Teaching Numbers with Clip Cards

0 Comments/ in Other Fun Things We Want to Share / by Kirstylee Moody

April 18, 2014

How can I use clip cards for teaching numbers?

At some point we all learn that there is a connection between a written number (a symbol) and an amount (a specific number of objects). To adults it seems obvious. Of course 1 means one thing. But, to a toddler or preschooler this can be confusing. The connection between a written number and an amount of objects must be taught. This can definitely seem like a daunting task, but using clip cards makes it easy.

Teaching numbers with clip cards is easy. Check out these 5 fun ways to use clip cards with your toddler or preschooler.

These apple clip cards are from my Toddler Curriculum. I laminated them with my home laminator. I definitely recommend laminating the clip cards (or at least covering them with clear contact paper) if you will be using them with math links or clothespins. Otherwise, it’s nice, but not completely necessary.

Side Note: I call these clip cards because they are cards that I clip clothespins to. We actually use math links with them more often than clothespins, but I guess I just like the alliteration of the name clip cards because that’s what I call them. They are also often called number cards in various preschool packs. Follow my Preschool Packs board on pinterest to find fun preschool packs. And now, on to the good stuff. Teaching numbers isn’t hard with these 5 fun and easy activities.

Teaching Numbers with Glass Gem Number Dots

Teaching numbers with clip cards is easy. Check out these 5 fun ways to use clip cards with your toddler or preschooler.

I made these glass gem number dots way back when I made my Flat Marble Alphabet. I made these the same way, but instead of using letters, I just cut out circles the same size as the glass gems and then drew dots on the paper with a sharpie. The rest of the instructions are in the flat marble alphabet post. To use these with clip cards, just match the glass gem with the correct number of dots to the clip card with that number on it.

Teaching Numbers with Paper Clips

Teaching numbers with clip cards is easy. Check out these 5 fun ways to use clip cards with your toddler or preschooler.

Using paper clips on clip cards teaches numbers and it is a great fine motor activity. Be aware that this is probably too difficult for most toddlers. However, it is great for preschoolers! Just have your child put the correct number of paper clips on each clip card.

Teaching Numbers with Beads

Teaching numbers with clip cards is easy. Check out these 5 fun ways to use clip cards with your toddler or preschooler.

This is another way to use clip cards that really works on fine motor skills The smaller the beads, the more it develops fine motor skills. This is one that even toddlers can do. Just have your child put the correct number of beads on each clip card.

Teaching Numbers with Clothespins

Teaching numbers with clip cards is easy. Check out these 5 fun ways to use clip cards with your toddler or preschooler.

Okay, so I didn’t realize so many of these worked on fine motor skills until now, but guess what? Clothespins also really work on fine motor skills! Wahoo. This is another one that might be too difficult for toddlers, but is great for preschoolers. You can draw dots on the clothespins and clip them to the matching clip card. You can also just write the numbers on the clothespins and clip them to the matching number. You can also use mini clothespins and clip the correct number of mini clothespins to each clip card.

Teaching Numbers with Erasers

Teaching numbers with clip cards is easy. Check out these 5 fun ways to use clip cards with your toddler or preschooler.

I got a package of pencil topper erasers a few years ago and I have so many of them, I’m always looking for ways to use them. They work great for clip cards because they are big (great for little hands) and they have some weight to them so they stay in place on the clip cards. Just have your child put the correct number of erasers on each clip card.

Bonus: Teaching Numbers with Math Links

$Teaching numbers with clip cards is easy. Check out these 5 fun ways to use clip cards with your toddler or preschooler.$

Our favorite way to use clip cards is with math links. Go here for my review of them and for 5 more ways to play with them. I got the idea from Confessions of Homeschooler so she deserves full credit. To use the math links, just use a hole punch to punch a hole in each clip card. Then, have your child link the correct number of math links to each clip card.

Bonus: Numerical Order

Teaching numbers with clip cards is easy. Check out these 5 fun ways to use clip cards with your toddler or preschooler.

The last way we typically use clip cards is by putting them in numerical order. Once they are in order, you can practice counting out loud with your child. This is a great way to help your child see the connection between the number symbol and the number name.

Magnetic Letter Match Alphabet Printables

0 Comments/ in Other Fun Things We Want to Share / by Kirstylee Moody

April 17, 2014

How can magnetic letters help with teaching the alphabet?

