After School Linky (2-29)

Welcome to the party!

Are you starting to feel spring already? We're finally getting a taste of warmer weather here in the Midwest and it's been glorious. I can't wait to get outside with the kids for some fun after school learning.

Here's some great ideas from last week's party.

 Mixed Short Vowel Games at Boy Mama Teacher Mama

 Free Printable Dental Health Month Activity for Kids at The Classroom Creative

 Fine Motor Flower Fiesta at Mosswood Connections

 LEGO Letters at Creative Family Fun

 One Fish Two Fish Dr. Suess Craft: Origami Fish at Artsy Craftsy Mom

 Penguin Day Races & Obstacle Course at Fumbling Through (Parenthood & Homeschooling)

Ten Apples Up on Top Counting and Stacking at Cutting Tiny Bites

Art Around the World: Moroccan Lanterns at Teacher Mom Plus 3

The After School Linky is cohosted by

Creative Family Fun

Planet Smarty Pants

Relentlessly Fun, Deceptively Educational

The Educators' Spin on It

This Reading Mama

We would love to have you link up your School-Age Post (Ages 5 and up) about your learning week after school including Crafts, Activities, Playtime and Adventures that you are doing to enrich your children's lives after their day at school, home school, or on the weekend!

When linking up, please take a moment to comment on at least one post linked up before yours and grab our after school button to include a link on your post or site! By linking up, you're giving permission for us to share on our After School Pinterest Board and feature an image on our After School Party in the upcoming weeks.

Adding and Subtracting Positive & Negative Numbers with a Zipper Bag

What can you do with a gallon-size zipper plastic food storage bag? Believe it or not, you can practice adding and subtracting positive and negative numbers!

This can be mighty confusing for kids and rather than worksheet them to death, why not grab a bag, and play a little game?

My son and I had lots of fun with this and played for quite some time.

What You Need
A plastic gallon-size zipper food storage bag for each player
PDF of number line and die (download free from Google Drive here)
die
heavyweight card stock to print the PDF on
Scissors
Glue
fine-tip permanent black marker

Preparation
Print as many copies of the first page of the PDF as you have players. Trim each end so it just fits into our zipper bag. 

With the marker, make a small line in the center of the bag's zipper pull.

Print the page with the die onto another sheet of heavyweight card stock. Trim the two dice templates, fold, and glue (I use a hot glue gun).

How to Play
Players should place the zipper pull with the mark lining up with the zero. This is where everyone starts. Player 1 rolls all three dice (the add/subtract, the -/+, and the number die). This will tell the player what their equation is. For example if they roll ADD, negative (-), and four, they will need to solve the problem

0 + -4 =

They'll then move their zipper slider to -4. 

Now it's the next player's turn to roll the dice, solve the equation, and move the slider on their own bag.

The first player to reach either end of the timeline (i.e. 19 or -19) first is the winner.

Need a refresher on how to solve these equations? Check out Khan Academy's great online tutorial here.

Super Simple FREE Printable Sight Word Game

My son is on the last of the seven lists of sight words he needs to memorize before year end. He is beyond excited to master these last 20 words. In support of this mission, I devised a simple sight word review game to make practicing fun.

Not interested in the same 20 words as us? No problem. One of the three pages on the free PDF is a blank game board. Just print it out and write on your own words!

Download the free PDF from Google Drive here. REMINDER: If you are a teacher and need to request access to my printables through Google Drive, use your personal email address. In many cases, your school blocks emails coming from outside their domain, thereby prohibiting me from granting you access and notifying you via email.

What You Need
PDF of the Say that Sight Word game board and die 
Heavyweight card stock to print the PDF on
Scissors and glue to cut, fold, and finish the die
A unique game piece for each player

How to Play
Each player's game piece should be placed on the words START. The youngest player begins their turn by rolling the color die. Whatever color they land on, they will move to the first occurrence of this color on the game board. They must also say the word there. If they don't get it right, help 'em out. 

