Kids Archive - Kids Activities | Saving Money | Home Management | Motherhood on a Dime

FREE 2025-2026 Calendar Binder Printables for Preschoolers and Early Elementary Students

Stacie Nelson — Thu, 28 Aug 2025 12:05:08 +0000

Well….I know this is late! I wasn’t planning to redo this for this year because of all the craziness going on in my life right now, but enough of you emailed me, that I went ahead and updated the Free Calendar Binder for 2025-2026!

Many years ago, I made a free printable Calendar Binder that I used with the girls when they were little. I highly recommend going to this post about how we used our calendar binder to fully understand how to implement using them in your home.

If you would like to use these in your home, scroll down for the free family version. Please note the free version is for home/personal use only. If you would like to use this in a classroom/coop/church/daycare setting, please purchase this 2025-2026 Calendar Binder file for $3 with copyright permission for group use.

If you are using these for home/immediate family use, you can download them free here:

2025-2026 Calendar Binder Printable Pack (includes print-friendly black and white pages after page 40)

There are 75 printable pages included in the Calendar Binder pack. Just print what you need!

2025-2026 Calendar with dates for tracing (12 pages)
2025-2026 Calendar without dates (so your child can fill them in)
Fix the Sentence
Number of the Day Math and Calendar page
100 Days of School
Today’s Date
Days of School Tally
Weather Graph
Word of the Day Form
Place Value Words
Phone and Address Sheet
Months and Days of the Week Sheet
Weekly Calendar
Goal Sheet
Idea List
Reading List
ALL the above pages in Black & White

Please let me know if you find any typos! Your purchases help me maintain this site and continue to share freebies and deals! If you are using it for personal use, you can also say thanks with a tip

The post FREE 2025-2026 Calendar Binder Printables for Preschoolers and Early Elementary Students appeared first on Kids Activities | Saving Money | Home Management | Motherhood on a Dime.

God’s Little Explorers Home Preschool Curriculum Schedule for 2025-2026

Stacie Nelson — Wed, 27 Aug 2025 18:23:56 +0000

I’ve been getting a few emails about God’s Little Explorers and what the suggested upcoming schedule is for the year. You may remember a long time ago (if you were a subscriber at that point), I launched a free weekly preschool curriculum called God’s Little Explorers. I wrote the lesson plans each week and shared them with you so that you could use them if you would like.

What has happened since that time has been nothing short of amazing. So far, thousands of you have the curriculum and are using it in some way, shape, or form. It’s been such a huge blessing (and the orphanage is completed…and we are supporting some other ministries this year, too)!!

Anyway, today I wanted to share a weekly schedule you may want to use if you will be going through the curriculum. Please note I said MAY. Every family is different and unique–your schedule is not the same as mine, and I don’t expect anyone to use the exact same schedule.

Here is my proposed schedule for 2025-2026. Please note that I have included a longer Christmas break this year. Due to how the dates fell, I needed to move the weeks for Valentine’s Day and Easter.

Week 1: Sept 8-12

Week 2: Sept. 15-19

Week 3: Sept. 22-26

Week 4: Sept. 29-Oct. 3

Week 5: Oct. 6-10

Week 6: Oct 13-17

Week 7: Oct. 20-24

Week 8: Oct. 27-31

Week 9: Nov. 3-7

Week 10: Nov. 10-13

Week 11: Nov. 17-20

BREAK: Nov. 24-28

Week 12: Dec. 1-5

Week 13: Dec. 8-12

Week 14: Dec. 15-19

BREAK: December 20–January 11

Week 15: Jan. 12-15

Week 16: Jan. 19-23

Week 17: Jan. 26-30

Week 18: Feb. 2-6

Week 19: Feb. 9-13

Week 20: Feb. 16-20

Week 21: Feb. 23-27

Week 22: Mar. 2-6

Week 23: Mar. 9-13

BREAK: March 16-20

Week 24: Mar. 23-27

Week 25: Mar. 30-Apr. 3

Week 26: Apr. 6-10

Week 27: Apr. 13-17

Week 28: Apr. 20-24

I hope you have a great year and make many memories with your child!

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FREE 2024 – 2025 Calendar Binder for Kids

Stacie Nelson — Tue, 06 Aug 2024 22:31:35 +0000

2024 – 2025 Calendar Binder for Classroom/Coop Use – $5

If you are using these for home/immediate family use, you can download them free here:

2024-2025 FREE Printable Calendar Binder (in color)

2024-2025 FREE Printable Calendar Binder (in black and white)

There are 38 printable pages included in the Calendar Binder pack. Just print what you need!

2024-2025 Calendar with dates for tracing (12 pages)
2024-2025 Calendar without dates (so your child can fill them in)
Fix the Sentence
Number of the Day Math and Calendar page
100 Days of School
Today’s Date
Days of School Tally
Weather Graph
Word of the Day Form
Place Value Words
Phone and Address Sheet
Months and Days of the Week Sheet
Weekly Calendar
Goal Sheet
Idea List
Reading List

The post FREE 2024 – 2025 Calendar Binder for Kids appeared first on Kids Activities | Saving Money | Home Management | Motherhood on a Dime.

God’s Little Explorers 2023 – 2024 Weekly Schedule

Stacie Nelson — Mon, 14 Aug 2023 13:41:20 +0000

I’ve been getting a few emails about God’s Little Explorers and our upcoming schedule for the year. You may remember (if you were a subscriber at that point), I launched a free weekly preschool curriculum called God’s Little Explorers. I wrote the lesson plans each week and shared them with you so that you could use them if you would like.

Here is my proposed schedule for 2023-2024. Please note that I have included a longer Christmas break this year. Due to how the dates fell, I needed to move the weeks for Valentine’s Day and Easter.

Week 1: Sept 4-8 (Because the 5th is Labor Day, you could start on Tuesday and go through Friday of this week OR you might choose to start a week earlier and spread the 1st week over two weeks to “ease” into it.)

Week 2: Sept. 11-15

Week 3: Sept. 18-22

Week 4: Sept. 25-29

Week 5: Oct. 2-6

Week 6: Oct 9-12

Week 7: Oct. 16-20

Week 8: Oct. 23-27

Week 9: Oct. 30-Nov. 3

Week 10: Nov. 6-10

Week 11: Nov. 13-17

BREAK: Nov. 21-25

Week 12: Nov. 27-Dec. 1

Week 13: Dec. 4-8

Week 14: Dec. 11-15

BREAK: December 19– January 14

Week 15: Jan. 8-12

Week 16: Jan. 15-19

Week 17: Jan. 22-26

Week 18: Jan. 29-Feb. 2

Week 19: Feb. 5-9

Week 20: Feb. 12-16

Week 21: Feb. 19-23

Week 22: Feb. 26-Mar. 1

Week 23: Mar. 4-8

BREAK: March 11-15

Week 24: Mar. 18-22

Week 25: Mar. 25-29

Week 26: Apr. 1-5

Week 27: Apr. 8-12

Week 28: Apr. 15-19

The post God’s Little Explorers 2023 – 2024 Weekly Schedule appeared first on Kids Activities | Saving Money | Home Management | Motherhood on a Dime.

FREE 2023-2024 Calendar Binder Printable Pack

Stacie Nelson — Mon, 07 Aug 2023 13:59:38 +0000

Well…I had actually thought about not updating this…and it’s a little late, but it is finally up!

Please note the free version is for home/personal use only. If you would like to use this in a classroom/coop/church/daycare setting, please purchase the file with copyright permission for group use.

2023-2024 Calendar Binder Printable Pack with both color and black & white versions for group use (allows copies for all students) – $4.99

If you are using these for home/immediate family use, you can download them free here:

2023-2024 FREE Printable Calendar Binder (in color)

2023-2024 FREE Printable Calendar Binder (in black and white)

There are 38 printable pages included in the Calendar Binder pack. Just print what you need!

2023-2024 Calendar with dates for tracing (12 pages)
2023-2024 Calendar without dates (so your child can fill them in)
Fix the Sentence
Number of the Day Math and Calendar page
100 Days of School
Today’s Date
Days of School Tally
Weather Graph
Word of the Day Form
Place Value Words
Phone and Address Sheet
Months and Days of the Week Sheet
Weekly Calendar
Goal Sheet
Idea List
Reading List

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God’s Little Explorers™: Week 26 – E is for Excited (Emotions) + Jesus is Alive!

