PLACE VALUE (cater)'PILLARS

This activity has been rattling around in my brain for months. And thanks to a rather lengthy hiatus from blogging, that's where it stayed. Until now.

Help kids review place value with this download, a little glue, and some crayons. Kids can play by themselves, with a friend/sibling/classmate, or as part of a whole classroom of buddies.

Prep
Cut and assemble the die. (It's sturdiest when printed on card stock; a glue gun makes assembly easier.) Print the game cards. The PDF has one page of cards where the columns are labeled (best for kids that are developing the skill or need a refresher) and another where the labels are absent for a greater challenge. Print whichever is most appropriate for your child(ren).

How to Play
Each child gets a game card. (Yes, the numbers on both cards are the same. It doesn't matter so print as many copies as you need.)

Roll the die and color the entire circle surrounding the number in the place value indicated face up on the die (e.g. Millions, Hundred Thousands, Ten Thousands, Thousands, etc.). If you roll COLOR THE LARGEST NUMBER or COLOR THE SMALLEST NUMBER and there are two of that number in the row, select one of your choosing.

The next roll, color the number you rolled on the next row down. You'll only color one circle per row.

Objective
The hope is to color numbers that connect to make a Place Value (cater)'Pillar! See how many you can make and how long they are; any two connected numbers make a 'pillar.

This was a great refresher for our 9-year-old son, who was thrilled to make a caterpillar longer than mine.

A-MAZE-ING Spelling Practice

Our 2nd grade son has been doing activities I made for our now 12-year-old son. It's been fun to rediscover so many of the activities I created years ago. Since our two boys are very different, it's still fun to create customized activities for him. And since he loves mazes and needs to practice spelling, this is one such activity.

I made four mazes. One for a 7-letter word, 6-letter word, 5-letter word, and 4-letter word.

Imagine the bottom boxes filled in with the letters in your child's spelling word. Follow the lines up to the shape above and add the respective letters there. Download a PDF of the four mazes from Google Drive here (remember, teachers, to use your personal email address if you need to request access as your school probably limits messages from outside their domain). 

This is quick, simple, and fun. Spelling practice doesn't have to be boring. Just make it a-MAZE-ing!

Addition Math Fact Dash {printable board game}

It's no secret. I hate flash cards. They're so ... not fun. To give my 1st grade son a little practice with simple addition and turn repetition into memorization (hopefully), I made a simple board game.

What You Need
Free two-page download of game board and spinner (download here)
Two pieces heavyweight cardstock
Printer & ink
Brad (to make the spinner spin)
Scissors
Small game pieces (different for each player)

How to Play
Game pieces are placed on the start square. The youngest player spins first. He/she solves the addition problem and moves their game piece to the nearest square with the answer. Turns alternate between players until a player gets the math problem where the answer is 5, the final square on the board.

Enjoy!

Number Grid Puzzles (free printable)

Our youngest son had a "fill in the missing numbers in the number grid" math assignment. I thought it would be a snap for him, but as he sometimes transposes numbers, it became a source of major frustration. Oy!

To familiarize him a little more with number grids and some of the quick addition and subtraction you can do with them, I made a few activities. These were inspired by Playdough to Plato's peek-a-boo chart and Mrs. T's First Grade Class number puzzles.

You can download this 100 number grid activity for free from Google Drive here. It's a 3-page PDF. 

NOTE: If you are a teacher, use your personal gmail account if it requires you to request permission. Most school districts restrict emails from outside their domain, and therefore I can't grant access and let you know it's available.

Activity #1: 10 more, 10 less, 1 more, 1 less
I printed the number grid on white card stock. I printed page two of the free printable PDF on colored card stock. I cut the center plus-sign out. Then I added white gift wrap tissue squares to the plus signs "arms" making those squares translucent (vellum would work well too), and left the center empty. For the sake of durability, I ran this sheet through my laminator.

