandgiggles.com/hungry-caterpillar-activity-free-printable/

Creative Activity

Mixed Up Chameleon Art

Have you read The Mixed-Up Chameleon? It’s a great story about a chameleon that tries to be like everyone else until he learns about his own strengths and uniqueness. Make your own chameleon by painting a piece of paper all different colors using different objects to add texture – try plastic forks, cups, Q tips, etc. Assist your child in cutting out a chameleon shape.

Cognitive Development

Caterpillar Counting

Combine art and math with this caterpillar fingerprint activity. Print the following resource or make your own. https://funhandprintartblog.com/fingerprint-counting-printables-for-spring.html

Week 16 Lesson

Language Development:

Flag BINGO

Have some fun exploring the flags of the world and learning the names of different countries with this free flag BINGO. https://www.adventure-in-a-box.com/flags-of-the-world-bingo-printable-game-for-kids/

Social Emotional Development

Me on the Map

Preschoolers can begin to learn where they live but need a good visual to understand their place in the world. Make circles of increasing size and label to make a Me on the Map visual – start with Our Home, Our Town/City, Our State, Our Country, Our Continent, and finish with Our Planet. Include pictures, maps, flags, etc. to make this even more meaningful.

Physical

Global Dance Party

Listen to music from around the world and have an in-home dance party to get some energy out!

Creative Activity

Passports

Make a passport and collect stickers or stamps for all of the countries you decide to research this week! https://www.makeandtakes.com/wp-content/uploads/Mini-Passport-Book-Template.pdf

Cognitive Development

Paper Cup Pyramids

Look at pictures of pyramids and then test your problem-solving skills by building your own with paper or plastic cups!

Week 15 Lesson

Language Development:

Pigeon Puppets

Learn to draw Pigeon using this guide and make a Pigeon puppet to retell the Mo Willems books you’ve read. http://pigeonpresents.com/content/uploads/2020/02/NCS_draw-pigeon_v3.pdf

Social Emotional Development

Pass the Ice Cream

Develop sharing skills with this ice cream game inspired by Should I Share My Ice Cream? https://www.sunnydayfamily.com/2016/09/sharing-activity-for-preschoolers.html

Physical

Pigeon Rhyme Race

Work on rhyming skills as the Pigeon races to get back on the bus! https://growingbookbybook.com/mo-willems-books-dont-let-pigeon-drive-bus-activity/

Cognitive Development

Pigeon Counting Game

Reinforce counting skills with this fun Pigeon counting game. https://www.prekinders.com/pigeon-counts-game/

Creative Activity

Make a Knuffle Bunny

Develop fine motor skills with this painting and lacing activity that will give your child his or her very own Knuffle Bunny! https://buggyandbuddy.com/knuffle-bunny-art-project-for-kids/

Week 14 Lesson

Language Development:

Summer Journals

A journal is a nice way for children to reflect on experiences, express themselves, and develop writing skills. Staple paper together, provide drawing and writing materials and give a weekly prompt. Start this week by drawing a picture of summer and describing what you see.

Social Emotional Development

Listening Games

Red Light, Green Light and Simon Says allow children to practice listening carefully, following instructions, and modifying behavior in line with expectations all while having fun in the summer sun.

Physical

Ice Cream in a Bag

Put those muscles to work as you shake up your ice cream in a bag! Follow the recipe here: https://www.delish.com/cooking/recipe-ideas/recipes/a54721/ice-cream-in-a-bag-recipe/

Cognitive Development

Watermelon Numbers

Matching a quantity to a numeral is an important skill for preschoolers. Have some fun matching numbered watermelon slices to the correct number of seeds. Free printable here: https://frugalfun4boys.com/watermelon-math-activities/

Creative Activity

Lace Up Sun

Paint a paper plate yellow, punch holes around the outer edge, lace a piece of yellow yarn through the holes to make a sun.

Week 13 Lesson

Language Development:

Water Letters

Combine letter recognition and formation with your child’s love of water play! Check it out here: https://www.raisingdragons.com/colorful-water-letters-activity/

Social Emotional Development

Water Fun

Water play can be calming or energizing depending on the activity. Tailor your activities around your child’s mood and emotional state. Provide a small bin of water and some scoops and cups to calm your child or head out with water balloons and a sprinkler to be energized.

