Harry the Dirty Dog Game, Craft, Snack, Printables

Are your kids going winter stir-crazy? Too cold to play outside long. Snow too deep for little one. Well, you need a craft afternoon. I learned as a teacher/homeschool mom to make lesson plans hands-on. So my craft parties include an interactive story and snack and lots of free printable book-based activities.
One of my husband's favorite children's literature characters is Harry the Dog, created by Gene Zion and drawn by Margaret Bloy Graham. My mom described a yarn bush she made for the birds and it reminded me of Harry. Here are activities based on "No Roses for Harry."   No Roses for Harry Recycled Yarn Craft, Snack, Printables

Book Crafts, Printables, Snacks, Games, Activities from Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See?

2014 is going to down as the Winter of Infamy. But don't worry, parents of bored kids, teacher-mama has more children's literature activities. Hands-on lesson plans with story, game, craft and snack. Today's is on "Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See?" and appropriately for this arctic season-- "Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear?" Both of these wonderful stories come courtesy of Bill Martin and Eric Carle. My oldest could read this entire books at three, thanks to the repetitive verse. Book Activities from Brown Bear, Brown Bear

Free Printable Preschool Board Games, Learning Activities

As a certified special needs teacher for CI (cognitively impaired) students, I always write interactive lesson plans. Hands-on activities, like games, make content relevant, approachable and understandable for both general and special education students. Preschool kids particularly need multisensory learning activities. Happily, there are many free printable preschool games available online. Free Printable Preschool Board Games, Learning Activities

Free Printable Preschool Felt Board Stories, Patterns, Templates, Stencils

Felt boards are a teaching tool used in preschool classes to teach lessons and tell stories by illustrating with felt pieces. When I ws a kid, Sunday School teachers used a similar tool called Flannel-Graph. Here are free printable felt board patterns, templates and stencils. These templates can be used to trace and cut out shapes for a felt board. These patterns can also be used to cut shapes from fabric for Halloween costumes, appliques for craft projects, templates to make stencils for painting and even to make patterns for cookie cutters for play dough or sugar cookie dough. Read more at Preschool theme pattern to print