Welcome back, you ready-for-anything Mamas! I am just loving this 3 ways to learn series. I love having a theme to our day – it is a fun little twist.

On Monday we found 3 ways to learn in the kitchen sink, Tuesday we were learning with balloons, Wednesday had us get our bounces out with a ball, and today …

today we are learning with yarn, string, or anything similar you have on hand.

3 Ways to Learn with Yarn

Did you know there is TONS of learning wound up in one ball of yarn? If you didn’t, hold tight, because you are about to, my friend.

Just before we dive into these yarn activities for preschoolers … if you are loving this 3 Ways to Play and Learn series you are going to adore Play into Kindergarten Readiness! It includes your Day-by-Day preschool plan with a simple, play-based activity every day that covers all preschool core skills. AND you also get more 3 Ways to Play and Learn ideas!

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Check out Play into Kindergarten Readiness right here!

Beautiful. Now let’s get back to our 3 ways to play series and play with some yarn!

Weave a chair

This learning activity is one that, for one special little child out there, will take almost all day. I have a special little child myself who gets really, really into certain activities. This one, a few years ago, caught his interest and he weaved and weaved and weaved (or wove?) his heart out.

It is a very simple activity, but kids love it! Grab your ball of yarn and flip a kitchen chair over. Knot the yarn on one chair leg and wrap it around the next chair leg, then around the next chair leg, then around the next chair leg, and so on. 

You can do this any way you like, but it is very relaxing when you fall into a smooth rhythm. If you keep going and going you can even create a woven doll house out of your chair legs! 

This yarn wrapping activity is wonderful for helping children develop a sense of rhythm and pattern. Moving their hands in a similar sequence again and again is great for deepening their understanding of how patterns really work. This activity also is a great hand and arm strengthener and is pretty close to working on a vertical surface, so great for loads of body awareness and development.

Today, this activity was a spring board for one of my children. I love when this happens! As my Ben was weaving he realized that what he was creating could make a great house for one of his stuffies. He grabbed a box, some popsicle sticks, and weaved (wove?) a great little house.

Measure Yourself and Find Yourself (but not in a deep, philosophical way)

For this fun learning activity your child can measure various parts of the body using yarn. You can help her to measure her arm and cut a piece of yarn that length. Next, you can cut yarn the length of her leg, and so on.

You can then go on a scavenger hunt and try to find something the same length as “Ben’s arm”! It is really fun to display these objects on the floor or kitchen table in the shape of your child. 

We like to measure the head, torso, legs, and arms. This gives us a fun ‘stick figure’ to see on the ground. We then replace a yarn arm with the found object that is the same length, and so on.

Make some Letters

Yarn is really lovely to hold and play with. I have mentioned a time or two (or more) that writing is not a favourite activity around here. It is rather ironic, as I spend so much of my ‘free time’ writing on this blog! But my little ones are not a fan of writing … yet.

So I try to think of some fun ways to get my little ones practicing their letter formations and sight words. One great way to do this is with yarn. We recently finished up learning the basics of cursive handwriting. I thought that yarn would make a great way to practice writing in cursive on the carpet.

Small lengths of yarn can also be cut and regular print letters can be formed. Maybe your child can print his or her name using yarn? Maybe they can also print ‘Mom’? Maybe they can print, ‘Mom, you are the best! I love your creative ideas to help me learn’? Maybe?

What do you think?  I hope you found a learning idea to two that will work for your little ones for today. A simple ball of yarn is all that is needed.

The body scavenger hunt was the biggest hit in our home. I love walking around and watching my little guys measure their “arm string” up to shoes and books trying to find the perfect fit. It’s like a really weird Cinderella story.

I hope you are having a lovely day, keeping safe, and taking good care of yourself Mama. I am sending you so much love today! Thank you for reading and joining me in this series.

See you tomorrow for our last day as we learn with plastic containers! Whoohooo!

xo

Sarah