Stacie Nelson — Thu, 06 Apr 2023 19:57:53 +0000

Each Thursday, I will be reposting our lessons from last year. If you want to follow along with us, we’d love to have you!

Considering purchasing the complete download of God’s Little Explorers? You can find out the top 10 differences between the weekly free preschool lesson plans and the complete download here.

Welcome! Here are this week’s lesson plans. You can find the printable plans at the bottom of the post. If you’d like to know more about God’s Little Explorers Preschool Curriculum, head over here. Please feel free to share your ideas in the comments or send me an email! Also, if you find any errors, please feel free to let me know. This is a work-in-progress!!

God’s Little Explorers Week 26

Theme: ”e” is for Excited (Emotions) + Jesus is Alive
Bible Story: Jesus’ Death and Resurrection
Bible Verse: “He is not here; he has risen!” Luke 24:6 NIV
Letter: e
Color: Black

Because we were focusing on emotions this week, we did some “art therapy” paintings. First, I asked them to paint sadness….

Then, anger….

and joy!

We found and sorted black items.

Of course, we had to practice all the different kinds of emotions (and faces) we could make–happy, sad, grumpy, angry, frustrated, surprised, scared, exasperated. They really hammed this up!

I gave the girls several plastic eggs and had them draw whatever kind of faces they wanted to portray. This one is happy!

We also used these Alphabet Matching Eggs for a busy bag.

Other Ideas:

Do an Easter Egg Letter or Number Hunt
Make Crumpled Tissue Paper Eggs
Make a Caterpillar to Butterfly Craft
Make Easter Story Eggs (like Resurrection Eggs, but for preschoolers)
Make Resurrection Cookies or Resurrection Rolls

Resources:

Find more resources here.

Download God’s Little Explorers Week 26 Lesson Plans

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God’s Little Explorers™: Week 25 (S is for Servant/Community Helpers + The Last Supper)

Stacie Nelson — Thu, 30 Mar 2023 17:00:19 +0000

Each Thursday, I will be reposting our lessons from last year. If you want to follow along with us, we’d love to have you!

Considering purchasing the complete download of God’s Little Explorers? You can find out the top 10 differences between the weekly free preschool lesson plans and the complete download here.

God’s Little Explorers Week 25

Theme: ”s” is for Servant + Community Helpers
Bible Story: The Last Supper
Bible Verse: “…The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Mark 9:35 ESV
Letter: s
Color: Pink

We talked first about Jesus’ Triumphal Entry. Since my youngest daughter had already made a palm branch at church, we used it and acted out the scene where Jesus rides in on a donkey, the people are waving palm branches and throwing down garments (we used coats), and saying “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” (Matthew 21:9, ESV)

You can find a simple palm branch craft here.

We brainstormed a “community helper” for each letter of the alphabet. It was tough! I had to recruit the six and eight-year-olds to help!

We read “The Servant King” from The Jesus Bible Storybook! It was perfect for this week.

Of course, we had to wash feet after the story. Next time, I think I’ll make them go outside and get super-muddy feet beforehand!

I gave the option of making a little s all over the big S or gluing string, and she chose the handwriting project.

We found all kinds of pink pictures to add to our pink collage. I’m sure you can guess this was one of the favorite colors so far…

Making s with string in the Alphabet Notebook.

Here is the treasure map! We’re getting close!!!

You could also do a Transportation spin-off of the Community Helper theme with these ideas:

Other Resources:

Download God’s Little Explorers Week 25 Lesson Plans

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God’s Little Explorers™: Week 24 (M is for Money + Various Bible Stories About Money)

Stacie Nelson — Thu, 23 Mar 2023 17:00:16 +0000

Each Thursday, I will be reposting our lessons from last year. If you want to follow along with us, we’d love to have you!

Considering purchasing the complete download of God’s Little Explorers? You can find out the top 10 differences between the weekly free preschool lesson plans and the complete download here.

God’s Little Explorers Week 24

Theme: ”m” is for Money
Bible Story: Various (Zacchaeus, Jesus at the Temple with Money Changers, The Poor Woman’s Fortune)
Bible Verse: “And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.” Phillipians 4:19 NIV
Letter: m
Color: Brown

The Bible includes so many stories about money…and has a ton to say on the issue. We started early with our girls. They each have a bank that is separated into sections:

This Give, Save, Spend bank is from Dave Ramsey. ~~It doesn’t look like it’s available any longer~~, but the Financial Peace Jr. Kit includes special envelopes. *It looks like you can get Juniors Giving Bank at CBD!

I also like this bank from Crown Financial Ministries, but you don’t really have to have a bank like this. We just gave these to the girls one year for Christmas.

You can easily use some jars and tags like this great idea (which includes printables) and you are good to go!

We sorted coins by pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters, and dollar bills. You can find a simple “coin sorting mat” here.

My oldest daughter put some garage sale tags on various items in our home and had my youngest daughter play store. She had a ton of pennies and used them to “buy” items. The prices were all below $0.25 to make it easier.

I showed my daughter how to do coin rubbings, and she did them on the printable letter m (included in the download).

We also made patterns with money.

Other ideas:

Use the included chart in the download to distinguish between wants and needs.
Make a little coin booklet.
Clean pennies in vinegar.
Predict heads or tails. Then flip a coin to see which you get.

Download God’s Little Explorers Week 24 Lesson Plans

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God’s Little Explorers™: Week 23 (Y is for You + Jesus Welcomes the Children)

Stacie Nelson — Thu, 09 Mar 2023 18:13:45 +0000

Each Thursday, I will be reposting our lessons from last year. If you want to follow along with us, we’d love to have you!

Considering purchasing the complete download of God’s Little Explorers? You can find out the top 10 differences between the weekly free preschool lesson plans and the complete download here.

God’s Little Explorers Week 23

Theme: ”y” is for You (All About Me + Bodies & Bones)
Bible Story: Jesus and the Little Children
Bible Verse: Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me…” —Matthew 19:14 NIV
Letter: y
Color: White

I’ve included an “All About Me” printable booklet in the download. My daughter loved this…and I can’t wait to store it away and pull it out when she’s older. I love looking at pictures the girls have drawn of our family! You can also put together an “All About Me” photo book.

We also looked through some picture albums from when they were babies!

I know this is so weird! I asked the girls to make people out of playdough, and this is what they do every time (I think it’s because of our lesson on the Blind Man Sees). They want to add wiggly eyes to the playdough! Then, I asked them to make it stand up. They were starting to get frustrated, so…

I gave them some toothpicks! We talked about how the toothpicks were like bones in our bodies–keeping us upright. I also had them act out what it would be like if they didn’t have bones.

This was a silly little project…and it really needs a skull, but we just cut apart q-tips and made a skeleton. You could glue these down if you wanted to, but ours are in a plastic bag so they can be reused! It’s a great way to review various bones, too!

I gave each of the girls access to bowls of various fruits and veggies, and they made their own fruit faces.

This one even has a mustache! I love their creativity. Each one was unique!

We did a “scratchy back” letter review.

Other Ideas:

Resources:

Wooly Willy
You Are Special (Max Lucado’s Wemmicks)
Fred and Friends Food Face Plate
My Body (Science Books S)
See Inside Your Body (one of my faves…and yes, this is my Usborne Book site!)

God’s Little Explorers Week 23 Lesson Plans

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God’s Little Explorers™: Week 22 (P is for Pig + The Prodigal Son)

Stacie Nelson — Fri, 03 Mar 2023 03:35:13 +0000

Each Thursday, I will be reposting our lessons from last year. If you want to follow along with us, we’d love to have you!

Considering purchasing the complete download of God’s Little Explorers? You can find out the top 10 differences between the weekly free preschool lesson plans and the complete download here.

God’s Little Explorers Week 22

Theme: ”p” is for Pig (Farm Animals)
Bible Story: The Prodigal Son
Bible Verse: “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.” Luke 15:20 NIV
Letter: p
Color: Purple

More pictures to come later this weekend! Half of them are finished, but I wanted to get a few more supplies now that our no-spend challenge is over!

We colored a section of an egg carton pink, punched holes in the sides, and strung a piece of yarn though it to make a “pig nose.” We did use a permanent marker, but I don’t recommend it! A pink crayon works just as well, and you don’t have to worry about marker all over your hands!

