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The Preschool Box is full of fun hands on activities for preschoolers. The main focus of the box is to teach fundamental reading and math skills that will better prepare preschoolers for kindergarten. The preschool activities included are meant to be done with as much or as little parent assistance as needed. The skills introduced in each box build on previous skills taught in earlier boxes. I wanted to share some of the fun, hands on activities that are included in some of the boxes. The great thing about these activities are that you can reuse the materials to teach and practice other skills as well.
Sorting
Included in the first box is a sorting mat with a bag full of different fun, colorful materials for kids to sort. For the first part of the activity they are supposed to sort the red items on one half of the sorting mat and the blue items on the other half. Next, they are supposed to sort the yellow and green objects. On the back side of the sorting mat are four different boxes in which the objects can be sorted into four different sections- one for yellow, blue, green, and red. The bags include a few other colored objects which can be sorted on the mat as well. This activity not only teaches colors, but also how to sort. The objects can be sorted by size, texture, and shape. My kids really enjoyed just playing with the different objects, because who doesn’t love feathers, and glitter balls?! The mats come laminated so they will last for many uses. You can have your child find different colored objects around the house to sort on the mat or even use colorful cereal like fruit loops.
Counting Cups
One of the fun ways that we teach number recognition and counting to 5 is in the first box with our counting cups. For this activity you will find 5 plastic cups labeled 1-5 and a bag of small pom pom balls. For this activity you will have your child count the correct number of pom pom balls into the correctly labeled cup. For cup 1, we put 1 ball. In cup 2, we put 2 balls. My kids really liked this activity because for some reason putting small balls into cups is very entertaining. I did have to remind my 2 and 3 year olds to count as they put the balls in. This activity can be used for color practice and sorting as well. You can create this activity on your own by simply getting a piece of paper, drawing 5 circles and labeling each one with a number 1-5. Pick some small objects you have around the house such as beads, cheerios, or anything else small that will fit into the circles.
Pattern Necklaces
Most kids love crafts and pattern necklaces are definitely a win in our house. Crafts beads are easy to come by. You can find pony beads or other plastic beads at your local craft store. This particular activity is introduced in one of the later boxes after the different types of patterns have all been introduced. The first patterns we introduce are AB patterns. An example of an AB pattern would be blue, red, blue, red. An example of an ABB pattern would be green, red, red, green, red, red. An example of an ABC pattern would be red, blue, yellow, red, blue, yellow. Before creating a necklace, I would recommend reviewing the different types of patterns. I let my kiddos pick the different kinds of patterns they wanted to make on their necklace. They did some of the basic patterns but also created some patterns on their own, it was fun to watch their creativity unfold. You can also have your child practice counting the beads and work on color recognition.
For other preschool activities check out our blog on Five Summer Preschool Activities.