Physical

Sponge Squeeze

Squeezing a sponge is a good way to build up fine motor muscles. Setup two buckets in a line, one with water and a sponge. See how quickly your preschooler can fill the empty bucket using only the sponge!

Cognitive Development

Number Splash

Draw numbers on the ground with sidewalk chalk and have your child race to splash a water balloon on the correct one. You can do the same with letters, shapes, colors, or sight words depending on your child’s readiness.

Creative Activity

Bubble Painting

Add food color to bubble solution and blow colorful bubbles onto paper outside.

Week 12 Lesson

Language Development:

Spooky Stories

Social Emotional Development

Friendship Bracelets

Physical

Camping Fun

Camping is all about fun physical activities in nature. Go for a nature walk, a family hike, bike ride or fishing adventure to get your bodies moving. Add in a scavenger hunt for an extra challenge!

Cognitive Development

Rock Letters

Write letters on small stones or rocks and have children build their names, sight words, or rhyming words.

Creative Activity

Will Your Boat Float?

Provide various materials like straws, tape, tinfoil, and popsicle sticks to see who can make a boat that can float in the bathtub, sink, or pool.

Week 11 Lesson

Language Development:

Opposites

Use dinosaur toys or these free dinosaur cards to explore opposites with your child this week. https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/dinosaur-opposites-4749850

Social Emotional Development

I Am Special!

Preschool children should know that they are unique with individual talents, interests, and preferences. Celebrate this by asking your child questions about what their favorites are, what they think they can do very well, etc.

Physical

Dinosaur Stomp

Cutout dinosaur footprints and write letters, shapes, numbers, or sight words on them. Place on the floor inside or outside and see if your child can stomp on the correct print.

Cognitive Development

Dinosaur book

Research dinosaurs and make a book of dinosaur facts. Your preschooler can be the author and illustrator. Ask her to dictate the facts to you and then create pictures to match.

Creative Activity

Salt Dough Fossils

Mix 1 ¼ cups salt, 5 cups flour and 2 cups of water, knead by hand. Roll it into about ten balls. Flatten each ball into a circle and make an imprint with a small dinosaur toy. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes.

Week 10 Lesson

Language Development:

Construction Vehicles

Show your child pictures of construction trucks, name them and talk about what they each do at a construction site. Add in tools and construction worker equipment as appropriate. Here’s a free matching game you can use to reinforce the vocabulary. https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Construction-Truck-Matching-Game-592606

Social Emotional Development

Future Me

Talk about community helpers as related to building and construction in cities and towns. See if your child can indicate an interest in their future career.

Physical

Hammer It!

Use a plastic hammer to hammer golf tees into an inverted egg carton or piece of foam. Add in some math by patterning the different colored tees.

Cognitive Development

Lego Bridge

Look at images of bridges and then use Legos to build your own. See what objects it can hold and what will cause it to break.

Creative Activity

Lego Prints

Construct a building using Legos dipped in paint. Use a large piece of paper and different sizes of Legos to create an entire city!

Week 9 Lesson

Language Development:

Ocean Animal BINGO

BINGO is a great way to reinforce vocabulary words and practice important turn taking and problem-solving skills. Here is a link to a free printable – or you can create your own! https://www.giftofcuriosity.com/ocean-animal-bingo/

Social Emotional Development

Take a Deep Breath

A good way to teach your child to take a deep, calming breath is to have them smell a flower and then blow out the candle or blow a bubble.

Physical

Go Fishing

Attach a magnet and yarn to the end of an unsharpened pencil or wooden dowel to create a fishing pole. Cutout fish and add paper clips to them. See how many fish you and your child can catch! Add a challenge by adding letters, numbers shapes, or specific patterns to fish and asking to catch those.

Cognitive Development

Jellyfish in a Bottle

All you need is an empty plastic bottle, a disposable plastic bag, and some food coloring to make this cool ocean themed sensory bottle! Check it out here https://www.kiwico.com/diy/Science-Projects-for-Kids/3/project/Jellyfish-in-a-Bottle/484

Creative Activity

Measure it

Use Legos, Goldfish crackers or another small objects to measure ocean animal printouts or toys this week. Use words like long, short, longer, shorter, equal to, etc. to describe and compare the size of the animals.

