Letter and Number Heart Puzzles (Love to Learn Linky #27)

My daughter has always loved puzzles. She gets very excited when I come up with something new for her to put together and solve. With Valentine's Day coming up, I recently created this free printable set of heart puzzles for her to practice letters, letter sounds, numbers and counting.

These puzzles include two levels of difficulty:

2-piece heart puzzles:
- matching uppercase and lowercase letters
- matching number to quantity 1-15

3-piece heart puzzles:
- matching uppercase and lowercase letters, as well as pictures that begin with each letter sound
- matching number to quantity, and number words 1-15

Click here to Download your Free Heart Puzzles

For a set of winter themed puzzles, try these Snowman Letter Matching Puzzles:

Check out these other heart-shaped learning activities from the Love to Learn Linky:

Light Up Circuit Valentines by Left Brain Craft Brain
Valentines Heart Hide & Seek Game by A Little Pinch of Perfect
Valentine Sight Word Delivery by Growing Book by Book
Sprinkle Math Fine Motor Activity by Sugar Aunts
Valentines Counting & Color Sorting by Teaching 2 & 3 Year Olds
Valentines Fine Motor Activities by Pre-K Pages
C is for Color Connections by Eager Ed
Heart Number Puzzles by Mom Inspired Life
Valentine Name Puzzle by How Wee Learn
Valentine Counting Activity by Spark & Pook

LOVE TO LEARN LINKY


Visit my co-hosts to see their posts and features!

Valentines Day Learning Activities from One Time Through
Penguin Crafts & Activities for Kids from A Little Pinch of Perfect

Now it's time for some more links! I hope you'll join me and a couple of friends for a brand new linky party!

Bloggers, link up your posts every Thursday and watch as we round them up and share them all over the place.

Almost anything goes, we're just hoping your activities teach kids (or us!) something. (science, art, cooking, behavior, crafting, parenting, etc...)

The Love to Learn Linky is Hosted by:

Totschooling: Viviana is a blogging mom to a toddler and a preschooler, sharing ideas and resources for early education. She specializes in unique, hands-on printable activities that are educational, fun and inspire creativity in young minds.

Left Brain Craft Brain: Anne is an ex-engineer, current stay-at-home mama writing about crafty ways to encourage creativity (and brain power!) in our kids. Each of her projects gives kids the chance to learn about a new subject and do something crafty at the same time.

A Little Pinch of Perfect: Katie combines creativity, play, and learning for the perfect mishmash of fun activities that keep kiddos entertained throughout the day. She wholeheartedly believes in the power of play and feels that all activities naturally provide a fun way to learn.

One Time Through: Sue is an Elementary School Teacher currently on leave to be at home with her preschooler son.  She shares ideas for connecting and learning with kids through meaningful, play-based activities that nurture curiosity and creativity, as well as positive parenting tips.

Love to Learn Linky Etiquette:

• Posts should be about educating our kids in any way - science, art, cooking, crafts, behavior, parenting, etc. Please keep them family friendly and please no Etsy shops or giveaways unless they are relevant to the topic.

• Upload your direct post link to the InLinkz widget. Link up to 3 posts.

• Like the hosts on Facebook: Totschooling, A Little Pinch of Perfect, Left Brain Craft Brain and One Time Through.

• Or follow the hosts on Pinterest: A Little Pinch of Perfect, Left Brain Craft Brain, Totschooling and One Time Through.

• Post our button on your site.

• By linking up, you agree to have your images shared with credit.

Link up and grab a button!

<center><a href="http://www.totschooling.net" target="_blank"><img alt="Love to Learn Linky" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzOiE-kVN59STPrlhIraa7dycKw-liucK2BS8V7Wgpy_uNSjEfw_-BMTissmXw8dbTciMGTPr7omJrZjO2rl1ZYfXiAXO52xdCyfOprzpAKgKDZvCV9UAtXDK7JfuDk8e_GGpH8cOIDHc/s1600/linky+button.jpg" /></a></center>

An InLinkz Link-up

Christmas Tree Learning Activities for Toddlers & PreK

Let's get into the Christmas spirit with some fun, hands-on Christmas Tree Learning activities! These FREE printable activities are designed for toddlers and preschoolers to practice math and literacy skills such as counting, number recognition, number quantity, shapes, alphabet recognition, letter cases, visual discrimination and more!

These Christmas Tree Learning activities are available for FREE to all email subscribers. Here is what's included:

Math Activities:

Number Tree Puzzle, including 1-10, 11-20 and 10-100 in both color and black & white.

