Frugal Preschool Fun

Do you want to get your kids ready for Kindergarten, but don’t want to spend a lot of money doing it? My husband and I have five kids and we have been through preschool 4 times now. We have a lot of experience in teaching little ones and saving a buck at the same time. I know these ideas will help you too!

Buying all those writing tablets can get expensive, so we came up with a great idea! Here is what you will need:

• One handwriting tablet with the ABC’s on each page (one page for Aa, one for Bb, etc.)
• One slim dry erase marker
• One yard of clear plastic table cloth (you can find this in the material section of your local superstore)

Now all you have to do is cut a piece of the clear plastic table cover small enough to cover the tablet page and let the kids practice with the dry erase marker. You can use this a million times and with multiple children. You will never need to buy another tablet until you begin working on cursive!

You can use this idea for anything. We bought enough plastic to cover our whole table. At one end we placed a large white piece of poster board underneath the plastic. Now we have our own make-shift white board. We have used it for math, spelling, drawing diagrams, the possibilities are endless!

I get so excited when I find free online resources!

My very favorite website for kids is www.starfall.com . This website will teach your child everything from their ABC’s to reading books! By the time your child has done every activity on this site, they will be great readers!

You can also go to www.pbs.org/teachers/earlychildhood/ and find some great resources for subjects like reading, math, art, and history. There are printables, games, and lots of fun ideas to get your kids learning.

www.mathusee.com has free online drills. They are fun and colorful and when your child gets them all correct, they receive a blue ribbon. My son LOVES that!

When you are teaching little ones it is very important to make things fun. Here are a few ideas:

• Take them outside and let them write their ABC’s in the dirt or sandbox.
• Go to your courthouse and count the steps.
• Have them count the number of canned goods in the pantry. (4 green bean cans plus 3 corn cans equals what?)
• Place post-its on things around the house like a POT, a HAT, the RUG, so they can get use to seeing what these words look like.

Remember, you can find teachable moments in every day and both of you will love the memories made while doing these fun activities.

You Can Make Money. You Can Spend Time with your Kids. And, you Can Enjoy Life ... While Working from Home!

Most Recent Similar Articles

• Making Room in Your Budget for Some Frugal Summer Fun
• Creative Ways to Recycle CDs
• Frugal Parenting Tips for Sending the Kids Back to School
• 30 Ways to Keep the Kids Busy This Summer
• Teaching Your Children to Save