Teaching your Child the Alphabet by Using Coloring Pages
by TheNanny612 on September 15, 2007
When I began teaching my children the Alphabet as Toddlers I found that using Alphabet Coloring Pages was one of the most effective way to teach the Letters of the Alphabet to my children. I already knew that they loved to color, so why not teach them the letters in a way that I know will hold their focus more than 2 minutes. So, I started printing off alphabet coloring pages from the internet and I was off to start teaching my children the alphabet.
My young Preschoolers-To-Be had no idea that they were going to begin a Lesson. For all they knew they were going to have fun coloring…. and they were right.

While my kids were coloring I would talk to them about the letters they were coloring. Here are a few examples of some things I would talk about with my children while they were coloring:
• The Letter "S" sounds like ssssss…..?
• What food begins with the letter "A"?
• Can you point to an object in the living room that starts with the Letter you are coloring?
Those are just a few examples…. I am sure you can probably come up with a few more yourself.
Here are some of my kids’ favorite Alphabet Coloring Pages when they were learning the Alphabet:
• Learning Planet.com - Nice Collection of Printable Alphabet Coloring Pages
• Sesame Workshop - My Children absolutely loved these Alphabet Coloring Pages. The coloring pages have their favorite Sesame Street Characters.
• Coloring Castle.com - Simple bubble letter alphabet coloring pages. They have quite a few choices of different alphabet bubble letters.
• Preschool Coloring Book - Excellent Alphabet Coloring Pages. Preschool Coloring Book has so many choices of alphabet coloring pages to choose from. They have Plain Letters, Block Letters, Letters with Animals, Fruit & Vegetable Letters
• Jazzles.com - Very cute collection of alphabet coloring pages.
• Alphabet Soup - An Excellent collection of alphabet coloring pages.
• Animated Animals Coloring Book - Florida’s Animated Alphabet is designed to introduce young children to Florida’s wide variety of native wildlife and the interesting natural history and behavior of its wild creatures.
• Halloween Alphabet Coloring Pages - Since Halloween is next month I had to add this amazing collection of Alphabet Halloween Pages.
Preparing Your Child To Start Preschool
by TheNanny612 on August 27, 2007
No parent is ever ready for the day that their child goes off to preschool. But that doesn’t mean that your preschooler can’t be ready. Even if you’re nervous about the separation, you should do your best to make sure that your child is prepared to head off to preschool when the time is right. You want to do well as a parent and part of this means giving your child the tools to go off on his own, even if it’s just for a few hours at preschool. And by preparing your child both educationally and emotionally for the preschool experience, you’ll help to quell your own fears about the situation.
Here are some of the things that you need to do when preparing your child to start preschool:

• Get your child used to following directions by using them regularly in your home. Use simple one-step directions first (such as “brush your teeth”). Then incorporate a second step (such as “brush your teeth and then get in bed”). Over time, your preschooler will get used to following directions and this will make doing so in preschool easier.
• Involve your child in a play group or other social activity. Your preschooler is going to need to learn to share items, take turns and otherwise interact with children so make sure that you’ve given him the skills to do so.
• Know where your child should be academically. Your preschooler doesn’t have to be right on track or ahead of the game, but you should have some basic child development knowledge of where other kids of the same age are going to be. This varies depending on the age that your child enters preschool but can be figured out by checking out basic parenting books on development. Help your child reach an average academic place before sending him off to preschool so that he doesn’t start at a disadvantage.
• Point out the ways in which your child is growing up and make it a point to say that preschool is a big kid thing. This way, your child will be proud and excited about preschool, not scared.
• Purchase some special preschool items that your child gets to use only when going to preschool. A backpack, lunchbox, set of crayons … these small things that are for school only can help with the transition to preschool.
• Use a schedule at home since your child will be on a schedule in preschool. Have a playtime, a nap time, a video time, and an outside time that are basically the same every day. The routine itself may be different in preschool but the process of getting used to a routine won’t be new.
And of course, the most important thing about preparing your child to start preschool is that you have to prepare yourself. Even parents who are eager to return to work feel a twinge of regret when it’s time to send kids to preschool. It’s a change that breeds fear. But if you are overly anxious about it, your child will pick up on that and the transition to preschool will be more difficult. Trust that you’ve prepared your child for preschool and rest easy in that knowledge.
Lap Books – A Great Tool to Teach Your Child Preschool at Home
by TheNanny612 on August 9, 2007

LapBooks are a terrific part of a good home preschool program. Lapbooks combine all of the work done in a single subject area to really pull it together for your child. They can be reviewed at later dates to make sure that learning is cumulatively building itself. But more than this, they give your preschooler (and older kids as well) something to look at where they can see their progress. This can be a great source of pride which allows children to be more successful in their learning over the long run. And they’re fun for you to put together with your child; they basically take the joy of scrapbooking and apply it to education.

