Meet the maker
Hi, I’m Ariel.
I’m a preschool Assistant Director who spent too many Sunday nights piecing together other people’s printables. Now I build complete, classroom-tested weekly units for ages 2.5–5 — so you can plan less and teach more.
For review: dotted phrases are details for Ariel to confirm before launch.
The classroom years
I grew up in this work — one classroom at a time.
I didn’t start behind a desk. I started as an assistant teacher in a twos room, and over a decade in early childhood classrooms I’ve taught nearly every age we serve: the just-turned-threes who need chunky puzzle pieces and a two-line circle script, and the fives who ask “why” until you run out of answers.
Eventually I moved into the Assistant Director role at my school. Now I hire and mentor teachers, review lesson plans, and cover classrooms when someone is out — which means I still spend part of most weeks on the carpet, singing the clean-up song. That mix is the whole point of this site: I plan like a director and test like a teacher.
The Sunday-night problem
Good teachers were losing their weekends to planning.
Here’s what I kept seeing, year after year: a wonderful teacher at her kitchen table on Sunday night with six browser tabs open. A counting printable from one shop, a circle-time idea from a blog, a craft from a saved photo — five fonts, five loose goals, and no thread connecting Monday’s book to Thursday’s centers.
The internet is full of free preschool activity lists. Very few of them will tell you what a two-and-a-half-year-old can actually do with scissors, how to shorten the same activity for a wiggly group, or what to say when circle time falls apart. So the gaps got filled with the teacher’s own evening. The prep didn’t make the teaching better. It just made the weekend shorter.
The first complete unit
So I started building whole weeks, not worksheets.
The first unit was a favor. One of my teachers was drowning, so I built her a complete week — lesson plans, centers, the assessment checklist, the parent letter — in one file, with one voice, every piece pointing at the same big idea. She stopped planning on Sundays. Then the teacher next door asked for a copy.
Preschool Playbook Co. is that favor, done properly. Every unit is a full week of 72+ pages for ages 2.5–5: lesson plans, centers and activities, assessment tools, a parent newsletter, and editable templates. The first one, We Belong ($9), covers your opening week of building classroom community — and I’ve written up my whole planning system on the blog if you want to see how the pieces fit.
What I believe
Play is the curriculum. Weekends are non-negotiable.
Two beliefs run through every page I make. First: children learn through play. A strong preschool activity isn’t a quiz with crayons — it’s an invitation. Set out the basket, ask one good question, and let the learning happen at the block corner and the sensory bin. That’s also why every unit comes age-banded: the same theme, tuned separately for 2.5–3-year-olds and 4–5-year-olds, because those are honestly two different jobs.
Second: teachers deserve their weekends. Low prep isn’t a marketing line here; it’s a design constraint. If a center takes longer to assemble than children will spend playing with it, it gets cut. It’s also why Playbook+ membership won’t open until the library reaches ten units — $7 a month or $69 a year at the founding rate, locked for life. I’d rather earn a membership than sell one.
Children learn through play. Teachers deserve their weekends. Every page I make has to answer to both.
How I Build a Unit
Every Playbook unit goes through the same four passes before it ships.
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Step 1
Observe
Every unit starts on the classroom floor. I keep a running note of what my teachers ask for, where transitions wobble, and what children return to during free play. Themes come from real rooms, not keyword lists.
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Step 2
Plan
I map the full week before designing a single page: five days, one thread, every center pulling toward the same big idea — with a 2.5–3 version and a 4–5 version of each activity.
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Step 3
Test in Real Classrooms
Drafts go to working teachers first. I watch what holds attention for ten minutes, what falls apart in two, and which pieces are too fiddly for small hands.
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Step 4
Refine
Then I rewrite. Scripts get shorter, pieces get bigger, prep steps get cut. A unit ships when a teacher can print it on Friday and teach it on Monday.
- Classroom-Tested Every activity has run in a real preschool room before it ships.
- Director-Reviewed Checked against the same standards I hold my own team’s plans to.
- Made for Real Schedules Built around drop-off, nap, and 20-minute center rotations.
Contact
Say hello.
Questions about a unit, licensing for your whole school, or a theme you wish existed? I read everything — and the request list genuinely drives what I build next.
- hello@preschoolplaybookco.com
- I’m in a school building most weekdays, so I answer email in the evenings — usually within two school days.
- Directors: ask about multi-classroom licensing before you buy — it’s cheaper than buying twice.
Plan less this year. I’ll handle the pages.
Start with the full curriculum map, or grab a free printable and see how a Playbook week feels in your room.
First week of school? We Belong is $9, 72+ pages, and ready to print — or start with first-week activity ideas on the blog.