The Time4Learning preschool program combines technology, animated characters, original stories and fun music to inspire a love of learning in the littlest e-learners. Ed Mouse and his friends guide children through more than forty topics such as numbers, letters, rhymes, self, time, music and colors.

The Numbers Plus Preschool Mathematics Curriculum is a comprehensive set of detailed plans for small- and large-group early childhood mathematics activities, with ideas for extending learning throughout the program day. What’s special about Numbers Plus is that children’s mathematical learning is sequenced within activities — each activity has a built-in progression so children of different developmental and ability levels can participate together and have a positive and meaningful learning experience. By actively engaging young children with materials and ideas, Numbers Plus builds on the latest knowledge from research and practice about early mathematics learning and how adults support it.

Homeschooling parents will find that when it comes to choosing the curriculum for math, there is a huge variety available. In fact, the number of math curriculums available to choose from may make choosing the right one difficult. These supplemental math activities for grades K-5 are fun ways to incorporate more math into your homeschooling.

Five in a Row provides a step-by-step, instructional guide using outstanding children's literature for children ages 4-8. Unit studies are built around each chosen book. There is a series for preschoolers called "Before Five in a Row," along with other volumes for older children.

In the Primer level your child will learn not only how to write numerals but also addition and subtraction, basic counting, skip counting, geometric shapes, telling time, and they will be introduced to the manipulative block system. It’s a gentle introduction to "doing math."

Math on the Level is a flexible, maturation-based, homeschool math curriculum with a very effective review system. It's unique approach is designed to turn your home environment into a rich, real-life learning experience and make math education meaningful and fun for your whole family.

• Teach when it is easy for your child to learn
• Use everyday activities to make math real
• Review for long term retention without busywork

One curriculum purchase covers your math needs for the whole family from pre-K through pre-algebra.

This set of books is unlike any other textbooks. Each text is written in the style of a novel with a humorous story line. Each section tells part of the life of Fred Gauss and how, in the course of his life, he encounters the need for the math and then learns the methods. Tons of solved examples. Each hardcover textbook contains ALL of the material – more than most instructors cover in traditional classroom settings. Includes tons of proofs. Written by Dr. Stanley Schmidt with the intent to make math come alive with lots of humour, clear explanations, and silly illustrations that stick in the mind. The student will learn to think mathematically. Completion of this series prepares student for third year college math.

Preschool is a time of rapid growth and development. While the preschool curriculum is designed keeping in mind the physical and intellectual developmental characteristics of 2 – 5 year olds, there are certain milestones that most preschoolers should achieve before they begin kindergarten.

These workbooks help teach pre-K concepts such as time, counting, and more.

The ABCmouse.com Homeschool Early Learning Academy offers these features:

• More than 5,000 learning activities in Reading, Math, Beginning Science, Social Studies, Art, and Music
• A full online preschool, pre-k, and kindergarten curriculum
• A Step-by-Step Learning Path that guides your child through the curriculum at his or her own pace
• Our powerful Lesson Builder tool that allows you to create your own lessons for your child

ABCmouse.com’s curriculum focuses on the important educational basics, helping children establish a foundation of knowledge that they can build upon with confidence and success. Because ABCmouse.com Early Learning Academy offers a curriculum carefully designed in collaboration with nationally recognized childhood education experts, you can be sure that, while homeschooling, your child will be learning all of the important basics.

ABCMouse.com offers a First Month Free Subscription Offer.

The Strong is a highly interactive, collections-based museum devoted to the history and exploration of play. It is one of the largest history museums in the United States and one of the leading museums serving families. The Strong houses the world’s largest and most comprehensive collection of historical materials related to play and is home to the International Center for the History of Electronic Games, the National Toy Hall of Fame, the World Video Game Hall of Fame, the Brian Sutton-Smith Library and Archives of Play, the Woodbury School, and the American Journal of Play. Together, these enable a multifaceted array of research, exhibition, and other interpretive and educational activities that serve a diverse audience of adults, families, children, students, teachers, scholars, collectors, and others around the globe.

The mission of Brooklyn Children’s Museum is to engage children in educational and entertaining experiences through innovation and excellence in exhibitions, programs, and use of its collection. The Museum encourages children from infancy through high school to develop an understanding of and respect for themselves, others and the world around them.

