Our Favorite Preschool Learning Tools

It’s back to school season.  The seasonal section at Target is full of school supplies.  Even though it’s still in the 90s outside, the stores at full of sweaters and sweatpants.  I’ve always had an interest in home schooling.  I love to see my kids’ brains working and mastering new concepts.  I’m not sure what our future holds as far as homeschooling.  Right now Aidan goes to preschool two mornings a week and genuinely loves it, so we’re happy continuing to send him there for now.  Since he only goes to school two mornings a week and loves to learn, we do lots of learning activities at home.  I figured today in honor of back to school I’d share a few of our favorite learning products.

Most of these products are actually from the Dollar Spot at Target!  Since it's Back to School season they have a huge display of workbooks, flashcards, and other learning tools.  Another great place to shop for inexpensive learning tools for your kids is Dollar Tree.  They have a surprisingly well stocked kids' section with stickers, workbooks, and school supplies.  Last but not least, Amazon Prime.  I get everything from Amazon!  I especially love to order toys for cheaper than I can find them in most stores.

Workbooks/Worksheets: Aidan loves to sit down and "do school."  He especially enjoys it when he gets my undivided attention during Max's nap time.  I recently got an awesome workbook for only $4.99 at Aldi.  All of the smaller books pictured below were only $1 each from Dollar General.  My favorite website for FREE worksheets is The Measured Mom.  She has tons of worksheets and free learning activities here.

Flash Cards: Get yourself to the Target Dollar Spot!  They have these awesome flash cards for $1 each.  We started with the colors and shapes and progressed to numbers and letters, and now we're starting on phonics!  They even have lots of choices for older kids - even flags from different countries around the world.

Notepad, Beginner Pencil, Dry Erase Books: We're working on pen/pencil control and starting to work on writing letters.  Aidan especially loves tracing things I've written and tracing the dotted lines in his dry erase book.  The beginner pencils are easier for his little hands to grip and he likes having a notepad that's all his own.

Puzzles: Aidan loves to put together puzzles.  We found these awesome opposites and alphabet puzzles in the Dollar Spot at Target.  Aidan can do these independently (yay! maybe I can accomplish something productive).  

Toys: These three really count as toys, but they help with fine motor skills and spatial perception.  I can use the MagnaDoodle to practice shapes, writing letter and numbers, and recognizing sight words.  We can practice shapes and colors with the MagnaTiles and even talk about how magnets work or how to create a tower with a strong foundation so it won't fall.  We can practice lacing and even learn how to tie shoes with the lacing tool.  I always look for toys with more than one purpose/use and these definitely fit the bill.  They can be played with AND used for learning activities.

Letter Magnets: Target has these letter magnets in their kitchen section for around $1.  I bought 3 sets so we could make words with more than one of each letter in them.  We use an old baking sheets to stick them to.  I wrote out several words on popsicle sticks that he can practice spelling with the magnets.  This is an awesome activity for him to do independently during quiet time.

Books: I am of the opinion that you can never have enough books.  We love going to the library and checking out books, but I also make sure that we have a great home library with lots of fiction and non-fiction selections.  Some of my favorite deals on books are anthologies.  We have two Curious George anthologies, Frog and Toad, Little Critter, some Disney 5-Minute story anthologies, one with children's classics like Madeline, Ferdinand, Corduroy, and a couple of Usborne Book anthologies as well.  You can get these for a STEAL on Amazon, at Barnes and Noble or from Usborne.

Alphabet Cards: I got these alphabet cards last week in the Dollar Spot at Target and used them to make a super cheap alphabet poster for the wall in our play area.  The cards were $1 and I got a standard sized poster board for $0.54.  Less than $2 in total!  It hangs in our wall, but I also take it down and we play games as well.  I'll tell Aidan, "Find me the F" and I give him a chopstick or straw to point.  I like that these cards have the upper and lower case letter as well as a picture.  Go grab some!

Whether you're planning on homeschooling or just augmenting the learning your kids are already doing at school, I hope you check out some of these items.  Happy learning!