Tucked into the lower level of the Casa de Balboa Building on the Prado in Balboa Park is the San Diego Model Railroad Museum. Don’t let the basement entrance fool you, at 27,000 sq. ft., it is the largest such indoor model train exhibit in North America, and one of the largest in the world.

Trains have been an interest in our house for a long time. My son fell in love with Thomas the Tank engine when he was about two and from there he dove into all things trains. By 3 he could tell you not just the name and type of every engine on the island of Sodor, but also everything from how a diesel engine worked to how fast a bullet train could fly down it’s rails. Whether you have a Thomas the Tank engine fan or a grandparent with a lifelong love of model trains or someone somewhere in between, the San Diego Model Railroad Museum has something for everyone.

Also Read: In Depth Look at Balboa Park for Families

San Diego Model Railroad Museum

If you have a train fan in your family, the San Diego Model Railroad Museum is not to be missed. It is wonderful for all ages – from toddlers all the way through grandparents. All train enthusiasts are welcome.

Basic Information:

San Diego Model Railroad Museum
1649 El Prado
San Diego, CA 92101

Check the website for current hours and pricing. Right now (Summer 2021) they are only open Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays 11am – 4pm. Note: there is a military discount and the SD Model Railroad Museum is included if you have the Balboa Explorer Pass.

Website: https://www.sdmrm.org/

Tips for Visiting with Kids

• Come early. Like all things, it is less crowded the earlier you go. There was a small line when we arrived shortly before opening but once inside, even on a summer day, it didn’t feel overly crowded.
• If you have kids over about 7 years old, I highly recommend the scavenger hunt. You can pick it up just inside the entrance, after you’ve paid. There is a little stand in front of the end of the first exhibit when printed scavenger hunts. It helped my kids slow down and really look at all the incredibly detailed miniature worlds.
• Bathrooms are located outside the entrance, down the hall from the Model Railroad Museum. I had my kids try before we entered.
• If you’re there with smaller kids who don’t have the attention span to check out every single inch of the museum, make sure you don’t miss the outside area with the tram and the toy train room. Both are at the back of the museum.
• In the toy train room Thomas runs around the bottom of one of the exhibits. He’s the perfect height for tots and there’s a button you can take turns pushing to make him go.
• The whole museum is very kid friendly with interactive elements and steps for kids to get up higher for a better view.

Trains of all sizes. Fantastic details in the scenes around them. Interactive elements. Enthusiastic employees and volunteers. It is a really fun place to visit.

Terrific Train Ideas for Kids Who Love Trains

When my son was a preschooler he could not get enough of trains. We read all the train books. We rode all the nearby trains. He toddled around in his Thomas the Tank Engine boots and train engineer hat everywhere we went. If you have a kid in this phase, then a visit to the San Diego Model Railroad Museum is perfect, but what about when you get home? Here are some of our favorite ways to extend train play and learning after a fun field trip like visiting SDMRM.

Ideas from San Diego Model Railroad Museum

1. The San Diego Model Railroad Museum has a special page on their website for kids. It has storytime videos you can watch, coloring pages to print and more.
2. Thomas Fans! There is also a Thomas Page on their website that allows you to explore the Island of Sodor and More.

Literacy Activities

3. Read books about trains. This Ultimate List of Picture Books about Trains from My Storytime Corner is a great place to start.

4. Alphabet Train from Teach Beside Me

5. Freight Train Name Craft from Clare’s Little Tots

6. DIY Foam Train for Easy Bathtime Fun and Learning from Bambini Travel (also works with numbers!)

Math Activities

7. Train Carriage Counting Game from Rainy Day Mum

8. Transportation I Spy and Graph Printable from School Time Snippets

9. Chocolate Train Cookies from Inspiration Laboratories

10. Geometric Shapes Train from Mama Smiles

11. Train Track Card Game for Preschoolers from Preschool Powol Packets

Science, Technology and Engineering Activities

12. Transportation Playdough Mat from The Moments at Home

13. Transportation Sand and Water Play from My Bored Toddler

14. Fingerprint Train Ornament for Kids from The Educators’ Spin On It

Art & Fine Motor Activities

15. Freight Train Drawing Prompts from My Storytime Corner

16. Painting with Trains on Canvas by Play Trains

17. Build a Train from School Time Snippets

18. Train-Themed Unwrapping by Craftulate

19. Transportation Connect the Dots by Craftulate

Movement Activities

20. Easy DIY Paper Train Table for Kids from Toddler Approved

21. Polar Express Storytime with Yoga Routine from My Storytime Corner

You May Also Like:
50+ Kid Friendly Things to do in San Diego

Energy is a fun, rich topic to explore in Science with fourth graders. We did a lot of hands on explorations, read some books and even went on a field trip to learn more about energy.

affiliate links may be included below.

