Summer and sand - I just mentioned the two and my kids got so excited! They really enjoyed these stones and there are so many options to this activity. It's just great. I bought a bag of gem stones at one of the dollar stores and 2 containers of Puffy paint from Michael's. Then as you can see I painted one letter on each gem. I let them dry for 24 hours before we used them. I just positioned them on top of the sand for this picture so you could see the letters well, but usually we hide them in the sand and the kids use the shovels to find them. It's a lot of fun seeing what letter you get. Lillian quickly saw that there were two different colors of letters, so that is one way they can be sorted. The pack of gems I got has different sizes in it and 3 different colors of gems so there's two more ways they can be sorted! I loved the Puffy Paint because tactile learners (those are the children who are always touching and feeling items) can actually feel the letter on each stone! If you had a little older child you could do the constants in one color and the vowels in a second color for another sorting method. The other thing I plan on doing is using these in our swimming pool this summer! Not only can they "dive" for the stones but they'll have a different sensation when they walk across the bottom of the pool. Now if it would just warm up and STAY that way!
I love this activity for so many reasons! First of all it was cheap to create! I bought the two beach balls and the letter stickers at the dollar store, it was fast and easy to make, the stickers are perfect for tactile learners, and the kids have loved playing with the balls. What's not to love!? I love the way the letters are raised off the balls so the kids can feel them and not just see the letters. I bought the numbers at Michael's but I know Lowes and Walmart carry similar ones too (look with the mailboxes). Another thing I like is that when I want to reuse the balls for another activity I can just pull the stickers off and start over. To play the game: toss the ball between the players. The person who catches the ball looks at the letter (or number) closest to their thumb and says it. Then they pass it on to another player. It doesn't matter which thumb they use, the object is just to get them reviewing the letters and numbers. Cole likes to play too but he is so young he doesn't know his letters or numbers yet; however, he knows his colors so he can shout out the color his thumb is on. That way everyone can participate!
You can also combine the letter ball and the gems to make a new game: spin the ball and what ever letter is closest to the top you have to find in the gem stones. The person with the most gems at the end of the game is the winner (if the gem has already been taken do nothing and it is the next persons turn).
I have turned the two largest boats over so you can see the bottom of them. I bought all of the boats at one of the stores that sells everything for a $1. They have different sizes. The largest ones work the best to draw on, but they were a dollar each. The smaller ones came in a pack of three for a dollar. They worked alright too, but I could only put the shape on each boat once and there wasn't room for me to label it (for example, "diamond"). I used a pencil to sketch the shape on the bottom of each boat and then traced over it with a permanent marker. The large boats I was able to do one just as an outline shape and a second one colored in. We don't have our pool up yet, so currently the kids are using them in the tub but they are still having a great time with them. I will take them out to the pool when we get it put up. Even though they won't be new then just changing the setting they are in can make it SEEM new! In addition, if you want to do this activity in a sensory table instead of the pool or a tub if will work just fine. Of course having different kinds of boats eventually leads to them sorting them by size, color, and type, and later they may count them, but I try to let them come up with the ideas on their own.
This is another purchase from one of the dollar stores! I bought one container of shells and, using a permanent marker, I wrote a lower case letter on each shell. In the picture I have put them face up so you can see them, but the kids like digging for them in the sand. Additionally, if you put uppercase letters on the gems (a previous activity explained) you can use them and these shells to play a matching game of lowercase and uppercase letters!
MATCHING FLIP FLOPS ACTIVITY
The only item you need for this summer activity is a variety of flip flops. Before hand, label your flip flops with the desired information. Then let the children sort the flip flops and put the like pairs together. Here are some ideas you might want to consider when choosing a topic for your flip flops:dots - numeral (so put three dots one one flipflop and the number 3 on its mate), numeral - number word (3 - three), compound words, words that sound alike but are spelled differently (homonyms; "new" and "knew"), positional words and they can sequence them.
Of course you have to consider the age of the child who will be completing the activity and make sure you choose a skill that is age appropriate. If the activity is for a young child you may want to do the alphabet or numbers.
FISHING GAME
This game is so easy to make and yet the kids were so excited when I got it out! I bought a package of the small sized sheets of foam from one of the dollar stores and free hand drew a fish pattern (I got one fish out of each piece of foam). Then I used that as my pattern and could cut 2-3 fish out at the same time. Next, I drew on smiles, and glued on eyes and pieces of magnets. You can buy magnets at Walmart on the craft isle. They are available already cut, or a roll or them, which is what I used, but either works fine. I did this on both sides of the fish. After the glue was dry and used a Sharpie to label the fish. I chose to do a number on one side and an addition problem on the other side. That way the kids have a choice as to what they are doing! Lastly, I put the fish in our water table (I didn't have water in it at the time but I don't know why you couldn't). Luckily we have a puzzle that has a magnetic rod with it so I used it for the game, but you could easily make one (dowel rod, string, and magnet). If you have a younger child they can tell the color of the fish. If you want, they can keep the fish if they get the answer right and then count them at the end of the game to see who has the most.
RECYCLABLE GAME!
I had problems getting a good pictures of this game, so I hope I can explain it well enough that you can follow along. Here goes. Someone had gave me a large plastic cup cake container from the store. I put a dollop of pain in each hole (one color at a time as we had to rinse our paint brushes in between each color) and the kids painted the bottom of each cupcake circle (don't skimp on the paint or it will flake off). Next, I used a hot glue gun and glued the plastic cup cake carrier to the base of the container (its black in the picture). After it was dry I used a permanent marker and to write a number in between the cup cakes. Then I put in two rubber bouncy balls. I chose a larger one and a smaller one, but you could use two different colored ones instead, but they must be different. Lastly, I hot glued the lid on.
How the game is played: The youngest child decided which ball he will use and then the older child goes first. She shakes the game thus moving the balls around. Each player must then decided which number they want to use (because some of the holes have 4 numbers around it; touching it) and then the second player decides which number he will use. The person with the highest number wins that round and the game proceeds on.
My kids really enjoyed this game because of the fun of shaking the container (movement) and the noise it made! My kids needed help reading the numbers and knowing their options but older kids will figure it out and be able to do it on their own.
SUMMER FILE FOLDER GAME
I bought some summer themed stickers from the dollar store (can you tell I hang out there a lot??) and placed them on a piece of card stock. After the teacher store laminated them for me I cut them out. Then I cut them in half one at a time, gluing one half of the picture onto a file folder. The other half I put a piece of self stick velcro on. The other piece of the velcro went on the file folder next to the corresponding sticker picture. It doesn't matter where you place the stickers on the folder or where you cut it. However, I chose to incorporate other elements that I can use later. For instance, for two like stickers I cut one horizontally and one vertically, I grouped three hats together with two the same and one that was different, I used stickers that had one large one and one smaller one of the same sticker (like the light houses shown at the top), and so on. To play the game the child removes all the sticker pieces that are velcro'd on and then matches it as he puts it back on the file folder. Simple!
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