Pre-K YOUR Way 24 Day Challenge
Join hundreds of Parents, Homeschools, Preschools and Daycare providers that use Pre-K YOUR Way to support the children in their lives.
(Appropriate for children ages 2-6 years old)
The following activities come straight from the Pre-K YOUR Way Curriculum, taking approximately 15 minutes to complete. All materials needed to complete these activities are items typically found around a home (no need to go purchase anything specific).
Have fun!
Level 1: Beginning Academics
1. Hello Me - Real photos of family members is a wonderful way to help children remember events, but it is also a way for children to begin story telling, work on their memory recall and compare and contrast similarities. This activity walks you and your child down memory lane, asking your child to identify themselves in photos of when they were young, placing them in order based on their own age!
2. Different Vs. Same Name - Letter identification can be taught in a variety of different ways. It is fun to compare letters of the places and people that we know because it makes letters seem more meaningful! Complete this activity to introduce letter identification, sounds and pre-literacy concepts.
3. Movement Patterns - Did you know that children learn while they move? Sometimes, a little bit of movement incorporated into lessons helps them remember what they learned.
4. Color My Voice - Children are learning all of the time. Following directions includes something called "auditory processing". This activity is exciting for children as it is somewhat silly, but at the same time teaches them to be aware of sounds in their environment and cues to "start and stop"! Fine Motor control and Motor planning (how they use their body in space) is also included in this activity.
5. Sweep Freeze - Did you know that you can involve your child in cleaning? You can also incorporate a lot of learning within everyday tasks!
6. Feelings Guess - Recent research says that there are over 90 emotions in the human "emotion range". Teaching children words to describe their emotions is not easy, but our Level 1 Unit 5 Activities teach these words alongside a variety of academic concepts. Here is one simple activity from this unit.
Does your child have "BIG" emotions? Check out our Soothing Sammy Kit that teaches your child how to calm down in a way that is EASY for children to understand and SIMPLE for parents to implement!! This unit is included in the Sammy Kit!
7. Food Group Investigation - This activity teaches a variety of skills that include child sized scissors, sale papers, drawing/sorting and more!
Level 2 (Part 1): Letter Activities: Letter "S"
- The way that it is written.
- The sound it makes (phonological).
- How letters make words.
1. "S" Art - Let's start with letter identification!
2. Sensory "S" - Here we work on letter formation.
3. Decorating "S" (Sensory "S" Activity must be completed before this one) - As we look at our "S" talk about words that start with letter "S" and the sounds that they make. 3-D, hands-on visuals of letters help children understand letter formation which helps them when they start writing the letter with a pencil. Have your child trace the letter with their finger, a crayon or a marker.
4. Sit and Stand: Listening "S"- Use different words to emphasize the sound the letter makes. This supports beginning reading and advances communication/language skills.
5. Sing, Sing Sneaky Snakes - Sometimes, when you are moving, they remember things more clearly. This type of learning addressed the "kinestheic learning language." Let's practice the letter S through movement!
Level 2 (Part 2): Intermediate Academics
1. Color Hunt - Incorporating academic skills into everyday life provides a variety of opportunities for practicing these skills and demonstrates that these concepts are real. Let's find some colors in our neighborhood!
2. Through the Tunnel - Let's work on counting and measurement while we move!
3. Hot and Cold Day - This is part of the Unit "Advanced Academics" of Level 2. Let's explore the opposite of "More vs. Less!"
4. Open the Door - This is a wonderful game that can be played with just an adult and child, or with multiple children! Teach listening skills, turn taking, pretend play skills, counting and patience with this activity. Get ready to laugh!
5. Planet Spin - Number identification, vocabulary building and counting are incorporated into this space theme. Let's move and learn at the same time!
6. Sea Salt Shapes - Learn and identify shapes with sensory components can help children become more interested in "table work." Let's learn about shapes and measurement in this activity.
Level 3: Advanced Academics
1. Trail Maps & Directions - This outdoor activity teaches new words and geography. It includes following multiple-step directions and challenges memory. More activities like this one can be found in the Camping unit of Level 3.
2. Ordinal Numbers: Train Car Orders- This activity is all about trains, but adds in an extra cool component: learning ordinal numbers. Not sure what these are? Check out the activity to find out! More activities like this one can be found in the Transportation unit of Level 3.
3. Hot Letters - Children love to move and they can learn all sorts of things while moving. Actually, children tend to remember what they learned when they are using their whole body - just like silly songs with finger-plays or dancing. Do you notice your child remembers all of those motions they are supposed to do with their hands? That is "hands-on learning!" Here is a way to teach letter identification through a movement game! More activities like this one can be found in the Weather unit of Level 3.
4. Glacier Numbers - Learning numbers, especially addition and subtraction, can be daunting. First a child has to understand names of numbers (which we learned in Level 1), then they have to learn number association - that each object resembles one object (which we learned in Level 2) and now we can teach children number concepts... adding and subtracting! Here is a way to teach number concepts through an investigative and practical way! More activities like this one can be found in the Planet Earth unit of Level 3.
5. House Jump - Understanding Plans (for buildings) is a way to incorporate numbers, vocabulary and other skills into one activity. Today we are going to focus on balance, coordination and learning advanced vocabulary - Positional words - these include: next to, under, behind, etc. As you complete this activity with your child, encourage them to use these words when describing the location of each room. More activities like this one can be found in the Construction unit of Level 3.
6. Dolphin Dance - Describing objects by characteristics can be challenging when there are multiple objects that look the same! This activity teaches children how to describe an object by two or more characteristics so they can communicate differences between objects in conversations. This activity teaches colors, shapes and number identification all while dancing! More activities like this one can be found in the Ocean unit of Level 3.
Pre-K YOUR Way includes three different levels, each level building on the concepts learned in the previous level. Click here for more information about the differences between each Level.
The following are sample activities are categorized by level. Click on the name each activity below to view step-by-step directions, materials list and specific learning objectives (that address national Kindergarten Readiness Standards) for that specific activity.
Congratulations! You have made it through all of the exclusive samples from Pre-K Your Way.
Learn more about our programs for Parents, Teachers and In-Home Daycare Providers HERE!
