Apple Math

This last week, we did an apple theme here. I came up with a couple new pages for the week and thought I would share them here.

The first was inspired by Raegan's: 

Apple File Folder Game- Counting

I wanted to do this, but didn't want to do the file folder thing. So I made this. I printed it and laminated it. I can write whatever I want on the baskets with a dry erase or wet erase marker. I think you can print from the image, but if not, here is the link in my google documents.

I had her first sort the skittles into three different bowls, then she put the correct number into each basket.

This was inspired by my 

Apple Seed Counting

I wanted to put the seeds on the apple and have the kids do math with them. The idea here is you put seeds in each apple, then the child counts and writes how many under the apple. You decide if the child is doing addition, subtraction, multiplication, division...write that in the square between the apples. The child writes the answer on the provided line. I liked this because I can use the same sheet for all three of my children. I laminated it so I don't have to do a bunch of printouts. My kids get a big kick out of using the markers to write. Here is the link in Google Documents.

Simple Apple Sort

Kaitlyn (4) is now in preschool three days a week. Last week she learned about apples at preschool and came home with lots of fun ideas. I just love her teacher. This one is very simple. The children each got a little baggie of apples. These are die-cuts. You could do printouts or stickers as well. They then sorted them by color into the four different sections on the page. 

For younger children, you could color each section the colors of your sorting ideas. So one red, one green, one blue, and one yellow. It would make the sorting easier for younger children (like toddlers). Quick and easy!

Sticker Sorting

We do a lot of sticker sorting in this house. It is a great way for J to practice categories and also helps him with fine motor skills (getting the stickers off really works those pincher muscles).  It requires little prep on my part and the only supplies necessary are paper and stickers! These activities also work really well on airplanes (easy to pack and keeps them occupied for a long time!).  We travel a lot and I always have some type of sticker sorting included in our carry-on bag.

Prep: I printed out pictures of a road, the water and the sky. You could definitely just draw these as part of the activity on the plane.  I then cut out stickers of things that were found in each location.  I placed the stickers in a zip-up pencil bag.  J pulled out one sticker at a time and decided which setting it should be placed in.  This worked really well and kept him occupied for awhile (he had a lot of stickers to place).

 

We’ve also done a similar activity in a hotel room.  I drew a train track, road and lake on some paper and he found stickers to place on each.  He was then quite content to drive his cars around the tiny road for quite awhile!

Finally we’ve done something similar at a restaurant.  I have a random assortment of items in my purse at any given moment.  In this case stickers and index cards.  We drew a setting on each one and he sorted the stickers.

These type of activities would also work well for long doctor appointments and car rides too or at home of course.

Here are a couple other examples I’ve posted on in the past:
Sorting Colors with Stickers
Counting with Stickers

We’ve also done shapes, seasons, letters and animal homes.  The possibilities are limited only by your sticker collection.

Lucky Charms Math

I gave J a little bowl of Lucky Charms cereal and first had him sort the marshmallows using the sorting printout here.  I actually had a bowl of cereal to sort myself.  I've found this often helps J stay focused and work more independently.  Sometimes if he's doing an activity with me just sitting there next to him, he'll ask for my help more often.  If I have my own activity to work on, he's fine doing this by himself.  It's also a great way to teach something new since I'm basically modeling what to do (and helped a lot when we did the charting later).

After sorting the marshmallows, he graphed them using the chart here.  We practiced reading the graph to find out how many marshmallows he had in each category (without actually counting), and quickly determine which category had the most and the least.
 J did really well on this.  He waited so patiently to eat his marshmallows (I did let him eat the broken ones and the cereal as we sorted).



Here's another chart that would work well for coloring, but there's not enough space for actually charting the marshmallows.

Age attempted: 35 months

Valentine Candy Sort

This is something Brayden did in preschool last year.

SUPPLIES

• Paper with hearts
• Crayons
• Conversation hearts

ACTIVITY

You start with a paper with several hearts on it. You then have your child color each heart a different color. You can see Brayden's teacher labeled each heart.

