Below you will see our homeschool bins, shelves, storage, etc. In this first picture, you see a full view of one side of our preschool homeschool room. When dealing with toddlers, affix shelves to the wall and be careful to place heavy items (books, blocks) on the bottom shelves and light items on the top to avoid safety hazards. At the far left you'll see our toddler reading chair. There are more books in her library, but I put a few books by her chair daily. She also plays here frequently with her fine motor toys.
The next set of shelves are her weekly "center" bins that are updated weekly. The six color coded open top bins include items for Language, Math, Practical Life skills and "Sensorial" or fine motor type of activities. The middle bookcase includes te Music Center (bottom shelf) and the "Miscellaneous Toy Center" in the middle where I place a smattering of toys every few days or so. The shelves on the right house our homeschool preschool supply shelves. They are labeled with picture labels.
This next picture shows from left to right:
- Our magnetic white board used for Circle Time
- A floor coloring book
- A permanent pink "bin" for stuffed animals
- A rocking chair for reading together
- A floor bin containing the "theme books" for the week (each week I have a new theme)
- A craft table for table exercises, crafts, practical life cleaning and meal time "grace and courtesy" exercises
- Practical Life
- Language
- Art activities
- There are also two bins labeled "Teaching Resources" with my teaching books, etc.
- These labels are handmade with craft paper and chalboard paper that were later laminated and affixed to the bins.
FYI on the bins...all bins were strategically purchased! I researched the best size and shape for my shelves before going out and purchasing them. Since bins are an investment, collect slowly if you need to. There are interim solutions. For example while I was collecting all my bins, I used my Huggies diaper boxes, which I'd wrapped in white and silver wrapping paper and attached with pretty labels printed from my computer. They looked great and didn't cost a dime!
Here is a closer view of the library and dollhouse, which is there specifically to support dramatic play. Above these areas are my two bulletin boards. The left board is for the "theme of the week" and the right one is a "permanent" board that shows all 45 themes in Lexi's Age 2 curriculum. The board that changes every week is designed for simple changes. The title block is dry erase and I simply wipe it and put in the new theme name each week.
Additionally, the laminated cutouts on that board are affixed temporarily with these little sticker things I found at Lakeshore Learning (I'll get name soon!) so I can store them for future use and simply add new ones the following week. (I have a "cutout library" I've created full of of simple visual aids for all my units. I simply collected them electronically whenever I had a free moment and one weekend when I had a few hours, I printed them all out, laminated them and filed them in large gallon bags. Eventually I'll organize them into an alphabetized accordion file).
This next photo is a closer view of the teacher supply bins and shelves. You can make your own labels or download mine here.
Lexi's homeschool preschool also includes a dramatic / imaginative play center includes a KidKraft play kitchen. Her Montessori Practical Life "cleaning" materials are hanging on the left of the kitchen and included in the nearby bucket. Later I'll also be adding a dress up bin.
Well, this is our homeschool preschool room. I hope this provides some ideas! If you are interested in learning more, my Age 2 Homeschool Preschool Curriculum and other materials is available throughout this site.
Have a blessed day!
Home CEO Maraya
