Nicole's Little Academy

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Nicole's Little Academy Early Childhood Education

Case closed! 🕵️‍♂️👻 This week at Nicole's Little Academy, the little detectives helped Sherlock Ghost and his trusty sid...
10/10/2026

Case closed! 🕵️‍♂️👻 This week at Nicole's Little Academy, the little detectives helped Sherlock Ghost and his trusty sidekick (dog) solve the mystery of the missing trick or treat candy. We tracked down the culprit ( the Frankenstein’s son!) hiding in the pantry with the missing bag of Halloween candy.

Here is a look at what we explored this week:

Literacy & Stories: We read The Very Hungry Caterpillar’s Creepy Crawly Halloween, Grumpkin, Goodnight Train Halloween, and How to Catch a Monster.

Math & Early Concepts: We practiced map skills for our ABCs, went on a color sorted ,explored shape stamped books and shaped Halloween candy.

Fine Motor & Dot Markers: Kids worked on "S is for Sherlock Ghost," "C is for candy," "M is for magnifying glass," and solved the mystery by dot marking our path to solve the mystery.

Cut & Color Projects: Our young detectives worked on cutting and coloring magnifying glasses, Sherlock Ghost and his dog, a little Frankenstein caught with the candy, and clue books.

Creative Crafts: We made ghost puppets, Frankensteins, and custom ghost name crafts.
Gross Motor Fun: We rolled the gross motor dice and practiced flying like a bat, leaping like a vampire, flying like a witch, and jumping over a jack o lantern.

Spooky Season Fun 🎃✨This week we shook things up and let the little ones take the lead! Some days we focused on structur...
10/02/2026

Spooky Season Fun 🎃✨
This week we shook things up and let the little ones take the lead! Some days we focused on structured activities, some days we mixed outdoor play with dot markers and crafts, and another day was pure outdoor play under absolutely gorgeous weather. We just rolled with the flow and played, played, and played!

📚 Stories We Explored:
Skippyjon Jones in Mummy Trouble
Spookie Pookie

🔢 Learning Through Play:
Restocked baby bottles using number recognition!
Practiced alphabet recognition by adding alphabetized tea lights to our jack o lantern!

🟢 Dot Marker Fun:
J is for Jack o Lantern
M is for Mummy
S is for Scarab Beetle
B is for Blocks

✂️ Cut & Color Creations:
Mummy and pumpkin
Scarab beetle
Jack o lantern
A mummy playing with blocks

🎨 Hands On Crafts:
Mummy name craft
Mummy cat
Movable mummy

🕵️‍♂️ Coming Up Next Week...
We are stepping into a spooky mystery! Sherlock Ghost and his trusty ghost dog are on the case to solve the mystery of the missing trick-or-treat candy. Stay tuned for the adventure!

09/25/2026

Elsa and Anna reenactment brought to you by scout and Willow 😂♥️.

Teddy Bear Tea Party weekly recap:Step right up to the coziest corner of autumn because our little academy transformed i...
09/25/2026

Teddy Bear Tea Party weekly recap:

Step right up to the coziest corner of autumn because our little academy transformed into an enchanted woodland for a magical Teddy Bear Tea Party week! With one friend resting at home and another away on vacation, our cozy crew of two still made memories to last a lifetime.

Storybook Adventures: We curled up with delightful tales like Angelina Ballerina and the Tea Party, Mouse and Spoon Rabbit Tea, Madeline's Tea Party, and The Polka Dot Tea Party.

Creative Literacy and Math: Our dot markers brought us "C is for Cup," "S is for Swing," "T is for Teapot," and "L is for Leaf." We explored leaf piles for our ABCs, hunted for vintage toys hidden in the leaves for numbers, and discovered that shapes make the best sugar cubes.

Busy little hands: The kids practiced their cutting skills by crafting teddy bears on swings, stuffed animal frogs enjoying tea, teddies driving trucks, and bunnies sipping brew. Our hands on crafts included charming acorn creations, leaf people, owls on pumpkins, and personalized leaf name projects.