Energy Unit

1. Light & Heat

• Read Eyewitness section on Light.
• Read Usborne: Energy, Forces and Motion Chapter on Heat.
• Did Energy Labs and Physic experiments on light and heat.

3. Objects / Friction / Gravity

• Read The Marvelous Thing That Came From a Spring
• Did Energy labs on Gravity and Objects.
• Played with this Gravity Maze game
• Created marble mazes with the Gravitrax set. This is a new favorite toy of ours. It is like the old school marble ramps but so much better!
• Did the Minecraft STEM Lab 2

FIELD TRIP BREAK! Playground Trip

We spent an early morning at the park playing and exploring slides, gravity friction and different kinds of force.

FIELD TRIP TIP: If your kids need something to write on or work from to stay focused, brainstorm a list of kinds of energy and make a simple scavenger hunt to check off as you race around the playground.

4. Sound Waves

• Did Energy Labs on Sound Waves
• Watched Magic School Bus: Haunted House and did this experiment from Scholastic.

5. Potential vs. Kinetic Energy

• Did Energy Lab on Potential vs Kinetic Energy
• Watched this video on YouTube that demonstrated the difference as well. It includes the formulas which was too advanced for us but the rest of the information was helpful.
• Planned our own Rollercoasters, built them with loose parts, and took aquiz to review what we learned with this printable from Teachers Pay Teachers.

6. Circuits

• Did Energy Labs on Circuits
• Played with Snap Circuits kits
• Did Minecraft STEM Lab 18

Review

Energy Robot Project from The Knitted Apple
We used this Energy Robot Project to review the different kinds of energy that we had learned about. It was a fun chance for the kids to show what they had learned.

after this we moved on to
Renewable Energy
Click to Read this Unit or

check out more
Fourth Grade ideas here.

We’ve jumped waves and played tag. We’ve built a sand castle or at least a mound that looks like a castle. At least one of us has been buried in the sand or made to look like a mermaid. What now?

affiliate links are included in this post.

If you’re going to the beach every day for a week, or you live close to a beach and can go all the time like we’re fortunate enough to do in San Diego right now, having some other out of the box items that rotate into your beach bag can help extend days at the beach with your kids.

8 Things to Pack in Your Beach Bag

Obviously we have buckets and shovels. I also have a fairly obnoxious collection of sand castle building molds. But those get old – what else can you do at the beach?

These are the other more unusual things I rotate in our beach bag:

1. Plastic Animals (think building zoos, burying, pretending) We have these ones – the jumbo size makes them harder to lose.
2. Barbies (build barbie a castle, bury her instead of mom, all manner of pretend) I’m not a huge Barbie fan, but they are water proof. I leave the clothes at home so I don’t have to worry about those getting lost but you could go theme and bring Lifeguard Barbie or Beach Ken.
3. Construction Goggles (these put my kids in the building frame of mind. My kids picked these from our construction costume one day to go in the beach bag and they worked great. I imagine a plastic firefighter hat or other similar thing would spark creative play as well.)
4. Plastic Trucks and Boats (dig ditches to make roads and rivers!) This set of vehicles has made many trips to the beach with us, but anything plastic would work.
5. Kites and Streamers (so much fun on a windy day especially when the beach isn’t too crowded!) Kites, like these, are great but it does have to be fairly windy for kids to not get too frustrated. Streamers are fun even with moderate wind.
6. Funnels and Tubing (you need a bucket or two to make this work but my kids find this kind of STEM experimenting endlessly interesting) You can get these at the hardware store or order them online. You don’t need anything fancy – the wider the better though and make sure the tubes and funnels fit together.
7. Plastic Cooking Toys (more imaginative play. tea parties, picnics, making pretend food from shells and sticks…) I only bring the cooking dishes and maybe a couple of plates – not the food.
8. Water Spray Bottles (fun extra dimension to building sand castles but also just fun to spray. My kids like water play of any kind) You can get different sizes – if your kids’ hands are big enough I like the slightly bigger ones.

The key, I think, is to only bring one or two of these things at a time. If you bring a massive bag with all of it every single time you go to the beach you will a) break your back and b) it’s kind of like a toy chest.

Too many toys at one time will always be overwhelming and result in crazy kids, a huge mess, and a frustrated mom.

I typically bring some of our sand castle toys (a few molds, two buckets, two shovels) and then one or two of the things listed above.

