Here are 22 circle time ideas for toddlers and preschoolers that are easy, fun, and perfect for social development!

Last summer I added Mo Willems' The Pigeon HAS to Go to School! to my classroom library. Of course, this addition was a no-brainer. Willems' books are always super popular, especially Pigeon books. Just as predicted, my students loved this book. It is the perfect length for the beginning of the year, when attention spans are extra short and students need a little break from all the procedural training they are receiving. Since I knew this book would be a hit, I decided to make it the centerpiece of back to school. I created some basic "Pigeon themed" math and literacy activities, as well as a simple craft. I used these activities intermittently during the first week and was able to glean some great info about my new students' basic math and literacy skills, as well as their fine motor skills and listening skills. One of the Pigeon themed activities was a number/number word/counting mini book. Students traced and wrote the numbers 1-10, as well as the number words 1-10. Then students illustrated a picture to go with each number. We broke this activity up over a couple of days. Students took part in a listening activity. Students had to complete a picture according to a series of questions/statements that I read aloud. (If you've every made a glyph with your students, this activity feels really similar.) Students also put together their first puzzler for the year. This puzzler focused on number representations. Students cut and glued the puzzler pieces to tell what number is represented in the box. By the end, students have a completed picture that they can color. I use various puzzlers throughout the year. This the Pigeon puzzler is a great introduction to how to complete a puzzler. Students loved making their simple, one-page craft Pigeons. All that was required was the Pigeon pattern (I used white card stock), scissors, and glue. The class Pigeons made a really quick and cute back to school bulletin board. In addition to these activities, students worked on counting/cardinality, geometry, place value, number bonds, handwriting, the alphabet, rhyming words, sight words, and more. The Pigeon HAS to Go to School! is a perfect springboard for a variety of skills. For a math freebie (from the printables featured above), click on the picture below. This freebie provides practice with ten frames, counting, and number identification. If you have not added, The Pigeon HAS to Go to School! to your classroom library, I highly recommend it. There are so many directions you can go with this book. More importantly, your students will love it and be totally engaged. What a great way to start the year, by reading a book that students truly enjoy. :) For more details about the all of the Pigeon inspired activities I used with my students, be sure to click on the picture below. Of course (like most), I'm not certain what this year's back to school days will look like. Whatever the setup, I know I'll be using The Pigeon HAS to Go to School! to help me kick off the year. Thanks for stopping by. School Is a Happy Place is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associated Program, an affiliate program that allows this site to earn advertising fees. Please know that all of the recommendations on this site are authentic and come from personal experience.

Use letter activities like alphabet collages or letter mats to help kids learn letter recognition and to reinforce letter-sound associations. Here are over 200 material ideas that you can use for your

Free printable preschool worksheets pdf for teachers and homeschoolers. Fun preschool worksheets for math, English, fine motor skills, and more!

Free printable indoor movement activity cards. Fun images direct kids to act like animals, plants, vehicles, and more to burn energy and move

This moon sand recipe is so easy to make! With only two ingredients, you'll be playing with this soft and sensory sand within minutes. Moon Sand This moon sand recipe is so much fun. The texture is soft and crumbly, but it also molds really well into different shapes. The kids thought it was the best thing ever! I've tested different kinetic sand recipes before (like this kinetic sand, this moldable play sand and this foam sand), but this one was BY FAR the best. And with only 2 ingredients it's also super easy to make. We loved how the

Add elements of sight, sound, touch, taste and smell to your preschool centers to integrate science and play while students explore their senses.

Here are 50+ things to do with toddlers, both indoors and out! These ideas are so good that you might stop counting down the minutes to nap time every day.

Explore a wide variety of easy and fun September Activities that are both educational and focused on the family. Perfect for school or home!

FREE cutting, coloring and tracing pack for preschool and kindergarten to practice scissor skills and fine motor skills. Includes 6 no-prep worksheets for a set of easy and fun activities.

Get ready for the summer months with our summer activities for kids worksheet. Share your favorite summer foods, summer activities & goals.

Dozens of educational busy bag ideas to keep your little one engaged while learning! A ton of free printable busy bag ideas included!

Learn about France with this France preschool unit! Activities, crafts, food, songs, etc to give your child a taste of France.

FUN shape activity for preschoolers using printable road shape mats and hotwheels for learning shapes with a car activity for toddlers.

These ”First Day of School” crowns and award certificates can be printed for your class. First Day of School Crowns These printable first day of school

These free fall dot marker printables are a fun, no-prep activity for toddlers & preschoolers! Free printable dab a dot/do a dot marker worksheets for fall.

