If you’ve been enjoying our free printable flashcards series, we hope you’ll love today’s entry!

So far, we’ve featured flashcards for learning colors and shapes, but this set of free printable flashcards alphabet animals cards lets you teach the letters from A to Z with animals!

Most kids love animals and, in this set of free printable flashcards alphabet cards, you can use an animal to introduce each letter – from A to Z!

These are so fun for young learners! Plus, they’re an excellent introduction to beginning letter sounds.

Read on to see how to get your set – free!

And, if you want to help kids begin practicing their handwriting, check out our companion Alphabet Animals Notebooking Pages for letter writing practice!

What’s In the Free Printable Flashcards Alphabet Animals Set?

To use these free printable flashcards alphabet animals cards, you’ll need the following: (Affiliate links are included in this post. For details, see our Disclosure Policy.)

• Printer (with ink)
• Printer Paper
• Scissors
• Laminator (useful for keeping the cards intact)

In this set, you’ll find free printable flashcards for every letter of the alphabet – each one featuring a different real or imaginary animal!

Featured animals include:

• Alligator
• Elephant
• Monkey
• Orangutan
• Xiphias (Swordfish)
• And 21 more!

You can use the cards to help kids learn animals, letters, letter sounds, or all three concepts!

You might even want to use the set as an introduction to an animal unit.

Try teaching the kids how to make each animal’s sound or how to move like each animal.

For the imaginary animals, ask the kids where they think an animal like that might live or how it might interact with people.

Place each card on a binder ring for easy use again and again!

Get a look at the alphabet animal flashcards in action in the video below.

Resources for Learning the Alphabet

If you’d like to even more resources to teach your children the ABCs, try these alphabet books and activities for little learners!

Books for Teaching the ABCs

1. The Alphabet Book – P.D. Eastman
2. AlphaOops!: The Day Z Went First – Alethea Kontis
3. Eric Carle’s ABC (The World of Eric Carle)
4. A Is for Apple (Trace-and-Flip Fun!)

Alphabet Crafts and Activities for Kids

1. Magnetic Letter Alphabet Soup Activity – Pre-K Pages
2. DIY Preschooler Alphabet Flip Book – Crystal & Co.
3. Sensory Alphabet Hunt – Mess for Less
4. Fall Alphabet and Letter Playdough Mats – Look! We’re Learning!

Try these other ideas for early readers!

To get your set of our A to Z Animals: Alphabet Animals Flashcards, click the image or the link below!

You’ll get the cards sent to your inbox – plus, you’ll get our weekly newsletter this weekend!

>>> Printable Alphabet Animal Flashcards <<<

The post Free Printable Flashcards Alphabet Animals Cards appeared first on Look! We're Learning!.

>

Piglet and I have been working on her handwriting and phonics skills for months, so I thought she’d have a little fun trying her hand at creative writing.

And spring is a great time to be creative!

Naturally, I thought she’d enjoy some of her own spring worksheets for kids: these new printable spring preschool story prompts!

Helping kids learn to write about their thoughts and guesses at a young age is a good way to help them write without fear later on.

These printable preschool writing prompts can help.

Read on to see how to get your own copy of these spring writing printables!

And, for more spring learning fun for early learners, don’t miss our Birds and Bugs Playdough Mats for Preschoolers!

Spring Stories! Spring Preschool Story Prompts

To use these early creative writing prompts, you’ll need the following: (This post contains affiliate links. For details, see our Disclosure Policy.)

• Printer (with ink)
• Printer paper
• Pencils (Side note: I’ve never really used the larger primary pencils for my preschoolers, but they may be helpful if your child is working on pencil grip skills.)

The prompts include four different scenarios for preschoolers to write about.

They can write and draw about their favorite thing about spring.

They can write and draw about their favorite spring animal.

They can express what they like to do in spring.

And, to get more specific, they can write or draw about what they want to do this spring.

Plus, they can draw a picture of what they think could happen afterwards. Let’s see these in action!