Roll & Cover Game: Includes 2 difficulty levels. For an easier game, roll 1 die and cover the correct number (1-6) with a candy, pom pom or any other small object. For a more challenging game, use 2 dice, roll and add them up, then cover the correct number (2-12). Keep going until all numbers are covered.

Christmas Tree counting and matching 1-10 with pom poms. Includes both color and black & white, so can also be used for color matching. Printable comes in 2 halves that you tape together. 

Christmas ornament shape matching. Includes 10 shapes. Can be done as a cut & paste activity, or cut out the shapes for your child.

Literacy Activities:

Letter matching, both uppercase and lowercase included. This can be a cut and paste activity or the letter can be glued to bottle caps. Kids can match uppercase letters, lowercase letters, or uppercase and lowercase letters to each other.

Letter Case Sorting. Use the same letters from the previous activity and sort all the uppercase letters on one tree and all the lowercase letters on the other tree.

Visual Discrimination Activities:

Visual Discrimination matching. Print 2 copies of the sheet, leave one copy intact and cut the other one. Match the loose cards to the images on the sheet.

Memory Game. Use the same cards as above. Print 2 copies of the cards, cut them all out, put them face down, and play a classic memory game. Use only a few cards for an easier game.

These Christmas Tree Learning activities are FREE for all Totschooling subscribers!

After entering your email address, you will receive a confirmation email to complete your subscription. You will shortly receive a Welcome email that includes a link to this pack. If you have not received this email, please check your spam folder, or email me at totschooling@gmail.com. Thanks!

What can I expect as a Subscriber?:

-You will receive free printables that are not available for download on the website. This includes holiday and seasonal packs, as well as other themed activity packs.

-You will get access to a growing collection of Board Book Printable Activities.

-You will receive 2-3 emails per week with new posts, freebies, sales and additions to the site.

-You will receive a special subscriber discount for the Online Store.

-Your information will never be shared with anybody else.

Snowman Letter Matching Puzzles (Love to Learn Linky #20)

Today was the first day of snow for us this season, so it seems fitting that I write this post about a snowman learning activity! This is a free printable puzzle for preschoolers to practice letter sounds and letter cases! Match these 3 pieces to create a snowman: an uppercase letter, a lowercase letter and an object that begins with that letter sound.

The snowman's hat contains an object that begins with each letter of the alphabet. Match the upper and lowercase letter that makes the beginning sound to complete the snowman! This is great activity for practicing letter sounds and letter recognition.

Click here to download your Free Snowman Letter Matching Puzzles  

And now for some more Snowman activities shared at the Love to Learn Linky!

10 Snowman Playdough Activities by Our Little House in the Country
Bubble Wrap Snowman by Crafts on Sea
Easy Snowman Craft for Kids by Spark & Pook
Snowman Light Table Play by Where Imagination Grows
Snow-Dough Snowmen by Multicraftingmummy
Snowman Stained Glass Windows by Our Little House in the Country

Visit my co-hosts to see their posts and features!

Five Minute Crafts: Pumpkin Pie Painting from Left Brain Craft Brain
10 Fun Christmas Learning Ideas for Preschoolers from One Time Through
Snow Inspired Fun for Kids: Crafts, Activities and More from A Little Pinch of Perfect

LOVE TO LEARN LINKY

Now it's time for some more links! I hope you'll join me and a couple of friends for a brand new linky party!

Bloggers, link up your posts every Thursday and watch as we round them up and share them all over the place.

Almost anything goes, we're just hoping your activities teach kids (or us!) something. (science, art, cooking, behavior, crafting, parenting, etc...)

The Love to Learn Linky is Hosted by:

Totschooling: Viviana is a blogging mom to a toddler and a preschooler, sharing ideas and resources for early education. She specializes in unique, hands-on printable activities that are educational, fun and inspire creativity in young minds.

Left Brain Craft Brain: Anne is an ex-engineer, current stay-at-home mama writing about crafty ways to encourage creativity (and brain power!) in our kids. Each of her projects gives kids the chance to learn about a new subject and do something crafty at the same time.

A Little Pinch of Perfect: Katie combines creativity, play, and learning for the perfect mishmash of fun activities that keep kiddos entertained throughout the day. She wholeheartedly believes in the power of play and feels that all activities naturally provide a fun way to learn.

One Time Through: Sue is an Elementary School Teacher currently on leave to be at home with her preschooler son.  She shares ideas for connecting and learning with kids through meaningful, play-based activities that nurture curiosity and creativity.

