Where can I find free pattern block templates? How can my preschooler use pattern blocks?

This is the final post for the pattern block templates series. It has been so much fun for me to put together all of these pattern block templates. Little Bear has really enjoyed using the pattern blocks in so many different ways. Check out the bottom of this post for links to all the past pattern block posts as well as several links for other pattern block templates.

The last activity for pattern blocks that we did was a spring pattern block scene. I used pattern blocks to create a spring scene (tree, two flowers, hill, stream, and sun), then I turned it into a pattern block template. Since Little Bear is getting so good at pattern blocks, I printed this one in black and white just to give him a bit more of challenge. You can download the color version or the black and white version.

Little Bear used the pattern blocks to fill in the space and then we talked about what pictures the pattern blocks made. I’m thinking about having him color the pattern blocks in the right colors and then having him finish coloring the rest of the picture, but I’m not sure if I’ll do that yet or not. I also had him create his own scene. He made a rocket ship and unfortunately I didn’t get a picture of it. This was a really fun way to explore with pattern blocks and Little Bear realized just how creative he can be with them.

Here are all of our other pattern block activities as well as links to several other pattern block templates. If you have any free pattern block templates, please let me know and I will add them to the list below:

Moms Have Questions Too Pattern Block Templates

• Fill in the Shape with Pattern Blocks
• Spring Pattern Block Templates
• Making Patterns with Pattern Blocks
• Pattern Blocks Pre-Addition Math Mat

More Pattern Block Templates

• Alphabet Pattern Block Printables
• Number Pattern Block Cards
• Shape Pattern Block Cards
• Pattern Block Mats (Duck, Dog, Cat, and more)
• Pattern Block Pictures (sailboat, train, car, and more) Click on pattern block pictures set 1 and set 2
• Christmas Pattern Blocks

We realized that we’ve featured several blogs in the last few months that have been kind to us but have failed to recognize our amazing readers! In the last few weeks especially we’ve seen a large increase in readership and we are so excited!

We just wanted to thank you all for coming to our site, leaving comments, sharing our posts and sending us emails. You really are what continue to make this blog possible. You have provided great insight and feedback which we love! Thanks to reader requests we’ve added some posts we hadn’t considered before. Thank you so much to those who have been here with us from the beginning and to those who have recently become part of our community. We are so grateful to all of you.

Also, because we love you so much, we wanted to let you know about a couple changes. Google is discontinuing Google Reader which we know is one way that a lot of you follow our blog. The change is taking place July 1st so everything tied to Google Reader will need to be changed by then. We have added the option to subscribe to our posts via email. For now, we feel like this is the best option. If you have any suggestions of other ways you’d like to follow us, just let us know and we will take a look!

We are trying to really focus on teaching ideas for those of you trying to do a preschool at home with your kids or those who are just looking for great educational activities. We will be running a series of posts around a specific theme and will have a summary post at the end of each series. Please let us know if this is something you feel to be helpful! If not, we’ll change it up.

Thank you again for being so wonderful and supportive! We love hearing from you and hope you’ll continue to share posts and ideas that you enjoy!

How can I make my own spring themed sensory bin?

I feel like it has been weeks since I put together a sensory bin (oops, probably because it has). Since, Smiley Man is a classic toddler and he loves sensory activities, I realized it was high time I made up a sensory bin for him. We have been talking about spring a lot in our house recently and what better way to introduce spring to a toddler, than through a sensory activity just for kids.

I started the sensory bin with a base of colored and plain pasta. I first made this pasta for a St. Patrick’s Day sensory bin, but I have used it for lots of other sensory activities. It was right at home in our spring sensory bin. Next, I added lots of spring items for Smiley Man to explore. All of these other items were from the dollar store!

I added three different kinds of flowers, some plastic bugs, some plastic frogs (these were definitely Smiley Man’s favorite) and some fabric butterflies. Smiley Man was very upset when I held him back to get some pictures of the sensory bin before he could play with it. He wanted to get straight into that sensory activity.

