mr. toolbox

A few of you said that you would like to make a Mr. Toolbox game for your little one, so here ya go!

materials:

(click on the thumbnail to download the file)

- 12x12 piece of black cardstock
- silver or white pen
- pocket
- plastic binder or something to hold the verses together
- hard hat optional :)

directions:
1. cut out and laminate tools
2. trace each shape onto the black cardstock
3. glue the pocket onto the cardstock
4. cut each verse of the song into a square
5. attach the verses to the cardstock with a plastic binder
6. sing the song to the tune of Are you Sleeping

*I got this idea from a book I have (Hey! I Can Read This! by Donna Sabino and Kathy Barlow Thurman).

**Be sure to check out The Preschool Corner for more ideas to use with your preschooler!

coin recognition

One of our math kindergarten learning goals is to learn about money. I made this game for the girls to play when we start talking about money. It is similar to the Mr. Toolbox game that I made for my little guy.




materials:

(click on the thumbnail to download the file)

- 12x12 piece of cardstock
- glue
- scissors

directions:
1. cut out title, song verses, coins and pig
2. glue the pieces on to the piece of cardstock
3. sing the song to the tune of Darlin' Clementine

*I think I'm going to add a few more coins so we can sing the song a couple of times through.

**I got this idea from a book I have (Hey! I Can Read This! by Donna Sabino and Kathy Barlow Thurman).

sight word review

I like to keep things fresh around here when it comes to repetitive work. And, since my oldest daughter is JUST. LIKE. ME., so does she!

Here are a few ideas for sight word review that we do:


bright colored cards on a loose leaf ring (mix them up occassionally)


bingo


on cute little die cuts
(put these pencils in a pencil box and have child read one at a time)


word, build, write from Home Grown Hearts

** for more preschool ideas and activities, check out The Preschool Corner!

bean bag tutorial

Okay, so I know this isn't an original idea or anything, but I made some bean bags for my kids and they LOVE them! I also try to find ways to use them during school time. Around valentine's, I cut big hearts out of construction paper and wrote numbers on them and tapped them to the hallway floor. I called out a number and they had to toss the bean bag onto the number. I love it when we can accomplish 2 things at a time - physical education (tossing) and math (number recognition)!

Okay, so for all of you who just landed on planet earth and doesn't know how to make bean bags...here you go :)



materials -
fabrics
pattern (5x5)
fabric pen
scissors
beans



1. trace the pattern onto the fabric
2. cut out squares
3. sew right sides together - leave an openning to pour the beans into
4. turn the bags inside out



5. use scissors to push the corners all the way out



6. enlist little helpers to fill the bags full of beans
7. hand sew the openning closed



8. enjoy!

boom!

Here is another fun math game called "Boom!". This is a great game to reinforce learning and have fun while doing it.

materials -
BOOM.docx
large craft sticks
small or large envelope
sharpie

directions -

1. on as many craft sticks as you wish, write basic math problems.

2. on one or more of the craft sticks, write the word "BOOM!".

how to play -

1. players take turns drawing a craft stick and giving the answer to the problems written on them.

2. if the player answers correctly, he/she may keep the craft stick. If he/she answers incorrectly, he/she must return the craft stick to the envelope and play continues.

3. when a craft stick with "BOOM!" is drawn, the player must return all of his/her sticks to the envelope and play continues.

4. the winner will be the player with the most craft sticks either after a set period of time or after all the craft sticks have been captured.

educational benefits -
mixed operations
basic facts practice

pig out!

No, I'm not talking about pigging out with food! This "pig out" is a fun math game that you can use for addition or multiplication.

Here’s how to play:

1. roll one die to see who goes first. the player with the highest number goes first. give each player their own game board.

2. player one rolls both dice and writes down the equation in the first column, writes the sum/product in the second column and the total amount (running total) in the third column.

3. after player one’s turn, he/she decides if he/she wants to roll again (play) or pass to the second player.

4. if the player chooses to pass, he/she must pass the dice to their partner to end their turn. If he/she chooses to play, he/she will roll the dice again and add the new sum/product to their previous score.

5. don’t Pig Out!! if the player rolls one (1), he/she loses their turn.


if he/she rolls two 1s (pig eyes), he/she loses their points and must begin again at zero.


6. Take turns repeating steps 2-5.

7. The winner is the first person to score at least 100 points or the agreed upon score.


materials:
game boards
dice
dry erase markers

educational benefits:
numbers and operations
mental math

** Here is the link to download the game. I've never done this before, so please let me know if it works or not!!

Pig Out.docx