Read Also: 15 Learning Activities for the Beach

It’s amazing what kids can come up with if you give them a few different materials and a big open, natural space to play.

On this particular sunny afternoon (photo above) my twins found zoo animals at the bottom of our beach bag. Bucket caves, stick zoo enclosures, and shovel slides were created and a lion and giraffe became unlikely friends. I even had some blissful moments to enjoy the view and my book.

Read About My Non-Beach Adventure Supplies

Sharks became my son’s obsession in First Grade. Kindergarten was his Lego obsession which definitely continued into First grade, but in First Grade he met some friends in California who loved sharks and his inkling of an interest blossomed. They formed a “fish club” at school and suddenly he was pouring over Shark books late into the night. Four years later, heading into Fifth grade he’s still obsessed and absolutely knows more about sharks than I do. 

If you have a kiddo who is obsessed with these incredible creatures – then these Shark Week ideas are for you! This post is a round up of all of the fun shark activities we’ve done over the course of many ideas, more than you’ll likely do in one week. 

Note: You can certainly do these ANY time of the year – not just during shark week! 

Shark Week Unit Ideas

affiliate links are included in this post.

Field Trip Ideas

If it’s possible, going to see real live sharks is an exciting addition to a Shark Unit. We’re lucky to be able to snorkel with sharks and see them in the nearby aquariums here in San Diego. 

Aquarium

Depending on where you are, your access to aquariums and aquariums with sharks will vary obviously. If you can get to an aquarium and see these guys in real life though it is a great experience.

Right now, here in the San Diego County area we were able to see three kinds of reef sharks at the AquaLife aquarium at Legoland and little sharks at the Birch Aquarium (they’re outside in a little area curtained off from the play area.)

Sea World – San Diego

This is kind of the ultimate aquarium. My son was beyond excited that he not only got to see some cool sharks – like black tipped reef sharks – but he also got to touch sharks in the touch tanks by the entrance. We were about 100 yards into the park when he smiled up at me and said “I already really like this place Mom!”

Shark Activity Ideas

Learning anything and everything about sharks seemed to be our general plan for our Shark Unit. Here are some shark activities to get you started.

Literacy Activities

• Awesome Children’s Books about Sharks from My Storytime Corner 
• Comparing and Contrasting Fiction and Non-Fiction Books
  Comparing and contrasting two books is one of our first grade learning objectives. We also did this with two ocean animals, but for this activity I simply put out a sheet of paper for each kid with a space for writing or drawing something that was the same and something that was different. Then we had a bigger discussion together and grew our lists.
• Shark Word Find Puzzle from Jinxy Kids – these would be great spelling words as well if you’re looking for a related Spelling Word list. 

read also: Preschool Ocean animals unit ideas

Art Activities

• Learn to Draw Sharks with a shark drawing book
• Learn to Draw Sharks with this video tutorial on Art for Kids Hub. 
• Learn to Draw a Shark printable from Kid Activities Blog
• Under the Sea Mural – we used the 3 Day Collaborative Mural idea from Artful Parent
• Giant Shark Suncatcher Craft from And Next Comes L is another fun potentially collaborative project.
• Shark Chalk Pastel Drawings from Nourishing My Scholar
• Easy Shark Origami from Hawaii Travel with Kids
• Paper Plate Shark craft from Kid Activities Blog
• Shark Bookmark Craft from Big Family Blessings – this is super cute! Or print and color these shark bookmarks from Picklebums
• Cut and Glue Shark Craft from Kiddy Charts – I think this is best for kindergarten/first graders.
• Chomping Foam Shark Puppet from The Soccer Mom Blog

STEM Activities

• Ocean Life LEGO Building – start with these LEGO building ideas post here.
• Shark Week Fast Facts Printable from 3 Boys and a Dog
• Play Games to learn about the food cycle and more. We love playing CHOMP. It’s a quick, easy and fun card game that includes sharks. We also love Professor Noggins Trivia Oceans game. It includes sharks along with a whole host of other marine life. 
• Shark Toys and Water Beads Sensory Bin
• Observing + Drawing Favorite Ocean Animals – pick an animal and observe them at your local aquarium.
• Learn about their characteristics. Like how do sharks float?
• Math & Science Shark Printables from Every Star is Different
• Measure Sharks – Pull out your favorite shark book, a tape measure and some chalk. Measure your favorite kinds of sharks and draw them out on the drive way. 
• Shark Worksheets from Living Life and Learning 
  
