7 Alphabet Learning Toys

It's the time of year when I shift my attention to gift buying in preparation for the upcoming holiday season. I start thinking about what my kids want and what they need. And where they're concerned, I'm always thinking about fun educational products that will help them learn and grow. Over the past year, I have focused on alphabet toys for preschoolers and kindergartners to help my youngest. And I wanted to share some of the ones that we've used, and a few others that I think would be great tools in a child's pre-literacy journey.

Educational Insights and Learning Resources are my two go-to brands for this type of resource. They have so many excellent educational toys to help teach and reinforce basic skills. But there are a few other smaller, but wonderful companies creating learning magic. I've tried to list the resources below in order of complexity, beginning with uppercase letter recognition and ending with beginning sounds.

The following post contains affiliate links.

Alphabet Bingo

We began with this game and still play it today, even though my son knows his alphabet letters. This bingo game comes with six double-sided game boards, a bunch of counters, and 26 letter tokens with the capital on one side and an image on the other. Each image begins with the letter on the other side of the token. 

When we first started playing this game, my son always wanted to look for the picture which was easier, but I would always say the letter out loud instead of the name of the image. Or I would say, "R for rocket," emphasizing the r sound at the beginning of the word. This is a great first game for alphabet recognition.

This game is from Peaceable Kingdom.

Frida's Fruit Fiesta Alphabet Game

This is, hands down, my favorite alphabet toy. Technically, it's a 2- (or more) player game. But it's one that even I don't mind playing regularly with my 5 year old. He's old enough now to recognize all the letters, but we still play the game because it's fun and a good way to reinforce his letter recognition.

This game comes with four player boards, three (connected) spinners, 26 game pieces (fruit bowls with a letter), and Frida (a toucan-shaped tweezer tool). Instructions are also included, of course. 

The objective of the game is to get four in a row on your player board in a manner similar to bingo (left-right, up-down, or diagonally). You spin all three spinners and choose the letter of the alphabet you want to place on your player board. Then your child uses Frida to "collect" the fruit bowl that has the letter in question.

It's super fun for littles and great for helping them identify upper case letters. The only thing I would change about this game would be to add lowercase letters as well.

This game is by Educational Insights.

Alphabet Learning Locks

This is another great toy that we have. I noticed a long time ago that my son was fascinated by keys and locks. So whoever invented this was pretty brilliant. Kids have to find the right key to unlock the padlock - and the "key" is that they have to match the upper- and lowercase letters! 

This is a really fun toy set by Dinhon.

Alphabet Acorns Activity Set

I bought this set a few years ago for my son and he still plays with them. Alphabet Acorns comes with 78 pieces: 26 acorn bases, 26 acorn "caps" and 26 color-coded counters/figures. 

Each acorn has a capital letter displayed on the front, it's lowercase partner on the inside of the lid, and a surprise hidden inside that begins with the letter on the acorn. What a great way to help teach the alphabet! I really highly recommend this set. 

But parents be warned: It can be a challenge to keep up with the small figures inside the acorns if you don't keep an eye on your child while they are playing with the set.

This set is by Learning Resources.

ABC Cookies

This set is also on my list to purchase because it is the next level up. ABC Cookies comes with four different games that you can play to learn different concepts: 

• letter recognition
• upper and lowercase matching
• letter sequencing
• beginning sounds

Letter sequencing is, I think, often overlooked especially in homeschooling. So I really like this set from Learning Resources.

Alpha Pops

The focus of this set is to learn upper and lowercase letters. It comes with 26 double-sided pops, that are also color coded to help children learn which letters go together. All the popsicles will connect with each other, so they may also be used to build simple two-letter words, such as "go," "at," "me," etc.

This set is also by Learning Resources.

Alphabet Island

I haven't actually bought Alphabet Island, but it is on my list of games to get this year. It caught my eye because players are required to match upper and lowercase letters or beginning sounds with the corresponding pictures. My 5 yo definitely loves playing games, so this is high on my list this year for Christmas. And it's a treasure hunt theme, which I know he will enjoy. 

This game is by Learning Resources.

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• Bilingual Flash Cards for PreK & Kindergarten

New Bilingual Explore with Animals Series for PreK

The following is a sponsored book post with NicaGal.com. All thoughts and opinions are my own. 

