With the recent school closures, I quickly created Home Learning Bags for my students to support families who are now going to be the teachers. The research tells us students learn best through play so I packed these bags full of goodies families can use to create PLAY based activities. And guess what, I even put in simple PLAY based activities and lesson plans and activity choice boards families can do too. Families will be less stressed and students will be busy learning through play.
Let me tell you what I put inside and also share some tips and tricks too.
This post contains affiliate links which means if you use my link I earn a small commission at no cost to you.
***If you were not able to send anything home, you can email PLAY based activities and lesson plans and activity choice boards to families.
Let me begin by saying that I buy lots of supplies during back-to-school sales in the fall and the clearance sales that follow in the fall. I also pulled things from the classroom that I will have to reorder.
What’s in the take home bag: (these are 2.5 gallon baggies)
Printables: letter cards, number cards, letter tracing mats (in page protectors to make them dry erase), number tracing mats (in page protectors), ten frame mats, double ten frame mats, home journal, sensory recipes – All of the printables are from my Home Learning Pack Weeks 1 & 2
Baggies of Goodies: pom poms, foam shapes, popsicle sticks, pony beads, foam letters
Writing/Drawing/Reading Goodies: markers, colored pencils, dry erase markers, DIY dry erase board (white cardstock in a page protector), pencil pouch, notebook, fun pencils, pencil sharpener, mini post-it notes, book, magnet letters (Target Spot during back to school), name card
Fine Motor/Math: tweezers, tape, washi tape, dice, glue sticks, glue bottle, play dough, mini erasers, pipe cleaners
To make the bags easy to assemble, I put each group of items in tubs. The tubs are from the Dollar Tree, and I use them for various purposes throughout the year. Then I grabbed my box of giant 2.5-gallon baggies and assembled each one.
Since we have to limit contact, I placed the take home bags on my porch for my students’ families to pick up directly. Plus families could come by at a time that worked for them. Some of my preschoolers had younger siblings so I made a bag for them too with similar things.
Make sure you grab the At Home Learning Pack (weeks 1 & 2) HERE. It includes everything you see below! It’s the perfect tool to help families teach and set up PLAY based activities for their little learner. Weeks 3 & 4 At Home Learning Pack will be added to my TpT store at the end of the week. I will add more if the school closures continue.
I also included these FREE Learning Choice Boards for families too. This way they can pick if they want daily lesson plans or a more relaxed “pick and play activity”. Every family is different and they can pick what works best for their schedules during this uncertain time.
I hope this helps give you ideas on what you can put in your Home Learning Bags for your kiddos! Hang in there teacher friends. It’s going to be hard but we can do hard things. Remember to give yourself grace and to take deep breaths when you feel overwhelmed or powerless. If I can help, please let me know or hop over to the Pocket of Preschool Facebook Group for more inspiration.
We are in this together friends, and I’m here to help!
