Preschool Prep!

Saturday evening, Derek and I enjoyed a nice impromptu date night! Honestly, the kids were driving me bonkers {to be fair, I worked until 2am the night before so my patience level was VERY low…} and I just couldn’t deal with all the talking or kid whining! I sent out a quick text to our babysitter and thankfully she was available and was over within the hour.

I was craving some Texas Roadhouse, but there just aren’t any close and I didn’t want to drive forty minutes. Derek found a place called Logan’s Steakhouse and it was exactly what I was in the mood for. It totally hit the spot. We headed over to Barnes and Noble and we browsed a little bit together, but I bailed when he started reading computer magazines.

As most parents do, we did spend a good portion of the evening talking about the kids—how cute they are and the funny things they do. And I spent a good portion of browsing time checking out preschool curriculum for Jackson because I’m wanting to start something this fall.

…and then I stumbled across the clearance section! I found this preschool kit for $12 {originally $49.00}! I am so excited about it! And it was the one thing I allowed myself to buy that night.
 

I was kind of planning on putting it away until I really started planning a “school” time in our day, but I just couldn’t wait. And Jackson just loved it. Here’s what we did this afternoon.

Jackson colored {with black, his favorite color, of course}

The coloring pages are waxy, so the crayons can be wiped off and used again. The lines of the picture are raised so it helps teach how to color in the lines. {The crayons are a mega fail—Jackson can barely hold the two inch ones that came with it!}

This was a cool activity and Jackson loved it. The letter cards slide behind the gel pack and Jackson would trace it with his finger and then when you take the card out—you can see the letter.

Jackson loved this activity—alphabet fishing! In fact, after nap, he opted to not watch a tv show that I allowed him in order to play this again… WOW! He is really good with letter recognition and he had fun spelling his name. And it was definitely good practice for his motor skills.

And he had fun spelling other names too…

And then he played with the reusable sticker shapes to make the pictures. This was definitely the most challenging as he was pretty upset when his little rectangle wasn’t exactly like the picture. I told him it would just take practice. He did have fun and asked to do this after nap as well.

 

I think I got a steal of a deal for $12! It came with a nice instruction book for lots of activity ideas using these supplies and a really nice organizing case too!

But, I’m curious about what preschool curriculum/activities you use! I’m not concerned about his knowledge as much as I would like to help teach him how to sit and work on something for more than just a few short minutes. And I won’t ever commit to something super regimented or complex. Just something fun, but educational! Thoughts?!?