You then get a box of those Conversation Hearts. Have your child sort the hearts into the correct colored heart on the paper. 

When you are done, you of course eat some!

Chinese New Year Fine Motor Activity

This Thursday (February 3) is the Chinese New Year. I decided it would be fun to celebrate by doing a fine motor activity with chopsticks.

I ordered the chopsticks above from Oriental Trading Company. They are "cheater" chopsticks because they are connected at the top.

You then get two containers. Maybe bowls, jars (with a large opening), cups, etc. You then put whatever you want in one of the containers. Paper, flower petals, foamies, etc. You have your child transfer the items from one container to the other using the chopsticks.

Another idea is to combine sorting with the fine motor. Put all items in a pile and have your child sort them into a container. You can sort by type, size, color, etc.

Happy New Year! Again.

A Christmas Sort

A little while back I was at the Dollar Tree when they happened to have just started putting out Christmas decorations. I'm always looking for fun little trinkets for possible learning activities. My find on this particular day was miniature Christmas ornaments. They were 2/$1, so why not? I ended up with 32 items for the girls to sort. Atalie (1) sorted them by item (all the candy canes together, all of the snowflakes together, etc). Charis (3) sorted by attributes, according to her. So she might sorted by color (so the peppermints and candy canes would have been together since they are both red and white), shape, things to eat vs. things you can't eat, purpose. The idea with letting her sort and then tell me how she sorted them is to allow for some creativity. You'd be surprised at the ways they separate the items...ways you may have not considered before.

Apple Sort

One of my favorite things to utilize when I taught---File Folder games!!! Imagine...all the pieces in one spot, practicing a skill, one-on-one or independent, quiet games. Oh, and talk about simple storage for you! This took me about 30 minutes TOTAL (looking for pics, printing, cutting, etc) to make.
I simply went to Google Images, typed in free clip art, and chose the apple pictures that I wanted. Cut, paste, repeat.
I made this game for my 19 month old. You can choose 2 or more colors, whatever theme you want, and the game cost me about $1 to make. :)
Supplies:

• File folder (I bought a cheapy box of the plain. About $3 for 50 at Wal-mart.)
• Printed and cut apples (or cars, teddy bears, etc)
• Packing tape (I used it to "laminate" my pieces so they would last longer. $2 for a huge roll)
• 2 white envelopes, cut in half and taped for sturdiness.

I use the pocket at the top for storage of pieces (opening facing inward to avoid pieces falling out, but ease of use for a 19 month old).

Now I have a game I can pull out when I need a few minutes to finish something I'm working on, for practicing skills together, and something for her activity tray for her to work on while I cook dinner. I can also take it easily with me to a doctor's office, or any place I need her to sit quietly and still for a little while.

She adored the pocket idea, though you could just use a white piece of paper and let the sort and stack them instead.

How are they alike?

The idea behind this activity is to get your kids looking at similarities, differences, and thinking creatively. Use new words, teaching your child words like similar, different, alike, same.

Materials: paper bags, items from around the house (ex: jelly beans, toys, silverware, socks, stuffed animals,etc)

1. Fill your bags with 2 items. Start simple, like two jellybeans. Explain the words similar and different. Go first, giving an example.
2. "See these things? What are they? How are the the same or similar? You're right! They are both jellybeans/candy/sweet/bad for your teeth/given in your Easter basket/etc. How are they different? Yes, this one is red and this one is yellow! They are also two different flavors and a different size, aren't they?

Try it with different objects. Once they get the hang of it, try it with two random objects, like a spoon and a stuffed animal. Once they really get the hang of it, try it with 3+ objects. You may be surprised what they come up with!

Magnets!

This was a fun way to teach names, recognition of family and friends to my daughter. We have quite a bit of family we don't see often, as well as people at church I wanted my daughters to start to recognize. It helped with my oldest daughter's shyness when seeing people at church and at family gatherings.
I took family/friend photos, as well as photos from our church directory, and laminated them with packing tape. I then stuck a large magnet (using magnetic tape) on the back. That way I didn't worry about a choking hazard as much. :)
We practiced sorting by children and adults, boys/girls men/women, church friends and family friends, members of the family and people that are not members of the family, hair color, daddy's family and mommy's family, etc. There's unlimited ways you can sort them. It also helped us when we got presents or cards in the mail. I could tell them, "This is from aunt ____" and then show them the picture or have them find that person's picture.

