Pumpkin maracas! These make singing and getting the sense of rhythm even more fun! Just fill the inside with anything that makes sound (ours came from the rice and beans in our October sensory bin!) and glue closed. You could also use an orange plastic egg and draw a face on!
Monday, October 22, 2012
Movement and Music: Fall and Pumpkins!
Pumpkin maracas! These make singing and getting the sense of rhythm even more fun! Just fill the inside with anything that makes sound (ours came from the rice and beans in our October sensory bin!) and glue closed. You could also use an orange plastic egg and draw a face on!
Monday, April 11, 2011
Play To Learn: Imaginets
Welcome to this week’s Play To Learn series! Today we’re going to talk about this fun little product I picked up at our local homeschool fair called Imaginets.
As most of you know, I’m a total sucker for fun colorful stuff, and these were so cute I couldn’t resist! They come with a set of idea cards which are great for preschoolers!
Your kids use the card then re-create the image using the magnetic wooden shape blocks, or they can also create their own original designs as well.
The blocks are great for boosting fine motor, and visual thinking skills. And though the product is rated for ages 3 and up, it’s been a favorite for my 2 year old all the way to my 8 year old!
As an added bonus each side of the carrying case is magnetic, so they can build on both sides or just one. Blocks and cards easily store inside for easy storage as well! So we’ll definitely be adding Imaginets to my list of “Favorite Preschool Things!”
If you have more ideas to share, or would like to be included in future “Play To Learn” posts, please email me at homeschoolerconfessions {at} gmail {dot} com, we’d love to hear from you!
Monday, February 14, 2011
Play To Learn: Hot Dots
Welcome to Play To Learn!
This week I wanted to talk about Hot Dots! I’m sure you’ve all heard about these fun little cards, but my kids love them so much I thought they deserved a post all to their own!
When your student clicks on one of the dots the pen will flash green and say “Great Job” or “You are Correct”, if you get the wrong answer the pen will flash red and say “Sorry, try again!” They also have a new set for young kids along with a cute “Ace” the dog pen. His eyes light up green when they’re right and he barks!
Educational Insights sells several different pre-made cards, or you can purchase Educational Insights Hot Dots with Talking Hot Dots Pen, and make your own cards as well! You can also download the cards I’ve made here:
The Hot Dots Jr. Getting Ready for School kit is awesome, it has a whole set of fun cards that will help your kids practice key learning skills while having fun at the same time!
This is such a fun way to practice math facts, learn letters and sounds, counting skills and more! They have cards for just about every subject out there and they make learning fun!
If you’re interested, I have a giveaway going on this week for a FREE set of Hot Dots and Ace pen!
If you have more ideas to share, or would like to be included in future “Play To Learn” posts, please email me at homeschoolerconfessions {at} gmail {dot} com, we’d love to hear from you!
Monday, August 2, 2010
Logic Learning
Welcome to this week’s Play To Learn feature where we’ll be discussing fun ways to build logical thinking skills! There are so many great ways to get your brain working and here are just some fun games we play at home:
Have you tried Logic Links Puzzles yet? We just love this game! Its great for building logical reasoning skills and I add them to our workboxes for fun! The game comes with over 160 puzzle cards front and back that increase in skill level. They give clues as to where to place the colored disks to help you figure out the puzzles. They also offer other levels of books, see the bottom of this post for more information.
Dollar Puzzles from Michael’s:
I found these inexpensive shape puzzles and they were a great addition to our workboxes! They are harder than they look and turned out to be a great problem solving game!
We use these cubes for all kinds of projects. My preschooler uses them to make patterns and my older kids use them with the Creative Color Cube Activity Cards. The cards vary in skill level so they’re appropriate for younger and older kids. Some even require buildling a shape that includes hidden blocks. Click here for more fun with Creative Color Cube Activity Cards
This is probably one of my kids most favorite activities. Even my older kids like to play with these, they take some good muscle coordination, and logical thinking to complete the cards. I use them with Pattern Block Design Cards and I got my Wooden Pattern Blocks Here! The Pattern Block Design Cards come vary in skill level including cards without the shapes outlined so you have to figure out the puzzle on your own to complete the image.
Tangram Puzzles:
This is another favorite, I got mine at Lakeshore Learning, along with the plastic pieces. Here are some inexpensive Tangram activity cards from Amazon.The theory is that you can make anything using only 7 pieces. It’s a good challenge and these activity cards come with shapes outlined for beginners and non-outlined for more of a challenge.
We recently received Jenga from a friend and love it. I know it’s not new, but what a great logical skills game! First we get to build the tower, then strategically remove the pieces without making the tower fall over. It’s great fun that everyone can enjoy and really get’s your brain working!
Pattern Mystery Box:
This is great for my preschooler. I got it from Lakeshore Learning and I apologize, I can’t find the exact link on their website, but you could easily make up your own version of this. We pull out a pattern card, then she reaches into the mystery box and “feels” for the shape that should go next in the pattern.
Here are some other fun logic games to get you started:Those are just some of many ideas for learning shapes! If you have more ideas to share, or would like to be included in future “Play To Learn” posts, please email me at homeschoolerconfessions {at} gmail {dot} com, we’d love to hear from you!
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Preschool Games and Activities
These i spy bottles are an appropriate activity for teaching letter recognition and more.
Whimsical Ways has put together a cute edition of Color BINGO.
Practicing number recognition is easy and fun with this preschool game.
Inspiration Surrounds, Creativity Abounds featured some activities made for her toddlers using gift wrap.