You can also add some paper or egg carton ears to a headband!

We had this pig from our set of Lacing Animals, so I set it out for the girls to use. It doesn’t look like these are being made anymore, but this Lauri Dot-to-Dot Farm Animal Lacing set by Lauri looks good, too.

I made a pig from toothpicks and marshmallows to show the girls, and they wanted to make one, too! Here’s mine…

I wrote the numbers 1-10 on the bottom of cupcake wrappers with a marker. I had my daughter put them in order. Then…

I gave my daughter kernels of unpopped popcorn. She placed the correct number of kernels in each “feeding trough”. I put all the supplies into a plastic bag to use another day!

Other Crafts:

Barnyard Art – Pig Craft

Folded Barn (scroll down when you get to the page to find)

Resources:

Download God’s Little Explorers Week 22 plans

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God’s Little Explorers™: Week 21 (O is for Opposites + Mary & Martha)

Stacie Nelson — Thu, 23 Feb 2023 12:33:38 +0000

Considering purchasing the complete download of God’s Little Explorers? You can find out the top 10 differences between the weekly free preschool lesson plans and the complete download here.

God’s Little Explorers Week 21

Theme: ”o” is for Opposites
Bible Story: Jesus at Mary & Martha’s house
Bible Verse: “Be still, and know that I am God.” Psalm 46:10
Letter: o
Color: Blue

Here are a few opposite theme activities we did:

First, we went around the house finding opposites like hot and cold….

Off and on….

Open and closed… (please ignore the crumbs!!)

A few more ideas are up & down, under & over, in & out, loud & soft, upstairs & downstairs, inside & outside, and top & bottom.

I had my daughter estimate how many mini clothespins she thought would fit into this container. Then, we filled it up and counted how many actually fit. We talked about the opposites “in and out”.

Since the clothespins were already out, we played a quick game. We stood on a chair and tried to drop the clothespins into several containers (milk jug, pitcher, and jar).

We had an “opposites taste test” where they tried sweet foods and sour foods, salty foods and bland foods, spicy foods and not-so-spicy foods.

We played “Red Light, Green Light”, but substituted Mary for Red Light (since she stopped and listened to Jesus) and Martha for Green Light (since she was on-the-go and too busy to stop)!

We ended the week with an “Opposite Day”. We had dinner for breakfast, wore pajamas backwards all day, did school in the afternoon, and had breakfast at dinner.

Other resources:

Find more Mary & Martha and opposite activities for preschoolers in this week’s lesson plan:

God’s Little Explorers Week 21 Lesson Plans

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Want to be sure you get the printable lesson plan each week? Consider signing up for my Motherhood on a Dime complete daily email with coupons, deals, recipes, kids’ activities and more.

If you’d rather receive just my KIDS newsletter with 3-4 kid-friendly posts each week via email, subscribe here.

P.S. You don’t have to subscribe to both! If you sign up for the complete email, you’ll get the kids’ activities, too.

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God’s Little Explorers™: Week 20 (V is for Vision: Five Senses + The Blind Man Sees)

Stacie Nelson — Fri, 17 Feb 2023 04:45:26 +0000

Each Thursday, I will be reposting our lessons from last year. If you want to follow along with us, we’d love to have you!

Considering purchasing the complete download of God’s Little Explorers? You can find out the top 10 differences between the weekly free preschool lesson plans and the complete download here.

God’s Little Explorers Week 20

Theme: ”v” is for Vision (Five Senses)
Bible Story: The Blind Man Sees (John 9)
Bible Verse: “…I was blind, and now I can see.” John 9:25
Letter: v
Color: Green

Here are a few activities we did:

We read the story of Jesus restoring the blind man’s sight from The Big Picture Bible.

After the story, I let the girls play with play dough and gave them two wiggly eyes (I got the idea from my friend Jenae at I Can Teach My Child). My middle daughter wanted to get a little more elaborate and create a man, stick the eyes on his head, and cover them with “mud”.

I put several different foods/spices into cups. After blindfolding my youngest, we let her smell them to see if she could figure out what they were. We had peanut butter, cinnamon, pumpkin, blueberries, banana, and coffee in the cups, and she got all of them right! Then, I had her keep on the blindfold and she did a taste test.

Make your own “Five Senses Booklet” by folding a sheet of paper in half length-wise. Cut the top part of the paper to make five sections. Have your child draw (or you can draw) a small picture for each sense: an eye for vision, a nose for smell, mouth for taste, ear for hear, and a hand for touch. Label with words.

Next, find pictures in magazines to go with each sense. Glue the item under the correct sense. Use the booklet to review the five senses.

One day we finally had snow and the girls played outside. They ran across this neat ice leaf and it was in-the-moment sensory experience!

I filled up 12 plastic eggs with six different kinds of materials. I filled two eggs each with separate items: beans, salt, pom poms, jingle bells, and oatmeal. Then, I left two of the eggs empty. I put them in an empty egg carton and asked my daughter to shake them and find the matching eggs.

One afternoon was particularly nice (for winter!), so we played outdoors. I focused in on each sense and asked them questions: What do you hear? What do you see? Pick up some leaves…what do they feel like? Can you smell anything today? I didn’t have them taste anything, however!

Download God’s Little Explorers Week 20 lesson plans.

Other ideas:

Resources:

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God’s Little Explorers™: Week 19 (L is for Love + The Good Samaritan)

Stacie Nelson — Fri, 10 Feb 2023 02:59:08 +0000

Each Thursday, I will be reposting our lessons from last year. If you want to follow along with us, we’d love to have you!

Considering purchasing the complete download of God’s Little Explorers? You can find out the top 10 differences between the weekly free preschool lesson plans and the complete download here.

God’s Little Explorers Week 19

Theme: ”l” is for Love
Bible Story: The Good Samaritan
Bible Verse: “He answered: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind; and love your neighbor as yourself.” Luke 10:27
Letter: l
Color: Yellow

Here are a few activities we did this week:

We painted some Simple Heart Art to remind us of God’s love (and to share with family).

We talked about different ways we can show love to others and made a heart chain to hang on the wall to remind us!

After we read about the Good Samaritan, we put a band-aid on one of my daughter’s dolls to help us remember the story. We also had fun acting out the story!

I made this simple number match game (H colored the hearts). To play, just match the correct numeral with the correct number of hearts. You can also adapt this to make it more difficult and play it like “Memory” by turning the pieces over and drawing two at a time until you make a match. Printing this on cardstock is preferable.

We attempted to make some fingerprint hearts for our “l” printable (included in the download) with an inkpad and our thumbs.

My youngest also practiced writing the lowercase l in her alphabet journal.

My middle daughter colored and cut-out the printable Bible verse hearts. Then, we hid them for my youngest. She found them, and we helped her put together the verse in order!

Finally, I taught the girls the hand gesture for “I love you” in sign language. I traced their hand and folded down two fingers to make the sign. They glued it onto a piece of cardstock and made a Valentine for dad!

Other ideas:

Resources:

Veggie Tales: Are You My Neighbor?
Love You Forever
Love Song for a Baby
Heart stickers (we found ours inexpensively at Walgreens)

Download God’s Little Explorers Lesson 19.

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If you’d rather receive just my KIDS newsletter with 3-4 kid-friendly posts each week via email, subscribe here.

P.S. You don’t have to subscribe to both! If you sign up for the complete email, you’ll get the kids’ activities, too.

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God’s Little Explorers™: Week 18 (H is for Hungry + Jesus Feeds the Multitude)

Stacie Nelson — Thu, 02 Feb 2023 14:40:08 +0000

Each Thursday, I will be reposting our lessons from last year. If you want to follow along with us, we’d love to have you!

Considering purchasing the complete download of God’s Little Explorers? You can find out the top 10 differences between the weekly free preschool lesson plans and the complete download here.

God’s Little Explorers Week 18

Theme: ”h” is for Hungry (Food and Nutrition)
Bible Story: Jesus Feeds the Multitude
Bible Verse: “Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry…” —John 6:35
Letter: h
Color: Orange

Here are a few activities we did this week:

Since we are studying food this week and the story of Jesus feeding the 5000, we made bread. We are gluten-free now, so the bread-in-a-bag option didn’t work for us (but it’s still a fun cooking project). I found a recipe for gluten-free bread made with almond flour, so that’s what we adapted. It was delicious!

