Back-to-School Fun for Kids

August 7, 2017 by Sarah White Leave a Comment

I know, I know, no one wants to think about back-to-school time. But I know some people who have gone back already and many of us will have kiddos heading back to school soon (or starting up homeschooling again), and there are ways to make it a little more fun for all of us.

If you have preschoolers or are a preschool teacher, check out these cute back to school songs for preschoolers. They’d be great for circle time or walking through the halls. You’ll find them at Teaching Mama.

You might also like to do a preschool countdown with books about going to school if you have a child who is going to school for the first time, or who has the jitters (or is excited about it, for that matter). Hands On As We Grow has the details, and Buggy and Buddy has a great list of books for back-to-school time not just for preschoolers.

Or keep your countdown a little simpler (but still super cute) with a paper chain countdown like the one at Preschool Inspirations. Tear a loop of each day until it’s time to go back to school. Honestly, I think my almost-8-year-old would love one of these, too.

My Life and Kids has a great roundup of back-to-school games, some of which are great for teachers to use in the classroom and others can be played at home. Or check out the back to school word search from Superheroes and Teacups.

This sweet bus craft with family photos from No Time for Flash Cards is great for a child going to school or riding the bus for the first time, or for a child missing their older sibling while they are still at home.

All kids seem to love terrible jokes, and this collection from Kids Activities Blog has some groaners that will be great for breaking the ice at school or getting rid of some nervousness on the ride to school. (Example: How do you get straight A’s? By using a ruler!)

You’ll find more great jokes in the form of printable lunch notes at Happiness is Homemade, where she also has an amazing roundup of other sources for printable lunchbox notes that will keep you going all year.

Make your mornings a little easier with tips from B-Inspired Mama. And don’t forget to do something cute for your first day of school photos (might I suggest my easy chalkboard sign?) and make sure you think about your family’s privacy before you post those photos online (thanks for the reminders, JDaniel4’s Mom).

How do you celebrate or prepare for going back to school? I’d love to hear your ideas!

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Resources for Learning about Squirrels

Did you know that October is Squirrel Awareness Month? I didn’t know we needed more awareness of these little creatures, but let’s take it as a sign to learn more about squirrels!

Let’s start with some fun facts via Kids Konnect: did you know there are five subfamilies and more that 280 species of squirrels? The smallest are pygmy squirrels and the largest, the Bhutan giant flying squirrel, can be longer that 4 feet (1.2 meters).

Tree squirrels can climb down trees so fast because their ankles can rotate 180 degrees, allowing them to grab the tree bark as they go down. While most squirrels don’t survive their first year of life, they can live five to 10 years in the wild and squirrels have been known to live up to 20 years in captivity!

Rhythms of Play has more fun facts and tips for observing squirrels if you want to add some real life nature to your nature study.

We always like to start these collections with life cycle and parts of the animal printables, so let’s grab the squirrel life cycle an parts of a squirrel worksheets from Montessori Nature. (It doesn’t look like these are free any more but they have a whole unit study on squirrels you can buy that includes life cycle and parts activities, characteristics of different kinds of squirrels, a printable poster, information about predators and more.)

Grab the squirrel lapbook printable (free with email address) from Homeschool Share to learn the parts of a squirrel, where they live, what they eat, whether they hibernate and more. There’s also a nut taste test printable, a place for making observations about squirrels, life cycle of an oak tree, games and more.

Simple Everyday Mom has some cute squirrel themed worksheets including tracing the letter s, labeling the parts of a squirrel and a letter s maze. She also has more activity pages with a squirrel theme, including matching, a more traditional maze and a counting and graphing activity.

Work on letter recognition with this squirrel and acorn game printable from Teaching Mama. I love the idea of hiding the letters in a fall themed sensory bin for kids to find, identify and match to the letter on the worksheet.

For older kids you can do this “if I were a squirrel” writing prompt from Lesson Planet.

And throw in a little counting with these squirrel and acorn tens frame printables from JDaniel4’s Mom, which you can use to count real acorns or any other little fall themed thing you have handy.

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