5 Easy, Engaging and Affordable Letter E Activities

May 12, 2023August 22, 2023 Brittney

5 Easy, engaging and affordable Letter E activities for your preschooler that can be done with only a few minutes of prep and will (hopefully) engage your child for far longer. From a fun craft to a game that encourages exercise, these activities are designed to make learning at home a breeze. So let’s dive in and discover fun letter E activities you can use to engage with your child.

E is for Elephant Eating Game

A fun activity to when learning the letter E is the Elephant Eating Game. This game is perfect for getting your child up and moving, while still learning the letter E.

To prep you will need a cardboard box, to print (or draw) an elephant image, an empty cardboard tube (paper towel tubes work great) and some letter “E” Cutouts. (Printable E and Elephants Below)

Make your elephant by pasting (or drawing) the elephant image to/on your box and cutting out around its nose. Then add the cardboard tube to be the elephant nose. I used hot glue because it seemed fast and easy to me. I’m sure tape would work great too.

Scatter your letter E cutouts around the room and let your preschooler gather them up and feed them to the elephant down its long nose. My son loved this game especially because he got to crumple up the “E’s” so they would fit down the nose.

After we fed the all the Letter E’s to the elephant my son wasn’t ready to be done, and thought it was just as fun to feed the elephant the other letters as well, then try to guess which of the crumpled papers were “E’s” and feed and refeed the elephant. Honestly, for us, this was a 10/10 engagement, and I was ready to move on way before my son was, which is always a win in my book.

Bonus points if you use both capital and lowercase letter E’s, and different fonts to help with letter recognition.

(Click the images below to download and print if wanted)

E is for Exercise

Physical activity is great for children’s development, and it’s so easy to make fun at this age.

You can do any number of activities, but for us… Cosmic Kids Yoga is always a win, and in the name of Letter E, we watched her Easter Yoga video for our Exercise movement (I think there is also an Earth Day one, if you want to keep an E theme, but honestly all exercise is a win).

Or you can find fun way to incorporate letter E activities by doing an exercise routine that involves E-related movements. For example, you can have your child do jumping “Elephant” jacks or “Eagle” squats which is pretty much the normal movement while incorporating a little bit of animal fun.

E is for Envelope Exploration

This one takes a small amount of prep (less than 5 minutes) but was also a good time. Below I’ve got some printables that include letter E things and non-letter E things that you’re welcome to use for this.

Print out and cut out the letter E, and non letter E pictures and put each one in their own envelope, then hide those envelopes around your house.

Have your child go “Exploring” looking for the envelopes, then have them open what they find and decide if the picture inside starts with letter E or not. If you’ve got a younger child, you can also just do the Letter E things and practice really annunciating the “E” sounding start to each item as you have them say it with you.

After we had all the envelopes collected we also ended up spreading them out and playing a pumped up memory game, where we tried to guess which envelopes had letter E things in them, and if we guessed right we got to keep that envelope/picture.

E is for Earth!

Another fun activity that adapts really well to some outside play is making Earth Day style crafts. These are great for any time of the year, as it’s always worthwhile to be conscientious of our planet. This craft is a great way to celebrate our planet, and also provides an opportunity to teach your child about the environment and the importance of taking care of it.

Encouraging your child to be environmentally conscious from a young age is important for their future, and taking about caring for our Earth is the perfect way to start.

For this I started by checking out our recycle bin to see if we had anything that was blue in it that we could use (we did) if you don’t blue paper, or tissue paper would also work great for this.

Then I handed my son a pair of craft scissors and a little box and we went for a walk and gathered up some nature treasures, mostly in the form of grass and leaves.

After our walk we came back and cut up our blue recycling into little bits and trimmed some of our nature treasures, and grabbed some glue.

I printed out an earth for us (free printable below) and we glued our blue stuff in the ocean areas, and our green stuff on the land areas, making what I thought was a fun a pretty unique craft.

E is for Egg-Experimenting

We did this right around Easter, and you actually don’t need eggs at all, but we had so many laying around and it was E themed so… it happened. Looking at this post some time of the year that’s not April? No worries, I think it would have worked just as well with only the cupcake tin.