Got a bored toddler at home? From easy indoor and outdoor activities, to sensory, montessori and fun learning activities, these are the best activities for 18 month olds at home.

Challenge your young learners to use these colorful cups, tubes, and balls to build their creations on the light table. It's art; it's engineering; it's fun!

This year for preschool we are part of a co-op preschool group. I put together name recognition activities for all the kids in the preschool. Here are the activities. Name sticks To make this activity. I got paint stick stirrers and used Mod Podge to glue the letters of the child's name on to the stick. Then used mounting tape to stick the letters onto the clothespins. Your child matches up the letters to spell their name. Name Block Matching This can be made in any word document or you could make make it easily be hand. Name Puzzles Here are free puzzles patterns for 4, 5, 6, and 7 letters names. You can either hand write your child's name or open in a word document to add your child's name Just right click on the each image, save and print. I recommend printing on cardstock paper so it is more durable 4 letter name 5 letter name 6 letter name 7 letter name Name Tracing You can download free front from this website to make these tracing cards in a word document. The font is called ABC Print Dotted. This is laminated and so it can be used over and over again. Name Path For this activity, you can use any word document and create a table. Then can choose what letters you want to use and what path to create to spell your child's name. This is also laminated so it is reusable. Progressive Name Tracing This idea is also part of the Preschool learning binder I put together. I download free front from this website to make this in a word documents. The names of the fonts are ABC Print Arrow, ABC Print Arrow Dotted, and ABC Print Dotted. All of these activities are stored in a laminated 9 x 12 folder. I used an X-acto knife to cut a slip in the top. I like this folder idea because it keeps things together and can be passed around easily to each home when it it our turn to teach preschool.

Scissor salad is a fun way to practice how to use scissors and build fine motor scissor cutting skills. Get free labels and worksheets!

If you are looking for creative learning activities and the best ways to make the most of your magnetic tiles then you have come to the right place.

This family theme preschool all about me printables includes activities, family worksheets for kindergarten + family tree worksheets too.

Oh, the first day of school! It's such a fun, but chaotic day. Most of my first days are a little bit of a blur. This is why I have to write very detailed lesson plans or I'll forget everything from that day. I always try to have the same activities for that first day

So many fun sports crafts and activities to do during a week of summer camp! Sports Week is a great theme for kids of all ages!

ALL ABOUT FALL Fall is almost here! Those long hot days in August at the beginning of the school year are just about the hardest days of the entire year for me. I am just so tired. But as soon as the mornings are cool and the days start to get shorter, I get a huge burst of energy. Fall

As soon as I started to plan out our Sensory Room, I knew I wanted to include a sensory wall. This DIY tactile sensory wall is just what I envisioned!

Learn how to make pretend snow with only 2 simple ingredients. The perfect winter sensory play idea.

Practice fine motor skills with this free fall craft! Looking for acorn crafts for preschool students? This acorn printable includes 5 pages of acorn activities

This quick and EASY frankenworms experiment demonstrates baking soda and vinegar chemical reaction with fun halloween activities for October.

A dinosaur theme is a sure fire way to capture little one’s interest and curiosity. Just talking about dinosaurs with toddlers is so much fun! Our week was filled with names to learn, questions to answer and hands on activities to try. Here were our plans for Dinosaur Week: And here are the details of […]

Today I'm going to show you this super cute Coffee Filter Bat Craft that's great for Halloween decorating or even a theme unit about bats.

Put together a week’s worth of apple learning activities with these fun ideas for toddlers and preschoolers. Free printables included!

Looking for fun All About Me Preschool Activities for kids? Check out these 9 Hands-On All About Me activities for Preschool or Kindergarten.

If you have little ones or are a teacher of little ones, I’m guessing you probably have at least one (if not many) Eric Carle books in your collection. We certainly do– like, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, The Very Busy Spider,and Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see”. These are some of the boys’ very favorite […]

Make your own scarecrow with our Build a Scarecrow Printable. A fun & free halloween activity for preschoolers and kindergarteners. Get your scarecrow template.

These coloring pages and sorting activities are fun for preschoolers to begin distinguishing between different colors. Click HERE to get the download on my blog! You Might Also Like:Falling for Math SortingFree Sorting Pumpkins CardsJelly Bean AdditionFree French Color Reference Signs

Keep your students' imaginations flowing with these six fun and unique alphabet fine motor skills activities. These activities, from q-tip painting to making collages, are great for letter recognition, beginning sounds, and pre-writing skills! Perfect for preschool and kindergarten!

Try this fun pollination STEM activity for students to make a craft stick model bee then simulate pollination using mac and cheese powder!

Learn and PLAY with FREE printable playdough mats! These playdoh activities including seasonal printables homemade play doh recipes!