One of the most frequent requests I get is for elementary teaching materials in Spanish. So many parents  are looking for the materials that will support their children's bilingualism, especially those starting their homeschool journey. Today's post highlights the new bilingual Explore with Animals series from NicaGal.com.

Several years ago, there was the most excellent Spanish-language magazine available for children ages 8 to 12 called Iguana Magazine. The force behind that magazine was the talented Christianne Meneses Jacobs. She created that wonderful resource from scratch and eventually it was purchased by Cricket Magazines. (That's a story for another day.)

Since then, Christianne has been developing her NicaGal line which includes her podcast, Latino Book Chat, and now her bilingual book series for preschoolers.

Bilingual Preschool Skills Books

There is a list of fundamental skills and specific concepts that every preschooler should learn before entering kindergarten. Among these concepts are the ability to recognize numbers 1 through 10 or higher and to identify colors. Many preschoolers also begin learning alphabet recognition in preparation for learning to read in kindergarten. 

NicaGal's new bilingual and Spanish animal-themed books focus on these three concepts and are a wonderful addition to any home library. 

Bilingual & Spanish Book of Colors

These books are absolutely fabulous. Los colores / Colors includes vibrant images that really help to teach young children their colors. And using animals is a great way to engage preschoolers who are fascinated by them. I love the simplicity and focus of the text which directs children to learn.

Parents and children can ask each other additional questions about the images, or point out things that they notice or like. In addition, the back of the book includes a few ideas for easy activities that parents can do with their children that reinforces color recognition. 

This book is available in a bilingual format (shown above), as well as Spanish-only. 

Spanish or English Book of Numbers

123 Animales or 123 Animals is another sweet counting book that helps children learn numbers 1 though 20. Again, they are colorful and simple with two opportunities for children to count: on one page, count the shapes under the text box, and on the other page count the animals. 

This book is available in two formats: English-only and Spanish-only.

Spanish Alphabet Book

And finally, the book ABC Animales, is a fun way to learn the alphabet. Each letter is associated with a type of animal and includes text with a brief description of the animal and some interesting facts about it.  Again, great pictures and a section at the back for additional activities. This particular abecedario is only available in Spanish. 

If you have a bilingual elementary student who is learning many of these concepts or needs some materials to reinforce their learning, consider adding this series from NicaGal to your child's lessons. 

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Holiday Gifting: Shapes Puzzle

 

If you're like me, then you spend a lot of time trying to find gifts that are educational in some way, shape, or form for your kids to open during the holidays. Today's gift recommendation is for those of you with preschoolers!

This post uses affiliate links. 

Shape Puzzles

One of my favorite finds that I gave my preschooler last year is this set of LIKEE pattern blocks. When I was growing up, I was obsessed with tangrams. I loved the challenge of these puzzles. But they were definitely a little TOO challenging for my preschooler. Fortunately, I found these and they are perfect!

This set comes with 36 wooden pieces painted in bright, non-toxic colors. Overall, they are larger than most pattern blocks so that makes it easier for little hands to manipulate them. 

The set also has 60 pattern cards of easily recognizable patterns for your child to create. The items include animals, transportation, household items, and more. They range in complexity from simple (like the boat shown above) to challenging (like the excavator). One side of the card shows the completed design and the name of the object. The other side shows you the pieces needed. Your child must figure out how they fit together and if there are layers.

This game is great for developing critical thinking skills, fine motor skills, and analyzation. It also helps you teach colors, shapes, counting, and vocabulary (round, half, combine, layer, etc.)

This set is best suited for children ages 4 to 7, but my then 3-year-old was able to use them easily last year and even my teen enjoys doing them with my youngest. (Okay, in all honesty, I enjoy them, too!)

If this shape puzzle sounds like something you've been looking for, you can find it here on Amazon:

Niños and Nature: Bilingual Nature Studies

After being cooped up for a long pandemic year, families are embracing nature studies - especially in their homeschool lessons. But finding nature-based programs have been difficult in the past. Which is why Niños and Nature is so fantastic! 

The Back-to-School Fiesta only has a few giveaways left this month, and I sure love this one! I have seen SO MANY bilingual homeschoolers searching for a nature-based curriculum. So when I saw this one, I was ecstatic! 

