☀️ Friday Plan & Play: Screen-Free Summer Fun
Unplugged & Happy: Screen-Free Fun for Preschoolers
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Hi there,
Ready for a weekend filled with sunshine, learning, and play, without the screens? 🌿 This week’s Friday Plan & Play is all about helping your preschoolers stay engaged, curious, and creative the old-fashioned way: with hands-on fun and open-ended learning.
Because let’s be honest—when you’re juggling summer schedules and sibling chaos, the simplest activities often bring the biggest smiles.
🌈 Weekly Planning Tip: Build a Screen-Free Rhythm
Summer doesn’t have to be a free-for-all. Try anchoring your days with a few screen-free go-tos that your kids can look forward to and you can prep in five minutes or less.
Here are a few ideas:
Morning kick-off: Start the day with an I Spy printable or a cut-and-paste craft before the house gets loud.
Outside time: Nature scavenger hunts, sidewalk chalk letters, or sponge toss games keep little bodies busy.
Quiet time reset: Rotate printable puzzles, coloring pages, or counting activities in a basket for solo time.
Evening wind-down: Read one favorite story and do a matching printable, like a tracing sheet or letter maze.
Creating simple rhythms like these helps reduce screen requests and makes summer feel smoother for everyone.
🖨️ Featured Printable: Summer I Spy Printables
These summer-themed I Spy pages are ideal for practicing counting, visual discrimination, and independent quiet time. Whether you keep them in your morning basket or stash them for road trips, they’re a low-prep favorite for busy days.
✂️ More Hands-On Fun to Print and Play
Here are a few more screen-free activities your preschoolers will love:
Counting Toys Math Activity – Practice number recognition and one-to-one correspondence
Counting Birds Worksheets – A fun, nature-themed math activity
Humpty Dumpty Sequencing – Build comprehension with this fun activity
Butterfly Life Cycle Cut & Paste – Mix science, sequencing, and fine motor skills
Ocean I Spy – Encourage attention to detail with these print-and-go pages
Whether you're home all week or heading out for a summer adventure, these printables are easy to take along and use on the go.
🔜 Coming Next Week...
Here’s what’s flying off my desk for next Friday:
🦖 Tips for Teaching Dinosaurs
🗓️ August Kindergarten Themes
🔤 Alphabet Sound Sorting Activity
💛 Just for Fun
You don’t need a fancy plan or a perfect schedule to have a meaningful summer. A bucket of water, a stack of crayons, or a quiet moment spent naming birds outside—that’s the magic your preschooler will remember. ✨
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Have a restful weekend,
– Tara