Sight Word Games

I love playing games with my kiddos but sometime I don't always want to purchase the latest thing or game. Since I am a teacher and could ALMOST live on the teacherspayteachers website, I figured that I could use it for my own little learners, too!

Why NOT?!?!?!

Laura Martin of teacherspayteachers does a great job creating some products for beginning readers. 

I found these great I Have, Who Has game cards that my little reader and I can play together. 

My younger one can play with us with me helping point to the card to use. 

               

I use my own laminator to make cards at home. I purchased my laminator at Target for about $30. This is similar, but there are many out there. The heat laminating pouches I normally find online from Walmart at the best value (about $15 for 100 pack). You can get the 3mm pouches, they work fine! I use the 5 mm in my classroom as they are thinker and hold up better with daily use. Therefore, these were made with 5 mm because that is want I have. 

Update**** my kiddos LOVE this game! They are 4 and 3 years of age and had a blast sorting them outside, making a tower of words!

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/I-Have-Who-Has-Monster-Sight-Words-202982

Reading Picnics

A great way to get out to the house and still have some quiet time:

Book Picnics!

My two love the read and this is when they have some great individual think time. Little man begins reading to himself and our little lady normally sings to her favorite books or starts to point out characters! Both are wonderful comprehension strategies. Letting kids revisit books helps them think about what they have read, helps to introduce strategies for retelling (a great way to read a book), and point out parts of the picture that tells the story!

If you know anything about The Two Sisters, CAFE or DAILY 5 (most educators do, for those who don't it's a great way to help children learn to use reading strategies independently and begin thinking about literature), they encourage children to read books three different ways: read the words, read the pictures, and retell the story.

We began inside, however both children were having a hard time sharing books this day. So I gave each a book blanket that they could use to spread out and have their own space to read.

 That didn't last long and both were reading on the same blanket, but sharing the books.

We have a ton of different books. I try to rotate them throughout the house, stacks will end up in her room then move to his, down to the play room, and in the book box in our car - keeps them entertained while on our way. This way we have many times to revisit them, during the day or for bedtime.

We love all sorts of books! Try the BabyBug magazine (made by Cricket) for little ones. It is built with durable pages that are hard to distroy and cute poems, songs, and stories to do with your little ones. We also love sharing various languages with our kids, try grabbing a few books from other cultures. Babies love to look and read about other babies - there is quite a bit of research behind that thought, not just me chatting. Add some books to your collection that have babies as the main characters. My two are drawn to those! Don't forget some of our favorite authors and titles. Expose your kids to your childhood favorites and soon they will love them also!

 As children revisit text, they are able to tell us more, connect illustrations to text, and pick out important details that make the story. 

I took a step back and let them have their space. WOW, they really know how to enjoy a book. I need to learn to let them and not always get involved or "in the way". Both kids were telling me or pointing at things me in their books that was memorable or exciting. 

Remember, after kids are exposed to books repeatedly only will they have the stamina to read and THINK about they are reading independently. Talk about the books with your kids so that they build their vocabulary and have the words to retell stories to you. 

Growing Tomatoes - Finding the Mysterious Worm

Just about everyone is growing tomatoes as well as other things these days! Turn it into conversation pieces. 

You and your children can have a blast looking for the flowers and talk about how the bees and other insects pollenate the flowers so they will produce fruit. Also, this is how all fruit start out. 

We have one plant making tons of little fruit! We go on a hunt to find all the growing fruit and look at the different colors. It's really exciting to watch the kids realize the food is growing and changing. Patience is hard for young ones, and adults sometimes, too! 

Watch as they turn from green to yellow to orange to red! 

It's fun to find the hidden fruit on the plants. 

We also talk about the size and look for ones that are smaller, bigger, smallest, largest. It is really neat to help them find ones of the same size (matching). 

Another opportunity for giving your child vocabulary is providing them with the words stalk, base, leaves, shoots, etc. 

Now, we have a mysterious worm. (I got one last week and now there seems to be another one!! yuck!) I'm still on the hunt for this one!  

 We discuss the different ways we can tell we have a worm. Some of the fruit has been eaten, holes in the leaves where is has been eaten away and......

worm poop (fun to give them the word scat also for poop). Be honest with yourself....it's fun to talk about poop! 

Each day we water our plants together. 

Once a week we fertilize our plants and talk about how it is helpful to the plants and harmful to us. 

Homemade GAK!!! Busy Bag Activity

Who doesn't remember playing with GAK as a kid!!! 

 

Found an easy recipe, of course on Pinterest, and had a blast on our rainy day creating a fun activity. 

http://simplykierste.com/2012/05/oh-what-do-you-do-in-the-summertime-featured-guest-lil-luna.html

 

Little man had the job of squeezing the glue into the bowl. He loves to make a mess and it was great to have permission to do so. 

 

He chose the colors. We made the first batch green. It was definitely a Pinterest Fail. We got it the second time!!! It's AWESOME!!!!

 

The Pinterest fail was just too dry I used a bit too much Borax. 

 

He was in charge of mixing or stirring the color into the glue. 

 

It took a few minutes to mix in all the water and it was soooooo much fun massaging the mixture. 

 

He walked around with his container of GAK for the next ten minutes so proud of his mix and showing daddy and his sister how he made it. 

 

Keep it in an air tight container for use later. 

A fantastic idea for a busy bag is to make a batch and split it into smaller portions. Put the portions in baby food jars to pass out at your next exchange. 

Clean Mud/Play Snow

This is something that I have had the supplies for after seeing on a Pinterest post months ago.
I have seen it labeled Clean Mud or Play Snow

1 Bar of Dove
1 Roll of Toilet Paper
about 1 Cup warm Water


1. Grate the soap with a cheese grater. (It makes it dissolve more quickly) Grate it into a 9x13 pan. Makes for easy clean up and a "one pot wonder"

2. Let the kids tear up toilet paper! It's a blast!!!!

3. Pour the warm water over the soup and allow to melt for a minute

4. Put the torn up paper over the soap and water mixture and massage/kneed/mix the paper in, make sure the paper is torn into smaller pieces as it will dissolve a little quicker. 

5. Mix and enjoy! 

We brought it out after dinner so my husband and I could clean up. It was a blast. Our son then went straight to the bath. It made for a few happy campers. :)

 

Keep it in an air tight container to use later. 

Special Paint

We spent time painting our new8 dining room and of course he wanted to help paint the room. 

I gave him a cup of water and a paint brush and he painted parts of the wall that were "out of the way". 

 

This led me to an amazing idea!!! I taped construction paper to the dishwasher while I made dinner and TaDa!! An awesome canvas with  "special paint". It kept him busy for a good 20 minutes!

Displaying Children's Work

Ikea has some great finds!

  

Here we used a wire curtain rode and a few "s" clips to display kids' work. 

 

 Now to add a great quote above the wire rod. I believe that I may use Pablo Picasso's "Every Child is an Artist" We'll see! :)

Homemade PlayDough

This is one of the best play dough recipes that I have found. It has a great texture. I have tried the "no bake" or no cook doughs and I think the doughs that require heat last longer in young hands. 

 

We had a blast making play dough this weekend! We chose to make orange and green for Halloween fun. 

It's a blast and EASY! If you have 5 minutes, you can make cheap, fun! 

1 cup flour

1/3 cup salt

2 teaspoons cream of tarter

1 cup water

1 Tablespoon vegetable oil

food coloring

 

Add flour, salt, and cream of tarter to a warm pan on the stove. Have your heat on medium low. Once mixed add the food coloring. It is easier to mix in at this point. Stir until mixture comes together in one large lump. 

 

Pour it out on to wax paper and let it cool.