This spring sensory bin definitely turned out to be a success. Smiley Man loved exploring all of the spring items, especially the bugs and frogs. Yeah, he’s a boy. :) He also loved running his fingers through the pasta just to explore how it felt.

I have to say, I used to think sensory bins were a big waste of time. I thought, there are so many fun activities for toddlers that I just didn’t find time for sensory bins. Luckily, I finally tried them and I can honestly say that sensory bins are one of the best fun activities to do with toddlers. Smiley Man LOVES them and Little Bear also enjoys playing with the sensory bin.

What are some easy ways to keep an active kid happy on rainy days?

We are excited to share a guest post with you today! Sara is an active nanny as well as an active freelance writer. She is a frequent contributor of Nanny Pro.  Learn more about her here.

She has some great ideas today on how to keep kids entertained indoors on rainy days. Enjoy!

When you have a very active child rainy days can feel like a death sentence. You have this child on your hands that wants to run outside in the rain and make a huge mess, yet you have to keep them indoors and happy in confined quarters. How do you do it? Well, here are some fun activities for rainy days:

1. Can Bowling – When my brother was small he was always on the move. Rainy days kept us cooped up indoors and while I was happy to curl up with a good book, he was not so quietly entertained. That is when our mom came up with can bowling. Like the games you play at the fair, can bowling is mostly just seeing how much you can knock down. Kids love it because it is noisy and you can do it over and over again. All you need is some canned goods and a little floor space. Have the kids stack up the cans in a small pyramid and then roll another can at the pyramid to knock down as many as possible. Empty cans are easier and louder, but full cans work too.
2. Making Music – Being noisy is a sure way to keep kids entertained. There are many ways of making music around the house. Some ideas are: Plate tambourines, where you staple two paper plates together and put a few beans in between. Drum sets, where you let the kids beat on old pots and pans. Rain sticks, where you seal the ends of empty paper towel or toilet paper rolls and fill them with beans or rice. You can also make a tissue box guitar out of rubber bands and an empty tissue box or you can use a shoe box. An empty canister of oatmeal and a piece of thick paper attached to the top makes a great drum. Have kids make their own instruments and then create music like Jingle Bells and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. You can even have a music guessing game where the others try to figure out which song they are playing.
3. Building Blocks – This basic indoor activity is something that most kids love. From Legos to waffle blocks to plain wooden blocks kids love to build and destroy. If you don’t have blocks or your kids are bored with them you can make a giant set out of cardboard boxes, tissue boxes or shoe boxes. Kids can create their own forts and tear them down to rebuild over and over again. Another fun way to keep kids interested is to have a competition on who can build the sturdiest creation. Kids build a tower or house and then throw a ball at it to see how many times it takes to break it. Or you can have them drop their creation a few feet and watch it shatter.
4. Mess Free Finger Paints – The last thing you want to do in the rain is clean up paint. However the kiddoes love to paint. What do you do? Well, why not try a mess free painting session? Put a couple dollops of different colored paint in a gallon sized plastic bad and then seal the bag shut with tape. Tape the bag to the table and let the kids swirl it around to paint pictures, learn how colors interact and just have fun without the big clean up.
5. Sewing Buttons – I know that sewing may not sound like something your kid would like, but give it a shot. You might be surprised. If you have a bunch of buttons, some thick thread and a large needle you can let kids thread buttons and create necklaces, garlands, wreaths and more. Or if you have some scrap material around then the children can make art using buttons or just practice their fine motor skills sewing on button after button. Create rainbows, flowers and more from buttons and watch them learn as they play.
6. Cardboard Creations – A cardboard box is a wondrous thing to a child. Combine it with some washable markers or crayons and maybe a cut out door or window and you have a variety of fun ways to play. Help your child build a house out of a large cardboard boxby cutting in a door and windows. They can then draw in things like doorbells, flowers, a mailbox, an oven, a bead and more. A collection of smaller boxes can be tied together with yarn to create a train. Add a toy steering wheel and draw on some tires for a car. Get out the toy cars and create a whole tiny racetrack by cutting out a tunnel through the box and drawing some roads across it. Add some red and orange construction paper flames and make a space helmet out of a smaller box for a rocket ship. Add googly eyes and claws to empty tissue boxes for monster feet that kids can wear around. There are so many things that can be done with cardboard boxes!
7. Puppet Theater – For an imaginative child, a puppet show might be the way to go. All you need are an old pair of socks and some markers to make a fun sock puppet. Add some googly eyes and yarn hair for a fancier effect and then have kids act out their own shows. If you do not have old socks on hand, you can use small paper lunch bags. They are the perfect size and shape for a puppet and can easily be drawn on to make all sorts of fun people or creatures. Add construction paper ears for different animals or have kids create a whole outfit for their puppet out of paper. Puppet shows can take place from behind a curtain, from inside a large box, or even from behind the couch.
8. Monster Shoot – What kids doesn’t like to shoot things in the house. Save your furniture and your sanity by having a monster shoot. Have kids draw and cut out monster shapes and then use a small triangle of paper to help them to stand up on the floor or table. Now it is time to make your shooters. Cut a small plastic cup in half. Tie the narrow end of a balloon into a knot and then cut off about an inch of the wide end of the balloon. Stretch the balloon to cover the cut end of the cup. Now you have a popper. Use paper balls, pompoms, mini marshmallows or whatever is small and light to shoot with. Have the kids see how many tries it takes to knock down all the monsters. You can also make another kind of shooter with crafting sticks and string. Have kids tie a string to one end of the stick and then bend the stick into a bow shape and tie the end of the string to the end of the stick, forming a bow. You can shoot cotton swabs at the monsters for your arrows. Kids can also decorate their bows for an authentic look.
9. Dress Up – Dress up is not just for girls. Every kid love to try on costumes and have fun. If you have some old clothes that are unusual, be it sparkly or manly, then have the kids give a fashion show. You can also make things like crowns, top hats, and Indian headdresses out of construction paper. Hula skirts are easy to make out of green construction paper with strips cut into it.

