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Alphabet Tracing Pages – FREE Printable

Today we have a brand new set of printables for you – Alphabet Tracing Pages! This free alphabet set includes a guide for writing both the uppercase and lowercase letters from A to Z as well as some additional fun learning.

A Peek Inside

Each of the alphabet tracing pages is 8.5″ x 11″ and shows the letter formation at the top, includes two lines to practice both the uppercase and lowercase letter, a “find the uppercase and lowercase letter” space, and an area to trace the beginning letter and color images that start with the letter sound (A for apple, Z is for zebra – please note, all vowels images are for the short vowel sound).

All pages are in grayscale (to help you save on ink!). Please note this is a large file, so the preview may not show. :)

If you’d like to reuse the sheets, slide the page into a sheet protector and trace the maze and color using dry erase markers. Otherwise, print and have fun! 

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If you like this download, check out these printables as well.

Mini Pattern Block Cards

Alphabet Coloring Pages

Alphabet Booklets

30 Activities, Crafts, and Printables for Gingerbread Baby by Jan Brett

Books by Jan Brett have been huge favorites in our house, including her story Gingerbread Baby. The illustrations are simply amazing, and there are many activities that can be done to encourage learning as we read: sequencing, learning about different animals, and so much more!

Each of our children has enjoyed Gingerbread Baby – whether a board books, a paperpack, or hardcover. Like many of our books from Jan Brett, this is one that has earned a permanent spot on our shelves for years to come. There are some books that are just timeless!

Here is a collection of ideas and printables that you can use with your kids or classroom when reading Gingerbread Baby by Jan Brett.

Activities to Go-Along

Gingerbread Crafts


Science Tie-ins

Printables

Read the Story Online

If you don’t have a copy of Gingerbread Baby at home, or if you’d like to do something a little different, read it online here.

 

Additional Literature Based Learning Ideas

Like this? Don’t miss these other literature based activity posts focused on some of our favorite children’s books. 

activities, crafts, and printables to go along with The Snowy Day

Over 30 go-along crafts, activities, and printables for The Polar Express

Busy Bags Kids Will Love

Preschool age is one of my favorite age groups to work with. First of all, they are curious, every little thing becomes a learning opportunity, and they LOVE pretty much everything. 

Keeping them occupied can be a predicament though. Because attention spans are short on those in the five and under crowd. Finding activities that keep kids learning, little hands busy, and make life easier for the parents – well, that’s a definite win in my book. 

My friend Sara, from Happy Brown House, recently wrote a book that does all three of those things. Busy Bags Kids Will Love is full of quiet boxes, bags, and bins (52 to be exact) that can be made ahead and brought along to play with in the van, at doctor’s visits, church – anywhere really! 

Why Busy Bags? 

The name ‘busy bags’ can be deceiving. Busy bags are more like educational activity kits that parents (or teachers) put together for children to play with either in moments a parent may need a little break (maybe you’re helping another child or trying to cook dinner) or when a quiet activity is needed. 

Busy bags also take on many different forms – from items in an actual bag, to bins full of fun, or even a box packed with learning supplies. In essence though, they are intended to keep the attention of little ones while providing something educational and fun

Creating Your Own Busy Bags

In her book Busy Bags Kids Will Love, Sara shares 52 activities that are easy to put together and focus on several specific learning areas:

  • math
  • fine motor skills
  • literacy
  • and just plain ol’ fun.

While we don’t have preschoolers in this house at the moment, we do have nieces and nephews that visit, so we’ll be making up some of these ideas and also sharing them with the grandparents. Between visiting kids and games our girls grab when babysitting, these are goldmines!

Each activity includes skills that are targeted, materials needed to create, and detailed directions to make the activity with full color pictures. She really makes it very simple! 

The bulk of the materials used are ones you can find in your own closet or inexpensively at the dollar store. There are some that require very little prep, while a few may need a little more time, BUT they are all easy enough for you to make. 

What I love most about these activities is the full intent for LEARNING that is packed into them. Yes, they will keep little hands occupied, but as they are busy, they will also be taking in and processing key information for this early stage: 1:1 counting, matching colors, identifying numbers, matching ABCs and so much more! 

In addition, Sara also shares 100 things children should know or be able to do before entering kindergarten. Sometimes it’s not all just about the alphabet and numbers. Overall, the book is truly a fabulous resource for any family with young children or those who work with them.

Grab a copy for your home or school from these sellers: 

Win a Copy!

To celebrate the release of her new book, Sara has generously offered to give a copy to one of my readers. Follow the directions in the Rafflecopter widget below. Giveaway is open to those with a US mailing address and ends on Sunday, June 25th at midnight. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Paper Plate and Popsicle Stick Crafts – Preschool and Kindergarten Community Linkup

Preschool and Kindergarten Community weekly linkup

Ready for another week of linking up and sharing ideas? I am so glad that you are stopping by today and can’t wait to see what you all have to share this week. Be sure to stop by our PreK & K Pinterest board to see a collection of the different posts we are pinning – including yours!

Don’t forget to link up a post (or two) of yours and share what you’ve been working on with your kids! Here are a few fun ideas from last week’s linkup. 