Fun with buttons

Using a pack of primary colored buttons (less than $2) I got from a craft store, we've been working on a few math skills.
All of these activities are great to introduce to as young as pretoddlers, provided they will at least watch you.
Activity #1: Counting
Our number of the week was 9, so we counted out buttons in piles of 9. Count out loud and move the buttons as you count. When counting it is important for young children to move objects to avoid confusion and, what I call, counting in circles (counting the same items over and over).
*If you do this activity and #2 on the same day, do this one first. Otherwise young children may have a hard time transitioning and may want to continue sorting by color if you do #2 first and then try activity #1.
Activity #2: Sorting by color
Start the piles for young children. Depending on the age or skill level, you may need to go button by button with them. You may also need to only give them a few colors at a time, as more may be overwhelming. My 2.5 year old was able to handle 5 color sorting with no problem.
If your buttons have different shapes, you can also sort by shapes or other attributes.

Activity #3: Patterns
Patterns can be pretty difficult! Keep in mind that in Virginia this is a Kindergarten standard of learning, which means 4,5, or 6 year olds. It's a great introduction, but don't get frustrated if they don't see the patterns right away. Be patient!
Start with AB patterns if just introducing them or if working with young children. I started with 2 different objects: buttons and clothespins. I started the pattern (ABABABABA___) and asked my toddler if she could tell what would come next. Verbalize the pattern by saying "Clothespin, button, clothespin, button, clothespin...what do you think is next?"

Then we moved to colors.


I then let her have free play with them, where she ended up stacking them and making pictures out of them. I didn't even think of that! :)

Letter Recognition

Learning the alphabet is such an exciting accomplishment for kids. Letters and words in the environment are starting to have meaning and children are at one of the beginning stages of learning how to read.

However, sometimes the crossover from the alphabet they learn at home and recognizing those same letters and words in other places can prove difficult for some children.
That's where this activity can help. Have you noticed that more books are published in different fonts? Letters and numbers are presented in many different ways in real life. Not every book is published in "Times New Roman," nor are advertisements, signs, magazines, or websites. Take these examples:

Your child may know the alphabet, but would they recognize the alphabet if it was presented a new way?

Ages: As soon as they begin recognizing letters!

Prep: Print the letters that they are learning in different fonts. I went to my Word program and typed the letter 10 times and then printed it off in 10 different fonts. Print them out as large as possible. I also printed them off in small squares (approximately 24 point font).

Activity: Here are a few activities:

• Hide different letters (in the different fonts) around the house or around the room. Go on a hunt!
• Hide the letters and let them hunt, but this time give clues. Call out the letters as they search. "Find all Ys that you can!" "Can you find a capital T?" "I see a letter that makes the /p/ sound. Can you find it?" "I see a letter that is only made of curvy lines (S,O,C)."
• If you are using the entire alphabet, have them put the alphabet in order after they find the letters.
• Fold a large piece of construction paper in half (or thirds, depending if you want to work with 2 or 3 letters). Have them sort two different letters into piles (for example, M vs. R). Glue on paper according to the letter. You could also have them do the same letter, but sort capital and lower case. This works really well when you are working on letters that are similar, like M and N or P and R.
• Play ABC Relay.
• Play Find the Letter.
  
  

Matching and Sorting

I made Matching and Sorting cards for my 2 year old. You can change the words to fit your needs. When we did a unit on the ocean, I made pictures of things you can find in the ocean. Again, I "laminated" the cards with packing tape. Then we made an ocean scene using the cards and correctly placed the items (seaweed on the bottom, crabs on the bottom, boat at the top, fish swimming, etc).



