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I found this great game on pbs kids.org.  It is from the show Zoboomafoo and is a great Learning Preschool Computer game free!  I love it because kids look at the pictures and try to match up the picture with the word.  Once you click on the match for example, “Elephant” with the Elephant picture, then you can get up a picture of the animal, with the name written for your child to color in.  This is a great way to incorporate learning letters into kids natural love of animals.  So head over to Zoboomafoo and check it out!

The pictures are really cute!!  Let me know what you think!

photo credit: emrank

Pre K Learning Games

There are many different learning games and activities you can do with your child to prepare them for kindergarten.  More and more is expected of kids when they get to Kindergarten.  So exposing them to some basic things  like letters, numbers, stories, shapes etc will better prepare them for kindergarten.  Below are some fun pre k learning games and activities you can try.

• Play word Bingo, or Letter bingo- Make bingo cards with letters (or words – depending on the level of your child’s knowledge, there is a word bingo game I made on Toddler Craft) and then make letter cards and use change to mark your letters when the letter is called.  This is a great way to reinforce the letters, and it’s fun!
• Make a matching game with shapes on index cards.  Have your child match the shapes- squares, circles etc.  Pointing out the shape when you find it.  Another ideas is to color the shapes and then have the child name the shape and color and finding the matching shape and color.
• Read with your child, pointing to words as you read.  This way they start to see how you read left to right and get exposure to the idea of reading.  Show them the pictures and ask them what they think will happen next.  At the end of the story ask them to retell you the story you read.
• Get dot to dot books, with numbers and letters (starting with simple 1-10 ones ).
• Try to find all the number 3′s in the house, or a book. Then pick a different number or a letter.
• Whenever you have the opportunity ask your child to count with you, count going upstairs, count the number of apples you bought, the number of black trucks you can find etc.
• Work with them on spelling their name, use dots or help hold their hand.  Have them try to write their name on any work they create.
• Point out letters and letter sounds when you have the opportunity.  For example, Penguin, that’s a P word (saying the sound of the P) what letter makes the P sound?

There are so many things you can do to create fun Pre K learning Games, these are a handful to try to incorporate.

What games do you enjoy playing with your preschooler?

This is a really fun preschool and Kindergarten Learning Activity!  It’s a fun science experiment for kids and teaches about measuring, observations and making a hypothesis.

Supplies:

• 1-2 cups flour
• Pan with 1 or 2 inch sides
• 3 size balls
• Tape Measure
• Newspaper or try this experiment outside
• Notebook
• Pen or pencil for marking your observations and measurements in notebook

Steps:

1. Measure 2 cups of flour and put in a hill on the corner of pan
2. smooth out to cover the other parts of the pan.
3. Explain to your children that you are going to drop the balls from different heights, and record information about each time you drop it.  Ask them to form a hypothesis about what might happen with different size balls and when they are dropped from different heights.
4. Measure up 10 inches, drop first ball from that height, measure how wide the hole was and if it rolled, hopped etc.
5. Mark down if this was the largest, smallest or middle size ball.
6. Repeat at that height with the other 2 balls, smoothing flour after each one. Make sure to record the measurements and your observations.
7. Pick two different heights, and record the same information as above.
8. Talk about what you observed and if your hypothesis was correct.

photo credit: Franklin Park Library

What makes learning games for preschoolers so hard for parents to come up with is that we’re too busy seeing things from our “been there, done that” point of view.  Or (cringe) some can’t be bothered with play – leave that to the daycare teachers. Playing learning games with my 4 year old?  Isn’t that for the preschool teacher to do?  If you think that way, you are missing out on some of the best times of yours and your child’s life.

When you begin to look at building a tower with blocks as forming a future engineer or fixing a broken doll as the early learning experiences of a doctor or nurse, then you might take your role as a teacher of your child more seriously.

If you’re just not sure where to start, why not go to the same place the preschool teachers go – an educational supply store?  You might live in an area where there is an educational supply store that you can visit.

Here, you can read the books and touch the products – the games – that the preschool teachers use themselves (hey, even they need inspiration, too).  The owner of the store may be a teacher and will be more than willing to lend their ideas to you.  Just ask.

The next best thing is to Google “teacher supplies” or “educational supplies” and then browse these online stores.  Many of these sites will offer helpful advice and that may be all the help you need to get your mind churning out your own learning games for preschoolers. You can also google things like “learning games for kids” or “preschool games”. You will find many sites (including this one!) that have useful ideas for creating games with your child that enhance their learning experience.