Are you interested in teaching preschool at home?
But you’re an overwhelmed mom or childcare provider that gets lost in the hundreds of cute preschool worksheets and activities?
Have you felt discouraged after downloading printable after printable and not getting around to putting your preschool curriculum together?
I know how you feel because I’ve been there before.
I would get excited about all the cute and fun learning activities I would find online.
But things always seemed to get in the way, and I would struggle to prepare the activities. I would feel terrible!
How about you?
Do you struggle to find the time to cut or laminate all the preschool pages you want to use in your lessons?
Or did you start in-home childcare and need an easy preschool curriculum you can use to teach at daycare now?
Whatever the reason, don’t worry, I got you!
What should be included in a no prep preschool curriculum?
Like I mentioned above. There are lots of kid activities, crafts, and printables you can find online. However, the idea here is to build your curriculum with ready-made materials.
You can use this material as a starter curriculum until you get all your “ducks in a row.”
Here are some easy no prep preschool curriculum ideas:
1. Children’s Books
Books, books, and more books! Every preschool child needs exposure to books. With books, you can teach them about new concepts, help expand their vocabulary words, learn valuable life lessons, and much more.
Also, you can ignite in the children a lifelong passion for reading!
You can start small by buying only a few books or getting them from your local library. The thrift store is also a great place to get inexpensive children’s books.
2. Notebooks and blank paper
Give your preschooler a notebook, and make sure you have plenty of blank paper available for them to use. I like using this type of drawing paper for my kids’ artwork, but white printer paper is good too.
Use the notebook to create simple lessons like the ones I share in the post: 5 Easy Sticker Prewriting Activities.
Or ask the kids to make a drawing in their notebook every day. I like this idea because you create a valuable record of the children’s drawings. Seeing how the artwork of each child changes over time is an awesome experience!
Related article: Best art supplies for toddlers and preschoolers.
3. Preschool Workbook
Do you want to use worksheets with your preschoolers? If so, this Big Preschool Workbook is a good place to start because you don’t need to download and print anything.
This book comes with basic skills and concepts needed to teach preschool at home. Also, there is a Toddler Workbook you can use if the child isn’t ready for the worksheets at the preschool level.
Both workbooks have brightly colored pages, and the books are inexpensive.
Want to see the inside pages of these workbooks and their current price? No problem! Hop on over to Amazon and have a quick look.
4. Circle Time – Calendar
Okay, so you have many choices on what to use as a calendar during circle time.
Here are my top 3 suggestions:
- Preschool calendar & weather chart with pockets
- Dry erase calendar in the best size for your space
- Paper calendar from the dollar tree
5. Flash cards for circle time
Let me be honest with you about buying flash cards. I have yet to find a set that I love. Usually, there is something I dislike about them. It can be the picture they chose for a letter, the font they used for the cards, the cardboard they are printed on, etc.
However, I do think flashcards are practical teaching materials.
Having said that, here are the type of cards you will need:
- Colors
- Alphabet (lower and upper case)
- Numbers
- Shapes
You can get these off of Amazon or from the dollar store.
Another thing you can do instead of buying flashcards is making your own. I know I said I would give ideas for a no-prep preschool curriculum. But the flashcards I’m suggesting don’t need to be anything complicated.
Use a black marker to write on blank pieces of paper letters of the alphabet, numbers, and basic shapes.
To teach about colors, you can use construction paper as your flashcards.
6. YouTube
Use YouTube as a supplement to your preschool curriculum. Search for your favorite children’s songs to sing or dance around with the kids.
Another way to use YouTube is to show short clips about topics you talked about in class. For instance, if you read a children’s book about frogs, show a short clip about a frog’s life cycle.
Okay, I think you get the idea about using YouTube for your lessons.
7. Conversations with Children
Use everyday life and the child’s environment to talk about things that currently interest the children or expand on a lesson.
For instance, if I notice that the kids have been talking about birds all morning. Then next time we go outside for a walk or to play, I will ask open-ended questions about birds.
I would ask things such as:
” Tell me how would you build a nest if you were a bird?”
” What do you think the bird is trying to do?”
“What do you notice about the bird?”
In general, the children will be excited to talk about topics of importance to them. Asking open-ended questions is a good skill for teachers to have. Also, listening with interest to the children’s responses is a valuable tool.
Ideas To Build a No Prep Preschool Curriculum
There you go!
Some easy ideas to build a no-prep preschool curriculum!
I hope you enjoyed this post and found some useful ideas to get you started teaching preschool at home.
Related Preschool Curriculum Articles:
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