Activity ideas

What’s in the Bag? Wait-Time Fillers

Teachers are usually prepared, or over prepared, for every minute of their day…because wait time can drive anyone and everyone involved to their breaking point. So, most teachers have a bin (or two) of time fillers just in case they need a backup plan.

This backup plan is a concept that needs to be transferred over into the “on-the-go bag” you carry with you on a daily basis because you WILL end up in a waiting room, a mess of traffic, a long line at the store (eh hem, hobby lobby), or who even knows where else.

I submit to you a few ideas worth considering other than the commonly used technology accessories: books, sketch pad + crayons, an activity book, and a mommy teacher time filler book.

I know this “time filler book” sounds silly, but I recommend taking the time to make one and here is how:

Make a word document of all the songs, finger plays, and stories you love:

1) Find, copy and paste from websites that provide all the lyrics.

2) Print and cut them out. (Click here for a starter I made you)

3) Tape them into a spiral bound index card pack.

4) Throw them in your purse or murse (“man purse” for all you daddy teachers)

** If you want to get fancy you can color code them (songs-red, finger plays-blue, stories-orange, etc.)

Then when you need a time filler, give your little one a choice! “Do you want to read a book, sing a song, listen to a story, color, or act out a story with our fingers?” I think you will be surprised how much more quickly the time passes with your little one engaged.

So today I ask you….What’s in your Bag? Share ideas that you have found helpful in your time of need! Share pictures on the Mommy Teacher Facebook Page!

Don’t have a bag? Enter the giveaway!

September 22, 2011 by Jessica | 0 comments

Uses for a Picture Dictionary

Lately I have been staring at my little one’s picture dictionary and deciding that I am not going to let it collect dust when there ARE plenty of uses for them….no matter your child’s age!

In case you don’t believe me, I was sitting in the back seat with my 15 month old the other day and the only book I had in the back to get him out of his cranky mood was a picture dictionary that I bought at a garage sale. SO, I decided, let’s practice his oral vocabulary and build on it a little. * I know I know….only a mommy teacher would think this way. I picked it up, opened to a page with a few familiar images (ball, balloon, banana, etc.) and I started pointing and naming the images he knew with clear enunciation of each word – giving him enough time to repeat me.

He is really articulate for 15 months and has a great memory; so, I thought, hmm…I wonder how long I can make this last if I make a game out of it.
Starting with the pictures he knew, I asked him “Where is the ball?” I watched his eyes search the page, and then, a light bulb went off! He pointed to the ball and said “baaaaaaaaawwwwww” in the long, dragged out way he always says ball. I was so proud, as every biased mother would be! We did this same routine for several other pictures that he knew, for about 10 minutes, and every time we repeated this process on a new page I would introduce one unfamiliar picture.

For those of you cheering “more more!” here are some more ideas:

1) Have your little one use it as a research tool when they want to find out how to spell something “let’s find the picture under the letter that it starts with and see how it is spelled in a book!”

2) Play “I spy” a picture that is made up of the sounds /b//e//d/ or /b/ /ed/

Or I spy a picture that has that word “at” in it’s name “bat!”

3) Get ideas for a letter study….help your little one make a “B” (or any letter) poster and get ideas of what you might draw on the B poster from the picture dictionary.

4) With your little one’s eyes closed, open the book and randomly place their finger on a picture, see if your little one can sound it out without looking at the word and then check the word beside the picture to see how many sounds “matched.”

September 1, 2011 by Jessica | 0 comments

Bowling with Puffs

I haven’t been bowling in a while, but every time I go I really have a great night. Some time ago I noticed that the “graduates puffs” containers for babies look like bowling pins without the wrappers…as a teacher my mind was always turning when I threw things in the recycle bin. Save 10 of those cans and you have your very own bowling lane for your kids.

Bowling is a GREAT way to teach subtraction. Always ask your little one to count the pins to find out how many pins you have to start with, then count how many were taken away, and finally ask how many are left? These three questions will ingrain in your little one’s mind how subtraction works in a concrete way….even if they can’t figure out the abstract concepts of subtraction just yet….you are showing your little one the process of subtraction in a hands on way.

Sean Patrick opens puff cans with his teeth haha

And when he is finished I take the wrappers off and there you have it….bowling pins!