How to Use Early Creative Writing Prompts with Kids

As an English major, creative writing is one of my passions.

There’s just something about putting pencil to paper (or fingers to keyboards, these days) and starting off down a road of creative thought.

You kind of have an idea of where you’d like to go, but you’re always surprised at the things you come up with along the way.

The same is true with little writers!

Open-ended questions give them a chance to put their imaginations to work. And, after all, writing without imagination is like…like…not writing at all.

Each of these spring creative writing prompts has a line for kids to finish the sentence. At the bottom, there’s a box for them to draw a picture of what they wrote.

This spring, Piglet wants to play basketball. That’s her shooting the ball into the hoop in the picture.

I will say that I had to read the sentence out to her and help her spell the words. The rest she did herself.

After each initial prompt is a second page asking kids to write what they think will happen next.

This is a simple way to introduce creative writing to preschoolers: ask them to come up with an image and then predict what might happen afterward.

Piglet’s answer to what will happen after she plays basketball was: “Bounces”.

Naturally, she drew a picture of the ball bouncing after falling through the net.

Hmmm….what to do next? Color the pictures!

And that’s what she did. She was so proud of her work that she gave her masterpieces to her older siblings.

This was a fun (and quick) language arts lesson for her.

We spent about 15 minutes on one of the prompts and she got to practice handwriting, creative writing, art, phonics, and spelling – all in one activity!

Scroll down to get your printable Spring Preschool Story Prompts!

Don’t miss these other spring learning printables!

To get your copy of our Spring Preschool Story Prompts, click the image or the link below to grab the product from my Teachers Pay Teachers store!

>>> Spring Early Creative Writing Prompts – Teachers Pay Teachers <<<

This post is part of the Homeschool Writing Prompts linkup at iHomeschool Network! Stop by to get more fun writing prompts for your students from my fellow bloggers!

The post Spring Stories! Spring Preschool Story Prompts appeared first on Look! We're Learning!.

So this week I’m sharing a brand new printable set of preschool mats: Mountain Playdough Shape Mats!

These are super fun for little ones who are working on fine motor skills, shape recognition, and more!

Plus, they’re a perfect activity for preschoolers who are working on a geology unit along with their older siblings.

Read on to see how to get yours for free!

And don’t forget to stop by and check out some of our other preschool printables, including our Apple Tree Counting Mat and our Beach Playdough Number Mats!

Preschool Playdough Mats: Mountain Playdough Shape Mats

To use these mountain playdough shape mats, you’ll need the following: (Affiliate links provided for convenience. For details, see our Disclosure Policy.)

• Printer (with ink)
• Printer paper
• Playdough
• Laminator
• Do A Dot Markers (optional)

Once you laminate these mats, you can use them again and again, so here are a few different ways to use them with your preschoolers.

Give your child a Do A Dot marker and challenge him or her to fill in each shape with a different color. Or each dot with a different color.

You can even ask your child to make a color pattern (one green circle, one red circle, one blue circle, then repeat it).

Hand out circular stickers and let your child stick them into the circles. This is particularly great for toddlers or for times when you want to avoid a potential mess.

Use playdough to fill in the circles. Have your child roll small bits of dough into circles and place them in each circle to form each shape. This is excellent for fine motor practice.

Give your child dry erase crayons and bring the mats along when you’re going to a place you’ll have to wait.

Good choices include the doctor’s office, the drive-through, or a long car ride. Toss a basic washcloth into the car and use it to wipe off the mats for reuse.

Don’t miss these other preschool resources!

Plus, get more ideas for working with preschoolers on my Learning for Little Ones Pinterest board!

To get your copy of our free Preschool Playdough Mats: Mountain Do A Dot Shape Mats, sign up for our email newsletter! You’ll get these and lots of other exclusive learning printables when you subscribe!

This post is part of the Mountains Unit Study roundup! Stop by to read even more learning ideas about mountains from my fellow bloggers!