The Maritime Explorium encourages visitors to explore and play together in our hands-on interactive maker space rich with nautically themed science based exhibits and activities. While our focus is children ages 2-12 and their caregivers, we welcome visitors of all ages. Families exploring the fun and interactive hands-on exhibits at the Maritime Explorium at Port Jeff Harbor will enjoy the excitement of scientific discovery, develop a broadened cultural awareness and experience a sense of artistry while learning about Long Island’s rich and varied maritime heritage.

SUNY Poly CMOST strives to engage the community to help co-create the museum experience, while also providing unique STE(a)M learning experiences. The operation of the museum as part of the Colleges of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (SUNY Poly) supports CMOST's mission to "instill a sense of wonder and discovery in young minds, inspiring a lifelong exploration of science and technology," and is complementary to SUNY Poly's mission to provide pioneering nanotechnology education and prepare New York's future workforce with a comprehensive education of the highest quality.

The World Awareness Children’s Museum has been a NYS Designated Charter Museum since 1995 with a mission to inspire curiosity and foster understanding and appreciation of worldwide cultural diversity. Its collection is comprised of pieces from 140 countries including 8,000+ artifacts (fashion, musical instruments, dolls, toys and other objects) as well as 7,000+ pieces of international children’s art. Art and artifacts are featured in the Museum’s hands-on learning space go! where children discover the world. These items are also used in educational programs and loaned to other Museums, businesses and institutions for display.

The Queens Zoo features exhibits of wild habitats, from the Great Plains to the rocky California coast to a Northeast forest. At home in these naturalistic settings are American species of American bison, mountain lions, California sea lions, American bald eagles, Roosevelt elk, and more. South America is represented as well and the Queens Zoo is also the only New York home to spectacled bears, endangered natives of the Andes Mountains. The aviary is a geodesic dome, designed by Buckminster Fuller and used in the 1964 World's Fair in Queens. And the zoo's animal residents include "Otis," the famous coyote rescued in Manhattan's Central Park in 1999.

The Bronx Zoo is the flagship of the largest network of metropolitan zoos in the country, with exhibits featuring over 4,000 animals. View Western lowland gorillas in the Congo Gorilla Forest , snow leopards in the Himalayan Highlands Habitat, and almost an acre of an indoor Asian rain forest. Offers educational programs and special exhibits.

The mission of the Children’s Museum of the Arts is to introduce children and their families to the transformative power of the arts by providing opportunities to make art side-by-side with working artists.

Long Island Children's Museum invites visitors of all ages, backgrounds and abilities to explore freely, discover their passions, and appreciate the communities and world we share. The museum features 14 themed galleries and a 145-seat theater. Children will love exploring the two-story ClimbIt© structure with ramps going up and down in a spiral pattern. They can create giant bubbles in the Bubble Gallery, make "rain" in the outdoor Our Backyard gallery, play musical instruments, learn about Long Island and much more.

Over two decades ago, Explore & More opened in a 500-square foot room in a school basement. The idea of having high-quality play-based learning for children from all over Western New York had been cultivated in the minds of a small group of dedicated parents, educators and toy designers. The museum with its all-volunteer staff saw 1,000 visitors that first year. Flash forward 21 years later, to Explore & More today, currently housed in a space 14 times that size, serving over 60,000 children and their family members each year. Several national and international studies since have continued to confirm the idea on which the Museum began—that play is essential to healthy brain development in children. With nationally recognized and award-winning programs and exhibits, the most generous free admission policy in the area, and a mission to provide critically important informal learning experiences for all, Explore & More has become an important asset to the well-being of children and families in Western New York.

The Rosamond Gifford Zoo is located in Syracuse. Central New York's embraceable Zoo boasts youngsters that are endearing to kids of all ages; elephants youngsters who love to play in their pool, two year old lion cubs who hone their instinctive hunting skills through their play and the young siamang whose athletic antics are favorites in the social animal world. The Zoo is open year round and offers educational programs as well.

The Buffalo Zoological Gardens is the nation’s third oldest zoo. Located in 23.5 acres of beautiful Delaware Park, the Buffalo Zoo exhibits a diverse collection of wild and exotic animals, and more than 320 different species of plants. Animals on exhibit include the lowland gorilla troop, rhinoceros, hyenas, polar bears, and many more.

Ross Park Zoo sits tucked into the northern face of Binghamton's South Mountain. Highlights include Cat Country Complex, the Spectacled Bear exhibit, and Our Changing World and Penguin Exhibit.

