Free Printable Cursive Dominoes

It happened. My son's fourth grade teacher asked the class to write their spelling words in cursive. (gasp) So I asked him, "How'd you do?"

"Bad."

Oh boy. It seems our cursive practice has come a week or two too late. With that in mind, I cranked out these fun dominoes to help engrain the cursive letter formations in my son's brain.

He's also practicing his cursive penmanship with This Reading Mama's FREE Cursive Handwriting Worksheets.

Preparation

I like to make my dominoes nice and thick but it's unnecessary. You can always just laminate and cut apart for extra durability. If you like the look of ours, here's how I did it.

Print the 5-page PDF onto heavyweight cardstock (click here to download the file free from Google Drive).

Apply Foamies glue to the back of the cardstock pages with a foam brush and let dry for 10-15 minutes. I've tried other glues and you have to use a glue specifically for foam. Then apply each page to a sheet of 6mm craft foam.

Using a straight edge, cut the dominoes apart with a craft knife.

Play

We each drew five dominoes from a pile of the upside down dominoes. The youngest player (my 9-year-old son) placed the first domino in front of us. From there we each tried to add another, matching like letters (either manuscript/cursive or upper/lowercase) and butting them up against each other. If we didn't have domino in our hand with a letter that had been played, we kept drawing until we could play.

There were a few times when my son had to stop and ask, "what letter is this?" (I took this as proof that the game was needed.)

Read

My son read a GREAT book after our game. It's a wonderful pairing for this activity, as it's all about cursive. Its history slant makes it perfect for kids that love social studies!

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After School Linky Party (11-3)

Welcome to the After School Linky Party!

Narrow down my favorites from last week's party to just five? Pshh. Who's counting?!?

Here's TEN of the ideas, blogs, and activities that impressed me.

7 Exciting Art History Projects for Kids that Made Me Say "Wow" at Art Curator for Kids.

26 Free Beginning Sound Clip Cards at The Measured Mom.

Must-Try Candy Science Experiments at P is for Preschooler.

DIY Calaveras for Dia De Los Muertos at Moms & Munchkins.

Do As I Say, Not As I Do Listening Game at Mosswood Connections.

A String Obstacle Course to Find The Number Bonds to 10 at Hands On As We Grow.

Scratch Paper Fireworks and Make Your Own Scratch Paper at The Mad House.

Sight Word Tic-Tac-Toe at There's Just One Mommy.

Exploring Lines at You Clever Monkey.

Thanksgiving Do-A-Dot Printables at Gift of Curiosity.

What have you been doing with your kid(s)? Please share!

The After School Linky is cohosted by

Boy Mama Teacher Mama

Mama Smiles

Planet Smarty Pants

Relentlessly Fun, Deceptively Educational

The Educators' Spin on It

The Measured Mom

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!

Cursive Match-Up (Lowercase Pegboard Practice)

My 9-year-old's penmanship is not always legible. As a kid diagnosed with ADHD, the patience and fine motor required to print nicely, just aren't there. When his school teacher mentioned cursive on parent curriculum night, I cringed.

My options were watch him struggle or decide that it wasn't important. I wasn't comfortable with either. My son loves history and if he ever stands in front of the Declaration of Independence, I want him to be able to read it.

To begin working on cursive at home, I first wanted to test his familiarity with the lowercase letters. He was exposed to cursive last year, but I wondered what his recollection was. I made a set of four pages for our pegboard (find out how I made it here). Download the 4-page PDF here. This is the first of a series of activities I have planned for him.

The pages require him to match up lowercase manuscript letters with their cursive counterparts. The matches are indicated by stringing rubber bands on the nails from one to the other.

Can't be bothered to make a pegboard? Print my pages, slip them in plastic sheet protectors, and hand kids a fine-tip dry-erase marker to draw lines!

I've said it before, but what I love about these pegboard practice pages is that kids have options. It's like taking a multiple choice test. At first my son incorrectly matched the cursive r with the manuscript n, but later was able to see when the remaining letters didn't match, that he'd made an error.

We read the perfect book to pair with this activity, and for any kids who struggle with good penmanship. The message is truly outstanding - try your best, but in the end, it's what your words are saying that is more important than how beautifully they're written on the page.

United States BINGO (Teacher's Edition)

Three years ago, I made a United States BINGO game for my oldest son. It used some hand-colored states graphics I drew that vanished with the death of an old laptop.

But since that time, numerous teachers have asked me to create more game cards. Having made new states graphics (this time digitally) for our states and capitals pegboard, creating a 30-card set was finally possible.

This new printable is free for download on Google Drive here. Enjoy!

Both my son and I tried to check each card to make sure none had duplicate states, but it's possible we missed one. Please let me know if you find an error.

After School Linky (10-27)

Welcome to the After School Linky Party!

The air is turning cool, the apples are crisp, and inspiration is brewing in the cauldron.

Here are some of my favorite ideas and activities from last week's party.

Bubble Gum Consonant Blends Game at Boy Mama Teacher Mama.

Build a House! Math Bingo at Teach Beside Me.

Free Printable Sight Word Game at Brain Power Boy.

Halloween Sudoku Puzzles {free Halloween printables} at Gift of Curiosity.

Paper Mache Plates at Mosswood Connections.

Pythagorean Theorum at Empowering Parents to Teach.

Viking Ship Craft for Kids at Happy Brown House.

Vocabulary Words Study Tips and Tricks at The Educators' Spin on It.

What have you been doing with your kid(s)? Please share!

The After School Linky is cohosted by

Boy Mama Teacher Mama

Mama Smiles

Planet Smarty Pants

Relentlessly Fun, Deceptively Educational

The Educators' Spin on It

The Measured Mom

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!