Adventurous Mountain Books your Tween will Love from Crafty Mama in ME

Children’s Picture Books About Camping from The Jenny Evolution

Mountain Sequencing Puzzle from Schooling a Monkey

Making a Mountain Out of A Mole Hill from Tales Of Education At Home

My Side of the Mountain Survival Lessons from FrogMom

The post Preschool Playdough Mats: Mountain Playdough Shape Mats appeared first on Look! We're Learning!.

The first day of spring is approaching! Woohoo!

Since Roo has been working on sight words lately, I thought I’d make some spring sight words flashcards and I’m sharing them with you all today!

Learning to read sight words is a huge leap forward for early literacy skills. It’s the first step toward reading short stories.

Preschoolers and kindergartners who master sight words will be on their way to reading in no time!

These are so fun for working on early reading skills with preschoolers and kindergarteners!

Plus, you can use them for matching games, writing practice, and more!

Read on to see how to get your set.

If you enjoy these, be sure to check out our other spring resources, including our Busy Bee Scissor Skills Worksheets and our All About Flowers printable unit!

Spring Sight Words Flashcards for Kids

To use these spring sight words flashcards, you’ll need the following: (This post contains affiliate links. For details, see our Disclosure Policy.)

• Printer (with ink)
• Printer paper
• Scissors
• Laminator (for making the cards sturdy)
• Hook and loop adhesive coins (optional)
• Dry erase markers (optional)

These flashcards feature eight spring-themed sight words, including:

• Bird
• Seed
• Rabbit
• Duck
• Garden
• Flower
• Rain
• and Day

There are three sets of cards: one with pictures and words, one with just pictures, and one with just words.

Once a child learns to recognize the words and pictures together, try reviewing the word cards to help them start identifying sight words on their own!

How to Use Spring Sight Words Flashcards with Early Readers

Introduce these noun spring-themed sight words to students by reviewing all of the cards together.

Be sure to read through each word carefully. Spell it out loud with your students.

Talk about the pictures on each card as well. This can be especially helpful for ELL students.

Use the picture matching cards to build confidence and recognition skills.

Move on to the labeling cards for students who are ready to read the words on their own.

You can also laminate the cards and let students use the blank labels to write the sight words themselves.

Or add hook and loop adhesive coins to turn these into reusable matching activities for centers!

Scroll down to pick up your set of spring sight words flashcards!

Don’t miss these other spring learning ideas for kids!

These Spring Sight Words learning cards are included in our Seasons of Sight! Sight Words Learning Cards set!

With this resource, you can introduce your students to 32 seasonally-themed noun sight words and use a hands-on approach for mastery.

A handy sight words chart is also included.

See this product in full in the video!

The post Spring Sight Words! Spring Sight Words Flashcards appeared first on Look! We're Learning!.

But winter is a lovely theme for preschool. Kids love working with lessons that feature snow, snowmen, icicles, penguins, and all those adorable winter animals.

So I decided to overlook my bias toward winter and share this super cute printable winter preschool activity set!

This is such a neat way to spend a day of teaching with early learners! There are three activities inside that little ones will love to do during the cold months.

Read on to see how to get your copy – free! And for more early learning winter fun, take a look at our Mitten Memory Preschool Memory Game!

Printable Winter Preschool Activity Set

To use this printable winter preschool activity set, you’ll need the following: (This post contains affiliate links. For details, see our Disclosure Policy.)

• Printer (with ink)
• Printer Paper
• Child-safe scissors
• Pencils

This activity set includes three winter-themed printables:

• A Finish the Winter Pictures symmetry activity
• Two Miniature Winter Puzzles
• And a Match A Snowflake Game!

Print these out and let the kids practice finishing the pictures and putting the puzzles back in order.

The Match A Snowflake Game is a great way for two kids to learn and play together. Or you can play with your little one for a fun family game!

Or pack them in a resealable bag for a DIY busy bag you can take along when you head out with the kids!

Scroll down to get your copy of our printable winter preschool activity set!

Check out these other fun winter learning ideas!

And see more ways to make winter fun for little ones on my Winter Activities for Kids Pinterest board!