Read on and enter the giveaway if this sounds like a good fit for your familia...

Screen free Spanish learning for nature lovers

Niños and Nature is a series of play-based, nature-inspired Spanish courses for children ages 1½ to 6. They currently offer two courses:

Con mi Familia

A play-based Spanish course and preschool curriculum for nature lovers! These Spanish courses are designed for families who want to grow their language skills, while creating a bilingual learning environment for their children right at home. This is the perfect Spanish preschool curriculum for families that love nature, play and connecting with each other! For children 2-6

Spanish in the Wild

These seasonal bilingual nature study courses are designed for families who want to immerse themselves in Spanish, while learning more about the world around them. This is the perfect blended curriculum for language and nature study for your children and teens. This course helps you learn Spanish in every season, and encourages you to get outside for all of your language learning. Whether you are studying the anatomy of a mushroom, the lifecycle of a butterfly, or learning more about gemstones and crystals: this course helps bring Spanish to life with real world context and experiential learning. For children 5+ (even teens!)

If you'd like to see samples, click here. 

Other Posts that May Interest You

• 7 Alphabet Learning Toys
  
  
• New Bilingual Explore with Animals Series for PreK
  
  
• Learning Toys for Toddlers and Preschoolers
  
  
• Blossom and Root Kindergarten Homeschool Curriculum Review
  
  
• Bilingual Flash Cards for PreK & Kindergarten

Cometa Creativa: A Preschool Spanish Workbook

 

The following is sponsored post with Nacho Books. All thoughts and opinions are mine. 

The new school year is quickly approaching for many, but for some of us, schooling happens year round. We take long breaks whenever we need them to clear our minds or to travel. My middle kid is taking a month off for summer, but my preschooler comes up to me almost daily asking to "do school."

A Spanish Preschool Activity Book

Right now, he is in love with Cometa Creativa 1, a preschool workbook that is in Spanish. You can find a copy on Nacho Books' website. 

It is great for both Spanish-speaking students AND for introducing Spanish to your preschooler. It uses art as the bridge for language acquisition. This activity book is full of opportunities to color, trace, match, cut and paste, and more. It covers important concepts such as color and number recognition, opposites, shapes, and introduces the vowels. 

The layout is perfect, too. It is a big book, or at least bigger than your traditional 8.5 x 11. Actually, it is about the size of a placemat (approx. 9 x 13 in.). 

Each page can potentially be removed from the book in case your child is easily distracted or you want your child to only focus on the one activity at a time. And if you do remove them, they come with holes already punched in the side in case you want to keep them all together as your child completes them. I've chosen to leave them in the book for now, since my preschooler likes having it all in front of him and doesn't seem to move on until he has finished each activity. 

The front of the page has an activity with some simple directions. The back of the page is for the parent or educator and lists the objective(s) of the activity, theme, contents, suggested methodology, teaching and learning strategies, as well as additional activities that allow your child to dive deeper.

My preschooler is about to turn four and has just now discovered the joy of coloring, so introducing him to this book just happens to come at the perfect time. He loves this book as you can tell from the picture. The cover is already showing wear from him getting it out and plopping it open everywhere.

Here's a little peak at some of the pages:

And finally, the very last section of the book introduces English vocabulary and is intended, I believe, as an introduction to English as a second language. The instructions are still in Spanish for the parent, but the activities have English words. 

Overall, I think it is an excellent activity book for young children. And it is long lasting with more than 200 pages (100+ activities) for preschoolers to enjoy.

A Discount for YOU!

MommyMaestra readers can get a 30% discount on any order of Nacho Books. Just use this link and the discount code MommyMaestra at checkout.

Homeschool Montessori Preschool Program

The following is a sponsored post in collaboration with Sonlight Homeschool Curriculum. All thoughts and opinions are my own. 

July is quickly approaching and that means parents across the country are going to get serious about prepping for the new school year. Tons of parents homeschooled their preschoolers last year, and judging by the number of parents of toddlers joining our Hispanic and Bilingual Homeschoolers group, I'm guessing a large number will be homeschooling their preschoolers again this year. So today's review of Sonlight's new Montessori-based PreK program is for them!

