Fun and educational stuff for preschoolers

I find it challenging at times to find fun activities to do with my "middles", my almost 4 and almost 6 year olds. They love being read to so we do that a lot, but as far as crafty type stuff, I draw a blank. And they're too young for most board games... these I enjoy with my oldest. We do Scrabble, card games, etc. Since he's reading it's easy.

So I was excited to find this Kids Activity Calendar. Not only is it full of educational stuff to help preschoolers learn their ABCs, letter recognition, phonics, etc, but it also is just plain fun and most importantly... EASY for a busy Mom of 4!

I absolutely LOVE that the activities come once a week. If I were to buy a book somewhere, it would get dusty on a shelf or torn or crayoned on by the toddlers, but this format is perfect. I just printed out the A activities (and I plan on putting them all into a nice folder). The work has all been done so there's no thinking - a big plus LOL!

It's great for me, a homeschooling Mom, because it could actually stand in as a complete preschool curriculum. And the price is right too. But most importantly, I know I'll have at least one thing to do each day with my middle kids - the ones that sometimes don't get as much playtime with Mom because the baby has urgent needs and the oldest is being schooled at home.

Thanks so much to the creators of this resource - I love it! You can get a free sample issue HERE.

An Interesting Guest

I was putting fire wood into the furnace when I noticed a plastic toy lizard laying on a stick of wood. No, wait where would a toy lizard come from? My kids are too old for that kind of thing! Hmm, I do believe it's alive! So, I careful helped the lethargic little creature into a glass jar and covered it with a mesh topped lid. Alright, now what am I going to do with the little critter?

A friend who teachers school took our guest to his class room today, his students found out what is was and a lot of interesting things about it. Turns out it's a salamander, part of the amphibian family and they like to hide/hibernate in old or rotting wood for the winter. Apparently, when wood burning fireplaces where the source of heating, it was common for salamanders to land in the fireplace along with a piece of wood and if they were lucky, they'd warm up and crawl out before things got too hot. Hence, the salamander is often associated with fire in fairy tails, folk lore and the Pokemon character Charmander, who's name comes from the word "char" (to burn) and salamander. If you are wondering, no the salamander is not magical, it cannot withstand fire, throw fire balls or walk through fire.

I've never seen a salamander around here before, they usually live in moister or aquatic areas so it was a surprise as our climate is dry. Our little guest, the salamander has gone back outside into a safer hiding place in the wood pile. It provided a little excitement, some education for our family and a classroom.