To get your copy of our printable winter preschool activity set, sign up for our email newsletter! You’ll receive these and lots of other exclusive learning printables in our Subscriber Library!

The post Printable Winter Preschool Activity Set appeared first on Look! We're Learning!.

Kids love the ocean too! And that’s why I thought that the ocean would be a fun theme for a new set of number and literacy playdough mats for preschoolers. These are so perfect for summer alphabet and number learning!

Little ones can use these playdough mats and their favorite playdough colors to form all of the uppercase and lowercase letters from A to Z and the numbers from 0 to 9!

Read on to see how to get your copy of these alphabet and number ocean playdough mats!

And, for more early literacy fun, check out our printable rhyming word puzzles! Plus, check out all of our fun playdough mats for kids while you’re here!

Ocean Commotion: Literacy Playdough Mats

To use these ocean literacy playdough mats, you’ll need the following: (Affiliate links are provided here. For details, see our Disclosure Policy.)

• Printer (with ink)
• Printer Paper
• Laminator (recommended for best results)
• Playdough

This set of ocean playdough mats includes 36 different printables:

• 26 mats featuring uppercase and lowercase letters from A to Z
• 10 mats featuring numbers from 0 to 9

To use them, let the kids choose their favorite playdough colors and form long ropes.

Once they make the “ropes”, they can connect them to trace the letters and numbers on the mats.

It’s also fun to use ocean-themed playdough colors for this activity!

Working with playdough is an excellent way to build fine motor skills, because it allows little ones to practice molding and forming – a great introduction to the skills they’ll need for writing later on.

Plus, they’re excellent for quiet play!

Scroll down to get your set of our Ocean Number and Literacy Playdough Mats!

Don’t miss these other early literacy activities for kids!

The post Ocean Commotion: Number and Literacy Playdough Mats appeared first on Look! We're Learning!.

Working with basic patterns is an important math concept for early learners. So why not make it fun?

Little ones always love to use their hands whenever they can. Which is why I wanted to make a set of colorful cars pattern clip cards!

These little printables are perfect for small hands to work with when learning basic AABB and ABAB patterns.

Plus, they’re just fun to look at!

Read on to see how to get a copy of these pattern clip cards for your young learners!

And, if you want more great resources for early childhood, take a look at our transportation crafts, including our Toilet Roll Racecar Craft and our Paper School Bus Craft!

Colorful Cars Math Pattern Clip Cards

To use these cars pattern clip cards, you’ll need the following: (Affiliate links are listed below. For details, see our Disclosure Policy.)

• Printer (with ink)
• Printer Paper
• Laminator (optional)
• Scissors
• Clothespins
• Dry erase markers (optional)

This product includes 12 color car-themed pattern clip cards.

Each card displays a math pattern (AAAA / ABAB / AABB) in the form of colorful little autos.

The student’s job is to figure out which color car comes next in the pattern.

A blackline version is included of each page.

And there’s a full answer key!

How to Use the Colorful Cars Pattern Clip Cards

To use these math pattern clip cards for kindergartners, print the pages and cut them out.

You might want to laminate them for durability.

Use the teaching script to introduce the concept of patterns to your students.

Then use the guide to explain how the patterns are represented on each card by the different car colors.

Once your learners are familiar with the concept, let them get to work using clothespins to mark the car that comes next in each pattern.

The enclosed answer key makes a great addition to math centers!

Simply print the answer cards and place them on a ring. Students can practice matching their clip card choices to the correct cars.

Have students who like a challenge? Let them create their own color AABB and ABAB patterns with the blackline cards!

They can decide which colors to use and then create a clip card of their own for their classmates to solve!

Don’t have clothespins? This also works with dry erase markers!

Just laminate the cards and let your learners circle the correct car to complete each pattern. Wipe clean and start over as often as you like!

Scroll down to get your set of our Colorful Cars Pattern Clip Cards!

Don’t miss these other early learning activities!

The post Colorful Cars Pattern Clip Cards appeared first on Look! We're Learning!.