  Awesome Ocean Science by Cindy A. Littlefield
  Find Online
  A whole book of kid’s science experiments about the ocean! Fascinating information and fun hands on activities.  5+
• Watch Octonauts Episodes about Sharks 
  Season 1 (episodes 7, 8, 22), Season 2 (episode 1) and Season 3 (episode 7)
• Play in Ocean Oobleck from Glitter on a Dime
• Sharks Unit Study printable pack from Rock Your Homeschool. This is a really detailed, thorough packet for kids who want to go a little deeper.
• Shark Life Cycle with Mama Teaches

Social Studies Activities

• Map Where Sharks Live

Gross Motor Activities

• Play “Great White Shark” at the pool.
  It is Marco Polo except the person searching is a shark instead. If you think saying shark at the pool is going to be too alarming to others (note: do not play this game at the beach) then you can just say “Hammer” and “Head” or some other variation on a shark name.
• Shark Circuit Training
  Make up a workout circuit that’s shark themed. We did a leg focused one that included shark munchies (jumping jacks), shark swims (running in place), shark chompers (shark leg raises). Be creative. How can you move your bodies like a shark and workout?
• Play What Did the Shark Eat?
  There are 3 ways to play this game from Your Therapy Source which can work on a variety of skills. 

Cute Shark-ish Snack Ideas

• Shark-Cuterie Board from Simplistically Living
• Ocean Blue Lemonade Popsicles from Play Party Plan
• Shark Lollipops from In The Kids Kitchen
• Shark Covered Oreos from In The Kids Kitchen

Browse All Of Our Unit Ideas

I should state this first. In the 15 or so years I have spent educating young children, this is the messiest project I have ever undertaken. That’s second only to our muddy play date – which was also a messy and awesome good time.

In my opinion, it was entirely worth it.

A few years ago painting by rolling pumpkins was a big thing. It seemed like everywhere I looked that Fall I saw cute photos of kids rolling pumpkins around and one afternoon during nap time I sat in my kitchen surrounded by apples after our trip to the farm, I thought – Apples roll…

Ball vs. Apple Messy Paint Roll

There are seemingly endless ideas for exploring various STEM ideas with preschoolers and school aged kids, but fewer for toddler.

Toddlers however are just as curious as their older counterparts and STEM activities can be just as enjoyable – but they often look more like play since they won’t have the charts and graphs and deep conversations.

STEM with toddlers looks a lot like exploration, messy play, curious attention, and lots of questions.

My toddlers are very excited about throwing and rolling balls right now so I thought comparing the two, apples and balls, would be an intriguing experiment for them. The best science starts with curiosity.

This Ball vs. Apple experiment is simply looking at how to mostly round objects roll. This is super basic physics and so much fun to explore.

First. Explore the Materials.

I think a good place to start is to explore a little with a few balls and a few apples.

Let your toddler(s) experiment.

Then ask questions such as:

• How do they roll?
• How do they feel in your hand?
• What’s different? What’s the same?

Or verbalize what they’re doing to scaffold vocabulary by saying things such as:

• I see you watching the apple roll. Should we watch a ball roll next?
• Hmm…you look confused right now. Does the apple roll differently?

Then, add paint.

This is obviously the messy stage of this experiment and certainly a step you can step if you really want to – but I think if you’re prepared it is doable….but yeah. It’s messy.

Materials:

• Big Piece of Paper or large drop cloth
• Tempera (ie. washable) Paint
• Apples
• Balls – Washable or Old
• Paint tray or Plates

Clean Up Materials:

The key to messy play is to have a clean up plan! Know how you’re going to attack cleaning up and have it all ready to go before you introduce the messy activity.

In this case my clean up plan was:

• Contain the activity. We did it in one room with washable walls and floors and I removed all of the furniture. If you can do this outside on a deck or something you can spray down – even better.
• In the room I had prepared: bucket of water, wash clothes, wipes for faces
• I also had a clear path to the bathtub prepared so I could put my kids in their right away when we were done.
• AND – I think this was also key – I did the activity in a room that I could close off afterwards with baby gates so they wouldn’t just run right back into the paint when we were done. Later when they went down for nap I could put a podcast on and clean the room.

Activity Set Up:

Lay out a large piece of paper on the floor. A tarp or huge piece of cardboard would work too. This was their “target” for rolling the objects during the activity. (They missed a lot)

Then I laid out plastic plates with different colored paint and a few balls and apples nearby.

Then I striped them down to diapers (thank goodness their BumGenius diapers were so washable) and dressed myself in my paint clothes (aka clothes I am 100% okay with them hugging me in when they’re covered in paint).

I like to leave our activities open ended so I invited my toddlers over to see if they wanted to try rolling the balls and apples again, but this time in paint!

