Making Homeschooling Hands-On, Engaging, Meaningful & Memorable! Be inspired by all the possibilities!! Check out our unit studies, packets and printables!
Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Ages 2-6: Preschool and Toddler Activities / Ages 2-6: Preschool for ED - Fall 2011 (age 3 1/2) / Ages 2-6: Toddler/Preschool Activities / Holiday: Valentine's Day
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published January 29, 2016
How to Make Chocolate Play Dough! The same day that we did the Chocolate Making Kit, (boy did my kids love that!!) I had a surprise for the kids. We made an enormous batch of chocolate play dough! Then, while I read aloud I let the kids have fun. This was such a huge hit — even my 12 year old came over to check out the action for a while...
Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Ages 2-6: Preschool and Toddler Activities / Ages 2-6: Toddler/Preschool Activities / Homeschool Den / Kindergarten / Science / Science Experiments / Science: Biology Unit / Science: Biomes; Animal Habitats / Science: Plant Unit / Science: Rain Forests
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published January 26, 2016 · Last modified May 10, 2016
Today I wanted to share a fun activity we did about rain forest plants. As many of you know, we are doing a large biology unit on biomes, ecosystems, biological interactions, animal relationships, and so forth. At the end of last semester we went over basic animal characteristics — the 5 vertebrate groups, the main invertebrate groups, and some fun activities for my youngest daughter — spiders vs. insects, domesticated...
Ages 2-6: Fall Theme / Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Ages 2-6: Preschool and Toddler Activities / Ages 2-6: Toddler/Preschool Activities / Freebies / Homeschool Den
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published September 22, 2015 · Last modified September 25, 2016
Are you looking for free fall printables for PreK-K? Here’s a huge list of fabulous FREE fall-themed packets that have been shared by generous parents and teachers. Get your 3-6 year old into the fall spirit with some of these fall-themed activities and printables. You will find everything from puzzles, counting and letter recognition activities to writing, do-a-dot pages, dot-to-dots and more! Fall Pack from 3 Dinosaurs: Leaves Unit by...
Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Ages 2-6: Preschool and Toddler Activities / Ages 2-6: Preschool at Home / Ages 2-6: Preschool for ED - Fall 2011 (age 3 1/2) / Ages 2-6: Toddler/Preschool Activities
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published August 26, 2015 · Last modified August 23, 2015
When my kids were first learning to read, we used to play a LOT of games. I had a number of file folder games ready to rotate into their work boxes. I made this two-letter file folder game a while back, but hadn’t gotten around to post it. Better late than never, right?!! So, I hope those of you with young ones on the brink of reading find this useful! ...
Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Ages 2-6: Preschool for ED - Fall 2011 (age 3 1/2) / Ages 2-6: Toddler/Preschool Activities / Science / Science Experiments
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published November 28, 2014 · Last modified December 30, 2014
Now that Thanksgiving is over, I have a fun activity for your with your Indian corn. We did this ‘science’ activity with Indian corn a couple of years ago. Soak your Indian corn cobs in a bit of water to see what will happen. We had a large tray with a paper towel and about 1/4 inch of water. We also pour water over the cob every 2 or 3...
Ages 2-6: Preschool and Toddler Activities / Ages 2-6: Toddler/Preschool Activities / Homeschool Den / Sign Language
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published October 17, 2014 · Last modified February 19, 2017
Signing with Your Baby and Toddlers Baby Signing — Our family decided to sign with each of our babies/tots. Our children all had normal hearing, but I learned that kids could control their hands and fingers and could therefore communicate by sign much earlier than with speech. It seemed like a good idea and most of my friends were doing simple signs with their babies/tots too. We were SO glad...
Ages 2-6: Apple Unit / Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Ages 2-6: Preschool and Toddler Activities / Ages 2-6: Preschool at Home / Ages 2-6: Toddler/Preschool Activities
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published September 27, 2014 · Last modified September 19, 2015
It’s apple season! The perfect time to do apple-themed activities with the kids. When my kids were little, we played Math Grid Games all the time. I made an Apple-Themed Grid Board to share with you today. Here’s a picture of the game board: How to Use Math Grids with your Preschooler: Print 2 Grid Boards per player Gather two different sets of tokens and one die. For Younger Kids: Take...
Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Ages 2-6: Preschool and Toddler Activities / Ages 2-6: Preschool at Home / Ages 2-6: Toddler/Preschool Activities / Homeschool Den / Language Arts: Reading
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published May 23, 2014 · Last modified January 24, 2019
In this post I’d like to share a dozen activities that we did with the kids to help foster early reading skills. These are activities we did with CVC words and basic sight words to make the learning process fun and engaging!! 🙂 The first step in learning to read is to make sure your child knows their letter sounds. We shared lots of ideas about that in our Preschool...
Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Ages 2-6: Preschool and Toddler Activities / Ages 2-6: Preschool at Home / Ages 2-6: Preschool for ED - Fall 2011 (age 3 1/2) / Ages 2-6: Toddler/Preschool Activities / Homeschool Den
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published May 10, 2014 · Last modified December 30, 2014
When my kids were little I bought a set of Pattern Blocks. It’s been one of the most enduring resources we have. We still bring them out occasionally and also use them for math now and then. The kids have used templates like these: And they’ve also used the pattern blocks for free play: There are lots of places where you can find free pattern block templates: One of the...
Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Ages 2-6: Preschool and Toddler Activities / Ages 2-6: Toddler/Preschool Activities / Holiday: St. Patrick's Day
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published March 11, 2014 · Last modified March 1, 2016
There are such wonderful resources out there for those of you planning to do some St. Patrick’s Day activities with your kids. Here are some of the free St. Patrick’s Day units and printables I’ve come across: 2 Teaching Mommies: St. Patrick’s Day Preschool Pack; St. Patrick’s Day Kindergarten Extension Pack St. Patrick’s Day Play dough Activities at Living Montessori Now: Irish-themed letters (lower and upper case), numbers (0-20) and phonics cards...
Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Ages 2-6: Preschool and Toddler Activities / Ages 2-6: Preschool for ED - Fall 2011 (age 3 1/2) / Ages 2-6: Toddler/Preschool Activities / Freebies
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published February 26, 2014 · Last modified January 17, 2015
A couple of weeks ago, I shared a post about how to create your own preschool science curriculum at home (mostly with materials you’ll find around the house). I realized it has been a long time since I shared our long list of preschool activities. I wrote this post last year when ED was 4. The activities in this list really actually range from 2-6 year-olds or so. I’m a...
Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Ages 2-6: Preschool and Toddler Activities / Ages 2-6: Preschool for ED - Fall 2011 (age 3 1/2) / Ages 2-6: Toddler/Preschool Activities / Science / Science: Vertebrates - Invertebrates
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published January 4, 2014 · Last modified October 26, 2018
Today I have some free Montessori-style Living and Non-Living Sort Cards for you! 🙂 Use these cards to sort into living and non-living groups. Behind the scenes I’ve been getting things ready for our upcoming science units. ED will be doing a bit of animal classification review and I made some new cards for her. I realized, though, that if any of my readers have younger kids in the 2-4...
Ages 2-6: Preschool and Toddler Activities / Ages 2-6: Toddler/Preschool Activities / Math: Preschool Math
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published December 13, 2013
With all the snow and ice we’ve had this week, it brought to mind a really cute activity I did with ED when she was a toddler. This time of year there should be some pretty snowflake ornaments at the hobby store like the ones I got a few years ago. When ED was 2 1/2 she always came running when I called the older kids for math time....
Ages 2-6: Fall Theme / Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Ages 2-6: Preschool and Toddler Activities / Ages 2-6: Toddler/Preschool Activities
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published October 5, 2013 · Last modified March 17, 2016
I took this photo last year–the trees don’t quite look like this yet! I love this time of year! Last Friday I shared some of the free fall-themed packets and indoor activities you can do with your 3-6 year old, but there are so many other great fall activities you can do with your child as well. Here are some of our favorites: just go outside and enjoy the weather...
Do you believe education can be exciting, inspiring, and full of joy? We do too!
I love the quote by William Butler Yeats, "Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire." It's about getting the kids involved, engaged, and fired up about learning (while juggling the rest of life too!)
A bit about me: I have my Master's from Brown University. I have more than 20 years of teaching experience. I was a high school teacher for many years both in the U.S. and internationally and also taught for the University of Maryland before leaving to homeschool my 3 wonderful kids.
To read more about us CLICK HERE.
Click on the image to find out more about the units and packets we have available.
This post has links to dozens of posts and resources both for new and veteran homeschoolers for everything from finding homeschool curriculum to general homeschool advice and encouragement.
Click on the image above to see the History Units we covered in our homeschool.
What science topics could I teach my 5-7 year old - Homeschool Science Curriculum
Click on the image above to see the Science Units we covered in our homeschool from elementary through middle school (and beyond!).
A list of the books we've used most in history, science, math, language arts, etc.
Click the image to check out our packets on Earth Science, Rocks and Minerals, the Atmosphere, Weather, Energy and More!
Units are also sold separately.
This is one of our most popular units. It covers the Layers of the Earth, Plate Tectonics, Earthquakes, Volcanoes and More! It is included in the Earth Science Bundle (see the picture/link above).
Click the image to see our Biology Units on Animal and Plant Cells; the Biology Unit on Biomes, Food Chains, Symbiosis; Scientific Classification & Taxonomy (Domain/Kingdom/Phylum/Class, etc.); Botany - Plant Kingdom and Oceans and Oceanography.
Click on the image to see our Animal Bundle - including the Animal Unit, Life Cycles, the Rainforest, Winter (Polar Animals) & Hibernation, Chameleons, Wolves, Cicadas and more!
The Human Body Systems, Skeletal, Digestive, Circulatory, Muscular, Nervous, Endocrine Systems and More (with lots of hands-on activity ideas)! We usually study a different body system each year.
Click on the image to see our units on the States of matter, Properties of Matter, Electricity & Circuits, and the Chemistry Unit (Get to know the Periodic Table in a fun way!)
This is a free checklist I put together of the various science units I hope to cover in the elementary and middle school years.
Do your kids know the 4 largest countries? Which countries have the most people? The longest river? This packet covers basic world and U.S. facts and also covers geographic features and land forms.
Click on the image to check out our 100-page unit on World War I.
We have used AAS for 6 years! AAS is an affiliate link.
Dozens of posts about how to create a homeschool writing workshop.
Click on the image to check out all of our fun K-2 Math Packets.
This is one of the best values we have... more than 20 PDFs with games, activities and worksheets to learn/practice the multiplication facts ($7.00).
Click on the image to discover some of the pages, posts and homeschool resources within our blog that might be the most useful for you including a long list of our freebies!
Click on the image to check out our 100+page Rocks and Minerals Unit.
This is a fun, hands-on unit for early elementary students!
How the body is organized from cells to tissues... organs to body systems
Click on the image to check out some of the Spanish worksheet bundles we have available!
Click on the image above to check out our German worksheets.
Click on the image to find out more about our units and packets.