We played a veggie & fruit guessing game. I blindfolded the girls and gave them various fruits and vegetables to see if they could identify them by touch. The broccoli was hilarious–she threw it down at first because she thought I’d put a spider in her hands. Yeah….like I would do that.

We went on an “Orange Hunt” and found all kinds of orange items in our house.

We also did some painting with various veggies (broccoli, celery, carrots, avocado) and kitchen utensils like a potato masher and fork.

We created an orange collage. We will save all of the collages and make a color book at the end.

I didn’t include this on the lesson plans, but the girls made these fun marshmallow toothpick creations yesterday with some friends. We’ve done these before, but never quite on this scale!

We set up a large blanket and spread out stuffed animals, dolls, and whatever other figures we had in the house to represent all the people in our Bible story. Later, we had an indoor picnic!

We sorted food by category. Then, I lined up various foods on the table. I had my daughter close her eyes while I took one of them away. She had to guess which one was missing when she opened her eyes.

You can easily make this more challenging by adding more items or taking away two items at a time. This is a variation of our “Fall Find It” game.

Finally, we added the letter h to our “Treasure Map”. We’re getting closer!!

Other Ideas:

Tour a food pantry.
Tour a grocery store.
Make a cupcake busy bag.
Taste test some new foods.
Sort and group Goldfish.

Resources:

Download God’s Little Explorers Week 18 lesson plans.

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Want to be sure you get the printable lesson plan each week? Consider signing up for my Motherhood on a Dime complete daily email with coupons, deals, recipes, kids’ activities and more.

If you’d rather receive just my KIDS newsletter with 3-4 kid-friendly posts each week via email, subscribe here.

P.S. You don’t have to subscribe to both! If you sign up for the complete email, you’ll get the kids’ activities, too.

The post God’s Little Explorers™: Week 18 (H is for Hungry + Jesus Feeds the Multitude) appeared first on Kids Activities | Saving Money | Home Management | Motherhood on a Dime.

God’s Little Explorers™: Week 17 (B is for Boat + Jesus Calms the Storm & Jesus Walks on Water)

Stacie Nelson — Thu, 26 Jan 2023 13:51:25 +0000

Each Thursday, I will be reposting our lessons from last year. If you want to follow along with us, we’d love to have you!

Considering purchasing the complete download of God’s Little Explorers? You can find out the top 10 differences between the weekly free preschool lesson plans and the complete download here.

God’s Little Explorers Week 17

Theme: ”b” is for Boat
Bible Story: Jesus Calms the Storm & Jesus Walks on Water
Bible Verse: “Then those who were in the boat worshiped Him saying ‘Truly You are the Son of God.’” —Matthew 14:33
Letter: b
Color: Red

Here are a few activities we did this week:

We made simple boats from apples, bananas, and pears. We cut them in half, stuck a toothpick near the back, and cut out some fruit leather to make a sail.

Now that we’ve learned the letters b and d, I decided to introduce this trick to help my daughter remember the direction each letter faces. If they are having trouble figuring out if the letter is b or d, I will ask them to hold up their hands and make a b and d and say “b sees d”.

After I taught them the above trick, I had my youngest color in the “b sees d” printable included in the packet. We added faces to make it more fun–and to look like they were really “seeing” each other!

This is the most simple game, but we played it for a while! Color and cut out the “boats” included in the download. Roll a die (or two if you want to practice addition) and put that many boats in the water.

My 4-year-old just drew her “best boat” on the printable letter b a few times!

Making oobleck is a favorite activity around here. It’s just fascinating…and even more so when you can put your dolls feet into it. We had a great time experimenting! What happens when you push the doll into the Oobleck quickly? What happens if you push the feet in slowly?

I received a copy of The Reading Lesson: Teach Your Child to Read in 20 Easy Lessons a few weeks ago, and I’m using that….along with our Eye Spy wands to teach my youngest to read!

Other ideas:

Go on a Color Scavenger Hunt for the color red.
Make Foil Boats.
Play a Parking space game (use boats, too)!
Try this Dancing Raisin experiment.

Resources:

Download God’s Little Explorers Week 17 Lesson Plans.

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Want to be sure you get the printable lesson plan each week? Consider signing up for my Motherhood on a Dime complete daily email with coupons, deals, recipes, kids’ activities and more.

If you’d rather receive just my KIDS newsletter with 3-4 kid-friendly posts each week via email, subscribe here.

P.S. You don’t have to subscribe to both! If you sign up for the complete email, you’ll get the kids’ activities, too.

The post God’s Little Explorers™: Week 17 (B is for Boat + Jesus Calms the Storm & Jesus Walks on Water) appeared first on Kids Activities | Saving Money | Home Management | Motherhood on a Dime.

God’s Little Explorers™: Week 16 (N is for Names + Jesus Calls the Disciples)

Stacie Nelson — Tue, 17 Jan 2023 20:40:04 +0000

Each Thursday, I will be reposting our lessons from last year. If you want to follow along with us, we’d love to have you!

Considering purchasing the complete download of God’s Little Explorers? You can find out the top 10 differences between the weekly free preschool lesson plans and the complete download here.

God’s Little Explorers Week 16

Theme: ”n” is for Name
Bible Story: Jesus Calls the Disciples
Bible Verse: “…He called His disciples, and He chose from them twelve whom He also named apostles…” —Luke 6:13
Letter: n
Number: 10

Because this week’s theme is names, I didn’t include very many pictures (I try not to post the girls’ names on here, so that’s why)!

Here are a few activities we did this week:

Make the letter n in playdough. If you have letter-shaped cookie cutters, this is the perfect time to use them (I highly recommend having a set, because you can use them for all kinds of activities)!

If you don’t have any, just roll out the dough and form into the shape of a lower-case n.

While you have the play dough out, you can also try these play dough name puzzles.

This is an easy busy bag activity we did. Just put your child’s name on a notecard, cut the letters apart, and have them put it back together. You can find the complete instructions here.

Obviously this is not my daughter’s name, but I wrote hers with a marker and had her trace over it in a variety of colors for a rainbow name tracing activity.

Take time to write a letter to your child about how you picked his or her name and why they are special to you. I actually did this quite a while ago for my girls, but they still treasure those letters!

Making letter cookies is always fun–and they loved seeing their names in cookies (and making their dad’s name, too)!

Craft stick name puzzles are simple to make, and adding the letters of your child’s name on the bottom makes it easier to figure out how to put the puzzle back in order.

Other Ideas:

Resources:

God’s Names (Children Desiring God)
Chrysanthemum
Wilton 101-Piece Cookie Cutter Set (our favorite set)

Download God’s Little Explorers: Week 16 lesson plans.

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Want to be sure you get the printable lesson plan each week? Consider signing up for my Motherhood on a Dime complete daily email with coupons, deals, recipes, kids’ activities and more.

If you’d rather receive just my KIDS newsletter with 3-4 kid-friendly posts each week via email, subscribe here.

P.S. You don’t have to subscribe to both! If you sign up for the complete email, you’ll get the kids’ activities, too.

Linked up with Homeschool Creations Preschool Corner.

The post God’s Little Explorers™: Week 16 (N is for Names + Jesus Calls the Disciples) appeared first on Kids Activities | Saving Money | Home Management | Motherhood on a Dime.

God’s Little Explorers™: Week 15 (D is for Desert + John the Baptist)

Stacie Nelson — Thu, 12 Jan 2023 12:48:49 +0000

Each Thursday, I will be reposting our lessons from last year. If you want to follow along with us, we’d love to have you!

Considering purchasing the complete download of God’s Little Explorers? You can find out the top 10 differences between the weekly free preschool lesson plans and the complete download here.

God’s Little Explorers Week 15

Theme: ”d” is for Desert
Bible Story: John the Baptist
Bible Verse: “…John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand.’” (Matthew 3:1-2)
Letter: d
Number: 9

This week we had a hard time getting back into the swing of things, but we did enjoy several fun projects together! Here are a few activities we did:

I was brave and brought the sand indoors for our desert theme (for just a little bit)! We have very few desert theme animals, but it didn’t seem to stop the girls from having a good time!

The girls received a sand art kit as a gift, so we pulled it out and tried our hand at some sand art. It was messy, but captivated their attention for quite a while!

