Playroom Learning

Simple Bible Lessons

Every morning I try to purpose a simple Bible lesson with my kiddos.

It isn’t fancy. I use a few materials that I keep in cubbies in my playroom:

~The Jesus StoryBook Bible

The Jesus Storybook Bible: Every Story Whispers His Name

~Clipboards (that hang on my playroom wall – idea from pinterest)

~Writing Tools: Crayons, markers, pencils

-Paper… I just use computer paper

~Little Toys that we use to act out the stories

1) I read / summarize a story from “The Jesus Storybook Bible” in my most expressive, kid-friendly voice that engages my little ones’ attention.

2) I sing a song about it (sometimes I make it up) but other times I use songs I grew up learning OR a YouTube video.

3)We act it out with little toys we have (We choose the characters that seem fitting from our “little toys” cubbie).

4) We “write” about it. This is the time I model a draw on my clipboard the main idea from the story while I talk about what I am drawing to model the drawing process.

5) Then I write my kiddos names on their papers and I write the date, name of the story, and I write in quotes anything that they tell me about their picture.

That’s it!

Then, I read the same story for the next day or two because it is still fresh, repetition is better for memory recall, & they always want to sing the song they learned the day before again.

Here is one more…

Sean Patrick helped me pick out the toys that would represent David and Goliath for our reenactment.

I really cherish this time with my kids. It is a very quick and easy but meaningful time shared with them.

June 29, 2013 by Jessica | 2 Comments

I have been searching for a LONG time to find some cute and affordable playroom labels. I wanted labels that had a coordinating picture with the word for each of the cubbies that I wanted to label in my playroom. Well, I couldn’t find any that I loved so I made my own and love how they turned out!

I feel so organized! — The black and white polka dot theme toy labels.

I am REALLY excited to launch my newest hobby with something I have wanted to develop for so long!

I made a few different backgrounds and I am selling them for an affordable price:

[Click HERE to become a member – get unlimited access to these playroom labels and ALL The Mommy Teacher Printables including this one!

OR CLICK HERE to purchase this Sets of Playroom Labels individually from my TeachersPayTeachers Store.]

So, I hope they work for you.

I printed the black and white labels on white cardstock.

Cut them to the size of my bin.

Ran them through my Cheap Laminator (that I love!)

Scotch Thermal Laminator Combo Pack, Includes 20 Letter-Size Laminating Pouches, Holds Sheets up to 8.5" x 11(TL902VP)

and hot glued them to my canvas bins (careful… this will strip the fabric a little if you need to pull them off)

Office depot can print them onto card-stock and laminate them for you if you want to bring your jump drive there because they have paper cutters there you can use, but I like the DIY approach 🙂

I hope you enjoy them, share them, PIN them, and find them useful for years to come.

PS. Let me know if there are any other backgrounds or labels you are interested in with a comment because when I get a chance I can try to add some custom labels just for you 🙂

May 22, 2013 by Jessica | 3 Comments

Imaginative Play Gift Idea

This weekend we went to a birthday party for a big boy 4 year old! Now, since I have 5 and 3 year old boys, I am all too familiar with the likes and interests for little boys this age. It can be pretty frustrating, actually. You buy a gift that is say, $20, and they are more interested in playing with the plastic parts, twist ties and cardboard packaging that it came in.

Two Christmases ago, we hit the idea jackpot for least expensive Santa gift ever… a spy kit! I bought cheap canvas backpacks from Hobby Lobby for $10 a piece and ironed on letters that spelled Agent J and Agent L. Then I filled them with all sorts of random junk from the Dollar Store! $30 per child… not bad at all! So before I went to the store, I was searching the house, trying to decide what my boys’ FAVORITE toys are, and what did I see littered all over my messy house? The contents of their spy kits! I think a Mini-Spy Kit is PERFECT for Austin, the birthday boy!

And BONUS: the idea of a spy kit encourages imaginative or pretend play which is really important for your child’s Physical, Linguistic, Emotional, Academic and Social Education (PLEASE) and development. Here is a great article on the importance of Imaginative Play in Early Childhood.

Agent A is now an official member of SKIP (Spy Kit Imaginative Play)!

All secret agents need to have sole access to their kits via a thumb scan and number code.

Contents: bungee cords, tape measure, shoe laces, combination lock, glow sticks, flashlight, ear phones, watch, calculator, slingshot, mustaches (to maintain their secret identities), key clamps, safety glasses. You can add as many or as few items as you wish!

