I loved reading Sandra Smidt’s book, An ABC of Early Childhood Education: A Guide to some of the Key Issues. It’s so wonderfully laid out and easy to read. It’s based on research but written so that anyone can understand it with lots of stories and anecdotes to keep you glued to the page. Here […]
FREE 2015-2016 Monthly Calendar for Kids
Edit: January to December 2021 calendars are available HERE. Are you looking for a 2015-2016 monthly calendar to use for the next school year? This one’s great for colouring, calendar time and as a reminder of special days throughout the year. I received a question this week asking if I was going to create a new calendar […]
Telling Time
Do you love telling time with your kids? If so, I have created a printable to help! And yes – both US and Australian spelling versions are covered. This month I’ve joined Playdough to Plato as a Creative Team Member, so each month I’ll be posting a free printable there and I’ll make sure I […]
My Little Alphabet Books
These little alphabet books are the cutest ever! I love tiny books and from the huge response to these free Little Math Books I guess it’s not just me! Luckily, kids like them too and get a real kick out of making an 8-page book from one piece of paper. So today it’s the alphabet. […]
Syllables When You Only Have A Minute
Learning about syllables is important for developing readers and writers. Not only is it fun, but kids gain confidence when they can hear the smaller sounds that make up words. Getting the hang of syllables is a PERFECT skill to practice in short bursts so it’s also perfect for our ‘when you only have a minute’ […]
Solving Visual Patterns in Preschool: Research Says We’re Wasting Time
Asking young children to find, copy and extend patterns is a common math activity in preschools and kindergartens the world over. We encourage it because we want children to be able to see the relationships between objects which helps them problem solve later on. But according to recent research* our most common patterning activities aren’t […]
Hands On Weekly Activity Plans: A Review
Today I’m doing something I’ve never done before… a product review. And the reason is because I believe you’ll find these activity plans from Jamie at Hands On: As We Grow hugely helpful and useful. I was not given the product for review, and there are no affiliate links here. I bought the weekly activity […]
End of Year Treasure Keepers
At the end of the school year we like children to have a keepsake to remind them of the year and their friends. One way of doing this is for the children to write little notes or draw pictures to give to each other. Even having small paper scraps with their friends’ names on them […]
Number Stories When You Only Have a Minute
Number stories are a great way to bring mathematics to life for young children and they are embedded in every maths curriculum I’ve ever seen from early childhood through high school. They’re engaging for kids and encourage them to think about how numbers work in the ‘real’ world. So this is the focus for this […]
Storytelling with Jack and Jill
Storytelling is deeply ingrained in all cultures and for young children it is a way of expressing what is flowing through their imaginations. Storytelling is also an excellent approach in developing early literacy skills such as understanding how stories are put together, expanding children’s vocabulary and how to use words to change or edit the […]