If there’s one thing we parents can do to set up our children for the education system, it’s cultivating a love for learning. Choosing the right preschool homeschool curriculum kits can be overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to be!
Instilling a passion for knowledge and genuine curiosity in kids is a joy to witness. And it is equally as rewarding to help set your child on a long-term path to academic success.
If you have a preschooler, there are plenty of ways you can create an informal homeschool environment, even if you have no background in education.
In this guide, we’ll outline how to choose the best preschool homeschool curriculum kits that can help support your new at-home education setup.
Preschool Topic Areas to Explore
Before you invest in a curriculum kit, it’s worth getting a picture of some of the best topics to cover to prepare a preschooler for formal schooling. Here are the main subjects you’ll want to cover for a fun-based preschool curriculum:
Math and Spatial Awareness
Topic areas should include shapes, sorting, building, construction, and numbers.
Creativity
Focus your child on exploring and identifying colors, textures, and objects, plus early-year art techniques (hand and body printing, object printing, large crayons, and gluing).
Literacy
Topics will include letter identification and formation, early-stage phonics, writing, stories, and singing nursery rhymes).
Physical / Gross Motor Movement
Outdoor activities include running, throwing, catching, climbing, balancing, water, sand, exploring, and nature.
Social Emotionial Learning
Early social skills development might include waiting, talking, non-verbal communication, and sharing.
Essential Equipment You’ll Need
You’ll need the right supplies to ensure your preschool curriculum kit is perfect for your little one. Here’s an outline of some of the essential equipment to buy first.
Sensory Material
There’s a good reason why toddlers grab anything and everything in reach. Children learn through touch. It is their most important sense for developing an understanding of the world.
With this in mind, make sure your home education environment has as many sensory materials as possible to help children learn the way that comes most naturally to them.
You can purchase traditional sensory materials, including wooden building and construction blocks, easy puzzles and patterns, and snap and magnetic toys.
Don’t forget, too, the value of using safe everyday objects for exploring, such as shells, a ball of wool, or a plastic cup. Sometimes everyday objects are the best way for children to explore their world.
Reading and Writing Material
You’ll want to invest in fantastic materials to support your children’s writing development.
Opt for thick crayons and markers for children who haven’t yet developed their pincer grip. A learning mat is also a must-have in any curriculum kit.
And to help you best support your child’s handwriting efforts, use a set of graduating worksheets. These worksheets should take your child from simple lines and shapes to their first successful letter of the alphabet.
Don’t forget to invest in a small bookshelf or basket of picture books, storybooks, and early reading books, too.
Crafts and Creative Material
A bulk supply of crafting material will be a fantastic investment. Your child will spend a considerable chunk of their preschool time putting together their first masterpiece.
Colored paper and cards, child-safe scissors, and crafting glue should be on your shopping list. Think about soft, safe materials you can explore during crafting sessions, such as pom-poms, popsicle sticks, stickers, and stamps.
Don’t forget about the paint. Choose a variety of paintbrush sizes and some easy-to-clean pots, bright colors, and big wipeable mats.
Lastly, no preschooler environment would be complete without a few fun pots of play dough. But if you are on a tight budget, you can make your own using a simple play dough recipe.
Fun Outdoor Activities to Include
When the weather is kind, take advantage and explore the outdoors. Here are some ideas to make your outdoor activities fun and educational:
- Thick colorful chalks, for instant artwork on the pavement and for practicing balance
- A sandpit or a small dedicated tray for sand (it’s ideal for early letter formation)
- A bird feeder
- A light ball to practice throwing and catching
- Spare wood crafted into stepping stones or a balancing beam
- A water tray (and waterproof clothing!)
Take a look around your local environment for locations you can use to support your learning.
A day trip to a beach to discover seashells, stones, and sea life or climbing trees in a local park can be excellent ways to ignite a preschooler’s brain.
Nice-To-Have Additions
If you have the budget to spare, invest in a few fun additions that bring excitement and creativity to your curriculum kit. Here are some top ideas:
- A preschool-appropriate globe to explore the world
- A wooden easel for painting, with a chalkboard on the other side
- A mud kitchen for nature-inspired, messy culinary creations
- Binoculars and magnifying glass for your outdoor adventures
Before you reach for the credit card, keep in mind practical issues like space in your home. Educational equipment takes up a large area if you don’t have a dedicated space.
Teaching Supplies and Resources for Your Homeschool Preschool
It doesn’t take long for homeschoolers to become overwhelmed by mountainous stacks of worksheets, materials, and crafts.
The trick to keeping things organized is investing in storage and planning as much as you can in advance.
Here are a few worthy investments to keep your homeschool preschool a tidy, organized, and zen learning environment:
- Invest in a high-performance printer for fast and effective color printouts
- A laminator is an excellent way of protecting your most crucial educational material from tiny, sticky fingers
- Use binders and a hole puncher with divider cards to keep those worksheets organized
- A big A3-size box is the best way to store your child’s arts and crafts
- A wooden board to pin your child’s latest artwork for the world to admire
- Ziplock bags are a fantastic way to keep worksheets waterproof when exploring the outdoors
- Storage drawers and labels to keep your crafts and other materials nearly organized
- A child-size table and chair
- Lesson plans
Don’t forget that printing worksheets can take time, paper, and ink. Try and plan your lesson structure to decide what to print and make sure you store it in a neat and organized fashion.
The Shortcut to the Best Preschool Homeschool Curriculum Kits
Perhaps the prospect of devising the perfect homeschool curriculum looks a little overwhelming. If so, there is a simpler and faster way of getting your education environment ready and up to scratch.
You can invest in a pre-prepared curriculum kit from TigerKubz.
Experienced educators have developed these beautiful kits. That means you have access to the best educational homeschool resources possible when you start your at-home learning adventure.
Let the Fun Begin!
Homeschooling might seem a little daunting at first. Still, there is nothing that quite matches the rewards of seeing your preschooler’s face light up when they discover something new and wonderful about the world.
And if you buy preschool homeschool curriculum kits from Tigerkubz, you can start quickly without weeks of preparation. Read more about the kits here, and take that first step to your new homeschool experience.
Sheryll is the proud mom to 3 boys (3, 7, and 14-years-old) and wife to her better half. She is the founder and CEO of TigerKubz and is on a mission to empower parents with tools to easily engage their little learners. When Sheryll is not thinking of creative ways to make learning experiences of everyday life, changing diapers, or chasing after her kids, you may find her in the kitchen trying out new recipes, attempting to fish on a nice day, or jamming out to Disney singalongs with Alexa.