I put some baking soda in our plastic eggs (or in a muffin tin) then added a few different colored drops of food coloring, then added more baking soda over the top so the colors were hidden.

Then I gave my sons a bunch of vinegar in our pipettes and them them squirt it in our different cups until the erupted and they could see the different colors. This one was so engaging and fun that my ten year old, who is reaching the too cool for these kinds of things stage, couldn’t resist getting in a playing a bit with this one.

There you have it, 5 letter E activities that you can do more or less on a whim, and that we had a great time with. If you’ve used them or have ideas I’d love to know how it went if you wanted to drop me a comment below.

List of 30 Letter X Foods Ideas (Kid Friendly) & X Foods Charcuterie Board Idea

May 10, 2023March 1, 2024 Brittney

Here’s the deal, Letter X foods have had me stumped for a good long time. I want an easy, kid friendly list and Xanthan gum just wasn’t cutting it for me. I looked up a few other foods like Xtra Gum, and a Xtreme type foods, but it was still a painfully short list.

From there I branched out, and if you look at different languages you can get a few more foods that start with X, especially the chinese names of things. So I created a much longer list that includes foods in different languages, but having taught Joy School for a few of my kids and worked with toddlers and preschoolers learning there letters all I could think was that throwing foods in different languages at them really wasn’t going to be super fun or helpful for learning a new letter.

After a lot of thought (like 6 months, lol) I realized that just as good as foods starting with Letter X, my kids would be equally excited about just eating Letter X shaped foods… which, as it happens, are a lot easier to come by (at least for me) so for this Charcuterie Board I ditched the foods that started with Letter X, and instead my kids and I had a great time making Letter X’s out of foods (which as it happens was a really fun activity – we used lots of strait foods and held them together with either Twizzlers Pull and Peel licorice, or small strips and globs of Fruit By The Foot – My kids would 100% recommend this)

In either case I have two list below, a list of strait foods that I think can be made into Letter X’s and a list of food that actually start with Letter X, most of them in languages other than English.

I’m sure I missed a few Letter X foods, or straight foods that could be converted into X’s, and if you notice that I have please comment below and I’ll be sure to get them added 🙂

I’ve got the list of foods that can be shaped into a Letter X first, then the full list of Letter X Food, and after that I’ve sorted the foods into types and if you want you can just pop to those sections. The types are:

• Fruits and Vegetables that Start with X

• Sweets and Treats that Start with X

• Meals and Snacks That Start with X

• Letter X Brand Named Foods

Ideas of Foods that Can Be Shaped Into a Letter X

Airhead Xtremes Rainbow Belt Candies
Artisan Bread (I found some with an X shape in the top)
Asparagus
Bamboo Shoots
Bread Sticks
Carrot Sticks
Celery
Cheese Sticks
Churos
Cucumbers
Fruit Roll-Ups
Green Beans
Honey Sticks
Ladyfinger Cookies
Lora Doone Cookies (have a bit of an x shape imprinted on the top)
Lucky Charm Cereal Pieces (Some of them are X shaped)
Nerds Ropes
Pasta Noodles
Pickels
Pirouette Cookies
Pocky Sticks
Pretzels
Slim Jims
Soybeans (Edamame)
String Cheese
Sugar Snap Peas
Sweet and Sour Ropes
Taquitos
Twizzlers
Twizzlers Pull and Peel
Wafter Cookies
X shaped Alphabet Cookies
Zucchini Strips