Nine was our focus number this week, so I wrote the number nine and had my daughter paint her thumb green. Then, she stuck it on the paper nine times. She added needles after the paint had dried.

My daughter outlined the letter d with glue and sprinkled some of the left-over sand from the sand art kit on the printable (included in the download below).

We talked about how it is hot during the day and cold at night in the desert. I pulled out a pile of clothes and had my daughter sort the clothes according to what she would wear in the summer when it’s hot and what she would wear in the winter when it’s cold.

For this desert theme art project, we just tore pieces of construction paper and glued them to make a sunset background. Then, we added a cactus silhouette. I used the cactus shape in the download (and cut off the prickles) to trace for the silhouette.

This is a simple busy bag idea. Just print the cacti included in the download on cardstock paper, cut them out, and store them in a plastic bag–along with some clothespin “needles.” Your child can look at the number on each cactus and clip the corresponding number of clothespins onto them. I adapted this idea from Two Teaching Mommies.

We learned quite a few things about John the Baptist this week. Although we didn’t end up making a special locust and honey snack (idea included in the lesson plans), we did make these handprint dove cards after talking about John baptizing Jesus. I simply folded a piece of black paper in half, painted my daughter’s hand white, and pressed it onto the front of the card. After it dried, we added an eye, beak, and feet!

While your hands are messy, you might as well make a handprint camel, too! This went along with one of our read aloud books–Is A Camel A Mammal?

Finally, we added our “d” card to our treasure map.

Other Ideas:

Resources:

Download God’s Little Explorers Week 15 lesson plans.

Linking up with Homeschool Creations Preschool Corner.

The post God’s Little Explorers™: Week 15 (D is for Desert + John the Baptist) appeared first on Kids Activities | Saving Money | Home Management | Motherhood on a Dime.

God’s Little Explorers™: Week 14 (J is for Jesus + Review)

Stacie Nelson — Thu, 08 Dec 2022 08:37:17 +0000

Each Thursday, I will be reposting our lessons from last year. If you want to follow along with us, we’d love to have you!

Considering purchasing the complete download of God’s Little Explorers? You can find out the top 10 differences between the weekly free preschool lesson plans and the complete download here.

This is the final week of lesson plans before our Christmas break. I’m still looking at the calendar, but it looks like I’ll begin posting new plans on January 10th for you to begin the following week.

You’ve been quite patient with me as I fell slightly behind, so thank you for that! I will be getting two weeks ahead before I begin posting in the new year–that way, if something comes up, it won’t cause too much stress!!

If you are new to the blog and have no idea what I’m talking about, you can find out all about God’s Little Explorers Home Preschool Curriculum here.

Anyway, here are God’s Little Explorers: Week 14 Lesson Plans.

I have updated week 13 with photos, so be sure to check it out here!

The post God’s Little Explorers™: Week 14 (J is for Jesus + Review) appeared first on Kids Activities | Saving Money | Home Management | Motherhood on a Dime.

God’s Little Explorers™: Week 13 (J is for Jesus + Candy Canes)

Stacie Nelson — Fri, 02 Dec 2022 02:45:09 +0000

Each Thursday, I will be reposting our lessons from last year. If you want to follow along with us, we’d love to have you!

Considering purchasing the complete download of God’s Little Explorers? You can find out the top 10 differences between the weekly free preschool lesson plans and the complete download here.

God’s Little Explorers Week 13

Theme: ”J” is for Jesus (+ Candy Canes)
Bible Story: Birth of Jesus
Bible Verse: “For unto us a child is born.” (Isaiah 9:6)
Letter: J
Number: 8

Here are a few activities we did:

I bought several different kinds and sizes of candy canes. My daughter sorted them, counted them, and made patterns out of them….and snacked on them! We also talked about how a candy cane looks like a “j” when you turn it upside down!

We made a quick Nativity scene to review our Bible verse. Just add craft sticks, hay or yarn, a rectangle for a blanket, and a circle for a head.

I drew an eight. Then, my daughter cut small white and red pieces of construction paper and glued them around the number.

We used the printable (available in the download below) and played a quick review game. I made the sound of a letter and Sunshine put a candy cane on the correct letter. You could also change this up by having your child say a word that begins with the letter or asking them to say the name of the letter (instead of the sound).

We made these silly little Nativity snacks!

My daughter cut strips of red paper and glued it to the j printable (included in the packet below).

I wish I could link to one of these Nativities we have at our house, but I can’t find them anywhere! I think it’s a great idea to have a Nativity that children can play with (no worries about breaking these)! You can also search for Nativity blocks and find some great ideas…or check out our magnetic Nativity scene (includes a link to a printable Nativity).

Finally, I found this candy cane poem and make a little printable so we could attach a mini candy cane and hand them out to friends!

Other ideas:

Recommended Resources:

For now, here are the lesson plans for God’s Little Explorers Week 13. Photos to follow…

The post God’s Little Explorers™: Week 13 (J is for Jesus + Candy Canes) appeared first on Kids Activities | Saving Money | Home Management | Motherhood on a Dime.

God’s Little Explorers™: Week 12 (Jonah and the Whale + W is for Water)

Stacie Nelson — Fri, 18 Nov 2022 04:39:50 +0000

Each Thursday, I will be reposting our lessons from last year. If you want to follow along with us, we’d love to have you!

Considering purchasing the complete download of God’s Little Explorers? You can find out the top 10 differences between the weekly free preschool lesson plans and the complete download here.

God’s Little Explorers Week 12

Theme: ”w” is for Water
Bible Story: Jonah and the Whale
Bible Verse: “I knew that you were a gracious and compassionate God, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love.” (Jonah 4:2d)
Letter: w
Number: 7

Here are a few activities we did:

We painted a tissue box blue, added some wiggly eyes and a tail, and pulled a few tissues from the top to make our “whale in the w-w-w-water”.

We did various experiments with water exploring the idea of liquid, solid, and gas. Here I was just having her identify the difference between liquids and solids. We discussed how the liquid takes the shape of the container it is poured into. We also froze water to see what happens to it, and then we watched the ice cubes melt. You can see another water experiment here.

We made this table into a “whale” and sat inside of it as we read the story of Jonah and the Big Fish. I used paper plates for eyes, crumpled tissue paper for the blowhole, and construction paper taped to a t.p. roll for the tail.

I drew the letters we’ve done so far on a piece of construction paper and let the girls trace them with water. After it dried, they could reuse it!

We made a “whale scoop” from a milk jug. I just cut the bottom off with scissors and added a {ridiculous-looking} eye. It was fun for water play.

My daughter used watercolor paints on her letter w printable (included in the lesson plans).

We made Jello with Swedish Fish for a Jonah and the Big Fish snack.

Finally, we added a w to our Treasure Map!

Other ideas:

Resources:

God’s Little Explorers: Week 12

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Want to be sure you get the printable lesson plan each week? Consider signing up for my Motherhood on a Dime complete daily email with coupons, deals, recipes, kids’ activities and more.

If you’d rather receive just my KIDS newsletter with 3-4 kid-friendly posts each week via email, subscribe here.

P.S. You don’t have to subscribe to both! If you sign up for the complete email, you’ll get the kids’ activities, too.

The post God’s Little Explorers™: Week 12 (Jonah and the Whale + W is for Water) appeared first on Kids Activities | Saving Money | Home Management | Motherhood on a Dime.

God’s Little Explorers™: Week 11 (F is for Fire + The Fiery Furnace)

Stacie Nelson — Thu, 10 Nov 2022 18:00:12 +0000

Each Thursday, I will be reposting our lessons from last year. If you want to follow along with us, we’d love to have you!

Considering purchasing the complete download of God’s Little Explorers? You can find out the top 10 differences between the weekly free preschool lesson plans and the complete download here.

God’s Little Explorers Week 11

Theme: ”f” is for Fire
Bible Story: The Fiery Furnace
Bible Verse: “Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace.” (Daniel 3:17)
Letter: f
Number: 6

Here are a few activities we did:

We did several activities with tissue paper. One of them was outlining the number six!

This photo cracks me up! We made “fire” to use to act out the story of the fiery furnace….she’s really scared, right?!! Can you tell we have a little drama around our house most days…

We did this simple fire experiment to learn about oxygen and fire.

