Still Playing School

Playful Ways to Learn Alphabet Letters

We've already written about how we don't do letter of the week with our kids. A common question we hear often is then how do we teach the letters of the alphabet? How do our kids practice both letter identification and letter sound relationships in a playful way? We're sharing our favorite ways to play as we learn letters! 

Teach kids letters of the alphabet in a playful and natural way!
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Process Art for Kids with Clay and Beads

We are positively loving the process art challenge series! It is a fantastic reminder to me to simply present our kids with supplies and see what they create. I'm learning so much about how their minds work through their art. Last month we tried painting with funnels! This time we presented an invitation to create with clay and beads. 

Create process art with kids using clay and beads!

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Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Window Activity

Virtual Book Club is featuring Bill Martin Jr. books this month! We chose our favorite, Chicka Chicka Boom Boom and worked on fine motor skills and literacy with a Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Sticky Window Tree! 

Create a sticky coconut tree to bring Chicka Chicka Boom Boom to life for kids as they learn the alphabet!

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Helping Your Homeschooler Socialize

One of the biggest myths surrounding homeschooling is that children who don't attend public school won't have a chance to socialize with their peers. We've told you a bit about why we've decided to homeschool but now I'd also love to share with you how we are socializing our kids as they learn at home.

How to help your homeschooler make and maintain friendships

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Fine Motor Math Game with Bread Ties

We found the perfect way to incorporate math with fine motor skills! Inspired by our spelling with bread ties activity we created a dice game which is adaptable so both our toddler and preschooler can play together, too. 

Fine Motor Math Dice Game Using Bread Ties: Adaptable for All Ages from Still Playing School

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Interest Based Learning Projects

One of my biggest goals when homeschooling is to allow our children to have as much ownership over their learning as possible. Our oldest has endless ideas about what she'd like to study next so we are going to focus that drive into student planned interest based project learning this year.

Focus students' interests in project based learning from Still Playing School

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Traditional Preschool or Homeschool or Both?

We're about to start a fresh year of school. The questions I get most as a former teacher turned mom is, "What made you decide to homeschool?" and "Why are you sending one child to preschool while homeschooling the other?" Our choices are due to the unique strengths, needs, and values of our family but I would love to share them with you!

Traditional preschool, homeschool, or both? What is right for you and your child?

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Nursery Rhyme Retelling Slides on the Light Table

Nursery rhymes are a great way to practice story sequencing which is an important reading skill. We used recycled materials to create our own retelling slides for familiar nursery rhymes that we know and love. 

Sequence Nursery Rhymes with DIY Retelling Slides

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Small Worlds from A to Z

Small worlds are one of our favorite ways to play! From dinosaur land to construction zones to a small world beach vacation, you can tailor the play to any theme your child is interested in! We've created this small world pretend play series to inspire you with play ideas for each letter of the alphabet!

Small World Pretend Play from A to Z Series has TONS of miniature play ideas for kids!
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