Preschool Packs

I am a BIG believer in allowing your child to play, explore and learn (who isn't?)  I LOVE it when Jellybean is using her hands to do puzzles, or counting things, or singing the alphabet song, or counting things around the house.  She loves to keep busy, and she really enjoys things that activate different parts of her brain.  And, let's be honest, a busy child is a happy child!  Think about it;  If your child is lethargic and watching TV all day, not only is (s)he going to be lacking energy, but (s)he isn't learning anything, either!  We found that with Jellybean.  I was busy working or doing whatever it was that I was doing, so the TV went on.  And she would sit there and watch TV.  Even if it was just for 20 minutes while I was making dinner or doing laundry, that was still 20 minutes where her brain wasn't engaged in what she was doing.  Her brain had shut off and was in cruising mode, as she zoned out staring at her show. 

So, long story short, I started looking online (Yay, Pinterest!!), and discovered an absolute gem of a page, Over The Big Moon.  WOW!!  These ladies do some amazing work, and you should definitely head over there to check them out!  They have created hundreds of printable sheets that you can print (duh!) and then laminate and cut out for your kids to use over and over.  There are counting sheets, pre-writing sheets, coloring sheets, matching games, cutting skill sheets, puzzles and so much more.


Jelly absolutely ADORES these!!  We did an Autumn pack, and now we are working our way through the Halloween pack.  It's fabulous! 

So here's how to prepare them:

Go to Over The Big Moon and pick out your amazing printable pack.  I would recommend doing them in color, although it's not mandatory.  It can be a bit spendy printing a bunch of pages in color, but it's definitely worth it! 

Print your items on either a plain paper or a cardstock paper.  I used cardstock for most of them, and when I ran out, I just used plain paper.  I wish that I had had more cardstock, though, because I like the firmness of the paper as it stands up a lot sturdier against a 4-year-old who's having fun!  You could also choose to laminate your cards for a longer shelf life, but again laminating can get pretty spendy, so you may only want to get a couple done at a time.  You could also use a clear contact paper and cut them out that way.  Our local Dollar Store sells rolls of clear contact paper, and we actually use it to make sun catchers with tissue paper (but that's another post for another day :) 

Anyways, you print them out, you laminate them if you want to, and then you play!  I divided ours up into different bags, to keep all of the parts together for each game/activity. 

I use inexpensive Dollar Store bags to store the various pieces.  Then I stick them all in an extra-large zipper bag to keep it all together, and then they all stack neatly on a shelf for storage! 

Then, I can just pull one or two out at a time, rather than overwhelming Jelly with 12 bags all at once.  I find that doing it this way also really allows her to spend more time on each activity, as she isn't constantly looking for the next thing, and she can focus on one task at a time

Jellybean is concentrating VERY hard on sorting!!  Love it!!

These sheets are engaging, they are educational, and they are FUN!  Jelly doesn't even realize that she's learning when she's doing these!!  And isn't that the point?

Spoooooky!!

Jellybean is in a co-op preschool, so once per cycle, the parents get to be a parent-volunteer in the class, which basically means that for one afternoon, I get to come in and play!  I get to do crafts and hang out with the kids, and best of all, Jelly gets to be the special helper!  I am the parent helper next week, and I was struggling to think of something Halloween-related that I could bring in that would be healthy and fun.  Enter Pinterest!  I love it!! (Seriously, if you haven't discovered it yet, get on over there!  It will change your life!!)

I went over to Pimp My Dinner, and she had these super cute mandarins!  I think they're brilliant!!!!  Healthy; check!  Fun; check!  Easy; check!  LOVE IT!!

All in, these took about 10 minutes to make.  Simply purchase individually-packaged mandarin cups, and draw on a spooky face on the top with a sharpie!  Easy peasy!  Now all I need to pick up are some orange spoons to eat them with, and we're all set!  

*NOTE:  Try not to stack the cups on top of each other after you've colored them, as the sharpie ink tends to be a bit tacky afterwards for a few minutes.  Let them dry for a few minutes before you package them!

Enjoy!