Teaching the alphabet is probably one of the most important things that happens in preschool, but guess what? It can be so easy! These fun magnetic letter match cards will help with teaching the alphabet, plus they are so fun! Download your magnetic letter match alphabet printables here.

Use magnetic letters with these magnetic letter match printables.

Teaching the Alphabet with Magnetic Letters

These printables help with teaching the alphabet because your child has to recognize the different letters and match them. This is also a great activity for teaching letters sounds. The download has a different word for every letter of the alphabet. You can teach letter sounds by emphasizing the first letter in each word. You can say “Zz, zz, zz. Zz says zebra.” Repeated learning of letters and letter sounds creates a strong foundation for reading. The absolute best thing about this activity? You only need magnetic letters and the printables.

I got my magnetic letters a few years ago and I don’t remember exactly where I got them. This set of magnetic letters is all uppercase and it’s just about as basic as you can get. Here is another set that is more expensive, but higher quality. It’s also all uppercase, but it has multiples for the most common consonants and all of the vowels. This set has both uppercase and lowercase letters. These printables are all uppercase, but if you want uppercase and lowercase, this is a good set to go with.

Use magnetic letters with these magnetic letter match printables. Free printables for every letter of the alphabet.

When my kids play with these, they do one page at a time. I laminate the pages with my home laminator and laminating sheets. This is obviously optional, but the General Conference magnetic letter match cards I made a year and half ago are still as good as new with the lamination, so I definitely think laminating is worth it.

Use magnetic letters with these magnetic letter match printables. Free printables for every letter of the alphabet.

Put the printable on a cookie sheet and use the magnetic letters to match the letters. I use a cookie sheet so the magnets on the back of the letters have something to stick to.

Use magnetic letters with these magnetic letter match printables. Free printables for every letter of the alphabet.

There are two words on each page in the download. I made sure to choose words with no repeating letters so that you can complete the pages with only one set of magnetic letters. As long as you only do one page at a time, you only need one of each letter. You could also cut out each of the words separately and do just one word at a time or still do two.

Use magnetic letters with these magnetic letter match printables. Free printables for every letter of the alphabet.

Teaching the letters during the preschool years is all about exposure. The more activities you do with the alphabet, the more your child learns!

Toddler School Ideas: G is for Garden

0 Comments/ in Toddler Activities / by Kirstylee Moody

April 15, 2014

How do I do age-appropriate toddler education at home?

I did a garden theme for tot school with Smiley Man last summer and Smiley liked it so much, I knew I had to include it in my Toddler Curriculum. I went back and looked at some of the activities we did back then (almost a year ago) and I am so impressed with how much Smiley Man has learned.

If you haven’t done much toddler Montessori, I would definitely recommend it. I am constantly impressed with how much Smiley Man is able to do with his tot trays. My biggest surprise was with the pouring tot tray. I didn’t think Smiley would be able to stop pouring once he got to the fill line, but he did! Using toddler Montessori or really any type of toddler education will really help your child achieve all that he can. And since I’m an educator, I’m pretty passionate about making sure my kids achieve their full potential. :)

G is for Garden tot school - Tot tray ideas, printables, craft, and more all for a garden theme - Moms Have Questions Too

(Smiley Man is almost 3, read here about appropriate ages for the Toddler Curriculum)

Make the Letter

Okay people, I lost our bathtub crayons. Those were supposed to be our Make the Letter activity for this week, but when I went to get them, they weren’t there. I’ll probably just make some more, but since I didn’t have them when we took the pictures, I don’t have a picture for you. :( It’s not that hard to figure out though, just use bathtub crayons to write the letter G. Help your toddler if he needs it.

Learning Notebook

Smiley Man did a pretty good job of finding all of the Gs for this printable. The hardest thing for him was coloring just one letter instead of the letter plus a few of the ones around it. This printable and more are included in the Toddler Curriculum.

Letter G is for Garden Learning Notebook - Moms Have Questions Too

Tot Trays

Theme: Use a toy watering can to water fake flowers that are in a flower pot. You could also practice watering a real flower.

Practice Watering Plants - Moms Have Questions Too

Stickers/Stamps: Make a potato stamp with a carrot shape. Stamp “carrots” in the “garden” (brown construction paper).