Play alternates between players. The first player to reach the green spot at the finish is the winner!

After School Linky (2-22)

Welcome to the party!

There's lots of other ways you could be spending your time. Thanks for coming here.

Last week's party had some REALLY creative ideas. Here are some of my favorites.

Learning Laboratory: President's Day! at Mama Smiles

 Layers of the Earth Felt at Teacher Mom Plus 3

 Learning To Tie Shoes With Healthy Proprioception from The Afterschool House

Potion Making for Kids at Meeshie's World

Quadrilateral STEM Challenge at You've Got This

Spring Themed Logic Puzzles {free!} at Math Geek Mama

The After School Linky is cohosted by

Creative Family Fun

Planet Smarty Pants

Relentlessly Fun, Deceptively Educational

The Educators' Spin on It

This Reading Mama

We would love to have you link up your School-Age Post (Ages 5 and up) about your learning week after school including Crafts, Activities, Playtime and Adventures that you are doing to enrich your children's lives after their day at school, home school, or on the weekend!

When linking up, please take a moment to comment on at least one post linked up before yours and grab our after school button to include a link on your post or site! By linking up, you're giving permission for us to share on our After School Pinterest Board and feature an image on our After School Party in the upcoming weeks.

Plus Minus Printable Game (Multiplying Positive & Negative Numbers)

Our 5th grade son is taking 6th grade math. Suddenly, I'm having to relearn all the stuff I've forgotten about pre-algebra and such. One lesson was on positive and negative numbers. I figured a little off-worksheet practice might be a fun way to drive home the basics.

positive number x positive number = positive number

positive number x negative number = negative number

negative number x negative number = positive number

The PLUS MINUS GAME I made is simple. All you need is:

• my 2-page PDF (download it free from Google Drive here)
• some paper to print it on (I'd recommend heavyweight card stock for the die)
• glue
• scissors
• a regular die
• different game pieces (one for each player)
• paper and pencil (optional)

How to Play
Each player rolls the plus/minus die and the regular die. This is the first number in their equation (e.g., if a player rolls a + and 3, their first number is positive 3). The same player rolls the two die again. This is the their second number (e.g. -2). Now the player multiplies the two numbers (e.g. 3 x -2). The answer is -6, so the player will have to move their game piece back six spaces, or back to the start if their fewer than six spaces in. If they are at the start, they simple stay put. 

Players take turns, moving forward when the answer is positive, and backwards when it's negative. If the answer is a two digit number, players use the digit in the ONES place to determine how many spaces they move.

Use paper and pencil to record the numbers and equations as you play. 

The winner is the first player to make it to the finish. 

This may take as few as three turns or many, many more. Feel free to print an extra copy of the game board and cut and paste it together to make the board longer if desired. The first time we played was agonizing. I never thought we'd declare a winner; I was stuck on the start for ages! The second game was lightning fast.

After School Linky (2-15)

Welcome to the party!

Hopefully you all had a wonderful Valentine's Day.

Here are a few of my favorite activities and ideas shared at last week's link-up.

 Picture Books for Black History Month at Mama Smiles

 Build a Tower with Conversation Hearts {Stem Challenge!} at Math Geek Mama

 Middle Grade Mystery Books at What Do We Do All Day

 Solar System Rock Painting from Teacher Mom Plus 3

 Coin and Lego Challenge from You've Got This

There's a Wocket in My Pocket Rhyming Book from Growing Book by Book

The After School Linky is cohosted by

Creative Family Fun

Planet Smarty Pants

Relentlessly Fun, Deceptively Educational

The Educators' Spin on It

This Reading Mama

We would love to have you link up your School-Age Post (Ages 5 and up) about your learning week after school including Crafts, Activities, Playtime and Adventures that you are doing to enrich your children's lives after their day at school, home school, or on the weekend!

When linking up, please take a moment to comment on at least one post linked up before yours and grab our after school button to include a link on your post or site! By linking up, you're giving permission for us to share on our After School Pinterest Board and feature an image on our After School Party in the upcoming weeks.

