I am chilling with my little man.  I am waiting for the furnace repair man today after a weekend with wonderful women in Nashville and filling my head and heart with new information and friendships.  I didn’t want to leave anyone hanging so I have found wonderful  letter activities from a number of great blogs around the web. Most are geared towards older preschoolers and young school age kids but are all worth bookmarking for later even if your little one isn’t ready for them quite yet.

This is a fun way to use flash cards – see I don’t think they are inherently evil, they just need to be played with ! Muffin Tin Mom makes a fun game to help teach letters and promote early literacy.

This is from my other blog Craftivity Corner on FamilyEducation.com . We loved matching up the letters and stickers, and my 3 year old was adamant about doing it all by himself. The activity wasn’t too daunting or long but still offered a challenge.

This phonic flip chart from Quirky Momma is a fantastic way to play with letters with children who have started to show interest in spelling . When I went to the next blog I noticed they had linked this exact activity today as well. Hey when an idea is good it deserves recognition!

I had booked marked this word family activity from Preschool Playbook a while back . What a wonderful way to learn dynamically!

I love this idea from Hey, I’m just the nanny. For children who are past the basics and ready to play with sentences using a well loved book ( we all know which ones our kids know so so well) is a great way to scaffold this activity!

I had to include something for the little ones too. This Caterpillar C from Ramblings of a Crazy Woman is so cute I couldn’t resist!

When you go to conferences you find a bunch of new sites to dive into and explore but sometimes it also reminds you of a site you have loved forever that you want to share . Because Babies Grow Up is awesome! Amber Passey and I have enjoyed each other’s blogs for ages, we have a similar mission about early education , motherhood and play.  She shares songs, crafts , books and more!  Check her out!

Books by Carrie Anne

I am presently in Nashville, well I am on my chair watching SuperWhy with my sick 3 year old but when you read this I will be in Nashville at Blissdom. Although I will have my trusty laptop I won’t have my trusty helper, glue or paper to make anything fun. So I am sending you to all these other awesome blogs ( who are all at Blissdom too!)  that have shared wonderful ideas that you might have missed! Enjoy.

I love these self portraits from She Wears Many Hats. Check out the easy steps that make your child’s art a true masterpiece!

I love how easy this awesome puppetfrom Impress Your Kids is, pretend play and art all in one project!

Look at these awesome SuperBowl Cupcakes from Hoosier Homemade!

I saw this make your own construction site on Mom Tried It a while back and have been meaning to make it for my little man, who would love it!

I can’t help but link to these Mini-Peanut Butter Cups, from Eclectic Whatnot because if I don’t I may make a batch and gain 30 pounds.

I love these free printable Valentine Bookmarks from Living Locurto!

I can’t leave Make and Takes out of this post! Check out this simple recipe for A Valentine’s  Popcorn Treat!

We were at the dollar store getting art mats ( the plastic place mats I use) when I spied these napkin rings. Perfect for beading when hands are still not nimble enough for smaller beads. This is a quick craft to make but one that is fun to play with long after. Make one for grandma or mama for Valentine’s day or use it as a basic patterning lesson.

1. Gather your materials. You will need some napkin rings, ribbon and scissors. 
2. Start by cutting your ribbon into a piece log enough to comfortably fit over your child’s head.
3. Tie one ring on to make a stopper for your rings. Make sure to leave enough room to have some ribbon to tie.
4. Thread them on.
5. Loop the last one through is you want, this is just a astetics thing for me I like them all squished together .
6. Invite your child who announced that ” I am too big for this craft.” to model the necklace for all the “Other kid’s mommies”.

Books

A Valentine For Norman Noggs by Valiska Gregory is a quite cute , it is about a new girl in school who has caught the eye of all the boys. Normal hopes and dreams that she will look at him and fall in love, but all the other bigger, stronger boys seems to be catching her attention. He is kind to her in class though, offering help without being boastful and although he doesn’t notice she does notice him. When he is made fun of by the bigger boys about a Valentine he made her she comes to his rescue. I like that her character was strong but didn’t like that she physically hurt the other boys. This is a longer picture book , my son zoned in and out while reading it, but would be great for 4-5 year olds.

If  You’ll Be My Valentine by Cynthia Rylant is a great book for preschoolers because it doesn’t just focus on romantic love or love of a parent and child but rather love of all the things this little boy is grateful for. He writes little valentines to his family members, teddy bear, even the bird and tree outside. It’s very sweet and cute without making you cringe one bit!  My son loved this one , it was perfect for a 3 year old.