Disclaimer: I received a free product for my post! These views are my own and were not at all influenced by the party who gave me this opportunity..
My son is very close to the age where he will begin kindergarten so I am doing my best to prepare him at home. Since I do not feel qualified as a teacher, I enjoy using various homeschool tools to help me out! Our most recent program that we are trying is the Educents Preschool Rocks Bundle. This package includes 19 downloadable products: Kitty Cat Numeration and Ordering, Preschool Math, Getting Ready for Kindergarten (Parent Pack, RTI, Assessments,) Mega Sort Bundle (Numbers 1-10, 10-20, and Letters,) Sand and Water “Sensory” Table Task Cards and More, I Can Read the Alphabet, and Rhyming Unit Mega Bundle: 17 Rhyming Activities. The package runs for $106.00 regular price, but with Educents you can get it for only $29.99 (a 71% discount!) You can view the bundle HERE.
The activity set that we received to test was the Preschool Math download. This set contains 47 printable pages with directions for the parents as well as several activities for your child. This unit includes Number/Quantity Memory Match, Color Pattern Fun, Color Match Game, Clothespin Quantity/Number Identification, Shape Match, Butterfly Counting Mats, and Find the Missing Number.
The set comes as a PDF file that you can download to print whenever you need it. Personally, for printing at home as a parent, it is a LOT of pages which means a lot of printer paper and ink used up (and there is a lot of color that will be used.) I decided for this reason it is best to print it once and invest in having each item laminated so I can use it over and over. It was a lot of work cutting out all those pieces and a little bit to laminate (though a friend loaned me her at home laminator and I paid for a $13 pack of 50 sheets thermal paper for it which isn’t bad!) then even more work to cut them out again after they were laminated, but it was worth it. You can also print on cardstock; while this may not last as long, it will stay in tact longer than printer paper.
This packet helps to teach counting, colors, number identification, matching, patterns, and more. Now, if I am honest, I could have made this set myself and I have already taught most of this to my son on my own, but if I wasn’t one who uses design programs regularly or was one who was just beginning to teach, this product would be well worth it. Even though my son is already familiar with numbers and colors, the Educents Preschool Rocks Preschool Math unit has been a great tool. He sometimes struggles with understanding patterns and knowing that when he counts 3 butterflies he should not put the number 6 with it…he knows each individually, but needs help putting two and two together and this has worked well for him. It also never hurts to do a little review to keep him brushed up on his math skills.The patterns and colors and designs are bright and playful which makes learning fun! To make learning even more fun, we took the laminated pieces to the bathtub! Did you know that if you stick items that are laminated in a little soapy water they will stick to the bathtub wall? I love making my son’s favorite activities into a learning experience! You can also use the laminated pieces as flash cards, stick magnets on the back to use them on the refrigerator, or use them as dry erase boards for your child to circle or draw in the correct answers or practice tracing words and shapes! I know this unit is about math, but how it is set up your child can also begin to learn words by site; there are games to match up colors or shapes with the corresponding words.
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-Have you tried Educents? What did you think?