Fire safety and having an escape route is something really important to us, because my in-laws house was destroyed in a fire and just a few weeks ago, one of our friends lost his house in a fire. I set off the alarm and the girls had to practice what they would do if they heard it. (We meet out to the side of our house by a tree in our yard.) We also practiced “Stop-Drop-and-Roll”.

We played “Don’t Touch, Get Help.”

Kitchen skills are important for preschoolers to develop, so I always let the girls cut-up olives when we have them. Depending on your comfort level and your child’s skill level, you may or may not want to try this! We use the dullest butter knife we have–and, of course, I supervise!

We didn’t get to it, but the last time we did a fire safety unit, we made these fire truck snacks.

We also practiced sweeping. A little broom seems to be the trick to getting my girls to participate!

Finally, we got our boxes ready and dropped them off for Operation Christmas Child!

More ideas:

Visit your local fire station.

Resources:

Find more resources for the whole curriculum here.

God’s Little Explorers: Week 11

F is for Fire + Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the Fiery Furnace

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Want to be sure you get the printable lesson plan each week? Consider signing up for my Motherhood on a Dime complete daily email with coupons, deals, recipes, kids’ activities and more.

If you’d rather receive just my KIDS newsletter with 3-4 kid-friendly posts each week via email, subscribe here.

P.S. You don’t have to subscribe to both! If you sign up for the complete email, you’ll get the kids’ activities, too.

The post God’s Little Explorers™: Week 11 (F is for Fire + The Fiery Furnace) appeared first on Kids Activities | Saving Money | Home Management | Motherhood on a Dime.

God’s Little Explorers™: Week 10 (K is for King + King David)

Stacie Nelson — Tue, 01 Nov 2022 11:47:43 +0000

Each Thursday, I will be reposting our lessons from last year. If you want to follow along with us, we’d love to have you!

Considering purchasing the complete download of God’s Little Explorers? You can find out the top 10 differences between the weekly free preschool lesson plans and the complete download here.

God’s Little Explorers Week 10

Theme: ”k” is for Kings
Bible Story: King David & King Solomon
Bible Verse: “The LORD is enthroned as King forever.” (Psalms 29:10)
Letter: k
Number: 5

Here are a few activities we did:

First we made a crown. You have to have a crown for a king theme, right?!! I just cut a sheet of paper in half, stuck the paper together, cut a few points, and taped it together. My daughter completed it with some craft jewels.

We built castles from blocks.

We sorted and made patterns with jewels.

We used k-k-kernels to outline the number five.

The girls put together shapes to make a castle. I’ve included some shape templates in the download (see below).

We made “Royal Seals” with a circle of styrofoam from the bottom of a cup. I used a knife to cut the letter k into it, and we stamped it onto a printable letter k.

My daughter is almost ready, but not quite reading yet, so we did this pre-reading or beginner reading sort.

Finally, we added a “King” to our Treasure Map!

More ideas:

Bartholomew and the Oobleck: (Caldecott Honor Book).

Resources:

Do you have any other book suggestions or extra activities? I just couldn’t think of very many!

Find more resources here.

Download God’s Little Explorers Week 10 here.

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Want to be sure you get the printable lesson plan each week? Consider signing up for my Motherhood on a Dime complete daily email with coupons, deals, recipes, kids’ activities and more.

If you’d rather receive just my KIDS newsletter with 3-4 kid-friendly posts each week via email, subscribe here.

P.S. You don’t have to subscribe to both! If you sign up for the complete email, you’ll get the kids’ activities, too.

The post God’s Little Explorers™: Week 10 (K is for King + King David) appeared first on Kids Activities | Saving Money | Home Management | Motherhood on a Dime.

God’s Little Explorers™: Week 9 (R is for Rocks + David & Goliath)

Stacie Nelson — Tue, 25 Oct 2022 23:54:31 +0000

Each Thursday, I will be reposting our lessons from last year. If you want to follow along with us, we’d love to have you!

Considering purchasing the complete download of God’s Little Explorers? You can find out the top 10 differences between the weekly free preschool lesson plans and the complete download here.

God’s Little Explorers Week 9

Theme: ”r” is for Rocks
Bible Story: David and Goliath
Bible Verse: “The battle is the Lord’s.” 1 Samuel 17:47
Letter: r
Number: 4

Here are a few activities we did:

Ha, ha…it was a little bright when I took this shot! The girls decorated “mean Goliath” faces on paper plates. Then, I measured up 9 feet and stuck the plate up there — I wanted them to get an idea of how tall Goliath was!

We took turns pretending to be Goliath (and standing up high on the island)! Using the pom poms from our Pom-Pom Stuff-It Box, we tried to “hit” Goliath in the head. I had this idea to put a loop of tape on the forehead of Goliath, but it didn’t work as well as I had hoped! If you were quite close and a good shot, it stuck. Otherwise…not so much.

We went on a rock hunt…

Then, we examined, sorted, and stacked the rocks in groups of five. We practiced counting by fives with active skip counting.

My youngest daughter actually had the Bible story at church this week, so they painted rocks!

We broke out the highlighters and searched for the letter R in the newspaper.

We also played a few outdoor number review games.

More ideas:

Resources:

Find more resources here.

Download God’s Little Explorers: Week 9 Lesson Plans here.

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Want to be sure you get the printable lesson plan each week? Consider signing up for my Motherhood on a Dime complete daily email with coupons, deals, recipes, kids’ activities and more.

If you’d rather receive just my KIDS newsletter with 3-4 kid-friendly posts each week via email, subscribe here.

P.S. You don’t have to subscribe to both! If you sign up for the complete email, you’ll get the kids’ activities, too.

Linking up to Preschool Corner at Homeschool Creations.

The post God’s Little Explorers™: Week 9 (R is for Rocks + David & Goliath) appeared first on Kids Activities | Saving Money | Home Management | Motherhood on a Dime.

God’s Little Explorers™: Week 8 (Q is for Quail + God Provides)

Stacie Nelson — Thu, 20 Oct 2022 17:00:37 +0000

Each Thursday, I will be reposting our lessons from last year. If you want to follow along with us, we’d love to have you!

Considering purchasing the complete download of God’s Little Explorers? You can find out the top 10 differences between the weekly free preschool lesson plans and the complete download here.

God’s Little Explorers Week 8

Theme: ”q” is for Quail (Birds)
Bible Story: Moses, Manna, and Quail (God Provides)
Bible Verse: “And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.” Phillipians 4:19
Letter: q
Number: 3

Here are a few activities we did:

Our Bible story was about God providing the manna and quail for the Israelites, and I had forgotten how much fun it is to do simple step-by-step drawings with the girls, so we drew this quail. Now my youngest daughter is drawing them all the time! As long as you don’t make fun of me (I don’t profess to be an artist!!), feel free to try out my step-by-step instructions in the download.

We painted the lowercase letter q with Q-tips.

We played a Letter Match Scavenger Hunt.

We made a “bird’s nest” snack. Well, since we’re not eating grains, technically I just made the above piece of bread to show you how it looks. We did our adapted version below…

I just wrapped a piece of bacon in a circle and plopped the egg inside.

We cut out “feathers” from construction paper (I ran out of craft feathers) and glued them around the number three.

In case you missed it, I do have some printable number rhymes to help you teach your child number formation.

We added a “q is for Quail” drawing to our Treasure Map!

Finally, we went on a nature walk and listened for birds. We also went to a local park and fed the geese and ducks!

A few other ideas:

Make a pine cone bird feeder.

Try an “Eat Like a Bird” experiment.

Figure out what shape is best for a nest.

Make a handprint bird painting.

Recommended Resources:

Find more resources here.

Download complete lesson plans for God’s Little Explorers: Week 8 here.

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Want to be sure you get the printable lesson plan each week? Consider signing up for my Motherhood on a Dime complete daily email with coupons, deals, recipes, kids’ activities and more.

If you’d rather receive just my KIDS newsletter with 3-4 kid-friendly posts each week via email, subscribe here.

P.S. You don’t have to subscribe to both! If you sign up for the complete email, you’ll get the kids’ activities, too.

The post God’s Little Explorers™: Week 8 (Q is for Quail + God Provides) appeared first on Kids Activities | Saving Money | Home Management | Motherhood on a Dime.