Are you in the fall mood yet?

We had our first actual cool weather day here yesterday and it was wonderful.

I put on my favorite sweater, walked out the door, and enjoyed a hot coffee. Of course, we’ll have highs in the 80s again later this week, but for those few minutes, it really felt like fall had arrived.

Fall is a great time to focus on building sight word skills with students.

If you’re working on sight words this year, these fall sight words flashcards are a fun way to strengthen reading skills and get into the fall spirit!

Keep reading to see how to get your copy.

By the way, be sure to take a look at our Fall Alphabet and Number Playdough Mats too!

Printable Fall Sight Words Flashcards

To use these fall sight words flashcards, you’ll need the following: (Affiliate links are listed below. For details, see our Disclosure Policy.)

• Printer (with ink)
• Printer paper
• Scissors
• Laminator (if you want to reuse them later)
• Hook and loop adhesive coins (optional)
• Dry erase markers (optional)

These flashcards are perfect for kids who are working on sight word skills, whether they’re toddlers or even first graders!

In this early literacy resource, you’ll find flashcards for the following fall-themed sight words:

• Apple
• Bear
• Cat
• Cow
• Farm
• School
• Night
• And School!

There’s also a blank set of cards without the words so that kids can practice identifying each picture.

A set of cards with just the words is also included to help students learn to recognize the words alone.

There’s also a set of cards with the words only to practice recognizing the words on their own.

How to Use the Fall Sight Words Flashcards with Students

There are several ways to use these fall noun sight words learning cards in the classroom.

Cut apart the picture cards and let students practice identifying each item before introducing the written words.

Add in the written noun sight word flashcards and practice identifying each picture by reading the words.

Students who are ready to practice writing can use the blank word labels to write the sight word for each card.

You may wish to laminate the cards and hand out dry erase markers for the labeling activity.

Keep the flashcards nearby for students to check their work at centers or in morning tubs.

You can even add hook and loop adhesive coins to turn the matching activities into reusable practice at centers.

For even more fall fun, check out the following kids’ books about fall as well as some fun fall crafts and activities for children!

Kids’ Books about Fall

1. Hooray for Fall! by Kazuo Iwamuara

2. Fall (The Seasons) by Nuria Roca

3. Mouse’s First Fall by Lauren Thompson

4. I See Fall by Charles Ghigna

Kids’ Fall Crafts and Activities

1. Fall Playdough Recipe – Learn Play Imagine

2. 50 Free Fall Printables – Look! We’re Learning!

3. Fall Button Tree Quiet Bin – Hands On As We Grow

4. Leaf Stamping Fall Tree Craft – Crafty Morning

5. Fall Snow Globe Craft – Look! We’re Learning!

Get even more ideas for learning about fall below!

To get your copy of our Fall Sight Words Flashcards, pick up our Seasons of Sight Seasonal Sight Word Learning Cards set!

The fall sight words learning cards are inside, plus noun sight word practice for spring, summer, and winter too!

Watch the video to get a look at this resource in full!

The post Fall Sight Words Flashcards appeared first on Look! We're Learning!.

If you’re teaching toddlers or preschoolers this year, you’ll love using these mats to help them work on fine motor skills and letter/number recognition!

Plus, it’s always fun to play with playdough, even for adults!

By the way, don’t miss our other preschool playdough mats, including our apple tree counting mat – another easy fall project for PreK!

Preschool Playdough Mats: Alphabet & Number Fall Playdough Mats

To use these preschool fall playdough mats, you’ll need the following: (Affiliate links provided here for convenience. For details, see our Disclosure Policy.)

• Printer (with ink)
• Printer paper
• Laminator
• Playdough

This pack includes:

• 26 letter mats showing both uppercase and lowercase letters
• 10 number mats showing the numbers 0-9

To use these mats, show the kids how to roll their playdough into rope-like shapes.

Once they form the playdough ropes, they can connect them together to trace the shapes of the letters and numbers on the mats.

We decided to use fall-themed colored playdough as well.