Located in Brooklyn, the New York Aquarium offers exhibits featuring over 8,000 animals. Learn about animals living as far away as the Southwest coast of Africa and the Arctic to those found locally in our own Hudson River. Hightlights include the Alien Stingers exhibit, Sea Cliffs exhibit, and Aquatheater presentations, featuring California sea lions.

The Milton J. Rubenstein Museum of Science & Technology is a hands-on science and technology museum for people of all ages and includes the Silverman Planetarium and the only domed IMAX® theater in New York State. Discover, learn & play!

Located in Rochester, the Seneca Park Zoo offers animal exhibits, educational programs, and special exhibits. Highlights include the Genesse Trail and Discovery Center and the Rocky Coasts exhibit.

The National Toy Hall of Fame® at The Strong, established in 1998, recognizes toys that have inspired creative play and enjoyed popularity over a sustained period. Each year, the prestigious hall inducts new honorees and showcases both new and historic versions of classic toys beloved by generations. The classic toys of the National Toy Hall of Fame sit alongside, and complement, The Strong museum collection, the world's largest and most comprehensive assemblage of toys, dolls, board games, video games, other electronic games, books, photographs, documents, and other historical materials related to play. To date, 59 toys have been inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame. The most recent honorees are puppet, Twister, and Super Soaker.

Located in Watertown, the New York State Living Museum is committed to zoological excellence and passion for New York's wild things and wild places while instilling new depths of curiosity and knowledge for visitors and the community.

MHCM is the ONLY children’s museum in the Hudson River Valley between the larger New York City and Albany markets. In February 2016 MHCM opened The Science Center @ MHCM to advance early STEM education. The museum is located in the heart of the historic waterfront in Poughkeepsie, just steps away from the Poughkeepsie Metro-North train station, the Walkway Over the Hudson’s Elevator, fabulous restaurants, and a new city park. MHCM has three areas of programmatic focus that direct its work in exhibits and educational programs: school readiness, health and wellness, and community-building. The museum is dedicated to engaging and serving a diverse audience of families from all socio-economic and ethnic backgrounds and of all abilities and needs through special admission and membership programs.

The Staten Island Zoo exhibits animals in a variety of settings, including the African Savannah at Twilight exhibit, a Tropical Forest, the Aquarium, the Serpentarium, the Children's Center, and various outdoor exhibits. Also offers special exhibits and an educational program.

CMOM inspires children and families to learn about themselves and our culturally diverse world through a unique environment of interactive exhibitions and programs. Since opening in a neighborhood storefront in 1973, they’ve grown into a unique 38,000 square-foot learning facility with outreach programs at nearly 50 sites throughout New York City.

From a steamy rain forest to an icy Antarctic penguin habitat, the zoo leads visitors through tropic, temperate and polar regions to encounter fascinating animals - from tiny leafcutter ants to tremendous polar bears. The Tisch Children's Zoo lets little animal lovers meet gentle creatures up close. Year-round education classes and innovative public programs - including the zoo's "Wildlife Theater" -- encourage all ages to learn more about our natural world, and become involved in its protection.

The mission of the Staten Island Children’s Museum is to nurture the creativity and curiosity natural to all children, to recognize and celebrate different learning styles, and to demonstrate vividly that learning can be exciting and fun. The Museum is committed to achieving these goals through programming that emphasizes direct and authentic hands-on experiences conducted in a welcoming and pleasing environment. The Museum encourages participation by visitors of all abilities and endeavors to reach beyond its walls to serve as an educational resource for the members of our diverse community, especially families and schools. Founded in 1974 and located in a historical setting on the grounds of Snug Harbor Cultural Center & Botanical Gardens, the Staten Island Children’s Museum offers 40,000 square feet of interactive exhibits as well as a 4-acre East Meadow, and a picnic and performance pavilion.

The Trevor Zoo is located on Millbrook School Road, six miles east of the village of Millbrook and four miles west of the village of Amenia. It accommodates more than 120 exotic and indigenous animals on six acres.

Located in Roscoe-Conkling Park, the Utica Zoo is part of a recreational complex featuring over 200 animals. Of the 80 acres of land set aside for the zoo's use, 35 are presently developed. Also offers educational programs.

The Children’s Museum at Saratoga is dedicated to creating an interactive community that inspires curiosity, sparks imagination and nurtures discovery. The Museum is also committed to fostering active parent involvement in children’s learning, to serving as a resource for school districts in the area, and to ensuring that its programs and services are accessible to all children.