List of 30 Foods That Start With Letter X

Airhead Xtremes Rainbow Belt Candys: Colorful and tangy candy strips
Xacuti masala: Indian delicacy made with marinated meat or fish mixed with spices
Xalwa a somali: Cornflour paste dish from Somalia
Xanthan gum: Food thickener with multiple uses
Xanthren: Herbal plant
Xavier soup: Classic Italian soup
Xavier steak: American dish featuring steak
Xerem de Fiesta: Cape Verdean dish
Xia: Chinese shrimp
Xiang Cai: Chinese for coriander
Xiangcaojing: Chinese for vanilla
Xiangchang: Chinese for sausage
Xiangjiao: Chinese for banana
Xian hamburger: Chinese style hamburger
Xianrou: Chinese for bacon
Xiaodianxin: Chinese for cookies
Xiaonijurou: Chinese for veal
Xi gua: Chinese for watermelon
Xihongshi: Chinese for tomato
Xi mi fen: Chinese for tapioca flour
Xinag jun: Chinese for black dried mushroom
Xingzi: Chinese for apricot
Xiphios: Greek for swordfish
Xocolatl: Ancient Aztec word for chocolate
Xom Tum: Hot and spicy Thai dish
XO sauce: Hong Kong style sauce
Xouba: Small sardine like fish
Xtra: Brand of gum
Xtreme Candy: Extra intense candy
Xtreme hot sauce: Extremely spicy hot sauce
Xylitol: Sugar substitute and sweetener

Fruits, Nuts and Vegetables That Start With Letter X

Xanthren (herb)
Xiangjiao – Chinese for banana
Xi gua – Chinese for watermelon
Xihongshi – Chinese for tomato
Xinag jun – Chinese for black dried mushroom
Xingzi – Chinese for apricot

Sweets And Treats That Start With Letter X

Airhead Xtremes Rainbow Belt Candys
Xiaodianxin – Chinese for cookies
Xocolatl – Ancient Aztec for chocolate
Xtra – (brand of gum)
Xtreme Candy

Meals and Snacks that Start with Letter X

Xacuti masala (Indian delicacy prepared with marinated meat or fish and mixed spices)
Xavier soup (classic Italian soup)
Xavier steak (American steak dish)
Xerem de Fiesta (dish from Cape Verde, Africa)
Xia – Chinese shrimp
Xiangchang – Chinese for sausage
Xian hamburger
Xianrou – Chinese for bacon
Xiaonijurou – Chinese for veal
Xiphios – Greek for swordfish
Xom Tum – Hot and spicy Thai dish

Food Brand Names That Start With Letter X

Airhead Xtremes Rainbow Belt Candys
XO sauce
Xtra – (brand of gum)
Xtreme Candy
Xtreme hot sauce

Can you think of any other letter “X” foods? If so please comment and let me know, I’d love to get them added to the list.

Easy Earth Day Collage Craft Idea for Preschoolers

April 15, 2023April 15, 2023 Brittney

Do you want to introduce your preschooler to the wonders of nature and celebrate Earth Day at the same time? Look no further than this engaging and fun craft idea! Taking a nature walk with your little ones and letting them collect natural materials not only instills a love and appreciation for the environment but also provides the perfect opportunity to create a beautiful Earth Day collage. We’re going to double up on this craft and use nature treasures as well as recycled materials and some exploration and creativity to create this fun and easy craft.

Step 1 ) Gather Materials from Your Nature Walk

To create your Earth Day collage, begin by gathering materials from your nature walk. Encourage your preschooler to collect leaves, grass, flowers, and any other interesting items they come across. This is a great opportunity to teach them about the different types of plants and how they grow. You can also talk about the importance of respecting nature and not damaging the environment by leaving plants and animals in their natural habitats.

I gave my son a some container and some scissors and let him collect as he would from our yard, while also talking about respecting the growing things from our neighbors yards.

Once we’d gathered a full container of leaves, grass and flowers we headed back inside.

Step 2 ) Collect and Cut up blue recycling

To add more dimension to your Earth Day collage, consider cutting up blue recycling materials to create textured water. Not only will this add visual interest to your creation, but it also reinforces the concept of reusing materials. With this approach, your preschooler can see firsthand how everyday objects can be repurposed to create something new and beautiful.

Once the blue pieces have been cut up you’re ready to start building your collage. is ready, the possibilities for arranging natural materials are endless. This fun activity will help your child develop their artistic skills while also learning about the importance of preserving the environment. Next, take the creativity up a notch by creating a collage-style Earth cutout.

