It’s the middle of April already – how?! In the preschool world, I know that means that it’s time to think about wrapping up the formal “school year.” That can look like a lot of different things, graduations, assessments, parties, finishing projects and investigations, and looking towards the following year. There are a few different resources that I have leaned on every single year at this time, so I thought they might make your life a little easier too. Here are my favorite materials for the end of the school year. I’ll have an in-depth look at my Kindergarten prep materials later this we ..read more

Whew! It’s been a busy couple of weeks. We took our big Disney Cruise Vacation, came home (with a cold as a souvenir), celebrated Easter, my daughter got a concussion, and then we had the eclipse – so yeah, it’s been a wild ride! I did want to take a minute to revisit our trip a bit and share what we loved, and what was really helpful to have with us. So here are the cruise tips and tricks that we will definitely use again (all links are affiliates). We drove to Florida, which adds another layer of planning, but for us it was worth it because we were able to pack everything that we wanted to ..read more

I’m on vacation – but I had to pop in and share this incredible resource before next week’s big eclipse! This social story is a simple way to explain to the very youngest students what an eclipse is, and what it might be light to experience one. Toddlers and preschoolers are so observant, they notice absolutely everything. This means that they know adults in their lives are talking about something pretty major, but they don’t necessarily understand the words that they’re using, because vocabulary words like “eclipse” and “path of totality” aren’t something that they have a frame of reference ..read more

I’ve been planning this cruise vacation for a year now, so I’ve had a lot of time to think and create. I knew that I wanted to have some kind of countdown to keep up the excitement and help with the “when are we leaving?” questions. It was also really important to me that my daughter learn a little about the ship and the ports we’re visiting so that she feels as prepared as possible, and also gets a little history and cultural understanding. Of course I couldn’t find exactly what I was looking for, so I made it myself. I created a workbook that accomplishes both of those goals and completing ..read more

Our family always does road trips when we vacation, and over the years I’ve come across a huge variety of tips (some hits, and some misses) for road-tripping with very young children. I’ve shared a lot of my favorites in these posts: Kids Road Trip Activities Road Trip Organization Hacks Travel Products for Kids Tips for Traveling with Preschoolers Every time that we’ve taken a trip I’ve tried something a little different and that’s true for our upcoming Disney Cruise trip too. We’re driving to the port, it’ll be the longest road trip that we’ve taken so far, so I wanted to make sure that my ..read more

As soon as I knew that we were taking this trip I started to DIY. One of the first projects I tackled was door decorations because Disney Cruise Line is known for guests going above and beyond on their door decor – and why wouldn’t you?! Any excuse to bring a little more Disney magic is always a must. I designed all of our magnets myself, but there are so many options on Etsy. My daughter is a HUGE Frozen fan, so it was a given that we would go that route. I also made a little suitcase with icons for each stop on our itinerary – I’m hoping to create more of these if we ever take additional tr ..read more

I’ve mentioned a couple of times that we’re going on a Disney Cruise over spring break, and right now I’m in packing heaven! I’m one of those people who loves to plan a trip and pack for it just as much as I love going on the actual trip. I know that not everyone is like that, so I thought I’d share some of my favorite travel must-haves. I also admit that I’m the kind of person who packs for every possible outcome – trying to find a store when you realize that you forgot something is not my idea of a relaxing vacation, so I’m fully aware that I’m an over-packer! Here are a few of my favorite ..read more

April is getting close, and with the Easter holiday at the end of the month, it’ll sneak right up on you! I wanted to share all of the great materials that are included in the April Month of Preschool set because there are a ton of Easter activities that you can use right now, along with other spring themes for the next month. Here is everything that you’ll get in this one amazing download: 4 Weeks of daily open-ended questions to use for question of the day Blank name cards with a seasonal design Coordinating color-in reading logs Week #1 Lesson pages with instructions for each activity and ..read more

As a mom, my goal for this year is to incorporate more gifts that are practical or that meet multiple needs. For Easter, that means the bunny is bringing things that can be used this spring and summer. I’m really trying to stay away from the little trinkets that get played with one time and then lay around the house, but I still want my girl to be excited about what she finds in her Easter basket. Here’s what I’ve picked out for her this year (all affiliate links) Sandals Summer Pajama Set Sunglasses Small craft kit Waterbottle We usually keep our Easter baskets pretty small, which means th ..read more

One of my favorite classroom memories is the year that the children begged to have a fancy Easter lunch at school. At the time we’d been exploring holidays, and as Easter got nearer we began to talk about the things that came to mind when they thought of the Easter holiday. One of them mentioned wearing fancy outfits and it took off from there. They helped us decide on “the right kind” of decorations for a fancy Easter lunch and we enlisted parents in helping us provide potluck items that were traditional for their families during this particular holiday celebration. Most importantly, the chi ..read more