Love to Learn Linky Etiquette:

• Posts should be about educating our kids in any way - science, art, cooking, crafts, behavior, parenting, etc. Please keep them family friendly and please no Etsy shops or giveaways unless they are relevant to the topic.

• Upload your direct post link to the InLinkz widget. Link up to 3 posts.

• Like the hosts on Facebook: Totschooling, A Little Pinch of Perfect, Left Brain Craft Brain and One Time Through.

• Or follow the hosts on Pinterest: A Little Pinch of Perfect, Left Brain Craft Brain, Totschooling and One Time Through.

• Post our button on your site.

• By linking up, you agree to have your images shared with credit.

Link up and grab a button!

<center><a href="http://www.totschooling.net" target="_blank"><img alt="Love to Learn Linky" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzOiE-kVN59STPrlhIraa7dycKw-liucK2BS8V7Wgpy_uNSjEfw_-BMTissmXw8dbTciMGTPr7omJrZjO2rl1ZYfXiAXO52xdCyfOprzpAKgKDZvCV9UAtXDK7JfuDk8e_GGpH8cOIDHc/s1600/linky+button.jpg" /></a></center>

An InLinkz Link-up

Free Thanksgiving Math & Literacy Printable Pack for PreK

Get ready for Thanksgiving with this fun turkey themed math and literacy pack for preschoolers. This FREE printable pack is designed for preschoolers to practice math and literacy skills such as counting, number recognition, number quantity, shapes, alphabet recognition, letter sounds, letter cases and more!

This Thanksgiving themed Math & Literacy Pack features 23 hands-on activities, and it is available for FREE to all email subscribers. Here is what's included:

Literacy Activities:

-Alphabet matching

-Letter case matching

-Letter Sound Matching

-Sight Word Matching

-Tracing words

-Letter Sorting

-Word puzzle

Math Activities:

-Numbers 1-10 Puzzle

-Counting

-Cut & Paste the Correct Number

-Number Matching

-Quantity Matching

-Shape Matching

-Cut & Paste Missing Number

-Color by Number

This Thanksgiving Printable Pack is FREE for all Totschooling subscribers!

After entering your email address, you will receive a confirmation email to complete your subscription. You will shortly receive a Welcome email that includes a link to this pack. If you have not received this email, please check your spam folder, or email me at totschooling@gmail.com. Thanks!

What can I expect as a Subscriber?:

-You will receive free printables that are not available for download on the website. This includes holiday and seasonal packs, as well as other themed activity packs.

-You will get access to a growing collection of Board Book Printable Activities.

-You will receive 2-3 emails per week with new posts, freebies, sales and additions to the site.

-You will receive a special subscriber discount for the Online Store.

-Your information will never be shared with anybody else.

Free Halloween Printable Pack for Toddlers & PreK

Halloween is one of our favorite times of the year and I like to use this as an opportunity to create some fun learning activities. This Halloween themed printable pack is designed for toddlers and preschoolers to develop early learning skills such as counting, number & alphabet recognition, letter sounds, letter cases, size, shapes, patterns, visual discrimination, prewriting, scissor skills, puzzles and more!

This Halloween themed Pack features 27 hands-on activities, and it is available for Free to all email subscribers. Here is what's included:

Literacy Activities:

-Cut & Paste the Missing Letter

-Letter Sound Matching

-Sight Word Matching

-Tracing words

-Letter Sorting

-Rhyming Words

-Which letter does not belong?

Pre-Writing:

-Trace the Circles

-Trace Horizontal Lines

-Trace Vertical Lines

Math Activities:

-Numbers 1-10 Puzzle

-Counting 1-5

-Counting 6-10

-Cut & Paste the Correct Number

-Number Matching

-Quantity Matching

-Patterns

-Cut & Paste in Order from Smallest to Biggest

-Sorting by Size

-Shape Matching

Visual Discrimination:

-Matching Halloween items

-Matching Jack-o-lantern faces

-Sorting Halloween items

Scissor Skills:

-Cutting straight lines

-Cutting zig zag lines

-Cutting page in 4 sections

Puzzles:

-Cut & Paste Puzzle

-Numbers 1-10 Puzzle

Below is a Sneak Peek:

This Halloween Printable Pack is FREE for all Totschooling subscribers!

What can I expect as a Subscriber?:

-You will receive free printables that are not available for download on the website. This includes holiday and seasonal packs, as well as other themed activity packs.

-You will get access to a growing collection of Board Book Printable Activities.

-You will receive 2-3 emails per week with new posts, freebies, sales and additions to the site.