At the Prospect Park Zoo in Brooklyn, naturalistic habitat exhibits feature many different animal species. Three major exhibit areas were designed to engage children: The World of Animals, Animal Lifestyles, and Animals in Our Lives. In the World of Animals, youngsters can meet prairie dogs nose-to-nose, and walk among wallabies. The Animal Lifestyles building's centerpiece is a spectacular habitat for hamadryas baboons. Animals in Our Lives exhibits encourage children to observe and draw wildlife; outside, visitors can interact with friendly, touchable species in an inviting barnyard.

The Cradle of Aviation Museum and Education Center is Long Island's air and space museum. It offers galleries, a planetarium, IMAX movies, and more.

The Utica Children's Museum offers an environment that supports every child's natural curiosity to learn through hands-on, play-based exploration.

Bob Books are organized into sets that progress in level as your child learns. They have cute stories and darling illustrations. These books are perfect for children ages 4 to 8.

• Bob Books First! Level A, Set 1
• Bob Books First! Level A, Set 2
• Bob Books First! Level B, Set 2
• Bob Books First! Level C, Set 1

Happy Phonics uses games to teach early reading skills. Simple yet entertaining and educational, these phonics games are printed on colorful, sturdy cardstock ready to cut out. Included is a mother-friendly guidebook which contains details on how to teach phonics and reading, how to pronounce and teach the phonics sounds, how to make your own simple beginning readers, and step-by-step teaching information for each phonics sound. Happy Phonics covers beginning to advanced phonics.

This set of 10 simply designed colorful wooden blocks and pattern boards includes 100 blocks in six different shapes and colors. They help develop shape recognition and spatial relationship skills. The contents store neatly in a durable wooden case. This games was awarded the Scholastic Parent & Child's 2004 "Top 22 Toys that Make Kids Think" award.

Stack the durable, brightly colored wooden beads on 5 hardwood dowels in sequence to match the design on one of the pattern cards. Builds complex reasoning skills as well as sorting and coordination. Includes over 45 brilliantly colored beads, 5 dowels, and 10 patterns that increase in difficulty.

Explode The Code provides a sequential, systematic approach to phonics in which students blend sounds to build vocabulary and read words, phrases, sentences, and stories. Frequent review of previously learned concepts helps increase retention. Each workbook in this series contains exercises that incorporate reading, writing, matching and copying. The consistent format of the books helps facilitate independent work. This series includes primers—Get Ready for The Code, Get Set for The Code, and Go for The Code—which introduce initial consonant sounds. In addition, Beyond The Code provides a comprehension component introducing basic comprehension skills with phonetically controlled stories. You'll find product information here.

Giving children a foundation to build number sense is very important. Learning might as well be fun to help kids build a great outlook on math, as they grow older. Here are five fun Pre-K math activities that build number recognition and counting skills.

Make this counting spindle board with simple materials from around your home. Teaches counting and grouping.

This activity helps children to model basic numbers and use counting and grouping strategies to demonstrate and verbalise relationships between basic numbers--in this case, the numbers 1-3. Using the well loved and well known tale of Goldilocks and the 3 Bears will help engage your child and also give them a greater understanding, meaning and depth.

If you have ever tried to teach your older kids and deal with a toddler too, you know that life can get pretty complicated and noisy. While one child is asking for your help with algebra, another needs guidance with diagramming sentences, and the three year old is wanting to "do school too. Don't panic! Other homeschoolers have been through this too. This list of activities can help you calm the storm.

This is a huge collection of online math games for preschool and elementary aged kids.

A selection of songs and lyrics from a variety of different albums teaching how to count, recognize shapes, use the concept of zero, use units of measurement and money.

With just a few inexpensive supplies, you can make this simple adding activity for your preschooler.

Use 1 x 1 Lego bricks and a 12-sided math die to encourage counting and learning.

These cute math songs help young children learn about addition, money, time, and skip counting.

These fun math games help encourage counting and color matching using pom poms.

Kids love to pretend and test their limits within boundaries of make believe. Combining pretend play with math is a great way to challenge your kids without making them feel like it’s a test. Pretending to be a postal worker gives the task of sorting meaning and with that meaning their learning is deeper and better retained.

These fun printables feature poems to help young children learn the value of coins.

These easy and fun math activities are great for helping preschoolers learn number recognition, one to one correspondence, counting, and understanding quantity.

We all have busy lives, yet we want the most productive preschool activities for our children with as little fuss as possible. Here you'll find activities to stimulate gross motor skills, preschool songs, activities to develop visual perception, numeracy, and mathematical concepts, language building activities, and children's bible lessons and faith building activities.

