I have spent the last year and a half doing homeschool preschool with my two older boys (ages 4 and 3). In that time we’ve reviewed the entire alphabet twice and finished the first year of the Playing Preschool curriculum, all from the comfort of our home and we have LOVED it! We’ve had such a blast and we’ve all loved doing preschool together. Even my one-year-old began showing interest in our preschool activities and started joining in more and more.

But life soldiers on and at the end of this recent school year we were gearing up for some big changes, mainly Baby #4 being born in July. With that in mind, I decided we’d take a summer break and resume our homeschool in September with my oldest starting kindergarten and my second and third continuing preschool.

Baby #4 joined our family in July of this year. She’s our first girl, so I’ve been loving all the pink instead of blue.

But I had some time to kill, school-wise, before our big summer vacation. We finished our first year of Playing Preschool mid-April, and with Baby #4 not due for three whole months I didn’t want to just drop everything and do absolutely nothing until the fall, school-wise.

But what could we do? There simply wasn’t time to do a letter-of-the-week again or to start the Playing Preschool Year 2. So what to do?

So I devised what I’ve dubbed our Speedy Preschool Review.

In a nutshell it boils down to this: Instead of studying one letter every week, we reviewed one letter every day. This means that it took twenty-six days to finish the entire alphabet instead of six months.

This is how I did it:

First, I planned out our Speedy Preschool Review well in advance. I wrote out a list of every letter and I listed two items for each one: a food and an activity.

Then every day during our preschool time we first discussed that letter. We looked at our alphabet cards to review the letter shape and we talked about the sound it makes. Then we listed as many other words as we could think of that begin with that sound.

Then we did our letter-themed activity for the day and ate our letter-themed food. The foods I chose ranged from snacks to dinner to dessert, so we did that food-aspect of Speedy Preschool at any time of day. Likewise, some activities were small and simple to do at home, while others were going-out activities. Either way, I always strive for flexibility.

And done! Speedy Preschool Review complete for the day.

Repeat for every letter of the alphabet, and boom! All done and ready for summer!

Before I list all the foods and activities we did, let me make a disclaimer here: I chose the following activities because they are FUN, not particularly because they are academic.

We did not study a themed unit, we did not watch educational videos (with the exception of O where we learned about Oceans, but that was for lack of another O activity), and we did not make letter-shaped crafts. All those things we did with our regular preschool, yes, but this was a FUN and SPEEDY review, after all.

Beyond just reviewing the alphabet for filling in that last month of the school year, I also simply wanted to have fun with my children. I was about to have a baby, remember, and I knew that I’d be out of commission for a while. I wanted to take those last couple months before juggling life with a newborn to really play with and bond with my boys. That means I really tried to prioritize activities that I could go outside and do with my boys that would create happy memories for all of us.

And did I mention that late spring is the perfect time for doing outside activities? The weather was absolutely lovely and we thoroughly enjoyed the springtime beauty to its fullest!

With all that being said, let me tell you all the things we did for our Speedy Preschool Review:

  • Aa: Apple stamping art and Apple pie

Turns out that my boys don’t like apple pie; who knew? I thought I’d try something new with them and it backfired. More for me, I suppose. But they did love cutting the apples in half, dipping them in paint, and then smearing it all over the page to make art.

  • Bb: Birdhouse painting and Bagels

I bought little wooden birdhouses for my boys and they painted them their desired color. After they dried we hung them out in one of our backyard trees along with a bird feeder. I don’t think any birds have moved in, but they’ve certainly eaten up the birdseed in our feeder, and my boys love going out to check how much birdseed has been eaten.

These two birds were the first visitors to our bird feeder. My boys were SO excited!

Cc: bake and eat Cookies

Okay okay, I did indeed mooch this letter’s food and activity into one. But when you’re baking cookies with little “helpers” it can be quite the labor intensive activity and so it counts for both and activity and then a food.

  • Dd: Dinosaur Drive-through and Donuts

There so happened to be an event near me called Jurassic Quest which was a drive-through of life-size dinosaur statues that moved and growled and all that fun stuff. My boys loved it, mostly because I let them out of their carseats to move freely around the van as we drove through it. And they also loved getting donuts on the way home.

For the record, this was a temporary event in our area that luckily coincided with our D-preschool day, but I’d originally planned to visit the local dinosaur museum either way. But I’m glad that we did this drive-through instead because I was a little wary at losing their attention in an actual museum. This drive-through was perfectly aged for them.

