The best beginner games for preschoolers encourage pretend play so let’s get ready to do some cooking for Squirrel. We all know he must like Acorn Soup so take out a recipe card with your toddler and point to the first ingredient so they can match a wooden ingredient to the picture. Point and count out the clovers, flowers, leaves, pinecones, berries and seeds to match the recipe card and then drop them into the “bowl” and stir with the spoon. Each recipe has some added learning potential as it is comprised of three ingredients in a category. Fall Soup has berries, nuts and a leaf, while Summer Soup has flowers, blueberries, and dandelion seeds. “Extend the Play and Learning” is included after the directions so parents can learn how to take the skills used in Acorn Soup out into their child’s play environment for extended learning. Sort the wooden ingredients in sets for a matching and counting activity, make your own soup with little items around the house, or sing Farmer in the Dell while naming and adding ingredients. This is an outstanding game for fun learning.

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