God’s Little Explorers™: Week 7 (I is for Insect + Moses)

Stacie Nelson — Thu, 13 Oct 2022 23:20:42 +0000

Each Thursday, I will be reposting our lessons from last year. If you want to follow along with us, we’d love to have you!

Considering purchasing the complete download of God’s Little Explorers? You can find out the top 10 differences between the weekly free preschool lesson plans and the complete download here.

God’s Little Explorers Week 7

Theme: ”I” is for Insect
Bible Story: Moses (Through the 10 Plagues)
Bible Verse: “The Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and say to him ‘This is what the Lord says: Let my people go, so that they may worship me.” Exodus 8:1
Letter: I
Number: 2

Here are a few activities we did:

One of our favorite activities was learning about the 10 plagues from the Bible in a hands-on way. Here is what we did:

1) Water to blood: I put red powdered drink mix in the bottom of a dark container and had one daughter pour clean water into it.

2) Frogs: We just hopped around like frogs.

3) Gnats or Lice: The girls put various colored office dot “bites” all over them.

4) Flies: I sprinkled pepper on the girls hands and they “shooed” it away (it’s a stretch, but it was all I could think of)!

5) Diseased Livestock: We made our toy cows fall over like they were sick and/or dead.

6) Boils: We used bubble wrap to make “boils”.

7) Hail: I threw marshmallows at them!

8) Locusts: We made our grasshoppers jump.

9) Darkness: The girls covered their eyes and walked around in darkness.

10) Death of the firstborn: We “painted blood” (really we used tissue paper strips) around a doorway.

We practiced forming the letter i with craft sticks and office dots in the Alphabet Notebook (which is just a notebook with each letter of the alphabet written on a separate page).

We made a few “jumping” grasshoppers.

A bug jar is essential to a unit on insects! Here is another example of an insect jar we’ve made in the past.

It was such a nice day, we went on a bug hunt.

She made play dough bricks while listening to the story of Moses and pharoah.

We did a simple review game we did to practice letters and sounds.

I wrote the number two on a sheet of construction paper. My daughter used pieces of yarn to outline it.

We made fingerprint insects on the printable i (included in the download). We have a few different fingerprint ideas over on this Bug Hat post.

A few other activities to try:

Make a Caterpillar to Butterfly craft.
Try out a Bee Buzzer.
Paint a Ladybug Rock or make a Ladybug Snack.
Make a Butterfly Lunch.
Give away some Butterfly Snack Bags
Paper Chain Caterpillars
Caterpillar Cookie Cake

Recommended Resources:

Find more recommended resources here.

Download God’s Little Explorers Week 7.

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Want to be sure you get the printable lesson plan each week? Consider signing up for my Motherhood on a Dime complete daily email with coupons, deals, recipes, kids’ activities and more.

If you’d rather receive just my KIDS newsletter with 3-4 kid-friendly posts each week via email, subscribe here.

P.S. You don’t have to subscribe to both! If you sign up for the complete email, you’ll get the kids’ activities, too.

The post God’s Little Explorers™: Week 7 (I is for Insect + Moses) appeared first on Kids Activities | Saving Money | Home Management | Motherhood on a Dime.

God’s Little Explorers™: Week 6 (C is for Colors + Joseph)

Stacie Nelson — Fri, 07 Oct 2022 01:06:01 +0000

Each Thursday, I will be reposting our lessons from last year. If you want to follow along with us, we’d love to have you!

Considering purchasing the complete download of God’s Little Explorers? You can find out the top 10 differences between the weekly free preschool lesson plans and the complete download here.

God’s Little Explorers Week 6

Theme: ”C” is for Colors
Bible Story: Joseph
Bible Verse: “And we know that in all things, God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purposes.” Romans 8:28
Letter: C
Number: 1

Here are a few activities we did:

We read the Bible story and made a “coat of many colors” from a grocery sack and lots of paint! The girls ended up painting just the front as it took a little bit longer than I expected. We used brushes, but I think fingerpainting would work pretty well with this, too.

The girls made Joseph and his coat of many colors on a lunch sack. They cut apart fabric scraps and glued them down. Later, I had them retell the Bible story with the puppet.

Another day when we read the story of Joseph, we talked a little bit about God’s purpose and plan for his life. Even in the midst of terrible circumstances, God’s purposes prevailed. The girls played with our rice (and noodle) bin as we talked about Joseph and the famine and storing grain.

Based on this color and shape review activity, I had my daughter trace the letter c in various colors on the paper (the printable is included in the download). Then, she used watercolors to paint the corresponding c.

I like to use the books Mouse Paint and Color Kittens when we learn about mixing colors. After reading, we put a piece of paper, a squirt of yellow paint, and a squirt of green paint into a plastic baggy. I sealed it up. The girls pushed the paint around until it blended. We repeated the process with red and blue — and also red and yellow.

In our alphabet book, my daughter stamped the letter c all over the paper. Here’s an easy way to make a stamp if you don’t have one.

We sorted beads by color.

We played Candyland.

We sorted noodles by color.

Finally, several of you have asked why I don’t have a stronger handwriting component in our lessons. My philosophy is to strengthen little hands with fine-motor activities before beginning to write. I know many of you are using this with younger children (ages 2 and 3), so I would highly recommend just letting your child explore and not have formal handwriting lessons. For those with four or five-year-olds (who are ready), you may want to just get a simple beginning handwriting book (we are using Usborne’s Wipe-Clean Ready for Writing) and teach some basic formation skills as we go along. Again, that all depends on whether your child seems to enjoy it and wants to do it. I am not a fan of making a preschooler write the same letter over and over again.

In general, my advice is to give your child plenty of multi-sensory opportunities to learn how to form letters in sand, paint, shaving cream, salt, etc.

More ideas and activities:

Books and Resources:

Find more recommended resources here.

Download God’s Little Explorers Week 6

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Want to be sure you get the printable lesson plan each week? Consider signing up for my Motherhood on a Dime complete daily email with coupons, deals, recipes, kids’ activities and more.

If you’d rather receive just my KIDS newsletter with 3-4 kid-friendly posts each week via email, subscribe here.

P.S. You don’t have to subscribe to both! If you sign up for the complete email, you’ll get the kids’ activities, too.

The post God’s Little Explorers™: Week 6 (C is for Colors + Joseph) appeared first on Kids Activities | Saving Money | Home Management | Motherhood on a Dime.

God’s Little Explorers™: Week 5 (T is for Tent + Abraham)

Stacie Nelson — Fri, 30 Sep 2022 01:18:00 +0000

Each Thursday, I will be reposting our lessons from last year. If you want to follow along with us, we’d love to have you!

Considering purchasing the complete download of God’s Little Explorers? You can find out the top 10 differences between the weekly free preschool lesson plans and the complete download here.

God’s Little Explorers Week 5

Theme: ”T” is for Tent (Camping)
Bible Story: Abraham
Bible Verse: He believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness… Galations 3:6
Letter: T
Shape: Review

Here are a few activities we did:

We HAD to set up a tent for a camping theme!!

We poked holes in a styrofoam cup with corn holders. At first I made the shape of a t (our letter of the week), shone a flashlight through the cup in a darkened room, and had the girls look for the t on the ceiling. It worked decently well, but they were more interested in poking holes in the cup and making “stars” on the ceiling. We didn’t get to do this in our tent at night, but I think that would be fun!

Before I read the story of Abraham (from our Read and Learn Bible) to the girls, we set-up our own “campsite” – complete with a box tent, backpacks and bags filled with food and water, a blanket, and stuffed animals. I would stop every so often during the story and have us move and set up camp at a new site. After the fourth or fifth move, it got a little tiring!! We talked quite a bit about it, so I do think it helped them get a *small* idea of how Abraham trusted God and followed wherever He said to go – even though Abraham had no idea where God was leading him!

We went on a nature walk and rearranged some of the elements to form nature art (like Andy Goldsworthy).

I cut apart a pipe cleaner and my daughter glued it onto the letter t printable in the download. We cut it out and added it to our wall with all the other alphabet letters.

This was a longer project. First, the girls painted “stars” with marshmallows on toothpicks….

Then, after it dried, they glued on craft sticks to form a tent frame.

Then, they cut-out the triangle (included in the download), cut up the middle line (so the tent can open), and glued just the top sides down. One of my daughter’s drew Abraham and glued him inside. The other drew the letter t and stuck it inside.