Tying Water in Knots (a Surface Tension Experiment)

We've done other surface tension experiments and they never fail to impress. Both my boys loved this and considering how simple it was, it captivated their attention for much longer than I'd anticipated.

Here's how we tied water in knots.

What You Need
an empty 2-liter soda bottle
a nail
scissors

Prep
Trim the top off the bottle, above the label. Peel off the label. Use the nail to poke several holes between 2-5 holes about 1/4-inch apart. Make sure they are not further apart than this.

Conduct the Experiment
Fill the bottle with water quite full. Watch the water stream out the holes. Now run your fingers over the bottle's surface and pinch the water streams together (i.e. tying it in knots). Slide your hands across the holes again to separate them.

How it Works
The cohesive nature of the water molecules (which are attracted together) cause the streams of water to "bond," seemingly tying the water streams in knots. 

This great activity came from Brenda Walpole's book 175 Science Experiments to Amuse & Amaze Your Friend.

Race Around the World: an Angles Game (Protractor Practice)

Of all the areas of math, our 10-year-old isn't especially fond of geometry. To give him a little extra protractor practice, I thought up this angles game.

Anytime he has the chance to beat me, his attitude is "bring it" so I knew this would pique his interest.

What You Need to Play
PDF of the Earth game board and angles cards
Paper
Protractor
plastic sheet protectors (optional)
Pencil (or if using sheet protectors, fine-tip dry-erase markers)

Assembly
Download the PDF free from Google Drive here. Print one Earth for each player (or team if you're doing this as a classroom activity). Print two or more copies of the angles cards. Cut out and shuffle.

If you anticipate playing over and over, slide the Earth pictures into a plastic sheet protector. This make your game boards dry-erase.

How to Play
With the cards shuffled and placed faced down, each player takes a card on their turn and then lining up the protractor with the start line, draws in the angle stated on the card. On their next turn, the reference line becomes the line just drawn, instead of the start. The first player to get all around the world (i.e. past the start line) is declared the winner of the race!

Read
This math activity got us thinking about what life was like in different places across the globe. To further our understanding of cultures and time zones, we read a wonderful book that lead us on a journey that only took a single moment in time.

 

After School Linky (2-8)

Welcome to the party!

I'm so glad you've joined us this week. Here are some of the great ideas shared at the February 1st link-up.

Enjoy!

67 Awesome Random Acts of Kindness Ideas for Kids from Your Vibrant Family

Chinese New Year Fan Craft at Spoonfuls of Kindergarten

 Winter Animal Homes Interactive Peek-A-Boo Craftivity from A Kinders Garten Vintage Homeschool

February Math Problem of the Day Calendar from Math Geek Mama

 Mobius Strip Hearts: A Valentine for Math Nerds at What Do We Do All Day?

10 Valentines Day Books for Boys from Embark on the Journey

Year of the Monkey Bookmark Craft from Pragmatic Mama

The After School Linky is cohosted by

Creative Family Fun

Planet Smarty Pants

Relentlessly Fun, Deceptively Educational

The Educators' Spin on It

This Reading Mama

We would love to have you link up your School-Age Post (Ages 5 and up) about your learning week after school including Crafts, Activities, Playtime and Adventures that you are doing to enrich your children's lives after their day at school, home school, or on the weekend!

When linking up, please take a moment to comment on at least one post linked up before yours and grab our after school button to include a link on your post or site! By linking up, you're giving permission for us to share on our After School Pinterest Board and feature an image on our After School Party in the upcoming weeks.

Homework Help: Multiplying and Dividing Fractions

Our 10 year old was given the opportunity to do sixth grade math in fifth grade. We were psyched that he was going to be challenged more in his favorite subject. The program is pretty much self-taught and while it's gone well, there has been one hiccup ... fractions.

My son normally does mental math at the speed of light, but fractions ssssslllllllllloooooowwwww him way down and that's pretty frustrating for him.