For Young Toddlers (12-18 months)

1. Have them find animals ("Can you find the dog?" "Where is the tiger?")


2. Locate animals by sounds. (Which animal says meow? Which animal says moo?)


3. Find fruit. (Where is the apple?)


4. If your child knows colors, ask them to locate pictures by color. (Point to the red fruit.)

For 2+:

1. Match pairs of items. Put in piles.


2. Sort (Put all farm animals together, zoo animals, ocean animals, insects, etc)


3. Match animals and their coverings (fur, feather,scales)

Older/more advanced:

1. Play Memory.
2. Use dry erase marker to write the beginning sound/letter, ending sound/letter, or try to spell the word. If you laminate with packing tape, it will wipe off. (You can use dry erase or Vis-a-vis markers).
3. Discuss adjectives and verbs, and try and think of as many as they can for each picture. Again, a great way to use the 5 senses (what would it smell like? feel like? sound like?)
4. Use the cards to make up a sentence. For example, ifthey have a bear and a fish: The fuzzy brown bear tries to capture the slippery fish for dinner.
5. More difficult sorting (mammals, reptiles, categories of food like meat, grains, and dairy, herbivores, omnivores, and carnivores, etc).

Pompom Fun

This is by far one of my children's favorite activities to do. I often have them do this activity at the kitchen table while I make dinner.

AGE RANGE
12 months and up. This is for toddlers and older. You child just needs to be able to tell two different colors apart and be able to sort them. She doesn't need to be able to say the name of the colors, just recognize that they are different.

SKILLS DEVELOPED

• Sorting
• Colors

SUPPLIES

• Pompoms in various colors. For the young toddler, use no more than three.
• Containers to put the pom poms in (one for each color and one to hold them all). I just use tupperwear.

PREP

1. Gather your pompoms.
2. Gather your containers.
3. Gather your children.

ACTIVITY

1. Put the pompoms for your child to sort into a container, all mixed together.
2. For younger toddlers, put one pompom into each container. For examle, if you were doing red, blue, and yellow, you would put on red into one container, one blue into another, and one yellow into another. For older children, you can let them start it out of you want.
3. Have your child sort the remaining pompoms into the containers.

VARIATION

• Use pompoms the same color and have your child sort by size.
• Once your child is good at colors, use shades of the same color (light purple and dark purple).

PHOTOS

Here are the pompoms ready to be sorted for Brayden and Kaitlyn.

Brayden working on his sorting

Kaitlyn working on her sorting

I used to store the pompoms in a bag. This wsa good for storage, but it took a long time to sort everything out in the beginning.



Now I keep them in little bags inside the big bag. At the end of the activity, everything is sorted, so it is easy to keep the pompoms stored this way.

TIPS

• Don't use too many pompoms. When you first start this activity, use just a few of each color. Add more as your child's attention span increases. What I show here for Brayden and Kaitlyn would be too many to start out with at first.

CREDIT

I got this idea from The Toddler's Busy Book (see Book Review: The Toddler's Busy Book for more on this book).

Fall: Texture Sort

Now is the time you'll find lots of gourds at the grocery store for really low prices. We purchased a bunch of them for around 50 cents a piece.

Age Ranges: 1 (with a lot of assistance), 2+ year olds more independently

Prep:

• Gather materials
• Decide on the specific skill(s) to teach
• Make picture/word cards with a specific attribute (bumpy, orange,etc)--optional

Materials Needed: Gourds, picture/word cards (optional)

Activity:

1. Gather a large group of gourds and pumpkins together. We went to the store and I let my daughter choose them.
2. Talk about how they feel (bumpy, smooth, rough, have ridges, indention), shape (round, oval, flat), colors (brown, orange, yellow, green), size (large, small) , how heavy they feel, etc.
3. Show them the picture/word card, or give them a category. "Let's find all the solid colored gourds. Let's find the striped gourds. Let's put all the striped gourds in one pile, and solid colored ones in another."
4. Use words like "sort," "category," "attributes," "similar" as this is a great way to build vocabulary. It also helps for future test preparation. When taking benchmark tests and SOLs, the testing language is very specific, so it's imperative that children know the terms used in the Standards.
5. After they have sorted, have them count the number of gourds in each pile.
6. Identify which group has greater, fewer, or equal amounts of gourds. (Again, using "greater" and "more" interchangeably so both terms are understood.)

