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Free Spring Printables for Preschoolers

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Are your little ones getting spring fever yet? My four-year-old is super excited about going to the park now that the skies are turning blue and the air is getting warmer. (Yes, I know we can go to the park during winter, but I’m from Florida, so no.)

To help her along with her preschool lessons, I use a lot of printables for preschoolers and so today I’m sharing free spring printables for preschoolers that are wonderful for helping young ones work on basic early childhood skills while enjoying a fun spring theme!

Check out the list below and be sure to browse our list of spring books for kids that you can read together this year!

Work on essential early childhood skills with these free spring printables for preschoolers!

Free Spring Printables for Preschoolers:

1. Birds and Bugs Spring Playdough Mats – Look! We’re Learning!

2. Printable Flower Petal Counting Activity – My Mundane and Miraculous Life

3. Name Recognition Flower Garden – Totschooling

4. Spring Preschool Worksheets – Mess for Less

5. Butterfly Identification Cards – Look! We’re Learning!

6. Flower Names Building Printable – A Dab of Glue Will Do

7. Spring Sight Words Flashcards – Look! We’re Learning!

8. Bugs Preschool Worksheets – Learning 2 Walk

9. Rainbow Letter Match Free Printable

10. Over the Rainbow Playdough Mats – Look! We’re Learning!

11. Printable Flower Counting Book – Fun-A-Day

12. Catch a Bug Printable Game

13. Printable Spring Flower Flashcards – Look! We’re Learning!

Preschool Playdough Mats: Rainbow Playdough Mats

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Seasonal allergies aside, I absolutely adore spring. Next to fall, it’s my favorite season. Well, summer might be in the running also, which tells you how I feel about winter. 

We don’t see rainbows that often in our area, but when we do, they are gorgeous. If I happen to see one while driving, I’ve been known to shout “Look, kids! A rainbow!”

They’re just as fascinating to me now as they were when I was a kid.

Printable Rainbow Play Dough Mats for Kids

For our newest preschool playdough mats, I wanted to share one with a fun spring theme. And that’s why today we have our Over the Rainbow Playdough Mats!

Guess what? They’re FREE! Read on to see how to get yours!

To round out your spring unit, check out these adorable spring crafts for kids to make. And for more rainbow fun, don’t miss our Rainbow Number Word Matching Puzzles!

Pick up these printable rainbow playdough mats for some colorful fine motor fun with early learners!

Preschool Playdough Mats: Rainbow Playdough Mats

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

Printable Rainbow Playdough Mats

You can use these without laminating them, but you probably won’t be able to reuse them a second time if you do.

If you’re waffling on buying a laminator, they’re totally worth it. 

Printable Rainbow Playdough Mat for Kids

This product includes one color rainbow mat and one black and white mat, so it’s a great way to talk about colors with preschoolers as well!

Using a Rainbow Playdough Mat

Since these rainbow mats use several colors, kids can break out many colors of playdough to use together. That’s always fun. 

Rainbow Preschool Playdough Mat for Kids

Work on one color row at a time and make sure that kids can recognize and name each one before moving on.

Making a Rainbow Out of Playdough

This is also a good fine motor activity, because preschoolers can use their hands to form the playdough into ropes and then mold them to fit the mat pattern.

Preschool Rainbow Playdough Mats

Once kids follow the color playdough mat pattern, they can recreate it on the black and white mat.

Or just come up with their own color scheme instead!

Kids will love making their own colorful rainbows with these rainbow playdough mats!

Scroll down to get your free Over the Rainbow Playdough Mats!

Don’t miss these other preschool playdough mats while you’re here!

Help tots and preschoolers practice letter and number literacy with these spring literacy mats! These are wonderful for welcoming the warmer weather with little ones!

This printable rainbow number word puzzles set is so fun for helping early learners recognize numerals and number words!

And pick up our Spring Sight Word Flashcards to help get preschoolers reading!

Work on early literacy skills with this fun set of printable spring sight word flashcards! Perfect for spring reading!

And see more ways to make learning fun for early grades on my Learning for Little Ones Pinterest board!

This free preschool playdough mats rainbow pack is a super spring activity for PreK!

To get your free copy of our Over the Rainbow Playdough Mats, sign up for our email newsletter!

You’ll get these printables, and lots more, in our exclusive Subscriber Library! Just use the widget below to enroll.

NOTE: If you don’t see your welcome email, check your spam folder.

Learning about colors is so fun with these printable preschool rainbow playdough mats! Laminate them and use them over and over again for quiet play!

Free Winter Printables for Preschoolers

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Winter is a great time to get kids excited about learning! Especially when the weather is so awful no one wants to venture outside. 🙂

If you have older kids (like I do), it can be tough to keep your younger ones involved in your homeschooling lessons. Our preschooler always wants to be at the table with her older siblings during class, no matter what we’re learning about. I could be teaching organic chemistry and she’d want to be involved.

