Favorite Preschool Learning Tools

Before I became a mom, I taught third grade for 7 years. It was a job I loved and honestly, a job I miss. When AG was 18 months old, I started Mommy School with Emily. It was a great way to share my love of teaching with AG and was fun to create units, get out my old supplies and see her learning at home. Tomorrow, L will be 18 months old (HOW?!?) and I’m looking forward to creating some new Mommy School units for him.

Next year, little miss will be in VPK (pre-kindergarten) and just thinking about it brings up all. the. feelings. I don’t know where the time went. I don’t know how I only have one more year before Kindergarten. I don’t know if I’m ready. I do know that she is ready though. She loves school and thankfully, VPK will only be three half days next year. Since AG has an August birthday, she will be one of the youngest in her class throughout her school years. Because of this, I’ve been working hard at home with her so that she’s not behind. When L naps in the afternoon, AG sits in my office and has her school time. Sometimes it’s playing on ABCMouse.com, most times it’s switching between these tried and true Melissa & Doug learning toys/tools.

See & Spell

This is great for letter and word recognition. I’ll set out a few cards and letters that are needed for the cards. She finds the missing letters and then I ask her to spell out the word. After she spells the word she uses the picture to help identify the word.

Scissor Skills Activity Pad

Scissor skills are important for kids to learn and this is a great tool to help teach them. This is a parent involved activity.

Pattern Blocks and Boards

This is one of her favorites. She can do this completely on her own and loves creating different pictures with the shapes. My mother in law was doing this with her this weekend and even kicked it up a notch by asking her for “6 blue triangles” and so on.

Self Correcting Letter Puzzles

This is another activity I do with AG. Some of the pictures are still tricky for her to identify. We identify the letter first and then search for a picture together reviewing letter sounds. I will split these up for her to do on her own as well, only pulling out pictures of things she knows and can identify.

Self Correcting Number Puzzles

Great for counting and number recognition. At first this was very much a hands on activity but now she can do it on her own. Some numbers she still needs help with but every time she does it, I’m amazed!

Alphabet & Numbers Placemat Bundle

These are fun for before dinner activities. AG will use them while I’m cooking dinner or while I’m working. The ability to write on and erase just makes it more fun for her.

Alphabet Stamp Set

While stamps can drive me batty, this is probably AG’s most requested activity. She loves stamping and anytime I can tie in learning to an activity she enjoys, it’s a win. One thing I do is write words on the paper and have her stamp the letters underneath to create the same words. There are a lot of learning possibilities for this one set. 

I’m a huge Melissa and Doug fan. They create quality products that promote learning and creative play in children. Many of these items were gifted to AG for her birthday and they make the BEST gifts!  I recommend rotating them so that your child doesn’t get tired of one particular activity. I would also store them in a place your child cannot get to. These learning tools only come out while Luke is napping or while AG is sitting at the table. There are a lot of pieces to most and I don’t want them to get lost. For storage, I keep them all in a large tupperware box.

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