Paper Plate Crafts

If you have a stack of paper plates in your house that could use a little decorating, check out these cute ideas from There’s Just One Mommy

Create a Cooking Camp

This summer it would be SO much fun to create your own cooking camp with some friends. Our kids love the time we spend in the kitchen together. Check out the tips at From Playdates to Parties

Alphabet Caterpillar 

Your child can inch his way through the alphabet with this FREE super-cute and colorful alphabet caterpillar printable for both upper and lower case letters.  

Popsicle Stick Crafts 

3 Boys and a Dog shares 24 creations with popsicle sticks that boys (and likely a lot of girls) will love. From animals to airplanes, there are some fun ideas for summer fun! 

Disappearing Colors Experiment

dissapearing-rainbow-colours-rainbow-preschool-sciemce-experiments

Here is a quick and fun science experiment from Learning 2 Walk where you will make colors disappear. Such a fun idea!

 

That’s it for this week!! Thanks so much for checking in with us and sharing below.

Follow the PreK and Kindergarten Community Pinterest Board

Preschool Pinterest Board

Each week I am  pinning many of your links onto the Preschool and Kindergarten Community Pinterest Board. I’m a visual person, so having pictures to help me remember posts is super helpful. Be sure to jump over and follow the board – and find some fun ideas at the same time!

Were You Featured in the Preschool & Kindergarten Community?

If you were featured in one of the weekly posts, feel free to grab the button coding below and display it on your site!
Homeschool Preschool

 

Link Up with the Preschool and Kindergarten Community!

Homeschool Preschool: Preschool and Kindergarten Community linkup at Homeschool CreationsShare what you are doing with your kids! Please link your exact blog post to the Mr. Linky below and link back here too! Grab a button for your post and be sure to take a minute to visit the person who linked up before you.



Open-ended Math Exploration and Calm Boxes – Preschool and Kindergarten Commuity

Preschool and Kindergarten Community weekly linkup

Ready for another week of linking up and sharing ideas? I am so glad that you are stopping by today and can’t wait to see what you all have to share this week. Be sure to stop by our PreK & K Pinterest board to see a collection of the different posts we are pinning – including yours!

Don’t forget to link up a post (or two) of yours and share what you’ve been working on with your kids! Here are a few fun ideas from last week’s linkup.

 

Open Ended Math Exploration

The station that B-Inspired Mama set up for independent math work that is all open-ended. Krissy shares different ways to use the materials – some great ideas! 

The Tiny Seed Activities

Learn about the life cycle of a seed with these fun go along activity from Wife Mommy Me.  Stephanie shares their trip to pick out flowers and the simple activity they put together. 

Alphabet Caterpillar 

Your child can inch his way through the alphabet with this FREE super-cute and colorful alphabet caterpillar printable for both upper and lower case letters. 

 

The Giraffe That Walked to Paris Activities

From building with Legos to learning a little French, you’ll find some fun go-along activities to do when reading the book The Giraffe That Walked to Paris. Love these ideas from Schooltime Snippets! 

How to Create a Calm Box

 

If your child could benefit from a calm box, be sure to visit Five Spot Green Living and take a peek at what she has inside the calm box she created for her daughter. 

 

That’s it for this week!! Thanks so much for checking in with us and sharing below.

Follow the PreK and Kindergarten Community Pinterest Board

Preschool Pinterest Board

Each week I am  pinning many of your links onto the Preschool and Kindergarten Community Pinterest Board. I’m a visual person, so having pictures to help me remember posts is super helpful. Be sure to jump over and follow the board – and find some fun ideas at the same time!

Were You Featured in the Preschool & Kindergarten Community?

If you were featured in one of the weekly posts, feel free to grab the button coding below and display it on your site!
Homeschool Preschool

 

Link Up with the Preschool and Kindergarten Community!

Homeschool Preschool: Preschool and Kindergarten Community linkup at Homeschool CreationsShare what you are doing with your kids! Please link your exact blog post to the Mr. Linky below and link back here too! Grab a button for your post and be sure to take a minute to visit the person who linked up before you.



Goodnight Moon Sequencing Cards – Free Printable

Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown was one of our favorite books when the kids were little. I do believe I can still quote the entire book by heart, I know it that well. 

We used the book as a part of our Before Five in a Row studies and years ago I created some go-along printables for the story. Recently though I found some new clip art that was just begging to be put into something *new*. Since we have nieces and nephews, there is always an excuse to create with them! I am going to update the other printables soon, but today I wanted to share a little something new to go along with the book: the Goodnight Moon sequencing cards

In the set, you’ll find both number sequencing and sentence strip sequencing. Your children can either work on number placement (up to 14) and number word identification or reading short sentence strips. 

The number cards can be separated into three pieces: picture card, number, and number word. A set of vocabulary cards is also included in the set if you would prefer to match pictures to word cards. 


Don’t forget to check out the fun activities we worked on in our Goodnight Moon unit (Kaleb looks so little in the pictures!!). 

If you’re ready to work on sequencing with your kids, feel free to download by clicking the green button below.