There are mats for each letter – from A all the way to Z! So if you’re using letter of the week with your preschoolers, you can choose one letter per week and work on practicing forming the letters as you go.

Plus, there are printable fall playdough mats for the numbers 0-9 as well!

Be sure to laminate them before you use them with any playdough, especially if you want to reuse them at another time.

Scroll down to get your Alphabet and Number Fall Playdough Mats!

Toddler Books about Fall:

Make this activity into an easy fall pre-k unit with these fun toddler books about fall!

1. Fall Is Here by Frankie Jones

2. Fall Mixed Up by Bob Raczka

3. I Love Fall! by Allison Inches

4. Fall by Roger Priddy

Homemade Playdough Recipes:

Need some ideas for making your own playdough for use with these mats? Check out these simple recipes!

1. DIY Edible Playdough – Look! We’re Learning!

2. No Cook Playdough – The Imagination Tree

3. Kool-Aid Playdough – Look! We’re Learning!

4. Cotton Candy Playdough – Mama Miss

Don’t miss these other fall activity posts!

The post Preschool Playdough Mats: Alphabet and Number Fall Playdough Mats appeared first on Look! We're Learning!.

Piglet, our youngest, is starting PreK this year. She is so excited about it.

Of course, she also thinks that she will begin kindergarten immediately after the first day of preschool.

Since she’s working on PreK concepts, I’ll be sharing a lot more preschool resources this year, including preschool playdough mats!

Here in the U.S., we’re all gearing up for fall, so here’s a fun Playdough Apple Tree Counting Mat you can use with your toddler or preschooler too!

Read on to see how to grab this for your students.

And for more apple fun, don’t miss our Apple Alike! Same or Different Worksheets or our Apple Preschool Counting Puzzles!

Preschool Playdough Mats: Apple Tree Counting Mat

Here are the supplies we used for our mats: (Affiliate links provided here for convenience. For details, see our Disclosure Policy.)

• Printer (with ink)
• Printer paper
• Scotch Thermal Laminator
• Play-Doh – 24 Pack of Colors

That’s it! You definitely want to laminate these first so that they can be reused.

Since the apples are grouped on the trees in sets of four, this was a simple way to work on skip counting.

Just add four apples to each tree and count them.

Use a different color to work on counting and sorting. (How many green apples are there? How many red apples are there?)

Then a little reinforcement. If there are four green apples on this tree and four green apples on this tree, how many green apples are there altogether? Oh, so four plus four is how much?

Next thing you know, your preschooler will be saying that 4 x 2 = 8.

Scroll down to get your copy of our Playdough Apple Tree Counting Mat!

Check out these other fall learning ideas for preschoolers!

And don’t miss our list of awesome fall books for kids to share this year!

Get more ideas for fall fun with kids from my Fall Activities for Kids board on Pinterest!

Grab your copy of our Printable Apple Tree Counting Mat for free when you sign up for our email newsletter! You’ll receive access to this printable, plus loads of other learning resources, in our exclusive Subscriber Library!

This post is part of the Free Unit Studies roundup! Stop by to see more fun posts about Apples and Pumpkins from my fellow bloggers!

Corn Kernel Fall Tree Craft from Play Dough & Popsicles

Kids in the Kitchen: Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins from Crafty Mama in ME

Learning About Pumpkins {Free Printables Round Up} from Faith and Good Works

Books about Pumpkins for Kids from CraftCreateCalm

Pumpkin Recipes for Kids from FrogMom

Harvest Theme Word Search from Tales of Education at Home

Board Books About Apples and Pumpkins for Toddlers from The Jenny Evolution

Pumpkin Science Activities from iGameMom

Apple Read and Play from My Storytime Corner

Pumpkin Preschool Printables from Living life and learning

Pumpkin Patch Alphabet Match from Schooling a Monkey

Apple Sight Word Game from Books and Giggles

Challenge Math – Apple Theme from Planet Smarty Pants

The post Preschool Playdough Mats: Apple Tree Counting Mat appeared first on Look! We're Learning!.