With the 10 more, 10 less, 1 more, 1 less page laminated, I wrote some simple math problems on it in the blank area (e.g. 13+10= , 47-10=, 91+1=, 74+1=) with a dry-erase marker. My son placed the laminated page over the number grid so the first number in the equation was in the center. Then he could easily see in the translucent squares which was his answer (i.e. 10 less was directly above, 10 more directly below, 1 more to the right, and 1 less to the left). This made solving the math problems easy!

Activity #2: Number Grid Puzzles
Now I printed the number grid on colored card stock and printed an empty grid on white card stock. I cut the colored grid apart into a variety of puzzles that were about 10-11 squares each. 

Once done, I cut the number squares apart and handed him a few piles of puzzles. He arranged them wherever on the blank grid, remembering 10 less is above, 10 more is below, 1 more is on the right, 1 less is on the left. When he completed this puzzle, he moved on to the next. You can make approximately 7-8 puzzles per grid.

Telling Time by the Hour (Simple Printable Game)

One of the most important aspects of telling time is understanding which hand tells you the hour, and which tells you the minutes. To help my son practice telling time by the hour, and beginning to memorize which hand does just that, I made him this fun and simple game.

What You Need
My 2-page PDF (download it for free from Google Drive here)
Heavyweight card stock
Scissors
Unconventional hole punch (optional)
Brad
12 game pieces for each player (we used the flattened glass marbles)

Prep
Print one handless clock game board for each player. Print the clock spinner on heavyweight card stock. Fold over the paper at the bottom to double the thickness of the spinner. Glue the folded paper down and cut the spinner and clock out. 

Either poke a hole with a nail through the center of the clock and spinner (or use an unconventional hole punch). Thread the brad through the hour hand and clock, separating the prongs at the back of the clock.

Play
The youngest player starts first and flicks the hour hand on the spinner. Wherever it lands, they must read the clock and tell the time. Then they will take one of their game pieces and put it over that number on their clock game board (e.g. if a player flicks the hour hand and it points to seven, they say "It's seven o'clock" and put the game piece over the seven on their game board clock). 

The next player does the same. If you already have a number covered that you spin, your turn is over. The next player uses the spinner.

The first player to get all the numbers (aka o'clocks) covered on their game board is the winner.

Read
We read three books with this activity.

Skip Counting Connect-the-Dots Letter Puzzles

My 1st grader came home from school the first week and was distraught that he'd had trouble skip counting by 2s. "Can we practice, Mom?" Um ... yeah!

Since his teacher is also sending home short lists of consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) spelling words, I thought I'd combine the two skills.

I made connect-the-dot pages that when finished form the letters of the alphabet (capital letters only at this point). 

Download the 13-page PDF for free from Google Drive here.

I grabbed the spelling list and printed the pages with the letters I needed, cut them apart, labeled them 1-3 so he'd know the order of the letters, snipped the corner of each page (so he wouldn't know which letter he was working on), and told him to start with the star and count by 2s.

He was amused and truly enjoyed the discovery aspect of this activity. First, it was fun to see what letter he made. Then it was fun to see what word the three letters formed (e.g. web, hen, pet, pen, etc.).

Change Exchange (free printable money game)

When big brother took his piggy bank coins in to the bank this summer, little brother was mighty jealous. Since he's only had his bank since Christmas, there was only $7.58 in it (which paled in comparison to the $56.36 our oldest had). 

He was confused about which coins added to a dollar. To reinforce coin equivalents (e.g. two dimes and a nickel equal the same as a quarter), I made a fun little board game.

I was surprised to see how much my 7-year old enjoyed it. He and I were having so much fun that our 11-year old asked to play next time!

What You Need
PDF of the game board, equivalent cards, and $1 fake money (download it free from Google Drive here)
Heavy weight card stock (white)
Green paper
Scissors or paper cutting tool
Lamination
Dry-erase markers
Die
Small objects to use as game pieces (a different one for each player)
Paper towel to erase the marker

Prep
Print the game board on white card stock.Trim the white border off the one edge on each page so the spaces meet up perfectly. Tape together.