The Grand Finale: We wrapped up our whimsical week with a real tea party complete with cozy grilled cheese sandwiches and fun pineapple drink mix served up in our favorite teacups!
Get ready for some spooky fun because next week marks the official start of our brand new Halloween themes! Take a peek at some of our favorite moments from the week below!

Bear & Friends Picnic Week RecapWhat an amazing, immersive week of learning and play in our woodland setup! Even with a ...
09/18/2026

Bear & Friends Picnic Week Recap

What an amazing, immersive week of learning and play in our woodland setup! Even with a couple of kids away, our dynamic duo had the absolute best time diving into our bear and friends picnic theme.

Storytime Adventures: We curled up with wonderful tales including Ten Wriggly Wriggly Caterpillars, The Grouchy Ladybug, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, and Those Darn Squirrels.

Literacy & Dot Markers: Worked on letter recognition and fine motor skills with dot markers where L is for ladybug, P is for picnic, S is for sandwich, and b is for basket.

Math & Letters: Loaded up our pretend picnic baskets for ABC practice and helped the bear build his massive, towering sandwich together for our numbers focus.

Colors & Shapes: Explored vibrant colors through butterflies and learned our geometric shapes with some adorable bee wing matching.

Crafts & Grand Finale: Created ladybugs, bumblebees, custom picnic placemats, and woven baskets, culminating in our very own cozy indoor picnic on Thursday complete with veggie straws, sandwiches, and endless imagination!

Behold the chaotic masterpiece that is this week's Mad Libs Preschool Curriculum: a high stakes saga where fairway glory...
09/12/2026

Behold the chaotic masterpiece that is this week's Mad Libs Preschool Curriculum: a high stakes saga where fairway glory meets sugary peril and high velocity waterfowl. If anyone asks how 13+ years of professional wizardry turns a blank lesson plan into pure gold, point them straight to this absolute fever dream of a schedule.

The Chaos Manifest

The Scene: A majestic pirate ship sailing across the 18th hole of a pristine golf course, loaded down with a stack of syrup drenched pancakes, cape wearing superhero ducks wielding neon lightsabers, and a dapper lion rocking star novelty glasses while sinking a putt.

Curriculum Breakdown:

Shapes: Geometry got delicious with shaped butter melting right over our towering stack of pancakes.

Numbers: Counting took a hazardous turn with numbered golf balls flying across the green from the pirate ship's cannon.

Letters: Swing away with lettered golf clubs because nothing builds early literacy quite like a 9 iron decorated with an alphabet identity crisis.

Colors: The fairway turned into a galactic rave thanks to colored lightsabers.

Story Time Lineup
Curious George Plays Mini Golf
Curious George Makes Pancakes
Ty’s Travels: Super Ty

Fine Motor Dot Marker Mastery: P is for pancake, L is for lightsaber, and D is for duck.

Cutting Practice: Little hands tackled the ultimate scissor gauntlet featuring a stack of pancakes, a pirate duck holding a lightsaber, and a lion hard at work on his short game.

Craft Station: Campers constructed their own pirate duck puppets, engineered edible architecture with build your own pancakes and fabricated protective gear via star novelty glasses.

✨ Time Traveling Through the Sonoran Desert at Nicole's Little Academy! ✨What an epic week of adventure! Our fearless co...
09/05/2026

✨ Time Traveling Through the Sonoran Desert at Nicole's Little Academy! ✨

What an epic week of adventure! Our fearless co-pilots Theo and Juniper safely navigated our flight straight back to Arizona, landing us right in the historic heart of the ancient Huhugam world.
For those curious about our incredible historical hosts, the Huhugam (pronounced who-who-am!), often translated as "The Ones Who Came Before," are world famous master engineers of the desert. They built an astonishing, miles long network of irrigation canals that turned the dry desert soil into thriving agricultural fields long before modern machinery ever existed.
Our little learners stepped right into that rich history with some amazing hands on learning stations:

Yucca Weaving & Numbers: We watched women weave traditional cordage from yucca plant leaves, restocked them with prepared rope, and used it to practice counting.

Color Sorting: We mastered our colors by sorting vibrant bundles of colored yucca leaves.
Corn Grinding & Math: We visited a traditional metate station to grind corn and practice counting numbered corn kernels.