-You will receive a special subscriber discount for the Online Store.

-Your information will never be shared with anybody else.

Free Princess Learning Pack for Toddlers & PreK

My daughter's current obsession is princesses. We have princess books, princess toys, princess dresses, and we even threw a princess birthday party for her third birthday! I always like to take advantage of things that interest her and use them as learning opportunities, so of course I created a Princess themed printable pack, and giving it out for free to all my wonderful followers!

 

This free printable pack includes 21 activities to practice counting, number recognition, letters, letter cases, letter sounds, prewriting, scissor skills, visual discrimination, lacing, do-a-dots and more!

 

For toddlers, I always recommend that you laminate the activities and use Velcro to attach the loose pieces. Preschoolers or children who are practicing using scissors can do these activities by cutting and pasting. The prewriting sheets should be laminated or placed in sheet protectors for easy wipe-off.

Click here to download your Free Princess Learning Pack!

 

If you enjoyed this Free printable pack, sign up for the Totschooling e-mail newsletter for access to all the printables, including seasonal and holiday packs!

School Bus Sorting Game with Post-it Notes

My daughter has been begging me for several weeks to make a Wheels on the Bus game, so I figured it would be perfect for Back to School for kids to practice and brush up on different concepts before they start school again.

I wanted to make this a customizable game that kids of different ages and skill levels can use as a fun learning activity, so I decided to use Post-it Notes! This makes it extra fun for kids because they will love to peel and stick these colorful pieces of paper.

You can use this game to practice color recognition, letters, numbers, sight words, shapes, word families or pretty much anything else that can be sorted. All you need is this Free printable school bus and 5 pads of 3"x3" Post-it Notes!

STEP 1: Click here to Print out the Free Printable school bus. It comes in 2 pages, so you will have to tape the two sheets together to create the school bus.

STEP 2: Cover the windows of the bus with one Post-it Note on each window.  Use a marker or sharpie to write the numbers, letters, words, etc. that you want your child to sort.

STEP 3: Take your 5 pads of Post-it Notes and write all the numbers, letters, words, etc on each page of the pads.

STEP 4: Your child will peel and stick the Post-it Notes on the correct window!

 

As you can see there are so many ways you can play this game!

 

 

Here are some more Free Printable Sorting Games:

 

Rhyming Sorting Game

Alphabet Sorting Game

Sorting Recyclables

 

M is for Monster: Craft & Activity + $50 Giveaway!

This post is sponsored by Dollar Tree. All opinions are my own.

 

Teaching my daughter letters has been a bit of a challenge. It's just not something that interests her. So I have to get really creative these days to come up with projects that are so fun, she forgets she is learning! Luckily, I got the opportunity to make this awesome project from the Dollar Tree Value Seekers Club! After we made this adorable Monster box craft, I came up with a fun little game to practice letter recognition and letter sounds!

 

 

To create this Monster box craft, you will need the following supplies:

 

• tissue box (Dollar Tree)
• paint (optional)
• circle labeling stickers (Dollar Tree)
• construction paper (Dollar Tree)
• googly eyes (Dollar Tree)
• tape or glue (Dollar Tree)

 

The instructions for making this Monster box can be found at the Dollar Tree Value Seekers Club. Membership is completely FREE! You'll find tons of crafts, recipes, décor, tips, contests, insider information, and frugal ideas. The content changes every month, so you'll have lots of fresh ideas for each season, holiday or just every day fun! All the materials can be purchased from Dollar Tree, and you can even print out the project sheets to take with you to the store as a convenient shopping list!

 

This Monster box was such a cute craft, and super easy for a toddler or preschooler to make. (I helped with the eyes and teeth, but that's about it)

 

As we were making the Monster, I told my daughter that this Monster likes to eat only letter M's and things that begin with M. It won't eat anything else that begins with a different letter or sound! Those "rules" set us up for some fun activities!

 

For the first activity, I took out some letter stickers that I had in my craft supplies. But you can also use letter tiles, letter magnets, or any other moveable alphabet pieces that you have on hand.  Fortunately, we had a lot of letter M's, so I gave my daughter a bunch of letters to feed to the Monster (about half of them were M's and half were other letters). She took one letter at a time, called out what the letter was, and determined whether the Monster would eat it or not. This is a great game for letter recognition and can be modified depending on what materials you have!