 

Quick Overview

Program: Sonlight's Preschool Pack: Fiction, Fairy Tales, and Fun
Subject(s): literacy, 
Religious Perspective: Christian
Format: Books and manipulatives/Montessori approach
Grades: Preschool
Language: English
Price: $350.00

Literature-based Montessori Approach

Sonlight's new PreK program is a feast for book-loving families. With a strong focus on literature and the Montessori method, Sonlight has improved upon their previous preschool curriculum by adding on titles and activities that develop pre-reading, pre-writing, and pre-math skills, as well as those that explore science, foreign language (Spanish), and music. The focus is on nurturing mastery of self-directed activities, which is keeping in line with the Montessori approach.

Preschool at Home

I have often talked about the importance of preschool, whether it be at home or in a school setting. Research shows that children who attend a good preschool and have involved parents are more likely to have better self-esteem, higher IQs, and fewer behavioral problems. They have higher literacy rates, test scores, and graduation rates. They are also less likely to repeat a grade level, smoke, drop out, or experience teen pregnancy.

And preschooling at home can be just as effective, if not more so, provided that parents are actively involved with teaching the essential skills and habits that preschoolers need to learn to prepare for kindergarten and beyond.

This curriculum is easy to implement; it only takes 30 minutes a day, three times a week. It comes with a fabulous teacher's guide to help you get started and stay on track. 

And what an abundance of literature! So many excellent books to read to your child. They make up the heart of this program. From Richard Scarry's What Do People Do All Day? to Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales and Harper Collins Treasury of Picture Book Classics, there are so many great titles that your child will be exposed to thousands of words to boost their vocabulary.

But it also comes with a small box full of manipulatives or tools, which my 3-year-old absolutely loves. The program focuses on sensory items to stimulate your child's learning. Shape stencils/puzzles, sandpaper letters, round number counters, are all fantastic for capturing a preschooler's interest. 

The teacher's guide comes printed out with holes on the side for placing in a binder, which I did. Each lesson starts with a simple chart overview for the week, then is followed by a few pages with more detailed instructions. The lessons are broken down into five "subjects" overall:

1. Bible
2. Letters, Shapes & Numbers
3. Read-Alouds
4. Arts & Crafts
5. Music/Spanish

The detailed instructions give a better explanation for procedures to the parent. They also list optional activities, which I really appreciated. 

**This program is only available in English, however, it does include the DK book, My First Spanish Word Board Book for those families who are just beginning their journey into raising bilingual children. If you are an English-speaking-only parent, Sonlight does have a page on their website where you can listen to the Spanish pronunciations to the words in the book (not a native Spanish speaker, but still accurate).

Here's a quick overview of everything included in the package that you'll receive:

What I love

I love that this program is so FLEXIBLE. I can use the guide as strictly or as loosely as I'd like. And I am. I often stray, adding in activities or resources that we have at home that I feel complement my 3yo's learning or simply grabbing one of the books to read before they're introduced in the lessons (we can always read them again!).

For example, I purchased this fantastic easel with a dry-erase board on one side and felt board on the other. It was a perfect substitution for pencil and paper while using the shape stencils, which we did, too, as the guide suggested. But letting him also do this on the dry-erase board brought a little freshness to the activity.

I also absolutely love the amount of books included as well as the titles that were selected. Fortunately, we didn't have duplicates already in our home library. So most of these stories were new to my youngest, though a few had been checked out before at our local library. 

And I really liked the relaxed schedule. Preschool isn't about memorizing the months of the year or adding double digit numbers. I love that my kid can just be a kid, learning at an easy pace in a fun way. All the pressure that goes with academics can come later if it must. Right now it's just time to enjoy learning about the world and diving deeper into those things that fascinate him.

A Complete Package

If you've been looking for a complete preschool program that is centered around children's literature, this may the one for you! Visit their website to read more about this great program for preschool.

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CM Simple Spanish

The following is a sponsored post in collaboration with CM Simple Spanish. All thoughts and opinions are mine. 

Spanish, Charlotte Mason Style

Have you heard about CM Simple Spanish? This is a new Spanish learning program mainly for PreK and elementary-aged children, but I believe they plan to keep growing and developing their materials for older children. 