Click the Earth to print it, or draw your own Earth to fill in

Step 3 ) Create your Collage

Once you have gathered your materials, it’s time to start creating your collage. Cut up blue recycling materials to and paste it into the ocean areas that represent the Earth. Then, encourage your preschooler to arrange the natural materials they collected onto the land areas of the earth to create a unique Earth Day collage.

By taking a nature walk, gathering materials, and creating a collage, you are not only celebrating Earth Day with your preschooler but also teaching them valuable lessons about the environment and sustainability. So, get ready to explore the great outdoors and have fun creating a beautiful Earth Day craft together!

7 Quick and Easy Letter D Activities Your Preschoolers Will Love

April 10, 2023August 26, 2023 Brittney

We love having a weekly letter at our house and finding as many activities as we can managed that center around that letter… but also I’ve got a baby and preschooler and two older kids and I need these activities to be low effort (and expense) to kick off, and high yield for playtime. That’s why we’ve put together a list of 7 Letter D activities that your preschooler won’t be able to resist. From designing dollhouses to digging for dinosaurs, these activities aren’t just educational, they’re downright enjoyable. So, grab a cup of coffee and take a few minutes to learn how you can make learning the Letter D a blast for your little one.

Disclosure: I want to give you a heads up that this blog does use affiliate links (which means I make a percentage of the sale if you buy something) and this post might be sponsored or contain affiliate links. In either case please know all opinions are my own.

D is for Dough Donuts

Using play doh is a great activity for preschoolers because it’s tactile, sensory, and engaging. You can make your own dough at home with just a few simple ingredients like flour, salt, and water or, you can purchase pre-made play doh or modeling clay from a local store.

Show your child how to use the dough to make a donut shaped circle (honestly there are lots of way this can be accomplished) then decorate the top of it with a different color dough, so it looks like icing, or by pushing little beads or sequins into it like sprinkles if mixing dough colors gives you anxiety like me.

You can make a whole donut shop together or just one or two, and if you want to get the quick air drying clay, it can make fun play food as the air clay sets really fast and has been strong and steadfast in my experience.

You can use this activity to talk about different shapes, sizes, and textures and/or let them go wild with cookie cutters, rolling pins, and plastic knives as the work on those fine motor skills.

D is for Dress Up

Quick and Easy Letter D Activity Ideas for Preschoolers - D is for Dance Party

Want a super easy D activity? How about a round (or 5) of dress up. This can go on as long or little as you want and it can use full costumes (I’m thinking about all my halloween leftovers) or scraps of whatever you have around you and available (like rainboots and umbrellas, or scarves and sunglasses).

You can use these get ups to play shop together or act out different roles together for as long as your little one will stay engaged or until you’re ready to move on, but the dress up activity transitions really well into my next D activity which is a Disco Dance Party (or just a Dance Party is fantastic too!)

D is for Disco Dance Party

Let your little one/s show off their moves (and possibly costumes?) with a Disco Dance Party. Turn down the lights and grab some glow sticks if you want to take it to level 11, or just turn up the music and boogie. This is a great and silly way to get some energy out with those little Dudes and Divas.

D is for Designing a Dollhouse

If you’re ready to bring the energy back down, pop over to your table get crafting with designing some doll houses.

I’ve got a few printouts available so your little one can focus on the coloring, cutting and pasting, or you can just put out some paper and coloring supplies and see what kind of creations your preschoolers come up with on their own.

Encourage them to add furniture, wallpaper, and even accessories like tiny plants or picture frames to make the house or den feel more realistic. This activity not only helps with their fine motor skills but also fosters their imagination and design skills.

Once the dollhouse is complete, your preschoolers can play with it, creating stories and adventures for their toys. And who knows, maybe they’ll even have their own little disco dance party in their new dollhouse! Lol.

Click To Download:

D is for Digging for Dinosaurs (2 Activity Ideas)

And Finally, let’s take the learning outside (or inside with a tote, some ice and a little more prep) and explore the awesome world of dinosaurs by letting your preschooler become a little paleontologists, searching for buried fossils (or plastic dinosaurs) .