 

 

For the next game, I collected a bunch of small objects and toys from around the house. I tried to find as many things as I could that start with the M sound. I found a mirror, a mitten, a monkey toy, play money, a marker, Minnie mouse, a small map, a mouth and a moon. I also added a bunch of other small objects that don't begin with an M sound. One by one, she identified each object and if that object started with an M sound or not, and fed the correct ones to the Monster.

 

 

This game can be modified for a lot of different learning activities, whether you want your child to practice letters, numbers, sight words, colors, etc.

 

For more fun crafts and ideas like this one, sign up for Dollar Tree Value Seekers Club. It's FREE! As if that wasn't enough, I'm giving away a $50 Dollar Tree gift card to one of my lucky readers! Think of all the fun projects you can make with that!

 

To enter the giveaway, all you have to do is sign up for Dollar Tree Value Seekers Club and tell me which email address you used to sign up, using the Rafflecopter below. I will notify the winner by email. Good luck!

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

  

 

Rhyming Sorting Game with Free Printable

Why is Rhyming important for preschoolers to learn and practice?

• It increases their phonological awareness (ability to listen and discriminate between the different sounds that make up words) which is one of the biggest indicators of reading success.

• It helps them recognize rhythm and patterns in language, which improves their oral language skills.

• It teaches them to make predictions and anticipate a rhyming word, which is an important reading skill.

There are many ways to practice rhyming with your child:

• Read lots of rhyming books

• Read and memorize nursery rhymes

• Sing and memorize rhyming children's songs

• Play rhyming games like this one!

This is a Free Printable Rhyming Sorting Game that you can use with children of different levels. For kids who are starting out learning about rhyming, you can have them sort only 2 or 3 groups of cards, while more advanced kids can sort all 6 groups. This is great for both readers and non-readers!

Here is how I played it with my almost 3 year old:

I set up 3 groups of cards, then gave her one card at a time to sort in the correct group.

I started out by asking her "Does bat rhyme with cat, does bat rhyme with dog, or does bat rhyme with pie?" She was confused at first, so I said "Bat rhymes with cat because it sounds like cat. Bat, cat, bat, cat." I did that for a few cards until she got the hang of it and started doing it on her own.

Click here to download your FREE Printable Rhyming Sorting Cards!

Also check out this fun Alphabet Sorting Game:

Teach Letter Sounds with 26 Photos

 

I had the amazing opportunity to write a guest post for Teach Mama! So I decided to share this super cool and fun activity for learning letters and letter sounds. It's actually multiple activities in one, and it was a huge hit with my daughter!

 

Click here to check it out!

Free Summer Printable Pack for Toddlers - PreK

 

Summer is finally here but the learning doesn't stop! This printable pack is great for toddlers & preschoolers on long car trips, airplane rides, rainy days or simply for every day learning to practice those essential skills like counting, number & alphabet recognition, letter sounds, letter cases, size, colors, shapes, patterns, visual discrimination, prewriting, scissor skills and more!

 

This is my biggest printable pack so far, featuring 37 summer themed activities, and I am making it available for Free to all email subscribers. Here is what's included:

 

Literacy Activities:

-Cut & Paste the Missing Letter

-Letter Sound Matching

-Circle all things that begin with the letter S

-Match the upper and lower case letters

-Sight Word Matching

-Tracing words

-Tracing Letters & Pictures

 

Pre-Writing:

-Trace the Circles

-Horizontal Lines

-Vertical Lines

-Maze

 

Math Activities:

-Numbers 1-10 Puzzle

-Color by Number

-Counting

-Cut & Paste the Correct Number

-Patterns

-Cut & Paste in Order from Smallest to Biggest

-Sorting by Size

-Sorting by Color

-Match the other half of the Shapes

 

Visual Discrimination:

-Matching kids at the pool/beach

-Matching ice cream cones

-I Spy BBQ

-I Spy Beach

-Circle the one that is Different

-Matching Flip Flop pairs

 

Scissor Skills:

-Cutting straight lines

-Cutting zig zag lines

-Cutting page in 4 sections

 

Puzzles:

-Cut & Paste Puzzle

-Numbers 1-10 Puzzle

-Summer Word Puzzle

 

 

Below is a Sneak Peek:

 

 

This Summer themed Printable Pack is FREE for all Totschooling email subscribers.

What can I expect as a Subscriber?:

-You will receive free printables that are not available for download on the website. This includes holiday and seasonal packs, as well as other themed activity packs.

-You will get access to a growing collection of Board Book Printable Activities.

-You will receive 2-3 emails per week with new posts, freebies, sales and additions to the site.

-You will receive a special subscriber discount for the Online Store.

-Your information will never be shared with anybody else.