They had an absolute blast once they confirmed that yes indeed, mom was okay with them rolling and throwing both apples and balls covered in paint around the room.

I asked some questions like:

• You seem a little frustrated. That apple bounces differently than the ball does. Why do you think that is?

Mostly I just observed them and modeled trying different ways to paint with the balls and apples.

Once they had thoroughly explored not only the balls and apples, but also the paint with seemingly every other body part my son signed to me that he was “all done.” so we moved into our clean phase.

I used the water (that until that point had been sitting on the other side of the gate just out of their reach) to rinse my hands and dried them on a wash cloth. I used a wet washcloth to clean off my feet so I could walk to the bathroom without leaving tracks. Then I carried them each to the tub.

I had a fresh set of clothes for all of us in the bathroom – so once they were clean and happy (but still in the tub) I clean off a little at the sink while keeping an eye on them.

Later when they were happily eating and playing in their high chairs I tackled the mess. I got a good start before they wanted to get down and then I finished later when they went down for nap. It was a big mess.

I highly recommend approaching this activity outside or when you are in the state of mind to accept a big mess. However, I think this kind of messy, sensory, free, open ended play is just good fun and helpful in developing important sensory integration.

It is impossible to not smile while I watch my kids scamper in the waves. The sun warms my shoulders as I sit back in the sand. They run towards the waves and then away when a big one comes crashing into the shore. They roar with laughter and then run towards the water again.

This endless game is excellent physical activity and some pretty awesome sensory input, but is it more than that?

Are they actually learning anything at the beach or are they falling behind their peers bending over worksheets and IPad learning games?

If I learned anything from being at home with my kids it is that anywhere can be a classroom. A classroom, the actual physical room, is not needed. It serves a purpose to help organize large groups of kids, but it is not a key ingredient in learning.

Learning? Learning can happen anywhere. Even at the beach.

read also: 20+ Ocean Unit Ideas for K and First grade

What do you need to make the beach your classroom?

affiliate links included

Materials for Your Classroom

What to Bring Each Beach Trip

*Beach Blanket (this one is awesome!)

*Sand Buckets

*Sand Shovels

*Water + Snacks

*Sunscreen

Materials to Rotate

*Sand molds

*Kites

*Water spray bottles

*Plastic People or Animals

*Plastic Vehicles

also read:
8 Things to Pack in Your Beach Bag to Spark Creative Play

 Activity Ideas for Your Classroom

Literacy

• Beach Scavenger Hunt from Natural Beach Living
• Journal Writing: Journal about what you see or experience with your other senses at the beach. Doodle or write stories.

Math

• Sorting Seashells from Playground Parkbench
• Make Patterns with seashells

Science

• Beach Learning Activities from Little Bins for Little Hands
• Create a Ocean Nature Table back at home from Natural Beach Living
• 5 Ways to Explore Science at the Beach from KCEdventures
• Collect Shells, Rocks, Bugs and Look Closely
• Ocean Animal Unit from Bambini Travel

Creativity

• Make a Beach Collage from Crafty Kids at Home
• Create a Sand Castle or a Different Sand Structure
• Draw Pictures or Create Stories

Motor

• 15 Things to do with Kids at the Beach from Frog Mom
• Fly a Kite

But this is just a start. Some ideas to get the wheels turning. The real ideas will come from your kids.

What interests them?

What do they notice?

What questions do they ask?

And how can you take that further?

These are the questions that will create a classroom of curious, engaged learners – even at the beach.

Crisp white chalk lining green, the smell of freshly cut grass and the sound of cleats thunking a leather ball…aside from my beach the soccer field is probably my happiest place and I am hoping to pass that love along to my kids.

affiliate links are included in this post. Thank you for your support.

Luckily we recently got a early sneak peek at the new movie ALEX AND ME and it has my kids extra pumped to kick around the soccer ball.

We have a weekly family movie night and this week ALEX AND ME was our movie. This new movie stars real life soccer star Alex Morgan as she coaches a tween who wants to make the local soccer team. It is probably as cheesy as you would expect, but we all really liked it.

The story is full of funny moments, inspiring themes, and lots of girls playing quality soccer. It is a predictable plot, like most family-sports-comedy movies, but enjoyable nonetheless. For kids who love movies about sports and soccer in particular or who adore Alex Morgan – this is a sure win.

In a former, non-CF, non-one-lung-short, non-mama life, I played a lot of soccer. Saturdays in that life meant waking up early and stepping out onto a soccer field. They meant shin guards and striped socks and worn cleats. They meant sweat and speed and tackles and I loved it.

