Preschool Prep: Art and Music

(Disclosure: There may be affiliate links within this post. The links provide a way for us to support our site and provide great ideas and content to you!                                   Thanks for your support.)

What is Preschool Prep?

Do you have a young child or two who has outgrown Tot School and is ready for Preschool? Have you looked at all the free online choices during your preschool preparation? Does thinking about preschool curriculum make your head spin? Well, I know that the amount of free “Letter of the Week” and “Themed” curriculum is astounding.

I am creating the Preschool Prep series to help other moms and caregivers out! I have spent lots of time researching and planning for Preschool for Lil’ Red and I want to pass on this wealth of knowledge and resources to my readers!

I plan to share a variety of ideas and ways to prepare yourself, your environment, and your child for preschool in a multi-part series. I could create a super long and over whelming post with tons and tons of ideas, but I do not want to add frustration to your Preschool Prep situation. I want to share ideas for learning letters, numbers, colors, shapes, name recognition, character studies, etc. I will share with you very simple activities you can create yourself or some items you could look for during garage sale season. I am hoping to lessen your time and the amount of money you spend by sharing what I am doing.

Art and Music

First off you may be wondering “Why Art and Music for Preschool?” Well, lots of reasons. Just a few that come rolling off the top of my head- gross motor, fine motor, spatial awareness, self-esteem, and a sense of accomplishment. More importantly things like “hand-eye coordination” and “crossing the mid-line” may not happen for all children easily. These tasks help strengthen the connections across both side of the brain allowing for a child to learn more easily!

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Preschool Prep: Curriculum

 

(Disclosure: There may be affiliate links within this post. The links provide a way for us to support our site and provide great ideas and content to you! Thanks for your support.)

What is Preschool Prep?

Do you have a young child or two who has outgrown Tot School and is ready for Preschool? Have you looked at all the free online choices during your preschool preparation? Does thinking about preschool curriculum make your head spin? Well, I know that the amount of free “Letter of the Week” and “Themed” curriculum is astounding.

I am creating the Preschool Prep series to help other moms and caregivers out! I have spent lots of time researching and planning for Preschool for Lil’ Red and I want to pass on this wealth of knowledge and resources to my readers!

I plan to share a variety of ideas and ways to prepare yourself, your environment, and your child for preschool in a multi-part series. I could create a super long and over whelming post with tons and tons of ideas, but I do not want to add frustration to your Preschool Prep situation. I want to share ideas for learning letters, numbers, colors, shapes, name recognition, character studies, etc. I will share with you very simple activities you can create yourself or some items you could look for during garage sale season. I am hoping to lessen your time and the amount of money you spend by sharing what I am doing.

Why plan a Preschool Curriculum?

Since Lil’ Red is now three it is time we move beyond the dabbling in Tot School and begin Preschool Preparations NOW before baby #4 arrives in August. Not too long ago I realized Lil’ Red does recognize a large amount of letters but not all. I do know that he does not know all the sounds or uppercase and lowercase. He amazes me each day with his ever expanding vocabulary, his counting, and color recognition.

I have to be honest and tell you I have not decided on an exact “Curriculum” for preschool or even one specific curriculum. There are lots of reasons not only because I’m a little eclectic and ADD but it’s very hard to choose just one. Plus a lot of other factors play a part in this decision:

1) New baby due in August and would like to re-use some of the same items with him.

2) Not sure how much Lil’ Red will learn and grow over the summer.

3) Gotta think what I can use with Classical Conversation Nursery kids ages 12 months to  3 1/2 years that I provide care for once a week.

4) Do not have a huge budget to buy tons of new things.

5) Do not have lots of storage space.

6) I do have lots of items I may have forgotten about from my college days.

7) Can only print and laminate so many things before I run out of laminating sheets see #4.

How about I just share some really great Preschool Curriculum’s I have found online and save you the time from searching? Sounds so good doesn’t it. Think about what your goal is for preschool and maybe even consider giving your child an assessment in order to know where to begin.

Scope and Sequences or Curriculum Overviews:

DO NOT FREAK out by these lists but use them as a general guide for learning with your child and teaching your child.

Abeka Curriculum ages 2 through grade 12

Essentials Preschool Curriculum from Gospel Publishing

Typical Course of Study Curriculum Guide for Preschool

 

ABC Coloring Pages:

BFIAR/FIAR (Five in a Row):

Angelic Scaliwags BFIAR Posts

Delightful Learning BFIAR LINK-UP

The Pinay Homeschooler 

School Time Snippets

Letter of the Week:

Totally Tots A to Z

 

Literature Based Unit Studies:

Ready-Set-Read Books by Theme with links to activities

Themed Curriculum Units:

2 Teaching Mommies Preschool Unit Studies

Counting Coconuts Mini Units (robots, candy, space, Mickey Mouse, & Halloween)

3Dinosaurs (over 30 printable packs!)

Itsy Bitsy Learners– over 10 themes

Ready-Set-Read free zoo theme printable pack

 

 

Montessori/Tray Work:

 

Happy and Blessed Home

Trillium Montessori The Continent of Africa

The Pinay Homeschooler Montessori Inspired Learning

Workboxes:

Homeschool Creations Workbox Ideas

1+1+1=1 Workboxes

Mama Jenn’s Workbox planning sheets and tags

 

FREE Preschool Programs:

 

Planning Forms (just in case you really wanna do your own thing!)

Homeschool Creations Preschool Planning Form