As he struggled through his homework, I agonized over a way to help him. While it's true that games and activities are always my first choice, I knew he was going to need some kind of cheat sheet to refer to as he worked through page after page in his workbook.

Hence, this printable was born.

Seeing as though my fraction activities continue to be some of my most popular, I'm guessing you followers (and the kids you work love and teach) will find this useful.

Print the PDF free from Google Drive here. 

Teachers - if you're prompted to request permission to access the document, use a PERSONAL email address. Most schools block emails from outside their domain, prohibiting me from granting you access.

Polymer Clay Penguins

Our six-year-old has had a fascination with penguins since ... well, like ... forever. We have so many penguin stuffed animals it's like a colony. To add to his collection, we made a few out of polymer clay.

This is a wonderful activity that exercises fine motor skills.

Supplies & Step-by-Step
Polymer clay (we used FIMO) in black, white, and orange
A stove or toaster oven
Scissors

1. Roll the black clay into a medium sized ball; this is the head.
2. Roll another larger ball for the body. Squish the ball into an egg shape and stand on one end to make it slightly flat on the bottom.
3. Either set the head atop the body and apply pressure to affix the two or after doing so, using a finger smear the clay on the head down toward the body to make a smooth bowling pin shape.
4. Roll a ball of white clay and then flatten to an flat egg shape. Add to the penguin body.
5. Roll two tiny balls of white clay and flatten. Either use these as the outer eyes or place the circles side by side and gently press together, pull the bottom to form a heart. Affix as the face.
6. Roll two teeny black balls. These are the eyes. Press gently onto the face.
7. Roll two small tubes of black. Pinch the ends and flatten for flippers. Attach to either side of the body.
8. Roll a small football shape out of orange clay. Clip one end horizontally with scissors to make the upper and lower parts of the beak. Clip to shorter, making a flat surface with which to attach the beak. Press onto the face.
9. Roll two tiny orange balls. Flatten. Clip two tiny triangles out of each to make penguin flipper toes. Attach to the bottom of the body.
10. Add a hat, scarf, eyebrows, etc. to accessorize your penguin!
11. Bake in a 250 degree toaster oven for 60 minutes (roughly 15 minutes for every 1/4-inch thickness of clay).
12. Let cool and then play with - maybe even write a story with your new penguin as the main character or make a stop motion video!

Read
To go along with our craft, we read two books, both which cleverly address how a penguin who wants to fly handles being a flightless bird. Both are utterly enjoyable. These sweet fiction books are beautiful and fun. Check them out!

Our penguins were inspired by the creations shared at How To Instructions and Bonnie Bakes.

After School Linky (2-1)

Welcome to the party!

I'm so glad you stopped by. I hope you'll find inspiration here.

Last week's party was amazing (as usual); here are my favorite ideas/activities that were shared.

Googly Eye Monster Valentine at Our Whimsical Days.

 Free Healthy Choices Printable from Moms & Munchkins.

 Heart Tangram Printable Valentine Cards at JDaniel4's Mom.

 Henna Hands Craft from Royal Little Lambs.

 Beautiful Painted Butterfly Doily Craft for Kids at A Little Pinch of Perfect.

 How to Make a Pete the Cat Inspired Valentine Box from Books and Giggles.

Teaching Onomatopoeia with Picture Books from Embark on the Journey.

The After School Linky is cohosted by

Creative Family Fun

Planet Smarty Pants

Relentlessly Fun, Deceptively Educational

The Educators' Spin on It

This Reading Mama

We would love to have you link up your School-Age Post (Ages 5 and up) about your learning week after school including Crafts, Activities, Playtime and Adventures that you are doing to enrich your children's lives after their day at school, home school, or on the weekend!

When linking up, please take a moment to comment on at least one post linked up before yours and grab our after school button to include a link on your post or site! By linking up, you're giving permission for us to share on our After School Pinterest Board and feature an image on our After School Party in the upcoming weeks.