  • Ee: Exercise and scrambled Eggs

I whipped out YouTube for this one and searched “exercise videos for kids.” Turns out there are lots of YouTube channels for kid exercises and my boys particularly liked the themed videos; we did a dinosaur workout and then a Mario workout and they were absolutely thrilled. Even I, pregnant and huge, got up and exercised with them which they thought was really funny.

  • Ff: visit the Farm and Fruit

There is a local farm in my area that is free to simply wander and explore, although you can also buy tickets for tractor rides and learning to milk the cows, that kind of thing. We went the free route, and this time of year was perfect to wander and see all the animals because there were babies all over the place, which was so fun. Later we ate an assortment of strawberries, apples, and blueberries for our fruit.

Fun at the Farm for F Day!

Gg: visit from Grammies and Grapes

Grammies is my mother-in-law, aka my kids’ grandmother. We invited her over for a fun visit and we all had a good time together, which we all particularly enjoyed.

Oh yeah, and during this particular visit my father-in-law just so happened to notice a fire in my neighbor’s backyard and we called 911 and watched the firetruck come out with its lights and sirens on and everything. It wasn’t quite how I pictured our Grammies visit going, but it certainly was an adventure and my boys LOVED seeing the firetruck. Never a dull moment during preschool!

  • Hh: Hike and Hamburgers

I use the word “hike” loosely here. We didn’t really “hike” like up a mountain or anything; I was super pregnant, remember, and I didn’t have the strength or energy to haul my big ol’ self and three little boys up a mountain. Instead we went to a local lake with a walking trail around it and slowly meandered around it until my boys got tired, after which we returned to the lake’s playground until they were ready to go home. And that evening we grilled hamburgers for dinner.

  • Ii: Icky puff paint and Ice cream sandwiches

This activity I had to mooch a bit to make it fit the letter I. Typically you’d call this stuff “Puff Paint” but for the letter I, I refer to it as “Icky puff paint.” Mix equal parts Elmer’s glue and shaving cream, mix it up real good (I’ve found this is easiest done in a paper bowl so you can toss the entire thing in the trash when you’re done and not have to wash a single dish), give your kiddo a paintbrush and sheet of construction paper, and boom! Let him go wild! You could also put some food coloring into your paint to make different colors if you’re feeling adventurous.

We’ve done this activity a few times and my boys always love it. As the special cherry on top, the “icky” puff paint dries into puffy mountains that are fun to touch and squish.

  • Jj: Jump rope and Juice

I bought cheap jump ropes at Walmart for less than a dollar apiece. My boys are still pretty small to catch on to the concept of jumping over the swinging rope in a coordinated rhythm, but they loved swinging those jump ropes around the yard, tying each other up, and wrapping up various pieces of furniture around my house to build “forts” and “traps” for the next few weeks. It was when I got sick of constantly stepping through their “traps” in the family room that their jump ropes became outside-only toys.

  • Kk: Kinetic sand and Kiwis

I said that the springtime was great for doing outdoor Speedy Preschool activities, but I usually tried to have an indoor backup idea in case the weather was disagreeable. Spring, after all, is notoriously bipolar here in Utah. And K Day was our first day when the weather didn’t cooperate. I’d planned to fly kites that day, but instead we got rain. So I pulled out our kinetic sand (and we had a whole conversation about what the heck the word “kinetic” even means) and had a quiet inside activity.

  • Ll: Leaf-rubbing art and Lemonade

Speaking of spring weather, L Day was a perfect opportunity to talk about the new leaves on the trees. We went out to our backyard, picked a few leaves, and I showed my boys how to put a piece of paper over them and rub the long-side of a crayon over it to get that cool texture. They loved it!

  • Mm: Music time and roasting Marshmallows

I have a music folder I’ve made of kid songs, so we pulled that out and sang songs all afternoon and made beautiful music.

For the marshmallows, I waited until the evening when my husband got off work just so I could have a second adult around, which I highly recommend for an activity like this. Then we all went to our backyard where we have a firepit and we roasted marshmallows and made smores. My boys LOVE making smores in the firepit and this was the first time we built a fire since last fall, so they were extra excited. But yes, I most definitely recommend having that second adult to help out when a fire is involved.

  • Nn: Nature walk and Nilla wafers

We had a great talk about what the word “nature” actually means and ways that we can take care of the beautiful world around us, which for kiddos means that we are kind to animals and we don’t leave our trash on the ground outside. Then we went on a short walk around the park and pointed out as much nature as we could. Then of course we played at that park for a good long while, with our Nilla wafers there to snack on.

