learning Archives - JDaniel4s Mom

Frog Prince Themed Learning Activities

March 29, 2025 By Deirdre

Every month for the last seven months I have shared a set of five learning activities based on a fairy tale. This month’s fairy tale is The Frog Prince. The series of five Frog Prince-themed learning activities explores fine motor skills, shapes, patterns, and counting to ten.

After you explore these please take a moment to explore some of the other fairy tale sets. They represent sets from my blog and 3 Dinosaurs.

Frog Prince Themed Books to Read

Below you will find Frog Prince Themed Books to read to your children before exploring the activities.

The links below are affiliate links.

This version of the Frog Prince was written for young readers to read themselves.

The Frog Prince Continued looks at what life is like for a prince who has continued to live part of his life as a frog.

The version of the Frog Prince is written in rhyme.

Frog Prince Themed Learning Activities

This series’ posts will be displayed below on the day they are posted. Please take the time to check all of them out.

Monday

JDaniel4’s Mom has a fun way to work on addition facts. These cute Frog Prince Themed Tens Frames Adding to Ten will be a great way to work on facts.

The Frog Prince Easy Reader Book with Tracing Printable uses vocabulary from the Frog Prince story to allow kids to trace the words and then read them in a sentence.

Tuesday

A Frog Prince Shape Building Activity is what JDaniel4’s Mom has to share today. They can be used to explore the perimeter of each shape or its area.

3 Dinosaurs is sharing a fun way to work on skip counting.

Wednesday

Color Feelings Filled Frog Princes with an Algorithm from JDaniel4’s Mom work on Blocky Block coding. The blocks invite children to color each feeling frog with assigned colors or their own.

Frog Price Number Counting Puzzle Printable is a great number printable with numbers 1 to 12. Kids can work on counting and matching numbers and building this fun puzzle.

Thursday

JDaniel4’s Mom has created pattern strips that explore shapes along with patterns. They invite your children to build patterns that match the displayed shapes or just the patterns on each strip.

3 Dinosaurs offers a fun way to work on the alphabet! This matching activity is also fun to explore.

Friday

Fine motor skills will be developed as children work on the strips in this Frog Prince-themed tracing Lines set from JDaniel4’s Mom.

More Frog Themed Activities

Gummy Frog Candy Experiment with Printables

Five Little Speckled Frogs Algorithm Coloring Pages

A frog-themed coding page that focuses on the life cycle of a frog.

Goldilocks and the Three Bears Learning Pages

October 2, 2024 By Deirdre

Goldilocks and the Three Bears is such a fun story to explore. There are a number of versions of the tale available to read with your children. (Some great version are share below in the building background section.) This series of Goldilocks and the Three Bears learning pages focus on the traditional version of the tale. The series will begin the 7th of October.

Concepts Explored in the Goldilocks and the Three Bears Series

Most of the sets in this series focus on math concepts. Number sequencing, number recognition, skip counting and patterning each have a FREE set in this series. The final set in the series features STEAM cup stacking challenge cards.

Building Background

Below you will find some traditional and modern versions of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Reading one or all of them before starting any of the sets in this series will help your children build background and bring understanding to the activities characters.

The links below are affiliate links.

This is a traditional version of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. It has warm and fun pictures in it.

Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs tells the tale of dinosaurs that seem to be aware of the fact an intruder may visit their home.

Goldie Socks and the Three Libearians takes place in a library. It explores finding a book that is the right fit.

This tundra-themed version of Goldilocks features an igloo, snow boots and a dog sled. The Three Snow Bears is a fun way explore an Arctic habitat.

Professor Goose travels into the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears to fact check the events in the story.

Goldilocks and the Three Bears Learning Pages

A new activity will be posted for five days. The blog 3 Dinosaurs will also be sharing Goldilocks and the Three Bears activities. You will definitely want to take a moment to check theirs out.

Monday

This set of strips from JDaniel4’s Mom features pattern strips featuring Goldilocks, the three bears, and objects from the traditional story.

This easy reader is a great way to explore the characters and objects from Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Thanks 3 Dinosaurs!

Tuesday

The Goldilocks and the Three Bears Money Activity asks children figure out what coins they need to purchase an item from the story. Each task card features an items and how much it costs.

3 Dinosaurs has created a fun way to explore numbers! I love this sorting activity.

Wednesday

Each recognition puzzle has three pieces. The first piece displays a number. The second piece displays an object or character from the book. The final piece shows the ten frames displaying counters with the same number as the numeral.

This easy-reading book is a fun way for young readers to learn about the story Goldilocks and the Three Bears.

Thursday

Goldilocks and the Three Bears Number Puzzles explore counting from 1 to 10, skip counting, and counting down from 10 to 1.