While we were making this project, we talked about how God promised Abraham’s descendants would be as numerous as the stars (Genesis 22:17).

For this busy bag activity, we took two pieces of black paper and cut them into sixths (twelve rectangles all together). Then, my daughter traced the numbers from the download and glued them on one side of the rectangle. I used various puzzle-type cuts (making each number different). Then, we used our marshmallows again to paint the corresponding number of dots. To use the busy bag, I had my daughter match the correct number of dots with the written number.

An easier way to do this would be to use star stickers instead of painting. The girls were a little tired of making marshmallow stars by the end of the two projects! You may also want to consider laminating these (if you want to have your child use them more than a few times) and storing them in a plastic baggy.

Another of our Melissa & Doug See and Spell. I’m sure you could easily make up some cards with words and have your child put letter tiles to match them if you wanted a frugal option. One of our daughter’s got this as a gift, and it’s been a nice quiet time activity!

Our final project was a service project. We made these S’mores Kits to give to the girls’ soccer coaches and teachers at church this weekend!

More activities to try:

Books & Resources:

Find more recommended resources here.

Download God’s Little Explorers Week 5.

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Want to be sure you get the printable lesson plan each week? Consider signing up for my Motherhood on a Dime complete daily email with coupons, deals, recipes, kids’ activities and more.

If you’d rather receive just my KIDS newsletter with 3-4 kid-friendly posts each week via email, subscribe here.

P.S. You don’t have to subscribe to both! If you sign up for the complete email, you’ll get the kids’ activities, too.

The post God’s Little Explorers™: Week 5 (T is for Tent + Abraham) appeared first on Kids Activities | Saving Money | Home Management | Motherhood on a Dime.

God’s Little Explorers™: Week 4 (Z is for Zoo + Noah’s Ark Lesson Plans)

Stacie Nelson — Fri, 23 Sep 2022 00:59:57 +0000

Each Thursday, I will be reposting our lessons from years ago. If you want to follow along with us, we’d love to have you!

Considering purchasing the complete download of God’s Little Explorers? You can find out the top 10 differences between the weekly free preschool lesson plans and the complete download here.

God’s Little Explorers Week 4

Theme: ”Z” is for Zoo
Bible Story: Noah’s Ark
Bible Verse: Noah walked with God… Genesis 9:6
Letter: Z
Shape: Triangle

Here are a few activities we did:

We cut-out the “z” printable (included in the packet below) and painted zebra stripes with a marble inside of a box.

We had our own “zoo” and did a little bit of veterinary work on the animals with our medical and veterinary kits.

The girls made triangles from playdough and added craft sticks to make a cage for some of our little animal figurines.

We built a zoo from Legos.

The girls counted animal crackers and then sorted them into equal groups for snacktime.

We made “Noah’s Ark” snacks.

We added a “Z” to our treasure map.

A few more activities to try:

Books and Other Resources:

See the complete list of suggested resources for our preschool curriculum here.

You can download Week 4: Z is for Zoo lesson plans here.

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Want to be sure you get the printable lesson plan each week? Consider signing up for my Motherhood on a Dime complete daily email with coupons, deals, recipes, kids’ activities and more.

If you’d rather receive just my KIDS newsletter with 3-4 kid-friendly posts each week via email, subscribe here.

P.S. You don’t have to subscribe to both! If you sign up for the complete email, you’ll get the kids’ activities, too.

The post God’s Little Explorers™: Week 4 (Z is for Zoo + Noah’s Ark Lesson Plans) appeared first on Kids Activities | Saving Money | Home Management | Motherhood on a Dime.

God’s Little Explorers™: Week 3 (A is for Apples + Adam & Eve Lesson Plans)

Stacie Nelson — Thu, 15 Sep 2022 23:51:17 +0000

Each Thursday, I will be reposting our lessons from last year. If you want to follow along with us, we’d love to have you!

Considering purchasing the complete download of God’s Little Explorers? You can find out the top 10 differences between the weekly free preschool lesson plans and the complete download here.

God’s Little Explorers Week 3

Theme: ”A” is for Apple
Bible Story: Adam & Eve and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil
Bible Verse: For all have sinned… Romans 3:23
Letter: A
Shape: Circle

Here are a few activities we did:

We made these apple prints and used them for making patterns. I made a pattern and my daughter copied it. She made a pattern and I copied it!

Using apple prints from the first time we made them, I wrote the numbers 1-10 on them, hid them in our fake tree, and let the girls “pick” them…

and put them in a basket…

and put them in numerical order!

We picked a ton of apples at my aunt’s house!

I had more laminated apple prints from this activity, so I wrote the words for our memory verse on them. We drew a tree on our dry erase board and stuck the apples on the tree with tape. I helped the girls identify and “pick” which word came first, second, third, and so on in the memory verse.

We stuck them under the tree in order of the verse.

We read the story of Adam and Even in the garden and the first sin quite a few times during the week. Later, we talked about how Adam and Eve tried to hide from God. We discussed how we sometimes try to hide our sin from God (and parents!) and brainstormed a list of a few of those sins. Using A Sad Day in the Big Picture Story Bible.

The girls added fingerprint apples to the letter a printable (found in the download below).

We also cut open several apples and counted the seeds we found in each one.

Finally, we added an apple to the treasure map to show we’ve learned about apples, Adam, and the letter a!

A few other activities:

A few other activities we’ve done in the past:

Books and Other Resources:

How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World (Dragonfly Books)
Ten Apples Up On Top! by Dr. Seuss
The Seasons of Arnold’s Apple Tree by Gail Gibbons
The Apple Pie Tree by Zoe Hall
Hi Ho Cherry-O(just pretend they are apples!)

See the complete list of suggested resources for our preschool curriculum here.

Download printable lesson plans for Letter A is for Apple.

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Want to be sure you get the printable lesson plan each week? Consider signing up for my Motherhood on a Dime complete daily email with coupons, deals, recipes, kids’ activities and more.

If you’d rather receive just my KIDS newsletter with 3-4 kid-friendly posts each week via email, subscribe here.

P.S. You don’t have to subscribe to both! If you sign up for the complete email, you’ll get the kids’ activities, too.

The post God’s Little Explorers™: Week 3 (A is for Apples + Adam & Eve Lesson Plans) appeared first on Kids Activities | Saving Money | Home Management | Motherhood on a Dime.

God’s Little Explorers™: Week 2 (G is for Garden)

Stacie Nelson — Fri, 09 Sep 2022 00:53:56 +0000

Considering purchasing the complete download of God’s Little Explorers? You can find out the top 10 differences between the weekly free preschool lesson plans and the complete download here.

This week’s theme for God’s Little Explorers is “G” is for Garden. We explored the story of Creation and Adam and Eve in the g-g-garden.

God’s Little Explorers Week 2

Theme: ”G” is for Garden
Bible Story: Creation & Adam and Eve in the garden
Bible Verse: In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Genesis 1:1
Letter: G
Shape: Square

Here are just a few activities we did:

The girls put thumbprints all over the lowercase g printable (included in the download shared below). Then, they used a marker to add a stem and leaves to make “flowers” for the g-g-garden.

We used seeds and index cards to make some simple addition facts.

We sorted poms poms by color from the Pom Pom Stuff-It Box.

The girls “investigated” seeds with a magnifying glass. Then we rolled up a few different types of seeds in a wet paper towel and stuck it in a small baggy. We put the baggy in a warm, dark place and left it for a few days. Well, really we forgot about it for almost six days!

Later, when we remembered the seeds, the girls were quite surprised and excited to see these sprouts!

Our big project for the week was making this “Creation Sticky Book.”

A few other ideas for our preschool Garden theme:

Download the complete printable lesson plans for our God’s Little Explorers Week 2: Garden/Creation Unit.

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Want to be sure you get the printable lesson plan each week? Consider signing up for my Motherhood on a Dime complete daily email with coupons, deals, recipes, kids’ activities and more.

If you’d rather receive just my KIDS newsletter with 3-4 kid-friendly posts each week via email, subscribe here.

P.S. You don’t have to subscribe to both! If you sign up for the complete email, you’ll get the kids’ activities, too.

The post God’s Little Explorers™: Week 2 (G is for Garden) appeared first on Kids Activities | Saving Money | Home Management | Motherhood on a Dime.