Print the $1 page on green paper. Plan for $3 per player. You may need to print extra copies of this page depending on how many individuals are playing.

Print the equivalent cards on paper (office or card stock) and laminate. You'll want 2-3 for each player.

Cut all the money and equivalent cards apart.

Play
Each player puts their game piece on the word START. They roll the die and move their game piece the number of spaces rolled. Whatever coin they land on, they will cross off with the dry-erase marker on one of their equivalent cards.

When a player has crossed through all five pennies on that equivalent card, they can erase the marks with a paper towel and cross through one of the nickels on either the two nickels = a dime equivalent card or two dimes and a nickel = a quarter card.

Players continually cross through coins until the cards are filled and then they're erased and a coin of the equivalent value is marked through.

If they roll and land on a dime, but their dimes have already been crossed through on the two dimes and a nickel equivalent card, they can start a second two dimes and a nickel card.

When players have four quarters all crossed through, they are given a $1. 

Each player collects a quarter when they roll a number and pass the last space on the board.

The object is not to be the first to finish, but to finish with the most money.

Count the dollars and coins at the end of the game to determine the winner! 

I earned $2.56 and my son won with $2.94.

Days of the Week {free printable board game}

A few weeks ago when the boys were doing a Bedtime Math problem, my youngest had trouble remembering the order of the days of the week. I wrongly assumed he had them mastered. My bad.

To give him a little practice, I made a simple board game for us to play.

What You Need

Free printable PDF of the game board and playing cards (click here to download from Google Drive)

Heavyweight cardstock (7 pages minimum)

Tiny game pieces, a different one for each player

Paper trimmer (or scissors)

Prep

Download the 2-page PDF from the link above. For a two-player game, you'll need to print about 6 copies of page 1 (the game cards). Print one copy of page 2 (the game board). Use a paper trimmer or scissors to cut out all the game cards.

Play

Place two game pieces on the board's first space (Sunday). The youngest player draws a card. They must identify the missing day of the week and move their game piece to the next occurrence of that day on the board.

If they draw a card "Draw Again" card, they must draw until they get a missing-day card and then move TWO of those days forward (e.g. put their game piece on the second Monday ahead of them). 

The first player to the finish wins!

Read

Our 6-year-old read Terri Sievert's Days of the Week to me to go along with this activity!

Sight Word Search & Graph

Our youngest son (age 6) did a lot of word work this week. I'm trying my best to ward off the dreaded summer slump. That summer between kindergarten and first grade is critical. Those phonics and sight words are building blocks beginning readers need to hit the ground running when school resumes in the fall.

I thought my son might protest when I handed him a book; our reading typically happens before bed. When I gave him a half sheet of large-type graph paper, he was intrigued.

Prep

Download my free PDF of the Sight Word Search & Graph paper (or make your own).

Print the graph.

Pick a book for beginning readers, and review the vocabulary in the book. I used a Level 1 Penguin Young Reader by Bonnie Bader.

Select four recurring words and write them at the bottom of the graph. I used come, me, play, and will.

Read & Graph

Have your child read the book and look for the words noted on your graph. Each time one of the words occurs, have them color a block. For competitive kids, make it a sight word competition; which word will win?

This is a simple activity that combines early math skills with reading. My son really enjoyed it!

Silent E Apple Tree FREE Printable Game

Let's face it, the silent e is tricky. It doesn't make a sound, but changes the way earlier vowels in the word are pronounced. Ugh. What a pain for beginning readers!

To give my son some practice pronouncing words that are transformed with a silent e, I designed a fun game to play together: Climb With Me Up the Silent E Apple Tree.

What You Need to Play
FREE 5-page PDF (available on Google Drive here)
Heavyweight card stock
Paper cutter or scissors
Tape
Die
Different game pieces for each player (we used buttons)

Prep
Print the PDF on the card stock. Since your home printer won't print full bleed (i.e. all the way to the edge of the paper), trim off the white strip on the bottom of page 1 and top of page 2. Tape these pages together to form your apple tree game board.