This activity helps practice with specific standards here in Virginia:

Virginia Standards of Learning for Kindergarten:
Math: K.15 The student will sort and classify objects according to attributes.
Science:
K.2 Students will investigate and understand that humans have senses that allow one to seek, find, take in, and react or respond to information in order to learn about one’s surroundings. Key concepts include
five senses and corresponding sensing organs (taste – tongue, touch – skin, smell – nose, hearing – ears, and sight – eyes); and
sensory descriptors (sweet, sour, bitter, salty, rough/smooth, hard/soft, cold, warm, hot, loud/soft, high/low, bright/dull).

K.4 The student will investigate and understand that the position, motion, and physical properties of an object can be described. Key concepts include
colors (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, white, and black);
shapes (circle, triangle, square, and rectangle) and forms (flexible/stiff, straight/curved);
textures (rough/smooth) and feel (hard/soft);
relative size and weight (big/little, large/small, heavy/light, wide/thin, long/short); and
position (over/under, in/out, above/below, left/right) and speed (fast/slow).

Countdown Chain

If your preschooler is like mine, he just can't wait until XYZ happens. You might find yourself avoiding telling him about something exciting that is coming up because you know you will hear, "How many more days until XYZ?...But that's a long time!" over and over each day. Your preschooler is starting to understand time, which isn't always a good thing :)

If your toddler is like mine, she has no idea XYZ is going to happen. You want her to be able to enjoy the anticipation of something fun coming up. Anticipation is half the fun! (unless you have a preschooler asking you how much longer over and over).

The countdown chain is your answer to both issues. It gives the preschooler something tangible to look at. It also helps him more concretely understand time. It gives the toddler a reminder that there is something to be excited about.

You can use the countdown chain for anything: birthdays, holidays, start of school, the next visit to grandma's...whatever you want to countdown to.

Last fall, my mother-in-law made a countdown chain with Brayden (then 3) for Halloween. She made it in black and orange. On the orange strips, she wrote things like "Hug your mom" and "tell your dad you love him." Over the weekend, Brayden and I made a countdown chain for Halloween, and I decided to take that concept one step further.

AGE RANGE
My guess is that your child needs to be at least 18 months old to enjoy this. Kaitlyn was 18 months old last year for Halloween and just didn't care. Even now at 2.5, she isn't terribly excited over it, so don't feel bad if your child isn't as excited as you envisioned. At 3, Brayden liked it and at 4, he absolutely loves it.

SKILLS DEVELOPED

• Colors
• Sorting
• Chores
• Fine motor skills (if you let your child create the chains--you could also let your child cut out the strips of paper)
• Time concept

SUPPLIES

• Paper (whatever colors you want)
• Pen
• Scissors (or some other tool for cutting)
• Stapler (or glue)

PREP

• Cut pieces of paper one inch wide by about 6 inches long. Cut one strip of paper for each day there is until your main event (what you are counting down to).
• Gather supplies

ACTIVITY

1. Sort your paper into colors (I had Brayden sort them).
2. Decide on a category for each color of paper for an activity. We did "fun chores" for Red, "Halloween activities" for Yellow, "loving acts" for Brown, and we left Green blank so we could decide something fun that day. Since we keep Sundays for worship in our family, I put green on each Sunday.
3. Have your child help you decide things to do for each piece of paper. Write the activity on the piece of paper.
4. Arrange your papers in the order you want them in.
5. Staple or glue your first piece of paper into a circle.
6. Hook your second piece of paper through your first circle and staple or glue it closed.
7. Continue making this chain until you are done.
8. Each day, have your child remove one chain. Perform the activity listed on the paper. This is a great way for your child to count down to an activity. You can channel the excited energy into chores :)

PHOTOS

Papers sorted into color categories

Daily activities written out

Up close of daily activities

First link done

Completed chain