Free Goldilocks & Three Bears Ten & Ones Printable - two sets of cards with two digit numbers on them with a matching worksheet for each cards set to color the numbers. - 3Dinosaurs.com

Goldilocks & Three Bears Ten & Ones Place Value Printables has cards with numbers with tens and ones.

Friday

Cup stacking is so much fun. This set of Goldilocks and the Three Bears challenge cards features characters and objects from the story. If the cards are upside down, the cup is upside down. If the objects and characters are faced up, the cup is right side up.

Free Goldilocks & Three Bears Prewriting Strip Printables - 10 prewriting strips with Goldilocks nad different parts of the story. You have tick dashed lines for kids to trace- 3Dinosaurs.com

Goldilocks & Three Bears Prewriting Strip Printables has 10 prewriting strips with thick dashed lines that can be used with the story. There are fine for fine motor centers.

More Fairy Tale Activities

Fairy Tale Shape Castle Building Mats

Three Pigs Blockly Blocks Worksheet Activity

Jack and the Beanstalk Math Activities

1st Grade Sight Words- Building Leaf Words

September 11, 2014 By Deirdre

Not everybody has abundance of fall leaves that descend into their backyard the way we do here in South Carolina and some people long to have autumn leaves. I remember several years agp reading about a lady who wanted fall leaves sent to her so her children could learn and explore with them. When I came across a package for crepe paper colored leaves at the dollar store, I remembered reading her plea. The leaves I found weren’t real leaves, but they are leaves that can be used for learning activities or exploring. These leaves will last way past this fall. The 1st grade sight word game I created called Building Leaf Words will too

Here is How I Put Together This First Grade Sight Word Activity

I went through a list of 1st grade sight words to see what letters seemed to appear in the largest number of them. I ended up with the following letters:

Each of the letter above was written with a black marker on one of the leaves. I tried to created pretty big letters. There was a wire that went down the center of each of the leaves. It was a little hard to write over, but I tried my best to make it look smooth.

Then I strung a line of twine up on the deck for my son to hang to letters on to form words. The twine could easily have been hung between two chairs indoors. Actually you wouldn’t have to hang twine at all, you could arrange the leaf letters on a table to form 1st grade sight words. The letters I used had a wire down the center ( I mentioned that earlier didn’t I. ) We formed into a hook on each of the letters to make them easier to hang.

1st Grade Sight Words Game One

The letters were spread out on a piece of poster board and we talked about the words that we could make with them. We didn’t have any word list to go by. We just built words and hung them on the twine line. This version of the game using 1st grade sight words was a little tricky.

1st Grade Sight Words Game Two

A list of some of the First Grade Sight Words for Kids (Click on the link to the left to download a free copy of the list.) that can be built using the leaf letters can be place out with the leaves. We tried to build as many of the words as we could then we tried to come up with more words of our own.

Affiliate link is shared below for your convenience

If you would like to try making leaf letters, I found the same Crepe Paper Fall Leaves I used on Amazon.com.

For more sight words activities, please check out my Learning to Read board on Pinterest.

Follow JDaniel4’s Mom’s board Learning to Read on Pinterest.

Preschool Activities with Bugs-The Sunday Showcase

August 2, 2014 By Deirdre

As I scrolled through the amazing collection of activities shared last week on The Sunday Showcase, I noticed that many of them had to do with bugs. My son just loves searching for, learning about, and creating bugs. I decided that I just had to share them with you in this round up. If you have a bug lover at your house, I know they are just going to love them.

Preschool Activities with Bugs

40 Awesome Preschool Printables by Powerful Mothering

Grouchy Ladybug Craft from Buggy and Buddy

The Grouchy Ladybug Hand print from A Little Pinch of Perfect

Bug Themed Lunches also from A Little Pinch of Perfect

This week I have been featuring a series of posts that feature preschool activities and kindergarten activities that have to do with turtles. I thought you might enjoy looking them over:

Learning Games for Kids- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle

Science Experiment for Kids- Turtle Balancing

Educational Games- Color Sorting Turtles

Kids Crafts- Potato Print Turtles

The Sunday Showcase is hosted on the following blogs:

Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas
Here Come the Girls
Inspiration Laboratories

We each feature different posts that have linked up, so be sure to check everyone out! We’ll also be pinning our favorites to our Pinterest board.

If you are here for the first time please read this informational post on Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas’ site for the full details. Anything kid friendly and/or child centered is welcome! You are welcome to share more than one post, but we don’t accept links for giveaways, shops, or downloads for purchase, etc. They will be deleted.

An InLinkz Link-up

Kindergarten Activity-Exploring Positional Words

July 25, 2014 By Deirdre

While this kindergarten activity may simply look like blowing water around a blue plastic block, it is so much more than that. This kindergarten activity explores what will happen when you blow an object from various areas around the object. Each of those areas represents a positional words that kids in kindergarten need to learn. During this activity you can talk about the words above, below and under, beside, and behind. As you talked about each word and what it means, a child or children will blow a plastic straw from that position.