Simple Spanish follows the Charlotte Mason method of teaching new languages. You can find a detailed explanation on their site here. Their goal is to help parents gently weave in Spanish to daily situations so that our children learn Spanish simply and naturally.

AND the materials are set up that an entire family can learn Spanish together, so parents who do not speak Spanish can still teach their children. Read on as I explain how.

Early Years Units

I've had an opportunity to review two of their products: Unit 1 and Unit 2 of Early Years. I don't think you could make teaching Spanish any easier. The 5-page download includes a page with the lyrics to a song, a page with lesson plans, and printable flashcards.

There are five simple lessons that teach children Spanish by centering the learning around a song. The first time around, children learn a sentence that also teaches a color, item, and basic sentence structure. The five lessons are repeated the next week teaching new vocabulary. And then repeated a final time. By the end of three weeks, your child will have learned:

• 3 colors 
• 3 items
• 3 sentences 
• 1 song

The cool thing is that you can learn the song by simply using your phone to scan a QR code (there are a lot of free QR reader apps!) and it takes you to a YouTube video. 

And I love that I learned of a new Spanish musician - Ana Calabrese - and her album, Short, Fun Spanish Beats.

These lesson are super budget friendly; Unit 1 is only $2 and Unit 2 is $3.50. Really, you can't go wrong here. 

If this sounds like something you'd like to try out this summer with your little ones, visit CM Simple Spanish!

15 Sandía Crafts for Summer!

 

Summer is here, and that means it's time for sandía! Not only is it the perfect summertime snack—juicy, sweet, and refreshing—but it makes for great artistic inspiration too.

Your kids will love this list of fun watermelon crafts and activities to help fill their summer days. From sticky watermelon slime to sponge-painted watermelon slices, there's something here for every kid. There's even a watermelon ojo de Dios yarn weaving project that would make a terrific summer camp craft. Kids will also get a kick out of the erupting watermelon science experiment based on the classic baking soda and vinegar reaction.

Ready to get started? Make one of these sweet crafts today!

15 Watermelon/Sandía Crafts & Activities for Summer Fun

1. Watermelon Card | The Best Ideas for Kids
2. Torn Paper Watermelon Craft | Fantastic Fun & Learning
3. Paper Plate Watermelon | Glue Sticks & Gumdrops
4. Paper Handprint Watermelon | Fun Handprint Art
   
5. Button Watermelon Craft | A Cultivated Nest
   
   
   
   
   
6. Watermelon Sponge Painting | Fantastic Fun & Learning
7. W is for Watermelon | Must Have Mom
8. Watermelon Bookmark | Sunny Day Family
9. Watermelon God's Eye | Red Ted Art    ** This is an awesome ojo de Dios craft.
10. Painted Watermelon Flower Pot | Mommy Moment
    
    
    
    
    
11. Paper Watermelon Toy | Moms & Crafters   *** PERFECT for young children with play kitchens!
12. Watermelon Fan | Crafts by Amanda -- Super cute! I think this is a great idea for my 3yo.
13. Watermelon Slime | Giggles Galore
14. Erupting Watermelon Science | Natural Beach Living -- 
15. Painted Handprint Watermelon Letter W Craft | Kindergarten Worksheets & Games

Printable Sandía Preschool Pack

It's not a craft, but don't forget my Sandía Activity Pack! It keeps those nenes busy, busy. It's available with all the activity pages in English AND Spanish (the letter of the week for the Spanish versions, though, is S). 

If you're looking for more art resources, check out these on MommyMaestra:

• 17 Dinosaur-Themed Crafts for Kids
• Día Craft: DIY Book Tutorial
• How to Make Your Own Peruvian Retablo
• MommyMaestra Summer of Fun: Continuous Line Art
• 5 Ways to Deal with All Your Child's School Art/Paperwork
• The Benefits of Messy Art
• 18 Fun Felt Crafts for Kids (Coming soon!)

Bilingual Flash Cards for PreK & Kindergarten

The following is a sponsored post with Beau & Blaze Creations. All thoughts and opinions are my own. 

I absolutely love it when moms come up with a great idea or product, decide to market it to share with other families, AND work hard to make it good quality.

That's what Puerto Rican mama of 2, Jackie Palaualelo, has done. She's starting a line of bilingual products for kids and her first product is now available on Amazon and Etsy. 