In another life, I also coached.

I coached the littlest guys. Three year olds to about age 7 (the 7 year olds catch on a lot more quickly, if you’re curious) and I loved that too.

I’ve always loved sharing things that bring me joy with others, especially little guys who soak up new information like eager sponges.

ALEX AND ME reinvigorated the soccer bug in our house. My kids were outside the next day eagerly kicking the ball around and channeling their inner Alex Morgan. I’m excited to encourage their interest. If this is you too, you’re probably wondering where to start.

Obviously you could sign them up for a league, but if you just want to have a little fun first and explore the sport – you can start at the park or your backyard.

So, how do you teach a little kid to play soccer? 

What Will You Need?

One of the great things about soccer is that it doesn’t require much. Truthfully, you could start with just a ball and some green space. People all around the world learn this sport with just a ball and a little open space.

To really have some fun with games and get a better idea of the sport, I recommend:

1. Soccer Ball. Make sure you have the appropriate size for your child’s age.

2. Space. A park, the backyard, a nearby soccer field if you can find one. In a pinch, an indoor gym works too but the ball will roll much more quickly than it would on grass.

3. Shinguards and Cleats. If your child signs up for a youth league, these are a must. Shinguard protect those bones on the front of your legs from the inevitable kicking that will occur and cleats keep you from sliding around on the grass. Note: soccer socks are worn on the outside of shinguards (not underneath) to hold the shinguard in place. Simply fold over any additional length.

4. Cones. You can get by with using other things to mark the corners or designate areas for different games, but cones are easy and inexpensive.

5. Pop Up Goal. This is optional as well but I will say that the younger the kids the more difficulty they have with the abstract idea of cones representing a goal. These little pop up goals are portable and more reasonably priced. 2 is best, but even just one to practice shooting is great.

Teaching the 3 Basics of Soccer

There are three basic skills in soccer. Dribbling, passing and shooting which could all be summarized as ball control.

The stronger your control of the ball, the better you will be at all three. This is why you see people of all ages doing impressive juggling tricks with the ball.

It’s certainly fun, but it also increases their ability to control the soccer ball. This fun balloon game from The Inspired Treehouse uses the basic ideas of juggling a soccer ball with a balloon to give a child more response time.

In a game however, the three main things you will do are dribble, pass, and shoot. These are all done with your feet because, aside from the goalie and throw ins, players are not allowed to touch the ball with their hands in soccer.

1. Dribbling

Dribbling is the act of moving the ball down the field with your feet. There are a lot of fancy dribbling moves that you can eventually learn, but first you want to get used to moving the ball with your body.

There are two main kinds of dribbling:

1. Close and Quick

This type of dribbling is used in games when you are moving the ball in an area near other players.

Before you start learning fancy moves, start by getting used to moving the ball with different parts of your foot. Roll it with the bottom of your foot. Tap it to one side and the other with the insides and outsides of your feet. Keep your knees bent and your body balanced.

One way to practice this is to dribble through an obstacle course. Set up some cones or toys to dribble around. Pretend the cones are defenders and you don’t want them to touch the ball but you want to go as quickly as you can.

Games such as Sharks and Minnows are also popular for practicing this type of dribbling.

2. Long and Fast

This type of dribbling is used when there are wide open spaces. If you are sprinting down the field with the ball and there is no one else near, you can kick it out further in front of you to move faster. Typically the laces of your cleat are used to kick the ball because they naturally fall in front of your body as you run and the toe of your shoe is far less accurate.

One way to practice this is to simple have races to different places. Race to cones, around a tree, or to a person and give them a high five. Be creative. The point is to work on kicking the ball ahead of you a ways and running after it to move quickly to a destination.

Games such as Red Light, Green Light also work on this skill.

2. Passing

Passing is using your feet to kick the ball to another person on your team.

Start by learning to pass the ball with the inside of your foot. It is common to see a lot of kids kicking the ball with the toe of their shoe when they are first learning. This feels more natural in some ways, but encourage your child to practice with the inside of their foot. In order to complete a pass you should:

*bend your knees for balance
*place your non-kicking foot next to the ball and pointed towards your teammate
*turn your kicking foot sideways so the big flat inner part of your cleat hits the ball
*swing your leg forward and kick the ball
*follow through with your leg towards your target

If you’re wondering why, the answer is simply that the inside of your foot is larger and therefore far more accurate and easier to control than your toe.

