About The Kindergarten Connection

Ideas and Inspiration for Early Childhood

Here at The Kindergarten Connection, you will find fun learning activities designed with preschool, kindergarten, and first grade in mind.

From crafts and printables to lessons, games, and more.

Whether you are a classroom teacher, homeschool family, or a parent looking for additional at-home learning activities, there is something for everyone!

Meet The Team

Alex – Founder

Alex is a Kindergarten teacher with a passion for making learning fun and engaging.  She brought that passion over to this corner of the internet when The Kindergarten Connection had its first blog post in 2014. Since then, it has continued to grow and become a source of fun learning activities for kids, including the addition of its sister site, The Letters of Literacy. 

She has earned a Bachelors degree in Elementary Education, and Masters Degrees in Special Education and Curriculum Design. She is a night owl, coffee lover, and owns over 2,000 children’s books. She lives with her husband and their big black Labrador, Tank in the Pacific Northwest.

You can contact Alex via email by reaching out to alex@thekindergartenconnection.com.

Mandy – Community Manager

MissMaesDays.com is the creation of Mandy Mae; wife, mother, teacher, and frugal-DIY-enthusiast. Hoping to inspire others to take action in making a positive influence in the lives of children with simple DIY, crafting, thrifting, and teaching projects, Mandy enjoys sharing both her successes and hiccups with easy-to-follow tips & tutorials.

In addition to contributing awesome ideas and activities to the site, Mandy does a lot behind the scenes as our community manager. She’s ready to help share the latest posts with you, answer questions or comments, and respond to emails.

If you need assistance with downloads or have general site questions – she can help! You can reach her via the contact tabs at the top of the page, or by email at hello@thekindergartenconnection.com

Shannon – Social Media

Shannon is a former teacher turned SAHM to 3 active boys. She is always on the lookout for ways to celebrate the special days and find joy in the hard ones because motherhood (and life!) seem to have a lot of both. Shannon loves making up games with her kids and making them laugh at her silliness. Target is her happy place. She shares her ideas and inspiration over on Joy in the Works. 

Shannon works hard to make sure we have exciting, helpful, and relevant content over on our Facebook page and Pinterest, too. She is always on the lookout for must-try educational activities and loves to share them with you!

Alison – Contributing Writer

Alison Davitt is a Special Education Teacher turned stay-at-home mom. She enjoys finding ways to teach her two young children through intentional play and blogs over at Yoga Pants & Pearls. She is a coffee fanatic who loves a cozy night in with her family of four. You can find more of her toddler and preschool activities on her Instagram and Pinterest pages!

Kristina – Contributing Writer

Kristina has been teaching Kindergarten for 6 years, using hands-on and engaging activities to help her students foster a lifetime love of learning. She couldn’t live without coffee, Target trips, and Amazon Prime. Kristina blogs over at Sweet for Kindergarten, and loves to share ideas on Instagram and Pinterest.

Nadia – Contributing Writer

Nadia is a South African mom to two littles, a former preschool teacher, and currently working as a reading therapist at a remedial school. She blogs over at Teach me Mommy about easy and playful activities inspiring you to be your child’s first teacher. You can see more of her ideas on Pinterest and Instagram.

Stephanie – Contributing Writer

Stephanie is a Kindergarten teacher who believes that learning should be fun, positive, and student-led. She strives to create a healthy work-life balance with lots of coffee, yoga, and family time. Stephanie shares ideas on how to maximize teacher organization and student independence on her blog, Teaching Little Leaders, Instagram, and Pinterest.

Valerie-Contributing Writer

Valerie Deneen is the author of Inner Child Fun, where she inspires parents to spend more quality time with their kids, and less money doing it. Inner Child Fun celebrates simple pleasures for all ages—with more than 1,000 frugal and creative projects sure to bring out the “kid” in you too! Follow Valerie on Twitter or say “Hi” on Facebook.

Heidi – Contributing Writer

Heidi is a former teacher turned SAHM to two little ones who is the author of Mac-n-Taters:Play.Learn.Grow. She loves learning through play and letting her children be little. They certainly don’t stay little for long, so it is super important to her to let them be little and to find fun, hands-on ways to play and learn. Heidi loves teaching with themes and shares fun, play-based learning activities and ideas on her blog, Instagram, and Pinterest to go along with the themes she is doing with her littles.