This post contains affiliate links.

Bilingual Toddler Flash Cards has 93(!) dry erase bilingual flash cards, 4 binder (book) rings, and two dry erase markers. The cards are grouped into 4 sets:

• English Alphabet, 
• Spanish Alphabet, 
• numbers 1-20, 
• and 20 sight word cards

The cards are simple but colorful and eye-catching to keep your child engaged. Each set comes with a binder ring so you can keep them together. Crazy enough, this simple design of adding a ring, intrigues little kids. I gave them to my 3yo and he so enjoyed flipping through them. It makes the cards more interactive, less static.

I also love that the cards come with writing spaces and traceable number and letters. So for little ones learning letter recognition, this is a major plus. The cards themselves are laminated and waterproof making them extra durable. My youngest loves tracing and then erasing and then tracing and then erasing. I appreciate all the pincer/grasping skills he's developing by holding the pens and "writing."

These bilingual cards will help children develop a foundation in both English and Spanish. Go and follow them on IG! Why? Because you'll find great ideas for different educational ways to use these excellent flash cards.

Off the top of my own head, they are great for letter and number recognition, finger tracing, counting, spelling, reading, writing, memory game (Spanish & English taken off the ring), and more.

You can buy them here on etsy. 

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TpT April Sale & New Products

 

TpT is having another sale!  

If there's anything on your wish list that you've been holding off on getting, now's the time to do it! It starts today and runs through tomorrow.

And just in case you haven't seen them, I have a lot of new products that have been uploaded recently. I'm listing them below in order of age range for you to look over. 

Happy shopping!

Paleta Board Game (PreK - 1st)

A simple board game that teaches number recognition (1 - 5) and basic counting.

Popsicle/Paleta Activity Sheets (PreK - Kindergarten)

Perfect for summer! This activity pack will keep your little one learning those important skills needed for school success. Click the link to see a list.

Bilingual Number Puzzle Cards (PreK - 1st)

Boost number recognition and counting skills with these three sets of puzzle cards to teach your children numbers 1 - 20 by ones and 20 to 100 by tens in two languages!

Mars Word Search (3rd - 6th)

Is your child following the Mars' rover news? Introduce your young students to vocabulary associated with the Red Planet using this easy word search.

A Brief History of Paella (4th - 8th)

Celebrate Spain with this one-page history on the Spanish dish, paella! 

Juan Felipe Herrera Reading Passage (4th-8th)

Introduce your students to the former U.S. Poet Laureate, Juan Felipe Herrera with this one-page reading passage that comes with a reading comprehension quiz. Perfect for National Poetry Month!

The Real History of Cinco de Mayo BOOM CARDS (4th - 8th)

If you're using digital Boom Cards in your classroom, check out my latest set for teaching students the true history of Cinco de Mayo. No chips and salsa here!

Online Preschool Music Class

The following post is in collaboration with Clap for Classics! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

When I was a little kid, I spent a LOT of time watching cartoons - Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies, to be exact. In fact, I would say that watching them was my first exposure to Classical music. I imagine many of you can relate.

My love of classical music never really went away. I still have a radio button in my car programed to our only classical station. Part of this is because of my love for it, but another great part of it is my desire to expose my children to it. Especially my 3-year-old. So you can only imagine my delight when I learned about Clap for Classics!

Quick Overview

Program: Clap for Classics!
Religious Perspective: Secular
Format: (Self-Paced) Recorded & Live online classes
Ages: 0 - 5
Price: $27 - $270 (see description below)

Making egg shakers

Classical Music Benefits Toddlers 

So does classical music actually make babies smarter? There's apparently no evidence that just listening to it does. Though studies do show that listening to classical music sometimes helps calm and soothe cranky babies and infants.

What we do know is that INTERACTIVE music lessons are extremely beneficial to young children. Learning through music is easier and so much more fun. Infants, toddlers, and preschoolers love a good song. They love moving their bodies to music. This observation has obviously been noted around the world throughout much of history. The proof is in the frequency of songs, fingerplays, and even rhymes that have been passed down from one generation to the next.

After birth, a child's neurons and synapses develop quickly. And music is just one way to stimulate them into creating connections. Songs teach language and other basic concepts, such as rhythm, rhyme, and more. 