Cut out all of the word cards and place face down in a pile under the tree.

How to Play
Place both game pieces on the word START at the base of the tree. The youngest player rolls the die first and moves their game piece the number of spaces rolled.

If the player lands on an apple, they draw a card. They must pronounce the word with AND without the silent e. If they do this correctly, they can advance two more spaces.

HINT: I like to remind my son that while the ending e is silent, it makes the <a,e,i,o,u> say it's name. In other words instead of the i in pine making the ih sound, it literally makes the eye sound. 

If they land on an empty circle, they stay put.

If they land on an apple core, they must move back the number of spaces indicated.

Play alternates between players. If a player lands on a space where a branch points them up or down the board to another space, they must move their game piece to wherever the end of the arrowed branch points.

The first player to make it to the FINISH (i.e. the bird) wins the game. This was challenging for our 6-year-old but great practice and great fun at the same time!

Read
Want a great book to read along with this? We recommend the following.

Words in Words (a Literacy Board Game)

Our youngest son is doing a great job on his journey to becoming a fluent reader. I've been surprised to see some of the words that he gets hung up on, though. When he knows the sight word "ate," for example, I expect him to read "gate" with relative ease. Not so, though. 

This activity is an effort to help him see words inside of words, which sometimes (not always) will be just the cues he needs to read them more quickly.

What You Need to Play
2 players
2 different game pieces (we used LEGO minifigures)
Free PDF of the cards and game board (download it here)
Dot stickers (or tape)
Heavyweight card stock (8 pieces)
Scissors or paper cutter
Marker

Assembly
Download and print the 8-page PDF file on heavyweight card stock. 

Cut out the game cards so that each has a word at the top and blank rectangle at the bottom.

Fold the cards in on themselves and write the word that's inside on the outside in marker. Use a dot sticker (like what you'd use for pricing yard sale items) folded over the top edge to seal each closed.

Put these in a pile or bowl.

How to Play
Both players put their game pieces on the START circle. The youngest player picks a game card, reads the word in marker and tries to figure out what word is inside that word (without scrambling the letters!). Once they have a guess, have them open the card.

If the word they discovered inside the main word is on the inside of the card in red, they move their game pieces the number of letters in that word. For example, if the child selects the card with the word 'seen' on it, and says 'see' is the hidden word, they'll move their game piece three spaces since there are three letters in the word 'see.' 

If there are multiple options on the inside of the card, the player can only move their game piece the number of letters in the word they guessed (so if they said 'an' and not 'ant' in elephant, they move TWO spaces, not three).

The player to reach the finish first is declared the winner.

I was shocked at how well my youngest son did with this and how much his older brother also enjoyed playing with him. If we're going to keep the enjoyment going, it looks like I'll have to make even more cards!

Turtle or Tortoise? Reading Comprehension + Art

My boys have both been fans of the Wild Kratts cartoon. It seems to ignite not only a fascination with animals, but a curiosity too - at least it has for my sons. 

Because of this and a love of art, I thought my son would enjoy this activity.

To gain some knowledge, I read him a great book about the differences (and similarities) between turtles and tortoises. Trisha Speed Shaskan's book contains simple explanations and beautiful illustrations that captivated our interest with the turn of each page.

When we were finished, I asked him if he wanted to make a turtle or tortoise. He answered the latter, so we traced a big bowl onto half of a piece of brown card stock.

We added feet and a head, and then some paper shapes in a contrasting color, laid out like a mosaic to form the pattern on our tortoises' shell. Lastly, we glued a googly eye on.

Now it was time to test his reading comprehension. 

I gave him a worksheet that I designed and asked him to cut out the slips of paper at the bottom and put each of the characteristics under the proper reptile. He got them all right!

Download the free Turtle vs. Tortoise PDF I made here.