These ideas from The Inspired Treehouse tackle the idea of kicking with some basic drills. Often people simply practice passing through repetition with a partner. One of our favorite ways to practice is setting up some bottles, tall cones or bowling pins like you would in a bowling alley and bowl with the soccer ball – using the inside of your foot to kick the ball and knock down the pins.

3. Shooting

Shooting is quite similar to passing, the difference being that you are trying to avoid a person instead of give the ball to one.

Given that it is essential to get the soccer ball into the goal to win a game or score a point, this is an important skill to learn. The best way I had shooting explained to me was that you are passing the ball to the goal, but there is a defender in the way.

I think often we overthink shooting and goal scoring because we feel more pressure than when completely a pass, but the technique is quite similar.

Once again you will align one foot by the ball pointing to the target, you will use the other foot to kick the ball forward and follow through towards the goal. The difference in technique is that you want to put some additional power behind a shot that would be unhelpful to your teammate when completing a pass.

Shots are typical performed with either the inside of your foot, like described above, or with the laces of your cleat. The toe is still not a good choice.

Practice shooting by kicking the ball into the goal from different angles. Maybe set up cones in a few different places. Farther away. Closer. To the right. To the left.

You can practice on a big goal or a tiny pop up goal like they did on Play Learn Everyday. Either way make sure to celebrate a little after you score!

Then put it all together.

No skill is performed in isolation during a game, so make sure to work on putting them all together once you have learned the basics.

Dribble quickly to a goal and shoot. Pass back and forth between players until you get to a goal. Put a defender in the way that you have to dribble around to shoot on a goal.

Soccer is a fun sport. It encourages running and teamwork and creativity.

What more could you want? So, grab a soccer ball, find a spot of green and have fun!

Subscribe Below to Get All Posts to Your Inbox!

My preschoolers loved counting. Any excuse was a good one.

Help me count out spoons for everyone? Yes!

We can only check out 20 library books. Can you help me check how many we have? Yes!

Want to go for a counting walk adventure? YES!

If you kids are at this point, then these easy activities are for you. I am a huge fan of keeping things simple, so these are number activities that you can do with no prep.

When you get back from your counting walk or when you find yourself with some spare time to fill and an eager number counter – sit down and do one of these activities to encourage number recognition, counting with one-to-one correspondence and more preschool number skills.

affiliate links are included. thank you for your support of Bambini Travel.

5 Preschool Number Activities

Many of them used our Counting Bears which are a wonderful hands-on math materials for Preschool and Early Elementary (You can find them HERE).

Here are five fantastically simple number activities:

1. Counting Bears: Sort and Count

To play you need some Counting Bears (see above) and a table.

Pour the counting bears on the table and have your child sort them by color. For more than one child you can divide the bears into groups or have the children work together.

When they are done sorting, ask “Which color of bears has the biggest group and which is the smallest?” Have them guess and then count to confirm.

2. Counting Bear Pattern Challenges

My twins thought this is fabulous fun. We have been working on patterns for a while and this is a fun way to practice.

Divide the bears somewhat equally between the people playing.

Have each person create the beginning to a pattern. We call this “creating a pattern challenge.”

When everyone is done with their pattern, have them rotate to the next person and try to continue their pattern.

To add some number work into your patterns, give limitations to your patterns such as; patterns much contain 2 green bears or must be 3 bears long.

3. Rainbow Scavenger Hunt + Count

To play, start with a clear table or large space on the floor. You will be creating a rainbow with your toys and other materials.

One color at a time, have everyone hunt around the house, playroom, or classroom for items that match that color. For example, first you will send everyone to find things that are red.

When they come back, arrange them in a line or arch and then move onto the next color.

To keep the colors somewhat even, you may want to count how many things you find as you go. Otherwise, similar to the sort and count activity above, when you are done hypothesize about which color has the largest and smallest group and then count to determine.

You May Also Like: Finding Round Nature Hunt for Toddlers and Preschoolers

4. Number Book

Read a book with Numbers. This list of Counting Books is a great start. We read Have You Seen My Dragon by Steve Light.

As you go, have your child represent the numbers mentioned with their Counting Bears. This helps them start to tie the number to the numeral on the page.

5. Dancing Bear Pairs

My daughter essentially invented this game. She likes to pretend with the Counting Bears while we do activities with them and she was pretending a couple were dancing when it dawned on me this was the perfect way to introduce odd and even numbers.

To play Dancing Bear Pairs all you need are Counting Bears. If you wish, some number cards can also be used to continue working on Number Recognition.

To play, explain: that your bears are going to a dancing party and they all need a partner. Unfortunately, one of the bears at the Odd Party won’t have a partner, but if they are at an Even Party everyone will.

