DIY Preschool Circle Time Board (Part 2)

Hi, Hello, and Happy Thursday! As promised here is Part 2 of our Preschool morning board/circle time activities. You will also find a video at the bottom that shows just what it looks like for us! 🙂 Craziness and all!

To pick up where we left off, once we finish with the calendar, days of the week, and the sequencing activity, we move on to weather, seasons, shapes, colors, and letters.

Preschool Circle Time Activities

Seasons and Weather

We typically start with the Seasons. I found this cute and simple Weather Chart at Confessions of a Homeschooler. I just inserted a brag in the center of the circle and now we have a seasons wheel. At the beginning of each season we talk about what that season is and what it means. Every day after that is just a refresher and a tool for us to use observations.

We also talk about the Weather for the day. Again, using observation we discuss what it looks like outside and then what that means. This is a great way to introduce different weather vocabulary as well. I found the Weather Chart at LearnCreateLove. 

Shapes and Colors

Next, we talk about shapes and colors. In the beginning, we did this part together or I would point to a shape and ask her what it was. For kiddos that may not know these shapes, start with what they do know and introduce the shapes they do not know one at a time. Now B just goes through on her own, points and names them. Each week we focus on one specific shape, so I introduce new ones that way, or we dive deeper into characteristics of the shapes.

This is also a prime time to name colors! If your little ones don’t know shapes yet, maybe just start with colors and say something like, “That’s right, that is a RED Heart.” That way you are slowly introducing the shapes while working on a skill they are already successful at.

Letters and Sounds

I found this adorable alphabet poster at Mr. Printables.  B and I take turns singing through the alphabet. While I sing, she points to each letter. Then, we switch. I speed up or slow down my pace to make sure that she is looking at the letters and staying with me, not just going through the motions.

I also use this time to review all the letters that we have already learned. I will ask her to find a letter and then we will talk about the sound it makes, etc.

Weekly Focus

The last thing we do is to talk about the Letter, Shape, Number, and Color of the week. At the beginning of the week, I introduce the Letter and see if they already know the shape, color, and number. Every day after that, I point at each and ask what they are. We may talk about the characteristics of the shape such as, the diamond has four sides, or looks like two triangles put together. Sometimes I even break out into a made up song that describes the shape, see lyrics below. We discuss what words other than kite start with “K”. We may review what we did the day before.

I printed the color crayons at OurHomeCreations, the Alphabet Flash cards from 123Homeschool4me,  and the Number Flash Cards from SmartSchoolhouse.

I use a variety of different flash cards for the shapes. The ones pictured were from a $1 bin at Target but I also have and love these cute shape flash cards from PrintableTreats.

Diamond Song Lyrics:

A Diamond has four sides

A Diamond has four sides

A diamond has four sides

Four sides, four sides, four sides. 

 

Name Recognition

Something I have not done yet but that I would like to include in the future are name recognition activities. B already knows how to spell her name verbally and can recognize most letters, but this  would be an excellent time to work on those skills as well. You could even do something as simple as putting their name somewhere on the board and just going over it every day. Or coming up with a song that spells out their name. I’m a dork when it comes to making up songs and rapping, so each girl has a made up song that spells out their name. For B is was pretty easy we used the tune for B-I-N-G-O to spell out her name, but she loves it and because of that can spell her name at 3.

And now for the video:

This is a typical morning board for us. The twins are walking around, sometimes engaged, sometimes just wreaking havoc around us. But this is real, attitude, chaos, and all!

I truly hope that this is helpful in some fashion. Just know that not every day will look the same, and you may not get through every activity before your little ones lose interest. That is perfectly OK! Just try again the next day. Make it fun and interactive and soon your Morning Board / Circle time will be the highlight of your day!

Warmest Wishes,