Wonderful collection of math games and activities that you can create at home.

When it comes to math, a good foundation is essential. With these fun math activities for kids, numbers become friends and the basic foundation for the subject is established at an early age. Different math activities for kids of different age groups can be effective in teaching them basic but essential math concepts. Here are some interesting grade-based math activities that parents and teachers can use to make math a whole lot of fun!

How to make a homemade version of the Montessori seguin board, a board with lots of 10s in a column.

This list is a great start to incorporating fun activities and games into your homeschool math curriculum.

Learn 10s with these free printable cards that offer a fun way to practice. Read about different ways to use the cards for enjoyable math games to teach this concept.

Practicing math skills like spatial awareness and geometry can be fun, especially when the math activity involves Legos! Here’s a free printable math challenge for kids using Lego or Duplo bricks!

These printables are free and help provide extra support for teaching preschool math. You'll find calendars, number tracing cards, number mats, patterns, and more.

Learn 10s with these free printable cards that offer a fun way to practice. Read about different ways to use the cards for enjoyable math games to teach this concept.

This early childhood education website is filled with free printables designed to make learning fun.

Fun and free printables that are great for preschoolers. These activities make learning fun!

Preschool math worksheets help your young learner develop essential early math skills. From number recognition to counting to addition, preschoolers learn a lot about numbers in one year. Our collection of preschool math worksheets is designed for kids who want to build skills that will prepare them for kindergarten and beyond. These preschool math worksheets help present new number topics to kids in a way that's fun and easy to understand. Help foster a culture of learning by doing these preschool math worksheets with your child.

Free printable preschool worksheets for learning to write the alphabet, numbers and bible memory verses, plus free printable colouring pages and more!

Practicing math skills like spatial awareness and geometry can be fun, especially when the math activity involves Legos! Here’s a free printable math challenge for kids using Lego or Duplo bricks!

This discussion list is for homeschoolers teaching preschool and kindergarten. Topics include curriculum selection (whether necessary or not), teaching tips, creative learning ideas, time management, unit studies, homeschooling books, neat craft ideas, cooking tips for all occasions, support those who have homeschool burn out, or those who are just starting to homeschool.

Field trips can inspire your child to study a topic, give him further insights into his current studies, or provide closure to a completed unit. Is there somewhere you’d like to take your children to reinforce a topic this year? Or just want to visit because it would enrich their lives? If you let your support group (or even just a few other families) know that you are planning to go and they are welcome to tag along (think: group rate)—voila! You’re planning a field trip!

To discuss the Charlotte Mason method of homeschooling elementary age children, and to share the joys and concerns of everyday life.

A group for Charlotte Mason Mom's using the curriculum outline suggested in Karen Andreola's summer of 93 Parent's Review titled, "A Formidable List of Attainments for a Child of Six", and also trying to complete the Kindergarten Skills list as described in Catherine Levison's book, A Literary Education.

How do you teach young children? What do you do all day? How do you provide a "stimulating environment"? These questions are asked frequently by parents of young children who understand the immense magnitude of what it means to take responsibility for their child's education.

Learning shapes and colors may well be a young child’s first educational endeavor. Although recognizing objects as red or blue, round or square might seem like child’s play, it’s actually integral to a young child’s cognitive development, and sets the stage for math concepts from sorting and patterning to geometry, and beyond! What can you as a parent do to help your young learner master these academic milestones? You may not have to look beyond the backdrop of your life for the perfect learning tools. Try a few of these fun activities to help your child master colors and shapes.

Need a homeschool preschool curriculum? Have you thought about homeschooling your child – but aren’t sure you have what it takes to persevere? Homeschooling during the preschool ages is a great way to try everything out and see if it’s going to work for your family. Homeschooling preschool children also has many side benefits. It gives you something constructive to do during those long daytime hours while your husband is at work. And it will help you bond with your children in a way that nothing else will. Watching your preschooler learn and grow is a wonderful experience – and one that you and your child will both enjoy. You can purchase a great homeschool preschool curriculum that is all ready to go, if that’s what you’re interested in doing. Or, you can come up with activities on your own.

Parents are bombarded with messages to read with their children, but it’s rare to hear about the importance of doing math with them. Here are some helpful tips on why and how to instill a love of math in your children.

This article takes a look at one mother's coming to terms with her daughter's readiness, or lack thereof, to learn to read.