Let’s see what kind of party the Number 4 is. Have your preschooler find four bears, pair them off and then declare it must be an Even Party.

Continue with different numbers, both odd and even.

read also: playful preschool math activities

Birds, sparrows in particular, are one of my daughter’s obsessions this Spring. Interests can come from anywhere and hers usually surprise me the most.

When you think about birds you probably think about Spring and trees. We have birds in our backyard in San Diego that chatter all day.

affiliate links are included below.

That however is not where her love came from.

This Spring her school put on the musical Alice in Wonderland and my daughter was one of the purple tree birds. She became quickly invested in reading everything she could about Alice in Wonderland and learning everything and anything she could about Birds and in particular her bird – the sparrow.

Regardless, surrounded by bird books and building bird feeders is how we found ourselves spending time this Spring.

Bird Unit Ideas

Field Trip Ideas

I believe in field trips for their power to bring concepts and abstract ideas to life for my kids. Here are some field trip ideas for kids interested in birds.

1. Head to a local trail or regional park – example: Mission Trails Regional Park and our hunt for hummingbirds.
2. Google specific bird watching spots in your area – example: Bird Watching in New York City at the Salt Marsh and my two essentials for hikes with kids.
3. Use the amazing BIRDOLOGY book for 30+ activities for exploring animals with preschoolers and up – some right in your own yard or neighborhood.
4. The Zoo. Our Zoo (the San Diego Zoo) has incredible bird areas and so do many of the zoos we have visited over the years.

Printables & More to Bring Along:

• Take the ON THE NATURE TRAIL book with you (pictured above) and use their cues to learn about birds in your area.
• Free Birdwatching Tally Sheets from Fantastic Fun and Learning
• Birdwatching Bingo board and other Printables for Bird Observation from Walking by the Way

Activity Ideas

Back at home or in the classroom, expand and deepen your child’s interest in birds with some of these great activities.

Literacy Activities

• 10 Best Children’s Books about Birds from My Storytime Corner
• 10+ Children’s Books for Kids Who Love Birds, Squirrels and all Things Up in the Tree + Storytime Activities from My Storytime Corner
• Take this Free Printable Bird Book on your Birding Adventures from Buggy and Buddy
• Put on a Bird Puppet Show with these awesome DIY Bird Marionettes from Red Ted Art
• Bird Seed Sensory Writing Tray from School Time Snippets

Art Activities

• Make your own bird nests with loose materials. from My Storytime Corner
• Dried Flower Bird Craft from Blue Bear Wood
• No Sew Feather Bird Mask from Blue Bear Wood
• Egg Carton Bird Masks from Blue Bear Wood

STEM Activities

• Build a Bird Feeder – We got one in our Happy Family Box
• Nesting Birds Mini-Unit from Bambini Travel
• How to Make a Hummingbird Feeder from Growing Up Gabel
• Even More Homemade Bird Feeder and Birdseed Ornaments from Natural Beach Living
• Bird Nest Math Activities – Counting, Addition and Subtraction from Rainy Day Mum
• Find a guidebook to give you more information about the birds you discover.
• Birds and Nests Sensory Bin from Rubber Boots and Elf Shoes
• Observing & Learning Backyard Birds with Free Printables from Natural Beach Living
• Studying Bird Beaks from Pink Stripey Socks
• Build a Nest STEM activity from A Dab of Glue Will Do
• Matching Male and Female Bird Cards from Adventure in a Box

Together these adventures and activities taught my first graders about different varieties of birds and the different ways birds eat, nest, and more.

Get the Book Today!

Car playing is often a solitary or parallel activity for toddlers. This activity adds a simple social element to something they already love.

Materials

•  Cars or Trucks (We played this with these cars)

To Play

Ask your toddler to stand a few feet away.

Introduce the activity with some simple, such as “I’m going to pass the car to you” and push the car towards them with an excited “Vroom!”

Then invite them to pass it back. “Can you pass the car back to me?”

We played this with these cars that you can pull back and release. Our kids got them around the time they turned 1 and still enjoy them at almost 3.

If they have a sibling or a friend to play with, invite the other child to take over for you after modeling a few times. You could also have your younger child be your “partner” and help you pass the car to the older sibling.

Demonstrating enthusiasm and playing up the ‘driving’ and car noise portions of the activity tend to lengthen the activity.

Play it again?

My toddlers loved doing things again and again and again. Repetition is great, but after you have done this activity several times, here are a couple variations you can try.

*Pass other things together (such as balls or pom poms)

*Drive cars side by side to different destinations.

Click to Find: A-Z Toddler Play Ideas