Quick and Easy Letter D Activity Ideas for Preschoolers - D is for Dinosaur Digging

All you’ll need is a sandbox or a dirt area in your backyard, some plastic dinosaur skeletons.

ons or just plastic dinosaurs, and some simple digging tools, like shovels, spoons, or even paint brushes. Hide the fossils in the sand and let your preschoolers dig and excavate to find them.

Alternatively you can do this activity indoors by getting a decent sized tupperware container and freezing your little dinosaurs in it overnight. Consider excavating these with pipettes of warm water, and spoons, or a reusable straw (If you put the straw in water and cover the top of it with a thumb or finger, it will hold the water until you release it, like a pipette)

I got our pipette set on Amazon and we actually use it a lot and enjoy it. Here’s a link to it if you’re interested.

As they uncover the fossils, ask them questions about how they might have lived, what they looked liked, and what they ate.

Once your little ones have found all the fossils, they can pretend to be dinosaur experts or act out their own stories using the fossils.

D is for Dragons Craft

Super easy craft. Grab some paper towel tubes, red tissue paper, scissors and a glue stick.

Cut the tissue paper into long strips and glue them all around the inside of one end of the paper towel tube to make a fire breathing dragon snout. (Draw some nostrils on the end if you feel so inclined)

D is for Discovering Diamonds

And since dragons are known for their love of treasure we did a little treasure hunt. We had these gems on hand from previous play (We got them off amazon here). For this activity I hide the gems around our front room and my son went hunting for them easter egg style. He loved it, and as soon as he had them all he insisted that he get a turn to hide them all for me. I’m pretty sure this could have gone on for hours, he loved it so much.

D is for Dressing Up Dinos

This was a bonus and unplanned activity that my son pulled out on our D week and it was just so on theme I had to included it. We got this “Dress Up Dino” kit from Hobby Lobby (Here are some similar activities on Amazon) and we talked like we were dinosaurs as my son dressed up the crew, and who would have guessed… we ended up having a dino house, rather than a doll house with our craft above. (This was one that I played with my son for half of it, and he happily played with it by himself for another long time while I was getting his little sister down for her nap, so it was a total win in my book)

Have any thoughts or activity ideas? If so I’d love to hear them, feel free to comment below 🙂

5 Fun and Easy Activities for Teaching Preschoolers the Letter C

April 6, 2023August 26, 2023 Brittney

Coming up with interesting and engaging games, crafts and activities to teach preschoolers and young children about the letter C can be a daunting task, but fear not! These 5 fun crafts and activities and easy, fun, and low prep, and adaptable for both a single child learning at home or a classroom.

From pretend cooking to crafts, I’ve got you covered with interactive and entertaining activities that will help your child develop their letter recognition and start on those pre-reading and pre-writing skills. Get ready to witness your preschooler’s creativity and imagination soar!

Cars and Construction Truck Letter Play

Letter C Construction Truck Play Letter C car Play This was a great activity to use while I was gathering a few supplies for the other letter C activities and honestly I think my son would have been content to play here for an hour, maybe more. And since I already had a rice bin this activity took me about 30 seconds of prep.

Grab some colored paper, cut out some letter C’s, add some construction trucks or cars or your rice bin and let your child go to town getting the letter C’s covered up. Here’s a link to our trucks on Amazon if you’re thinking about getting some. Our see some serious use both in the rice bin, and in the garden in our backyard.

You can talk about the Construction that your child is doing and the different car’s they’re using, emphasising the different sounds that c’s can make if you want to take this activity up a notch.

C is for Cooking

Cupcakes with letter C's in chocolate chips for a preschool learning letter C activity A fun and easy activity for teaching preschoolers the letter C is Cooking. Cooking is a great way to engage children’s senses, develop their fine motor skills, and introduce them to new vocabulary. Plus, it’s a tasty way to learn!

Start by choosing a recipe that features the letter C, such as carrot muffins or cucumber sandwiches. As you gather the ingredients and utensils, talk to your child about each item and its initial sound. Encourage them to repeat the sound and you could even practice writing the letter C in flour or frosting.