These are just a few of the ways that you can entertain active kids on rainy days. Indoors does not have to be boring. Just take a little time to think about some fun things your kid loves to do and you will pass the time in a snap!

How can I teach shapes using puzzles?

Puzzles are a great way to teach any topic and 2 part puzzles are perfect for the toddler crowd. Print these free 2 part shape puzzles and you’ll be on your way to teach shapes to your toddler or preschooler very soon.

Using these puzzles is pretty self-explanatory, but here are some simple directions for use with toddlers. Simply, put 2-3 shapes on the table at a time. You will have 4 or 6 pieces on the table since each shape has two pieces. Spread the pieces around so they are all mixed up. Have your toddler choose one piece and then have them look for the other piece of that puzzle. When your toddler has both pieces, let them put the puzzle pieces together to complete the shape.

Sometimes Smiley Man has a hard time actually putting the pieces together to make the shape, so I help him. Then, we talk about what shape was just made.

These puzzles also work great for preschool shape activities. When using with preschoolers, put all the shape pieces on a table at a time. Have your preschooler sort through the shapes to find matches and to put the puzzle pieces together. Both Smiley Man and Little Bear love playing with these shape puzzles.

Once all the puzzles are completed, I tell my kids to mess up one shape at a time. I also usually have them say the name of the shape out loud as they are messing it up. This gives them some extra practice at saying the shape name.

One last thing, I want to emphasize that right now I am only teaching Smiley Man the four basic shapes (circle, square, triangle, and rectangle). Whenever I do shape activities with him, I only use those four shapes. We will do lots of preschool shape activities when he gets older and he is still really young, so I don’t want to confuse him by teaching him too many shapes. He is the perfect age to learn 4 shapes so that is what we work on.