Simple approaches to teaching math for preschoolers and kindergarteners in the home environment.

There are many natural ways to teach preschool math. Everyday activities, like cooking and grocery shopping involve mathematical concepts.

"Can anyone recommend a curriculum for pre-K and kindergarten? This is a frequent question homeschooling bulletin boards and email lists. It's a perfectly reasonable question, but some of the responses can be confusing to new homeschoolers. We all come into homeschooling with some common preconceptions of what the program should be - but many who have been at it for a while or raised homeschool grads are likely to strongly suggest not setting up a structured study program for young children. This is where some misunderstanding can come into play. Saying that a structured study program for a young child is inappropriate is not at all the same as saying that learning is unimportant during the early years. It's simply that many experienced homeschoolers and other educators feel there are certain kinds of activities that are much more important and appropriate in early childhood than studying the 3 R's - and that to establish a structure that emphasizes the 3 R's at that age can actually be detrimental. If a child is asking to learn to read, of course, that's a whole different matter - but it's simply a question of helping that child learn to read, which is very different thing from setting up a curriculum.

Preschool-age children are ready to explore more than one might think! Parents often focus on counting from one to ten, but there are many other skills that children are ready and able to investigate.

As the parent of a preschooler, you probably enjoy experiencing the world through your child’s eyes (and hands and feet!) as he or she explores and learns with great enthusiasm. And as your child’s first teacher, you can start teaching the basics of reading, writing, and math. Giving preschoolers a solid foundation in early math literacy is critical to their future academic success, not to mention how important it is to their day-to-day functioning.

This list is a great start to incorporating fun activities and games into your homeschool math curriculum.

houldn't very young children be allowed to explore, inquire, play, and discover? Perhaps direct instruction can help children learn specific facts and skills, but what about curiosity and creativity—abilities that are even more important for learning in the long run? hile learning from a teacher may help children get to a specific answer more quickly, it also makes them less likely to discover new information about a problem and to create a new and unexpected solution.

Parents may think counting and recognizing numbers are the nuts and bolts of preschool math. While these are important skills for young mathematicians to master, building a foundation for complex mathematical thinking begins in the early childhood years. Sorting and classifying objects helps children begin to notice how items are alike and different, and creates an awareness that is vital for math learning.

Teaching your preschooler at home can be accomplished several ways. There are three options: 1) Purchase a program from one of the preschool curriculum providers, 2) Read to your child from great books, and explore the world together paying attention to what interests your child or 3) Design your own curriculum for free using the internet and the library. Any one of the three options should work fine. But if you prefer a plan laid out in writing and you are on a tight budget, option three is the way to go.

The mission of The Discovery Center of the Southern Tier is to develop the intellectual, physical and emotional well-being of the children of the Southern Tier through participatory exhibits and programs. These exhibits engage the senses, challenge the mind and offer a diverse framework for discovery in the arts, sciences and humanities.

Any homeschooling family with more than one child knows the challenge of keeping “Baby Kong” from tearing apart the house during school time. These tips help with how to deal with those unruly toddlers and make it through this difficult and often exhausting stage of homeschool life.

Learning at home begins at birth for children. The preschool years can be the most enjoyable time of year to homeschool—children are self-motivated, eager to learn, naturally inquisitive and curious about everything. In this article Teri Ann Berg Olsen gives some great ideas for creating a learning environment in your home, how to incorporate learning into play, and lists several games that can help your child learn while playing.

This youtube video demonstrates some great strategies to help preschoolers learn counting by tens and odd and even numbers.

Young children are unique creatures who love nothing more than to experience everything from tactile, hands-on items to feeling the wind in their faces as they jump off a wall. They are all about hiding under blankets to see what happens if they walk through the house like a ghost or playing safari and taking pictures with their imaginary camera.

This free unit study for preschoolers features poems found in Shel Silverstein's Where the Sidewalk Ends as a text for 10 poetry lessons. Each lesson refers to a poem (so it helps a lot to have access to that book), includes an activity suggestion, and instructions for a writing project (mostly poems). You can use all the lessons, or just a couple.

Field trips can inspire your child to study a topic, give him further insights into his current studies, or provide closure to a completed unit. Is there somewhere you’d like to take your children to reinforce a topic this year? Or just want to visit because it would enrich their lives? If you let your support group (or even just a few other families) know that you are planning to go and they are welcome to tag along (think: group rate)—voila! You’re planning a field trip!