I taped this letter to the top and copied the text below. Feel free to copy and paste this into a word document, add your own agent names and print for your own use! You’re welcome!

Free for your own use to copy and paste in a word document. Remember to replace the bold words to meet your needs:

Agent A:

Congratulations! Now that you are 4 years old you are officially a spy for SKIP (Spy Kids Imaginative Play)! This spy kit will equip you with anything you may need to carry out your secret spy missions. Beware! Do not blow your cover! Inside your kit you will find mustaches so you can maintain your secret identity at all times.

Only you will be able to access the materials inside of your kit. You must first put your left thumb on the thumb scan on top of your box. Then you must press the access code. We will tell you this code once, and only once. Please memorize it and tell no one! The secret access code is 1 2 3 4.

Welcome to the club, Agent. We know that you will be a good spy and will have many successful missions.

Happy Birthday,

Agents of the SKIP Academy

Agent J, Agent Capital L, and Agent-in-Training lowercase l

May 19, 2013 by Casey | 0 comments

Graffiti

A precious First Grade Teacher that was a co-worker of mine used to have bulletin board paper taped to her desk and it was a writing center that she called her “Graffiti Space” for her student’s personal artistic signatures.

The idea stuck with me….especially as a mommy of a little one who thinks that every wall should be his personal masterpiece. I have really drilled it in Sean Patrick’s head that we only write on paper because of all the times I have found his hidden messages on the walls, his body, my couch, the tables, etc.

Tonight, I encouraged him to do just that… to write on paper, but on a LARGE area that I designated as his Graffiti Space for the night.

It was as simple as this…

He helped me tape the paper to the windowsill and the baseboards…. this was a great spot for him because it is in his playroom and mr. clean magic erasers agree with my windowsills and baseboards 🙂

I laid out crayons, markers, and colored pencils and let him pick and choose whatever writing tools he wanted to explore with.

We had so much fun! He would scribble different images and tell me what it was afterwards.

We made rainbows, a special message for daddy, the sun, people, and a lot of other free-writing squiggles just to talk about different ways to form lines (up, down, back and forth, around and around, side to side, etc). This kind of activity makes writing fun for Sean Patrick, and that is honestly my main learning goal for him. I just want him to know how fun writing can be!

Gotta love his fashion sense…

We left if up on the wall so that he could continue to “fill the space” and add any new ideas when he was ready.

March 7, 2013 by Jessica | 0 comments

The First of Casey’s Top 5

Hi! It’s Casey stopping by from Kidspired Creations! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas season like we did! I say “season” because with the amount of different families that we spend Christmas with, it doesn’t just last the one day for us. My boys got way too many gifts, as usual, and so we are still trying to find spots for all of them. (Sound familiar?)

While the boys got super excited to open all of the toys at each Christmas event, I got really excited about the number of GAMES my 4-year-old son, James, received this year! This Mommy goofed and thought James’ school started today, when it actually starts tomorrow. Oops! So we had to change our plans around and instead played games all morning! (Hence my inspiration for this post.) Yes!

Here is the first of my TOP 5 (scratch that) 6! games for Pre-Schoolers:

#1 The Cat in the Hat I Can Do That Game!

Recommended for ages 4-8 (and Mommy and Daddy too!)

This game is amazing and so much fun for all! On each turn, a player picks 3 cards numbered 1, 2 and 3 and when you piece them together, they create a full sentence with a fun, get-up-out-of-your-chair challenge!

The first card you choose tells you to jump, walk backwards, take giant steps, skip, crawl, etc. The 2nd card asks you to grab a specific prop from the box, and the 3rd card tells you where to put that prop (between your elbows, under your chin, on your stomach, on top of your head). James was sometimes better at the challenges than his 6-month pregnant mommy (though I was pretty good at the challenges that asked me to balance things on my belly).

After all the cards are chosen, each player counts the number of stars on his/her cards. Game 1… James: 35, Mommy: 28 (and he won fair and square!)

Pre-School learning skills:

Following 3-step directions
Knowing right versus left
Gross motor skills such as walking, jumping, skipping, walking backwards and balancing
Pre-reading skills (making complete, complex sentences)
Ordinal numbers (first, second, third)
Number recognition (1, 2 and 3)
Directional vocabulary (on top of, under, over, right, left, etc.)
Counting (to at least 35… that’s the highest score any of us have gotten. Good job, James!)

January 5, 2012 by Jessica | 0 comments

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