To learn more, check out the article that PBS published on the benefits of music education. 

Self-Paced Online Music Classes

When my older kids were little, they took music classes. But that was a long time ago. However, they loved it so much that now that I have a 3-year-old again, I've been on the lookout for music classes once more. But it's been very challenging given the pandemic. Enter Clap for Classics! 

Oh my gosh! These online classes are just fabulous! Created by two sisters, Clap for Classics! is a series of music courses for young children. The focus here is the joy of music-making. Children not only learn by listening to classical masterpieces (for example, Peter and the Wolf), but they also learn by interacting with you. My 3yo absolutely loves these interactive classes that are full of movement and singing. We improvise by finding and using items we already have around the house to make music or to do the musical activities that we're shown in each video lesson. 

Kathryn and Elizabeth are both classically trained musicians and it is obvious from their beautiful singing. They take turns leading the different courses. But they are equally talented and engaging with children. Your kids will sing, march, stomp, and crawl their way through each lesson

We've watched many of the courses and loved every one. Each course comes with:

• short video clips that introduce music and a lot of singing, 
• various activities and printables, 
• audio tracks, 
• and some even have Spotify playlists. 

If you're worried about screen time, the short clips are more like sitting in front of a teacher leading the class. They often have one of their children participating in the video, which really helped my son to participate in the activities because he wanted to do what the other kid(s) were doing.

The things I like best about this course is that it allows us to watch the lessons at ANY time of the day. And if we sit down and my 3yo starts melting down, I just stop it and we can come back to it later when he's in a better mood and able to pay attention. I also like that we can replay a lesson over and over as many times as we want to listen to the music and engage in the activity. We can watch just one session a day - or ALL of them! Doing it on our time schedule makes this a golden opportunity.

The Music Courses

At the time that I write this, there are 10 courses in all for a variety of ages. The Nursery Rhyme Baby Time course is for infants ages 0 to 2. SO MUCH FUN! In each video, Kathryn sings a different nursery rhyme and shows parents engaging activities to do with their babies, such as using a (silk) scarf as a sensory experience and to develop spatial awareness or using brightly colored shakers to develop their fine and gross motor skills. I love that most of the videos are around 2 minutes because little babies just don't stay focused for longer than that! There are 16 video clips total in this course. And you can watch them over and over or skip around. I like the versatility and the ability to choose whichever video fits our mood at the moment. And if you prefer to go in order, you can also mark each video as viewed in case you forget where you left off. 

My only regret is not having found this program about two years ago! But even though my youngest is 3½, he still really enjoyed this class. 

We also have started watching Carnival of the Animals course bundle. This is a three-month course that teaches SO MANY concepts, such as musical concepts, fine motor skills, and even languages! Everything is taught using animals as the subject. And imagine my delight when I found that they even have a whole lesson dedicated to Los Pollitos teaching children the Spanish version! 💓💓💓🐤🐥🐣

But hands down, my absolute favorite is the Peter and the Wolf bundle. It's a two-month course that introduces children to the instruments in the orchestra, musical concepts, and more. It is, of course, terribly fun for children who almost always love the story line of Peter, his grandfather, and all the animals. There are a lot of activities and best of all, a printable puppet set for your kids to use in the lessons or on their own while listening to the music and narrator.

The Price

You have the option of buying the courses directly from the site - they range in price from $27 to $75. OR you can purchase a monthly subscription for $27/month. If you prepay for a year, you get two months free! Check out their products page to see a complete list of courses.

***NOTE! Clap for Classics! is offering MommyMaestra readers a 20% discount off any course purchased between now and May 31st, 2021. Just enter the coupon code HOMESCHOOL at checkout.

Free Mini Course

If you are interested but want to try a class out first, Clap for Classics! is offering a free mini course titled, Bumblebees, Birds, & Beethoven. It's for children ages 0 to 5. Really, the teachers are just so clever! I love the creative way they introduce Beethoven's 5th Symphony to children using a story to capture little imaginations. I think once you try this course, you'll be hooked and want more for your children. 

Don't wait! Go sign up for this fabulous freebie.

Or if you're already convinced and want to sign up for their monthly subscription service, you can sign up here.

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