So I use a lot of preschool printables to keep her learning along with the older kids. If you enjoy using winter printables with your children, these free winter printables for preschoolers are a fun way to let your younger kids get involved!

And if you love these, don’t miss our printable winter sight word flashcards – perfect for working on early reading skills!
These free winter printables for preschoolers are a wonderful way to get your younger learners involved in a winter unit!

Free Winter Printables for Preschoolers

1. Free Snowflake Counting Flashcards – Look! We’re Learning!

2. Printable Winter Clothes Dress Up Busy Bag – Teaching Mama

3. Printable Winter Easy Pack for Kids – Kids Activities Blog

4. Winter Printable Pack for Toddlers and Preschoolers – Totschooling

5. Printable Winter Nature Walk Trivia – Rain or Shine Mamma

6. Roll A Snowman Printable Game – Kiddy Charts

7. Free Winter Coloring Pages – Crafty Morning

8. Free Winter Printable Activity Pack – A Little Pinch of Perfect

9. Printable Winter Bucket List for Preschoolers – No Time for Flashcards

10. Winter Color by Number Printables – Itsy Bitsy Fun

11. Color the Snowman Buttons Printable – Gift of Curiosity

12. Winter PreK/K Pack – This Reading Mama

13. Arctic Animal Flash Cards – Look! We’re Learning!

Winter Playdough Mats for Kids

100 of the Very Best Picture Books for Preschoolers

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I’ve been a parent for nearly 13 years and we have four children. So I can tell you that it’s easy to get into the “routine” of parenting – just kind of going from day to day trying to keep your head above the water.

But something happens when your last child begins preschool. Personally, that snapped me out of the routine mindset and into the “treasure every moment” way of thinking. The thought that this is my last child to teach at home was a real jolt.

Piglet started PreK this fall, so we’re officially teaching our very last preschooler. And, since she already has a good grasp on letters, numbers, colors, counting, and shapes, I want to spend a lot of her preschool year exploring wonderful children’s books.

So I thought I’d make an ultimate list of the very best picture books for preschoolers. There are 100 of the best children’s picture books on this list, including modern stories and classic picture books that preschool-aged kids will love to read! But be warned, parents: Expect to read a lot of these over and over again.

If you love these selections, don’t miss our preschool homeschool reading list for this year!

These picture books for preschoolers include classic stories and modern titles for parents to share!

100 Picture Books for Preschoolers

This post contains affiliate links. See our Disclosure Policy for details.

1. Giraffes Can’t Dance by Giles Andreae

2. The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle

3. The Pout-Pout Fish by Deborah Diesen

4. Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak

5. Waiting is Not Easy! (An Elephant and Piggie Book) by Mo Willems

6. The Most Magnificent Thing by Ashley Spires

7. The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister

8. Press Here by Herve Tullet

9. The Wonderful Things You Will Be by Emily Winfield Martin

10. Are You My Mother? by P.D. Eastman

Memorable Picture Books for Preschoolers - Look! We're Learning!

11. Ada Twist, Scientist by Andrea Beaty

12. First 100 Animals by Roger Priddy

13. Richard Scarry’s Cars and Trucks and Things That Go by Richard Scarry

14. My Mouth is a Volcano by Julia Cook

15. The Going-to-Bed Book by Sandra Boynton

16. Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans

17. Good, Good Father by Chris Tomlin

18. Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr

19. Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown

20. Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey

Preschool Picture Books to Read - Look! We're Learning!

21. The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein

22. Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes! by James Dean

23. Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss

24. Hands Are Not for Hitting by Martine Agassi, Ph.D.

25. Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney

Preschool Playdough Mats: Apple Tree Counting Mat

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try-a-fun-way-to-teach-counting-to-your-preschooler-this-apple-tree-printable-counting-mat

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!

PreK Apple Tree Playdough Counting Mat

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!

Practice counting and fine motor skills with this fun playdough apple tree counting mat!

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.)

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

Supplies For the Apple Tree Playdough Counting Mat

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

Using the Apple Tree Counting Mat

Just add four apples to each tree and count them.

Counting by Four with Apple Tree PreK Playdough Mats

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

Fall Playdough Mats

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!

Use these printable fall playdough mats to teach your little ones to form letters and numbers!

Early learners will love practicing shape recognition with these apple shapes worksheets for preschool!

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

50 Fall Books for Kids

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

apple-tree-counting-mat

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!

Free Unit Studies

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

Ten 10 Minute Preschool Activities

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Have you ever spent an evening planning an activity for your preschooler only to find that it lasted all of 10 minutes? I have. It’s extraordinarily frustrating.

I cannot tell you the number of times I made that mistake with Tigger when she was younger. I’d meticulously plan a unit study, complete with books, games, activities, crafts, and more – only to find that she’d lost interest after just a few minutes.

But let’s be real: Preschoolers are not known for their long attention spans. Which means that when it comes to activities, the quicker the better. And if the setup is also simple, then that’s a win-win!

So here are ten 10 minute preschool activities that are fun, easy to set up, and educational! Don’t worry. With these, your preschooler won’t have time to get bored!