Prickly Pear Shape Practice: We collected desert fruit to fill our basket drop-pockets while working on our shapes.

Our Weekly Learning Lineup:
Letter Focus (Dot Markers): M is for Mesquite, P is for Prickly Pear, H is for Huhugam (the ones who came before us), and S is for Saguaro.

Storytime Favorites: Up and Down in the Dirt, Cactus Hotel, Fry Bread, and Way Out in the Desert.

Scissor Skills: Precision cutting practice featuring metates, prickly pear cacti, and historic Huhugam scenes.

Creative Crafts: The kids handcrafted coyote headbands, adorable quail crafts, painted clay bowls using authentic yucca plant paint brushes, and built their very own bobcat puppets.

Extended our Mexican adventure for a second magical week, diving headfirst into the vibrant colors and traditions of Día...
08/29/2026

Extended our Mexican adventure for a second magical week, diving headfirst into the vibrant colors and traditions of Día de los Mu***os! 💀 marigolds, music, and way too much Coco made for an unforgettable ride.
We kicked things off with some incredible reads: Cactus Soup, Celebrate the World: Día de los Mu***os, Living in Mexico, and Let’s Celebrate Día de los Mu***os.
Our fine motor practice and crafts were packed with culture and creativity:
Cut & Color: Butterflies, marigolds, candles, and pan de mu**to.
Dot Marker Practice: C is for Cempasúchil (marigold), O is for Ofrenda, V is for Vela (candle), and P is for Pan de Mu**to.
Crafts & Activities: We built a skeleton musician and a folkloric dancer, crafted an alebrije mobile, and designed custom sugar skulls.
We kept our hands busy all week long building our learning around our classroom ofrenda adding lettered pan de mu**to on Monday, colored picture frames on Tuesday, and numbered candles into our Catrina scene with her alebrije cat. By Thursday, the kids took the reins, steering the ship and requesting a rotation of their favorite hands on activities. Naturally, we spent the whole week playing, singing, dancing, and watching Coco on an absolute loop by popular demand! 😅
That officially wraps up our journey through Mexico. Next week, we’re stepping back in time to explore the ancient Hohokam people ( also known as the Sonoran Desert People) and taking a field trip right in our backyard to explore the Casa Grande Ruins National Monument! 🏛️✨

Outdoor temps were scorching this week, so we packed our bags, escaped the heat, and took our imaginations straight to M...
08/22/2026

Outdoor temps were scorching this week, so we packed our bags, escaped the heat, and took our imaginations straight to Mexico! ✈️🇲🇽

Our adventure started Monday when we boarded our airplane, flown safely to our destination thanks to Captain Theo! Once we touched down, we grabbed our luggage and hopped aboard our tour bus to explore the vibrant sights, sounds, and traditions of Mexico, including a front row seat to some incredible folklorico dancers. 🎶💃

Our Travel Adventures & Early Learning Fun:
Storytime Reads: Green Is a Chile Pepper, Off We Go to Mexico!, and Say Hello! 📚

Shapes & Papel Picado: Identified geometric shapes tucked inside traditional papel picado banners and hung them up across our plaza.
Floral Colors: Matched bright, colorful floral blooms to the flowing dresses of our folklorico dancers.

Dance Step Counting: Practiced number recognition by sequencing the correct footwork patterns so our dancers never missed a beat! 🩰🔢

Dot Marker & Fine Motor: Explored letters M (for Mexico), A (for Alebrije), and F (for Folklorico).
Cutting Skills: Practiced scissor control by coloring and cutting out dancer figures and delicate banner patterns.

Creative Crafts: Created custom name sombreros, moving folklorico dancer puppets, and 3D Mexico scenery pop up dioramas! 🎨✨
It was a week full of culture, music, laughs, and big discoveries, all without breaking a sweat in the summer sun! ❤️☀️

Address

Mission Valley
Casa Grande, AZ
85122

Opening Hours

Monday 7am - 5pm
Tuesday 7am - 5pm
Wednesday 7am - 5pm
Thursday 7am - 5pm

Telephone

+15204503142

Website

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