5-minute Sight Word Uncover & Add

My son has successfully memorized 120 sight words this year. Unfortunately, not all of those words have stuck in his memory. With assessments coming up, his kindergarten teacher asked that we do some review at home.

Lately, my son has been really enjoying a Highlights' Hidden Picture book. His love for these puzzles inspired this game, in part. What I created is a basically modified BINGO game.

What You Need
Fun pictures either from photos or magazines for the game boards
PDF of the sight word game and call cards (download it here from Google Drive)
Heavyweight card stock
Scissors
Fine-tip marker
Star stickers (optional)
Timer (we used the microwave clock)

Have your own list of words to practice? Or another subject matter to quiz your kiddo on? No worries. The last page of the free PDF is a blank template.

Prepare the Game
Print the sight word pages on card stock. As a general rule, use a page of cards for each player and one to two extra pages of cards.

Cut the outer border of one sheet of game cards (the bigger square word cards). Use it to trace the shape onto one each of your pictures (I used some old LEGO Club magazine pages). These will be your game cards. Crop the excess but cutting along the lines.

Now trim one row at a time on the game cards, align with the game boards and trace a line along the edge. Use this technique until all the grid lines are drawn on each game board.

Once the boards are finished, add a star sticker (or drawn star) in one of the squares. In each of the other squares, write a number, cleverly hiding it for an extra challenge. Depending on your child's math abilities, keep the numbers small or make them bigger for harder addition.

Play
With two piles - the call cards face down and the game cards face up - scrambled, each player should add sight word cards (face up) to their game board until its filled.

Set a timer for 5 minutes. Begin selecting one by one the call cards. Have the child(ren) read the words on the cards, search their game board for that same word, and if it's present, remove it from the board.

At the end of 5 minutes, the child(ren) hunt for the hidden numbers in each uncovered square. They add them together. If the star is uncovered, they double the total.

The player with the most points is declared the winner.

Pick the Punctuation (Period, Exclamation Point, & Question Mark)

The kids in my youngest son's kindergarten class are working hard on their writing skills. The teacher has been talking a lot about end punctuation and reading with fluency (i.e. NOT like a robot). 

I thought it would be fun to test my son with a quick game to see if he could pick the right punctuation for sentences I read to him.

I made some fun cards with visual cues for him to use.

Want to play this? Here's what you need:
the 4-page PDF (download it free from Google Drive here)
heavyweight card stock to print the PDF on
scissors/paper cutter
time

To play, simply put the three punctuation cards in front of the child. Now mix the assorted sentence cards. Read them to your child with inflection and intonation. When the statement should have an exclamation, proclaim it excitedly. When your asking something, make sure the pitch of your voice goes up at the end. Sentences ending in a period should be read with a flat tone.

If the child holds up the correct punctuation card for the sentence you read, they get to keep the sentence card. They can add up their score at the end and play with different sentences the next day to try and beat their personal best.

The sentence cards are just to get you started. Make up your own. Change them to reflect your child's interests and family. Get creative! Get silly! Make it personal.

For as simple as this was, my son really enjoyed it. I hope your kiddos will too!

Linking Word Family Chains -at, -am, -an, -ay, -ap (free printable)

Our kindergarten son's literacy skills are growing by leaps and bounds, but I wanted to continue to show him the pattern in words, what makes them rhyme, and how much easier it is to read when you recognize the sound of their endings. With this aim, I completed another word family activity.

This free printable can be used in a variety of ways. The flexibility makes it easy to customize for your child.

What You Need

3-page PDF of the word links (download it free from Google Drive here)

Heavyweight card stock, plain or colored paper

Prep

Print and cut out the links on the dark black lines. Scramble together

Play: Option 1

Have the child see how many words they can make by combining the links' beginning sounds with the word family endings. 

Play: Option 2

Divide the links into even piles for each child. Have them see who can make the longest chain, or complete a chain the fastest.

Play: Option 3

See how long of a chain your child can make on the floor. Can they loop it around the furniture or make it go in a circle?