Week 8 Lesson

Language Development:

Parts of a Flower

Review the parts of a flower with your child this week. Explore what flowers need to grow.

Social Emotional Development

Garden of Kindness

Cutout flowers and have some fun writing messages of kindness on each. Post them around the house or send photos to loved ones and friends.

Physical

Flower Arranging

Build fine motor skills by encouraging your child to arrange fake flowers into the holes of an upside-down colander this week.

Cognitive Development

Flower Counting

Matching a quantity to a numeral is an important math skill for preschoolers. Label plastic cups with 1-9. Have your child add the appropriate number of dandelions to each ”vase”.

Creative Activity

Flower Stamping

Cut toilet paper tubes into flower petals and stamp them into paint and onto paper.

Week 7 Lesson

Language Development:

Swat!

Write letters onto bug and butterfly cutouts. Give your child a fly swatter to swat each one as you call out the letter!

Social Emotional Development

Caterpillar Names

Children love anything to do with their name because it is the one thing that truly belongs to them! Create a caterpillar made up of circles this week. Each circle has one letter of your child’s name. Talk about how special a name is and why you picked the name for your child.

Physical

Lifecycle Movement

Curl up like an egg, crawl like a caterpillar, stay still like a chrysalis, and fly like a butterfly as you teach your child the life cycle of a butterfly.

Cognitive Development

Symmetry

This important math concept can be taught in a beautiful way this week with smoosh painting butterflies. Have your child drip or squirt paint in a pattern on one half of a paper, fold the other half on top and show how it is the same on both sides. Cut into a butterfly.

Creative Activity

Butterfly Beading

Exercise your child’s fine motor skills by inviting him to string small beads onto pipe cleaners. Twist the pipe cleaners together into a butterfly shape. Check out https://whereimaginationgrows.com/easy-pony-bead-butterflies/ for some inspiration.

Week 6 Lesson

Language Development:

Read in a New Way

Try out listening to audiobooks with your preschooler. Audible is typically a pay service but it is free while schools are closed. Check out the “Littlest Listeners” section for some great choices for your family.

Social Emotional Development

Cook Together

Following a recipe and your directions in the kitchen are a great exercise for your child’s social-emotional development. Taste, smell, touch and look at each ingredient as you continue to explore the five senses!

Physical Literacy

Nature Walk

Head outside and skip, jump, run, and walk your way through nature. Encourage your child to collect natural items along the way like small sticks, leaves and flower petals. Bring them home and paste them onto a paper plate to make a spring wreath.

Cognitive Development

Treasure Hunt

Make a treasure hunt in a bottle for your preschooler by placing rice and small objects into an empty bottle. Try buttons, paper clips, pennies, dry beans, beads, popcorn kernels, etc. See how many your preschooler can find!

Creative Activity

Soap Crayons

Try making a new type of crayon and let your child’s creativity run wild! https://childhood101.com/making-soap-crayons-recipe/

Week 5 Lesson

Language Development:

Tongue Twisters

Language games that use alliteration (repeated beginning sounds) like tongue twisters are great practice for your growing preschooler. Playing with letter sounds makes language fun. Try out some familiar tongue twisters like Peter Piper and then challenge your family to write your own!

Social Emotional Development

What’s Missing?

Collect five objects from around your home and tell your child to look very carefully at the objects. Cover them up with a blanket and remove one without your child seeing. Uncover and ask, “What’s Missing?” Repeat several times, adding objects as your child is ready.

Physical Literacy

Obstacle Course

Turn your home into a gym by setting up an obstacle course for your child. Include a tunnel, chairs to walk over or crawl under, jumping spots, or hula hoops to spin around in. This is a fun activity that burns energy and encourages gross motor muscle development and coordination.

Cognitive Development

Patterning

You and your child can have fun with patterns using almost anything in your home – Legos, buttons, cans of soda, hair barrettes, beads, etc. Begin a simple pattern and challenge your child to complete it. Change it up and repeat as often as your child is interested. See if they can challenge you by creating their own as well.

Creative Activity

Kitchen Tool Painting

Household items typically found in the kitchen can make great painting tools for preschool children. Try using a pot scrubber, straw, potato masher, or a whisk to see what type of masterpiece your child can create.

