Looking for some fun activities to keep your kids actively learning and having fun during Spring Break? Here are some ideas you can try:

Dinosaurs

Who can resist dinosaurs? We love learning about dinosaurs at our house and in preschool! Try these dinosaur activities:

1. Read a story about dinosaurs.

2. Stomp like a dinosaur: Cut out dinosaur footprints. Write letters, numbers, or words on the footprints. Turn on some music and stomp around the room. When the music stops, jump on a footprint and read what is on it.

3. Make Koolaid Play Dough (using the recipe below). Use the playdough to make dinosaur footprints.

Kool-aid Play Dough

1 cup flour

1/2 cup salt

1 envelope Kool-aid

2 tsp cream of tartar

1 cup water

1 Tbsp oil

1. Mix the first 4 ingredients in a medium saucepan until blended.

2. Stir in water and oil.

3. Cook on medium heat 5 minutes or until mixture forms a ball, stirring frequently.

4. Transfer to a plate. Cool slightly, then knead until it is the right consistency.

Home

Children love to do things that relate to their homes. Especially if it helps them look at their home in a new way. Try these fun home-related activities:

1. Read a story about a home or family.

2. Count the house: Walk around the house and count the windows. On a piece of paper, draw a window and record how many were counted. Repeat with forks, glasses, doors, shoes, etc.

3. Use blocks, legos, sugar cubes, or any similar item to build houses.

Grocery Store

Many of us aren’t even going to the grocery store right now, but it is fun to pretend your home is a grocery store. Try setting up a grocery store in your home and let your child select groceries. You can label the groceries with simple prices and have your child add up their total at the “check-out.” The possibilities for imagination are endless! Here are some other activities you can try:

1. Read a story about a grocery store.

2. Coupon sort: Use scissors to cut out coupons. Sort the coupons by the number on them. Sort by the place in the house the items belong. Find other ways to sort them.

3. Lace cheerios onto pipe cleaners. Count how many cheerios fit on the pipe cleaners.

Learning our ABCs

Learning about the ABCs is always a part of the life of a preschooler. I think the best learning happens when kids are having fun! (Particularly if they don’t know they’re learning!) Here are some simple activities to try:

1. Read a story about school.

2. ABC Detective: Have your child dress up as a detective (a long jacket, a hat, and a magnifying glass would work perfectly). Choose a letter or sight word and ask him to search around the house for the letter/word. Have him look at books, on the walls, in pictures, in the kitchen, etc. He may be surprised about the many places the ABCs can be found! Repeat with other letters or words.

3. Hide magnetic letters, letter beads, or letter cards in a bowl of colored rice. Search through the rice to find the letters, name them, and place them in ABC order.

Colored Rice

1 cup rice

1/2 tsp kool-aid

1 tsp rubbing alcohol

Large Ziplock bag

1. Combine all the ingredients in a ziplock bag.

2. Mix together thoroughly. (Shake like crazy!)

3. Spread onto a cookie sheet and allow it to dry overnight. (Or try blowing dry with a hair dryer to speed things up.)