At my house we took the opportunity to talk about how much the blue plastic block moved from each position. We found that some straw blowing positions made the block move a lot more than others. I found that there was one position in particular that my son like the best and seemed to blow the hardest from. I bet as you look through the pictures in this post you will be able to figure out what position that was.

Putting This Kindergarten Activity Together

You will need the following supplies to put this activity together:

Plastic toy
Turkey roasting pan
Plastic straw

Optional: Positional words written on index cards. We didn’t do this but, it would make this a reading activity too.

Creating Your Learning Space

Fill the turkey roasting pan with water. You will want to make sure that you have enough water in the roasting pan for the object to move freely when it is hit with the breeze from the straw.

Place the object in the turkey roasting plan and you are ready to go.

Exploring Positional Words

Depending on how much experience your child or children have with positional words, you may want to review what the words mean before you start the activity. If you would rather jump right into the activity, you can select one positional word at a time and have your child or children test out that blowing position in the roasting pan.

As they are testing each position out, you can talk about how much the object moves when you blow the straw from that position. Know that some children may blower harder or softer just to see what happens. My son loved seeing the water fill with bubbles when he blew the straw under the block with great vigor. He also loved blowing the straw beside the blue block under the water rather than above it.

Some kids may try to test out all the positional words except above from beneath the water because they will love to see the water bubble. You can guide them back to focusing on distance the object you have selected moved or stick to exploring the meaning of the positional words. This kindergarten activity can be as flexible or focused as you want it to be.

If you want to keep it focused, you may want to leave the materials out for your children to explore later on. Of course you could put out the materials and have the children explore them before you even start this kindergarten activity. Either way I think children would love been given time to explore the materials

Other Water Week Activities

Science Ideas- Flowing Water High and Low

Cool Science Experiment- Polar Ice Fishing

Easy Experiments- Measuring Forms of Water

15 Awesome Preschool Activities with Water

Even more science activities can be found on my Early Learning- Science Activities board on Pinterest.
Follow JDaniel4’s Mom’s board Early Learning- Science Activities on Pinterest.

Math Fun- Solar System Math Facts

July 14, 2014 By Deirdre

$Math Fun- Solar System Facts$

Reviewing and learning math facts is not always considered math fun. This solar system game was created to tap into a child’s love of space, a joy in bouncing and throwing balls, and a need to practice math facts.

While we practiced basic addition facts with the math fun game, you could easily practice basic subtraction facts or even multiplication facts with it. Mastering basic math facts is something my almost first grader needs to do to get ready for first grade in a few months. We will probably take out this game again to work on subtraction facts later.

How to Play Solar System Math Facts

$Math Fun- Solar System Facts$

The goal is to get two of the planet ping pong balls into a section of the intergalactic themed egg carton. Each egg cup has a golden star with a number on it.

$Math Fun- Solar System Facts$

Then a player needs to add the numbers displayed on the stars to get the sum. If they get the answer right, they can have another turn. If you get an incorrect sum, it is another players turn.

Not Ready For Math Fun in Their Heads

Not all children are ready to work with numbers in their heads at my son’s age. Children a little younger and a little older may have trouble too. You can provide paper and pencil if you are playing this game inside or chalk if you are playing this outside. Children can draw stars or planets to represent each number. Tally marks could be used as visual representations too.Wait! They could used small rocks, pom poms or buttons to count up the the sum of the two numbers if working with concrete objects makes adding easier for your children.

How to Create The Solar System Game and Planetary Ping Pong Balls

$Math Fun- Solar System Facts$

You will need: (There is an affiliate link listed below for your convenience.)

Ping Pong Balls

Magic Markers

Egg Carton

Black Paint

Blue Paint

Paint Brush

Scissors

Yellow Sticky Backed Foam

I started by painting a egg carton with its lid removed black. It took a couple of coats of paint to make the carton dark black.

Then blue paint was added as an accent to the black paint and make the egg carton look more space like. You could add comets or asteroids to the carton if you like.

Next 12 stars were cut out of the yellow sticky backed foam. If you don’t think you can cut stars out freehand, print out a clip art star and use it as a pattern.

Then numbers were added to each star.( Several numbers were displayed on stars more than once.) Once the numbers had dried they were placed into the egg carton cups.

With the game space was finished it was time to make the planetary ping pong balls. I found a set of color ping pong balls at a local big box sports store that I thought would make great planets. Simple lines were added to the ping pong balls to make them look other worldly. I think they turned out well. You could easily have your children decorate the planets if you like.

We will be playing with this solar system math facts game over and over again. It really made math fun!