Ten Minute Preschool Activities

Image c/o: dmitrimaruta / depositphotos

Ten 10 Minute Preschool Activities

  1. Pick a part of the human body and do a craft about it. These can be as simple as a cut-and-paste activity. For example, try this simple hands-on craft about taste buds!
  2. Read a great picture book with your preschooler. If you need book suggestions, check out my list of the best picture books for three-year-olds!
  3. Practice scissor cutting skills. Learning to use scissors is an important preschool skill. This set of bee-themed scissor practice printables is simple to set up!
  4. Go on a nature walk. Take your child outside and look at the plants, animals, and insects in your neighborhood. If you have a lot of trees nearby, grab these free leaf identification flashcards and see how many you can spot!
  5. Learn sign language. ASL is a wonderful language for both deaf and hearing kids and you can learn to sign a few words in just a few minutes! Check out this video to learn how to sign weather words in ASL.
  6. Look through a kids’ cookbook and find a recipe to make together. This list of fun children’s cookbooks features some great selections!
  7. Do a simple science experiment. In just a few minutes, you can show your child a scientific principle or two! Try this quick experiment to learn how to make an egg float!
  8. Design a map of the solar system. Use this set of free printable solar system flashcards to set up a universe on your dining room table!
  9. Make moon sand. When the weather’s nice outside, take your preschooler outdoors and make this recipe for colored moon sand together! It’s an awesome play material and a great way to incorporate sensory integration in your day.
  10. Create a batch of edible play dough. This recipe for edible dairy-free play dough is super fun and super easy to make!

10 Ten Minute Preschool Activities

Try these other activities for early learners!

Harry the Dirty Dog Activity for Tots and PreK

Harry the Dirty Dog Extension Activity

How to Teach Preschoolers to Play Quietly

How to Teach Preschoolers to Play Quietly

The Best Picture Books for Three-Year-Olds

The Best Picture Books for Three-Year-Olds

For more preschool learning ideas, follow my Learning for Little Ones board on Pinterest!

And for more ideas to teach kids of all ages, check out The Big Book of Homeschooling Ideas!

The Big Book of Homeschool Ideas by iHomeschool Network
This post is part of the “Useful Tasks You Can Do in 5 to 60 Minutes” linkup from iHomeschool Network! Stop by to see the other quick tasks you can get accomplished in your homeschool!

iHomeschool Network Useful Tasks You Can Do in 5 to 60 Minutes

How to Teach Preschoolers to Play Quietly

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Are you homeschooling more than one child? If so, you’ve probably dealt with the challenge of getting your preschoolers to play quietly while your older kids are working. When I first started this school year, I envisioned all of my children sitting quietly at the table working together.

Here’s the problem with that scenario: Roo and Pooh are three and four years old, respectively. They’re not going to sit quietly on their own for long.

Instead of peacefully working, Roo took to making faces at Tigger while she was trying to work and Pooh busied himself by asking me a million and one questions. Something had to give.

Fortunately, I learned a wonderful way to teach preschoolers to play quietly and I’m sharing it with you all today!

How to Teach Preschoolers to Play Quietly

How We Taught Our Preschoolers to Play Quietly

What helped us get our preschoolers to play quietly? Morning Time.

When you get a chance, click over and read the post about Morning Time at Hodgepodge to find out what it entails, but it’s basically a training session to help the younger kids get used to working quietly by themselves.

I decided to let them listen to a Bible drama about the 10 Plagues and play with LEGO DUPLO Blocks. It did take a few tries to help them understand that they actually had to be quiet for about 20 minutes, but they got the hang of it by the end.

Tips for Getting Preschoolers to Play Quietly

That picture right there? A thing of quiet beauty and a joy forever. 🙂

We also instituted a list of Quiet Time activities. Since the boys aren’t reading yet, I made a sheet with pictures of quiet activities they can choose from.

They can select which one they want to do and then stick with it for 20 minutes while I finish a lesson with Tigger. It’s working so far!

Quiet Time Activity Cards

If you’d like to use a Quiet Time activity list with your kids, feel free to download our free Quiet Time Activity Cards! You can cut them out, laminate them (here’s an affiliate link for my favorite laminator), and let your preschoolers pick which activity they’d like to do!

To get your set, click the image or the link below to download them!

Learning Printables from Look! We're Learning!

>>>Free Quiet Time Activity Cards<<<

Teach Preschoolers to Play Quietly

Resources to Help Preschoolers Play Quietly:

Here are some more excellent resources to help your kids learn to enjoy quiet play!

For more resources for your smallest learners, follow my Learning for Little Ones board on Pinterest!

And get even more ideas for parenting little ones below!

The Best Picture Books for Three-Year-Olds

The Best Picture Books for Three-Year-Olds

Free Printable Flashcards: Alphabet Animals - Look! We're Learning!

Free Alphabet Animals Flashcards

Ten Minute Preschool Activities

10 Ten Minute Preschool Activities