  • Oo: learn about Oceans and Oranges

I said earlier that I didn’t have any other activity ideas for O, so we watched a few YouTube videos about Oceans. But I was totally fine having that slower, in-home day, and my boys really enjoyed it. Also, it provided a perfect continuation of our nature conversation from the day before and we talked about oceans also being a part of nature. And just like we need to be responsible for taking care of land-based nature, we are also responsible for taking care of our oceans and other water environments.

  • Pp: Play at the Park and Pizza

This is exactly what it sounds like, and my boys loved it! Preschool doesn’t have to be complicated to still be awesome, remember.

  • Qq: make king and Queen crowns and Quaker oat no-bake cookies

Q is a difficult letter, I’ll be honest. But we managed it. First we decorated yellow construction paper as crowns and cut them out into hats. My boys loved wearing their crowns all day and they also loved that I made and wore a crown for myself as well; I was the only Queen in our little group, after all, while my boys played that they were kings.

But finding a Q food was even more difficult. I looked up some ideas online and only found two suggestions: quesadillas and quinoa. But I rejected both of those foods because they both have a hard “cuh” sound like the letter C, rather than the traditional “kwah” you hear in regular Q words (queen, quilt, quiet, etc.).

Finally in desperation I looked through my own pantry and found a container of Quaker oats. Perfect! So we used our Quaker oats and made no-bake fudge cookies. It’s a bit of a stretch, I know, but at least you pronounce it “kwah-quaker” instead of “cuh-quesadilla” and my boys were fine with that.

Plus I freaking love no-bake cookies. It’s a win-win all around.

  • Rr: visit a River and Raspberries

We went up Provo canyon for R Day and my boys particularly loved this one. There is a park, Canyon Glen Park, right up the canyon that overlooks the river. We had a wonderful afternoon throwing rocks in the water and crossing the bridge over and over and over and over and over and over and over. My boys loved it!

I always joke that there is something in the male DNA, some permanent fixture on that Y chromosome, that dictates that objects must be thrown into any significant body of water. I noticed it growing up with all brothers, that we could never visit a lake, river, or beach without everyone throwing rocks and sticks in very first thing, and I’m noticing it again and again with my own boys, as young as they are. See a river? Then that Y chromosome says that we MUST find a rock and throw it in there!

Later we drove farther up the canyon to see the Bridal Veil Falls, another favorite of my boys. And yes, they threw whatever rocks they could find into that little body of water too.

Bridal Veil Falls in Provo Canyon
  • Ss: Swimming and Strawberries

This S Day fell in late May, but the outdoor pools still weren’t open yet. So we went to an indoor pool, which was still great. I love swimming and my boys love it too and we had a great time.

  • Tt: sleep in a Tent and Tater Tots

I typically did these Speedy Preschool activities five days a week with a few exceptions: I went out of town in mid-May and so we only did two Speedy Preschool days that week, and later we took off Memorial Day and in early June my husband took a day off of work to celebrate our wedding anniversary, which was another no-preschool day.

But the other big exception came when I was planning this T ay. Another of my boys’ favorite summer activities is to set up the tent in the backyard and have a sleepover out there with their dad. So I had to arrange our T day for a Friday to accommodate my husband’s work schedule. To line it all up, we had to skip a day earlier that week and so we only did Speedy Preschool four days that week. It wasn’t a big deal, but is certainly something to consider when looking ahead and planning out these Speedy Preschool activities.

My boys and their dad out in the tent for their T Day Tent sleepover.
  • Uu: make treats for our Uncles and Upside-down cake

Like how we baked and ate cookies for C Day, I kind of mooched both the food and the activity into one for U Day. Raspberry upside-down cake is a family favorite, and I was already going up to my mom’s house for the day so she could babysit my boys while I went to the doctor (pregnant, remember?). So after my appointment I went back to my mom’s house where I then made our favorite upside-down cake, then invited my brothers over, aka my boys’ uncles, where we shared the cake with them and had a nice little visit. Sweet, simple, and perfect for Speedy Preschool.

  • Vv: make baking soda Volcanos and Vegetables

Baking soda and vinegar Volcanos are my boys all-time favorite preschool activity, and this time was no exception. I don’t think they’ll ever get tired of it. But it’s easy enough, so that’s fine. I follow a very basic salt-dough recipe (flour, salt, and water) to make the volcanos, and then bake them on very low heat for a short while. Then it’s all an easy cleanup and into the trash they all go!