Next, let your child help with the measuring, pouring, and mixing. This is a great opportunity to talk about concepts like fractions, volume, and texture. As you work, point out each ingredient or tool you use that starts with the letter C, such as holding a measuring cup and asking “What is this called?” and annunciating the “Cup” part of it or in a sing song voice saying “C… C… Cup” a few times.

Finally, enjoy the fruits of your labor together! Take time to savor the flavors and discuss how the letter C relates to the taste and texture of the food. Maybe the tops of muffins are crunchy but soft in the center, or the sandwiches are cool and crisp. Encourage your child to describe these sensations using C words like crispy, crunchy, cool, and creamy.

Cooking is a versatile and engaging activity that can be adjusted to fit your child’s interests and abilities. By incorporating the letter C into the recipe and the conversation, you’ll be helping your child build important literacy skills while having fun in the kitchen.

Cat Clap Crawls (or Crab Clap Crawls for Older Children)

Letter C Cutouts Another fun way to reinforce the letter C with your preschooler is through a game of “Cat Clap Crawls”. Start the game by having your child pretend to be a cat, crawling around on all fours (or a crab, crab walking). Encourage them to be playful and use their imagination. After a few minutes of cat crawling, put some cut out letter “C’s” on the floor and have them move between them, clapping each time they reach one. To add variation you can start with a simple clap and then adding more complex patterns as your child’s skills develop. Finally, return to cat crawling, emphasizing the “C” sound in the word cat.

“Cat Clap Crawls” is not only a great way to reinforce the letter C, but it also helps with gross motor and coordination skills. Plus, it’s a fun way to burn off some energy!

Moving on to the next activity, “Cotton Ball Clouds”, your child can continue to practice their fine motor skills while creating a cute and fluffy cotton ball cloud.

Cotton Ball Clouds

Letter C Cotton Ball Cloud Activity Your child can continue to practice their fine motor skills with the “Cotton Ball Clouds”. This is a fun easy activity to bring the energy back down. My son loved ripping apart the cotton balls and always is down for some glue play so this was a great, easy prep art activity.

Next up, have some fun with singing with songs like “Creeping Caterpillar”

Creeping Caterpillar Song

(to the tune of the itsy bitsy spider)

The creeping caterpillar inched along the plant,

Eating up the leaf as it sang this chant,

Soon I’ll have wings and be able to fly,

When I do I’ll drink nectar and live in the sky.

The creeping caterpillar could feel the time was soon,

So it moved to a high plant and spun a fine cocoon,

Time passed by and one day when the sun was high,
The creeping caterpillar emerged a butterfly.

Construct a Castle (out of Cardboard)

One last fun activity for exploring letting C, is a team castle building activity.

There are a lot of way this one can go, you can use building blocks, or cardboard boxes, or any other materials you might already have on hand.

Construct a Castle out of Cardboard

If you want a quicker and easier version, straight up building blocks are fantastic. Build and knock down your castle as many times as you like.

If you’re working with slightly older kids, or want to boost this to craft level gather up some cardboard boxes and let your child/children paint, glue, cut out and decorate them. Add windows and doors and make your own castle each, or add them together building block style for a castle city, with flags and turrets on top.

Or if you want to be wild and strong, gather up large cardboard boxes of various sizes and use them as life size building block to build a castle you can play in and go through. (This is what we ended up doing and the castle stayed up all day, and ended up being played with by my elementary age kids, preschooler and baby alike)

This activity can promote teamwork, problem-solving, and imagination, as your little ones work together to create their own unique castle masterpiece. As they build, encourage them to use words that start with the letter C, such as “castle”, “colors”, and “creativity”.

Once their castles are complete, take a moment to admire their work and ask them to describe what they have created. You can even use this opportunity to talk about the history of real-life castles, and how they were used in the past.

I hope these 5 fun and easy activities for teaching preschoolers the letter C are just what you needed to kickstart their learning journey and you’re able to have some fun along the way.