Week 4 Lesson

Math is all around us! Talking to preschool children about math in fun and engaging ways helps to build positive attitudes toward math for the future. Here are some fun ways to infuse math into your day:

Bake something together! Measuring flour, counting chocolate chips, and pouring in water are all excellent – and delicious – ways to learn about math together. Whenever possible, use math language while you cook such as fraction, more/less, cutting in half, etc. The more children hear these words in a relaxed setting, the less intimidating the vocabulary will be when they are sitting in math class!
Use snack time to work on beginning addition and subtraction. “You have two apple slices and I have one. How many do we have altogether?” “There are three Oreos. If I eat one, how many are left?”
Have some fun with measuring length and height! Give your child a collection of objects and let him/her measure them using Legos. Record the results. “This green dinosaur is five Legos tall. The T-Rex is seven Legos tall.” Use language to compare and contrast – taller, shorter, bigger, smaller, etc.
Go on a shape hunt in your neighborhood or around the house! There are a couple of options for this:
- See how many squares you can find – tiles on the bathroom floor, cheese slices in the fridge, windows in the living room
- Draw different shapes on a piece of paper and have your child go around and find each one

Week 1 Lesson

Indoor scavenger hunts are a great boredom buster and indoor activity for children. They keep children engaged while hunting around the house for items on the list. It also helps boot their thinking skills! Click here for a printable indoor scavenger hunt for young children!

During uncertain and stressful times, it is more important than ever to keep your child in a fun, relaxed environment filled with positive interaction, play, and learning! The PreK school year is a time to build Kindergarten readiness skills that serve as a foundation for lifelong learning.

Here are some simple activities you can do at home with your child to keep that learning going:

Literacy Activities

Read with your child every day! This is the single most important thing you can do for your child!
- Ask questions while you read
  - Who are the characters?
  - Where does the story take place?
  - What do you think will happen next?
  - Where is the front cover of the book? The spine? The back cover?
Have your child tell you a story
Sing songs
Recite nursery rhymes
Start a journaling practice; give a prompt such as “What’s your favorite thing to do outside?” and have your child illustrate the answer and then write down what they say
Practice rhyming – Dr Seuss books can help with this!
Play letter BINGO

Motor Skills

Throw and catch a ball
Jump over the cracks of the sidewalk
Walk, run, skip, and gallop
Toss a ball or beanbag into a laundry basket
Practice printing his/her name
Use child size scissors to cut out magazine pictures or straight, curved, zigzag lines
Make and explore playdough with this No Cook Playdough recipe!

No Cook Playdough Recipe

Mix 2 cups of flour with 1 cup of salt
Add 1 cup of water, a few drops of food coloring, and 1 teaspoon of oil; mix well
If your mixture is too sticky, add a bit more flour
PLAY!

Math Activities

Find shapes around your house – play I Spy!
Count all the cars on the street, cans in the cupboard, or books on the shelf
Learn your phone number
Sort objects by color, size, or shape; talk about which group has more, less, or is equal to
Match a quantity of objects to a numeral card (place one penny on the #1)
Draw numbers in sand or shaving cream; create numbers with playdough
Make patterns using Legos! Try ABAB (red, blue, red, blue), AABB (red, red, blue, blue), ABBABB (red, blue, blue, red, blue, blue)

Science Activities

Take care of your plants and plant seeds in egg cartons to get a jump start on spring
Collect rocks or stones while you walk outside; come home and paint them!
Play with water, measuring cups, and spoons
Blow bubbles!
Sink or float experiment with objects from around your home
Use magnets
Talk about the weather each day

Internet Resources

Kickstart Kindergarten

Download the Kick-Start Kindergarten Readiness book here for help with preparing children for the transition into Kindergarten. This book is full of activities that will support learning in the following areas:
- Oral language and vocabulary
- Emerging Literacy
- Social-Emotional Skills
- Math Exploration
- Science Investigation
- Fine and Gross Motor Skills

We hope these resources will help continue the learning at home – whether you are staying at home with your children during this time or continuing to send them to EduKids.

Please continue to watch your News & Notes for additional “Learn at Home” opportunities from your children’s teachers!