Lapbooks are something that you can make yourself with your child. They use a file folder system which makes organization easy but you can add your own touches to this system to make the lapbooks more personalized. As you’re putting the lapbooks together with your child, you’ll be reviewing the subject matter that she’s already learned which helps to reinforce that learning. And every time that your child takes out the lapbooks to show them off, she’ll be re-learning that material again.
And she will definitely want to show off her lapbooks. Children of all ages, and especially preschool children, love to be proud of themselves. They like showing off their independence and their knowledge to others who are supportive of their developmental growth. So whenever favorite aunts and uncles, family friends and grandparents come to visit, you can pull out the lapbooks so your child can show off all that she knows. She’ll be proud of herself which will encourage her to continue on with her studies, learning more so that she’ll have more to share. And as you watch her sharing all that she’s learned, you’ll be proud of her … and maybe even a little bit proud of yourself for all of the education that you’ve already given to her.
Besides being a terrific tool for compiling your child’s work and encouraging her to continue it, the lapbooks are a great activity that you can share with your child. They’re a part of the learning process that is truly just fun to do. You and your child can work together in scrapbook style to get everything put together. And when your child looks back on what her home school education was like, she’ll probably remember these times as fun. Add to them by creating a ritual like listening to music, making and eating pop corn together or going shopping for stickers to add to the lapbooks. These little touches will make creating the lapbooks a shared experience that you’ll both look forward to … and then look back on fondly!
Preschool Printable Worksheets
by TheNanny612 on August 13, 2007
Preschool printable worksheets are practically a staple of the home school education. And even those parents who aren’t homeschooling their kids find that these printable worksheets are good for preschoolers to pass the time while learning new and important skills. They’re great for parents because they’re cheap to locate and easy to print out so kids can have as many as they want to work on. And kids usually want a lot of them because they think it’s just something fun to do.
Here are some things that you might want to look for when seeking out preschool printable worksheets that will be good for your child:

• Look for worksheets that are age-based. This helps you to identify the preschool printable worksheets that are right for your child at any given time and gives you an idea of how your child is doing in terms of his or her development. It also lets you easily identify the next set of printable worksheets that will be good for your child after the ones that are currently being used.
• Explore a variety of different subjects. There are preschool printable worksheets for math and science, reading and writing and a number of other different subjects. Mix them up so your child gets a well-rounded education.
• Keep an eye out for color! Sure, it costs a little bit more money to print out color worksheets but your preschooler will be more drawn to these. You can mix them in with black-and-white printable worksheets to save on cost. When your preschooler is working on the black-and-white ones, encourage the use of colored pencils and crayons to liven up the page and keep her interested in the work.
• Find worksheets that have easy-to-understand directions. As your preschooler gets older, you’ll want to encourage her to read some of the directions for herself so find worksheets that are designed with this goal in mind. Often, these include pictures with the directions to make it easier for your child to identify what she’s supposed to be doing.
• Use themed worksheets around different holidays and events. You can find preschool printable worksheets for various holidays as well as for general seasons (like summer). These help to inspire your child to integrate learning and the rest of life.
• Consider creating your own printable worksheets. You can modify existing printable worksheets on your computer to make them more interesting for your child. For example, change the names in stories to your child’s name on reading worksheets. These little changes can really personalize her preschool education and make it more relevant to her.
Of course, preschool printable worksheets aren’t the only thing you’ll want your child to work off of when doing learning at home. If you can find a Preschool Program that incorporates worksheet use into a bigger curriculum that has related projects and other activities, you’ll really complete your child’s preschool learning. But you should definitely make use of the printable worksheets that are out there to help your child learn new concepts and practice various skills.