Then for dinner I made a vegetable-heavy meal: chicken with broccoli and carrots. Back when we did the letter F we ate a variety of fruit and we also had a conversation about what kinds of food are fruits and then we talked about about healthy foods v. junk foods. Following up with that conversation, we now added vegetables into the discussion and talked about how healthy vegetables are for you and that you should eat them every day, whereas ice cream and cookies are fun but make your tummy sick if you eat them too much or too often.

  • Ww: go for a Walk in the Wagon and Watermelon

This was another park day for us, as that’s where we walked to. But note that for every activity where we went to a park (which was H for Hike, N for Nature, P for Park, and now W for Walk), I made a point to go to different parks, so it didn’t feel like I was just repeating the same activity over and over again, although technically I was. I specifically saved our own local neighborhood park for W Day because it’s in walking distance from our house, which was the whole point of W Day, to go for a Walk.

  • Xx: scavenger hunt–X Marks the Spot

X is another difficult letter. In fact, it’s the most difficult letter, my opinion. And notice that I didn’t come up with a single X-themed food.

But I did indeed come up with a great activity that was a huge hit for my boys: a scavenger hunt with an X at the end.

My boys love pirates and so they are very well acquainted with the concept of a treasure hunt and with the phrase “X marks the spot.” So I created an alphabet review scavenger hunt for them around the house.

It went like this: every letter had a clue phrased like this: “B is for Bed.” “C is for Couch.” “D is for Dad.” “E is for Eggs.” etc. etc. which led to the next clue. Then I taped the clues all around the house in their correct locations and handed my boys the very first clue, which was the clue for A. I told them that they had to find all the letters clues in the entire house all the way to the letter X, where they would find their prize.

These are the letter-themed clues I wrote out for our scavenger hunt. Note the simplicity: it’s just me writing with a pen on basic construction paper.

This scavenger hunt sounds so simple but it was SO MUCH FUN! My boys had an absolute blast with it and they were beyond thrilled to find their prize at the end: Candy bars that I had taped together into an X shape.

  • Yy: Yoga and Yogurt

Just like with the exercising videos, all this took was a quick YouTube search and sure enough I found several channels and videos doing yoga for kids. My second-oldest admittedly got bored of the yoga pretty quick, but my oldest loved it and kept asking for more and more!

Hmm, maybe I should use this as a tool in my toolkit for rainy days when we’re stuck inside and he’s bouncing off the walls with wild, unbridled, four-year-old energy.

This activity also served as a good follow-up conversation from our E day when we did exercise. We’d had a conversation that day about what exercise is and what kinds of things we can do for exercise (riding bikes, running, playing sports, climbing trees, playing jump rope, etc.). So I was pleasantly surprised when both my boys retained and remembered that conversation perfectly, even a whole month later, and were thrilled to learn this new form of exercise: yoga.

They really are listening, moms! But further, I think the point here is that they listen and retain information when its presented in an active and fun way. They most certainly remember what these new words like exercise, kinetic, nature, and yoga mean because of these very active and very memorable Speedy Preschool Activities. Learning doesn’t just come from a classroom, my friends!

  • Zz: visit the Zoo and Zebra brownies

Okay, I’ll be honest, this one didn’t quite go as I planned. Remember earlier I said that I typically did this Speedy Preschool Review five days a week, Monday through Friday, unless other holidays or factors came into play. Well, if I followed that all the way through the end then I would have finished with this Z day back in the beginning of June.

Instead things didn’t go according to plan. A trip to the zoo, after all, is a big deal and takes quite a bit of planning. And things suddenly got busy. And suddenly it got hot! These are all excuses, but regardless, we officially ended our Speedy Preschool Review with our big zoo trip about two weeks after we did Y day. And my boys certainly noticed the time gap and were asking and asking and asking for Z day, but life just sort of happened and it got put off and put off and put off.

But don’t worry! Eventually it did happen, even if it was later than I planned! We went to the zoo and had a perfectly lovely time.

Hogle Zoo is one of our favorites!

As for our Z food, I mooched that one a bit too. I made cheesecake-swirl brownies, but we called them “Zebra” brownies to match the Z theme. And it worked perfectly.

Ready for Summer!

With that, our school year officially ended and we are currently on our summer break. But we’ll be back come Labor Day with more preschool, kindergarten, and general homeschooling. It will be great!

Help a mama out and please share any other speedy letter review activities you can think of.

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