If you dont have kids…I used to collect these from my sister before I had kids, but if you don’t know anyone who has them then collect something that you might buy for groceries (pringles cans, soda liters, etc.) Make it work for you!

July 18, 2011 by Jessica | 1 Comment

10 Fun Things to do with Mr. Potato Head

Hi Mommy Teachers! It’s Casey stopping over from Kidspired Creations! As a former Pre-K and Kindergarten teacher, and a current stay-at-home mommy, I always try to think of different ways I can approach play time to make it a great learning experience too!

Today, we invited Mr. Potato Head to join in on our fun. My boys and I were all sitting around MPH and adding different parts to his head. He looked like a monster with an arm sticking out of his eye socket, eyes where his feet should go and a nose in each ear. As I watched my boys, James (turning 4 next week), was holding MPH and bossing Leyson (20 months) about what he should do with the nose in his hand.

I then turned this into a learning opportunity about sharing. I took all of the parts off of MPH and then told the boys that they can only put one body part in at a time and then it was Brother’s turn. An eye in for James, a nose in for Leyson, then back to James. See what kind of a cool monster we can make together!

This reminded me of a time that I subbed for a 2nd grade classroom. I had the students all participate in creating a monster that I drew on the board based on their descriptions. They each told me one thing to describe what the monster looked like and I added that to our drawing. I then had each student write a paper describing in complete detail what the monster looked like so that anyone who had not seen the monster that I drew could draw the same monster on their own. (What? The teacher didn’t leave a lesson plan for me and I taught the wee little ones… no clue what to do with 2nd graders).

So I asked James to describe the monster to me: “MPH has a huge blue muscles on his arm that is sticking out where his nose should be.”

Then, I got to thinking… how else can we learn with Mr. Potato Head?
Here are my top 10 ways that you can join in on the fun!

1. SHARING

2. DESCRIBING / USING DESCRIPTIVE LANGUAGE

3. STORYTELLING

(We made up a story about Mr. Potato Head’s adventures as a Firefighter)

4. 5 SENSES

Mommy: “If MPH is a firefighter, what is he going to use to smell if there is smoke?”

Child: “Nose!”

Mommy: “Great! What is he going to use to hear if people need his help?”

5. HAND-EYE COORDINATION

(My little one was having trouble putting the parts into the little holes, but after a few tries, he became a pro!)

6. BODY PARTS

(Placement and Name Recognition)

Easy: “Where is the nose?” (baby points)

Harder: “Is this a nose?” (baby says “yes” or “no”…or nods or shakes)

Even Harder: “Is this a nose or mouth?” (baby says “nose”)

Hardest: “What is this body part?” (baby says “nose”)

7. RIDDLES

Mommy: “This part helps keep his head warm when it’s cold.”

Child: “A hat!”

8. RHYMING

Mommy: “This next body part rhymes with ‘south.'”

Child: “Mouth!”

9. SORTING

10. MYSTERY BODY PART

Place 1 pair of eyes, 1 nose, 2 ears, 2 arms, 1 mouth, 1 hat, 1 mustache and 1 pair of shoes in a bag. Have your child reach his/her hand in the bag without looking and grab one body part. They must then guess which part they have in their hand.

Now, if you don’t have a Mr. Potato Head, he’s everywhere… in fact, he pretty much has his own website where you can search for all of the different Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head kits available. ENJOY!!!

A special THANK YOU to the ultimate Mommy Teacher, Jessica, for allowing me to share my playtime experiences with every one!

July 13, 2011 by Jessica | 0 comments

Firework Writing

This morning when I was re-playing the 4th of July in my mind, and thinking It’s time to share a writing activity with my Mommy Teachers, I had an idea…how much fun would it be for little ones to write about and/or draw fireworks? And when I was thinking about a good “writing tool” for this activity I thought about the Q-tip. Let your little ones paint with a q-tip and then sprinkle glitter on top of their picture. Then, when it dries they have the perfect snapshot to “write about” – with your help of course.

This might sound like a headache because it is “messy,” but just lay down a bunch of newspaper and don’t sweat the mess because kids need these experiences for their creativity to blossom.

I found these q-tips if you want to dip the whole thing in paint and then lay it down in all directions to make it look like fireworks flares.