Preschool Worksheets- I Spy Numbers Hunt

June 27, 2014 By Deirdre

Preschool worksheets can go way beyond rote practice. These I Spy Number Hunt preschool worksheets can be used to have children search for numbers in their homes, classrooms and beyond. Learning to read and identify numbers are the basic concepts we worked on in this number hunt. Oh! We created a number magnifying glass to aid in the hunt.

I have created two I Spy Numbers pages for you to explore.

The first hunt has the number 0 in two places. I wanted kids to see that 0 can be used in two places. Yes, there are those who would say why focus on zero at all. It is my belief that 0 is tricky for kids to wrap their brain around so, I wanted to give them the opportunity to work it. Kids can then see a number a part of number or a whole number all on its own.

The second hunt focuses on the number children will count when they are counting to 20. Back when I started teaching counting to 20 was where it was at for early childhood learners. It probably still is or I hope it is.

Where to search with these preschool worksheets

These worksheets can be placed on clipboard for children to walk around with or use while sitting down surrounded by books ,catalogs, and newspaper ads. There are so many ways and places kids can search for numbers.

Here are some places we have looked for numbers:

While traveling in our car

The grocery store

Walking in our neighborhood

The library

In my son’s room

The Sunday paper

Do I have to use a magnifying glass?

(The link below is an affiliate link.)

You totally don’t need to use a magnifying glass. For these activities I made a magnifying glass. I love making things out of items in our recycling bin so, making a cardboard magnifying glass was fun for me. If you want to use a magnifying glass and you don’t have any, you may like Magnifying Glass 10X Handheld Magnifier for Reading Books Maps Newspaper with Thickened Rubber Frame Perfect for Kids and The Old for Classroom Science Insect and Hobby Observation We have one and love it.

You don’t have to create your own magnifying glass for this number hunt. The main component to this hunt is the preschool worksheets printed out for the children to use.

Tip: If you do use a magnifying glass, you may want to attach it to your child’s clip board with string.

For more Early Learning activities, please check out my Early Learning Math Board.

Follow JDaniel4’s Mom’s board Early Learning- Math on Pinterest.

This post is part of a collaborative three-part summer learning series hosted by:

Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas.

Busy Kids= Happy Mom

Home Literacy Blueprint

Lalymom

Toddler Approved

This Reading Mama

How are you keeping your children learning during the summer?

Great Chinese New Year Activities for Kids

January 12, 2014 By Deirdre

I have some great Chinese New Year activities for kids to share with you. Chinese New Year is Friday, January 31st this year. It is one of those holidays we really enjoy celebrating at my house. I thought you might like to celebrate it too. This post shares fun meals and snacks. There are crafts and learning activities too. I am hoping there is something in this post that is calling out to you.Fun Meals and Snacks

We went to visit a Chinese market to search for fun and unique foods to try. JDaniel and I ended up selecting items for a chicken stir fry along with mango gelatin, rice cookies, and some tropical fruit. It was truly an adventure. If you have a Chinese market in your area, you may want to take your children to explore it. We found food items at ours that we would never have found at our local grocery store.

A roll of crescent rolls was all that was needed to create a crescent roll snake. A simple green dyed milk wash gave the snake his green tint.

We used to participate in a weekly link up called Muffin Tin Monday. A few years ago I created a green tortilla dragon lunch for a post called Muffin Tin Monday- Happy Chinese New Year!

Crafts

We used some old Easter eggs to thread together a snake for a post-Chinese New Year- Snake Activities.

This post also features dragon activities from No Time for Flashcards, Read-Set-Read, Kids Activities Blog, Carrots are Orange, Wildlife Fun 4 Kids, Baby Centre, The Imagination Tree, and 3 Dinosaurs. I was and am so thankful to those blogs for letting me share their creative ideas in this post.

Cupcake liners can be used to make really cute fortune cookies. We used bright red metallic cupcake liners for ours.We explored triangles, parallelograms, and squares while we created a Chinese shape snake. We used black paper to create on. It really helped the shapes in the snake pop.

Learning ActivitiesI gave JDaniel a print out displaying the animals that are a part of the Chines zodiac. He was asked to search the toy box and play bins in his room to find animals that matched the animals in the printout. We were both surprised to find all of them.(The second link below is an affiliate link.)

Moving yarn, straws and cotton with child friendly chopsticks was fun not only for JDaniel, but for my Sunday school class too. I place the materials into a sensory table at church and the kids loved transferring the items with chopsticks. We usedHog Wild Sticks chopsticks for this activity.

Deirdre Smith writes/owns JDaniel4’s Mom. After twenty years as a elementary school and technology resource teacher in Northern Virginia, she became a stay at home mom in upstate South Carolina. Her blog features ways she and her 5 year old are exploring learning, crafting, creating healthy meals and living life to its fullest. Deirdre can also be found on twitter as @jdaniel4smom and on her blog’s FB page. You can also check her out on Google+.