Potato Stamp Tot Tray - Moms Have Questions Too

Pouring: Have fake flowers in clear plastic cups. Draw a line on the cups (or put a rubber band around the cups) to act as a fill line. Pour water from measure cup into plastic cups to the fill line.

Toddler curriculum for all letters that incorporates toddler Montessori ideas, printables, and lots of sensory fun. G is for Garden - Moms Have Questions Too

Cutting: Cut yellow, green, and orange paint chips to look like corn, celery or cucumber, and carrots. Use scissors to cut the paint chips on the line.

Cutting Vegetables Activity - Moms Have Questions Too

Sensory: Pick vegetable shaped erasers (or plastic vegetables) out of sensory dirt and put them in a small basket.

Digging for Vegetables - Moms Have Questions Too

Supplies Used: watering can, flower pot, fake flowers, plastic cups, scissors, vegetable erasers, or plastic or squishy vegetables, sensory dirt

Tray Printables

I cut out the shapes for this printable before I gave it to Smiley Man to work on. If your toddler is older, you can let him or her cut the shapes out themselves. If your toddler is even older, he or she can cut the actual shapes out instead of just the boxes around the shapes.

Cut and Paste Matching Shapes - Moms Have Questions Too

Letter Activities

I’ve done lots of do-a-dot pages with Smiley Man with lots of different objects, but this was the first time we have ever done buttons. He LOVED it. I don’t know why buttons were so much cooler than using pompoms or glass gems, but Smiley Man just loved using buttons to cover his do-a-dot letter G. The Toddler Curriculum includes do-a-dot letters (both uppercase and lowercase) for the entire alphabet along with lots of ideas for how to cover them (dot markers, glass gems, pompoms, buttons, etc.)

Create the Letter G with Buttons - Moms Have Questions Too

Books

We didn’t get to the library this week so we had to just read our books at home. I really wanted to get this book though because it looks so fun! Maybe next week.

Letter G Craft

Smiley Man loves any kind of painting, so this vegetable painting craft was definitely fun for him. It wasn’t as fun for me because I cringe at messes of any kind, but we managed to get through it without a heart attack on my part. Definitely a success in my eyes. ;)

Stamping and Painting with Vegetables - Moms Have Questions Too

Sensory Bin

We used pompoms as the base for our sensory bin this week. Smiley Man loved them, but he was also a bit more interested in the Gs (unlike last week when he just wanted to play with the oatmeal). Read about our ABC Sensory Bins to see how we use them to teach letters.

G is for Garden Sensory Bin - Moms Have Questions Too

Now that I’ve been using my Toddler Curriculum for a few months, I just have to say, it is so nice to have a set plan. An official curriculum definitely isn’t necessary for toddler education, but having one has made tot school more fun for Smiley Man and for me. This toddler homeschool curriculum keeps me organized and is perfect for when my creativity is lacking. When I do have more crafts and activities to add, I just add them to what we are already doing. But, when I have nothing extra, the curriculum has plenty to keep Smiley Man busy and learning. How do you get toddler education organized? Do you like to have a curriculum like me or do you like to come up with your own ideas?

How to Use Building Preschool Printables

0 Comments/ in Other Fun Things We Want to Share / by Kirstylee Moody

April 11, 2014

What matching games for kids teach spatial relations?

Will your child be ready for Kindergarten math? This activity will lay the foundation to get him there. The activity is called Building and it teaches spatial relations. Spatial relation is how an object is located in space in relation to another object.

This activity will help prepare your child for Kindergarten math. Matching games for kids teach spatial relations.

Why Use Matching Games for Kids

Matching games like this teach important pre-math skills that will prepare your child for Kindergarten. When your child understands these skills, it will build a strong foundation for all elementary math skills. Without this strong foundation, your child will have a difficult time visualizing abstract concepts, which of course, math is full of. This activity teaches or prepares your child for the following skills:

Abstract Reasoning
Spatial Relations
Analyze, compare, create, and compose shapes

I loosely based these printables on the Fish Builders from the Letter F week from Confessions of a Homeschooler. Her printables are for preschoolers, whereas my curriculum is for toddlers and young preschoolers. So, my printables are much simpler, which makes them perfect for 2-3 year olds.

This activity will help prepare your child for Kindergarten math. Matching games for kids teach spatial relations.

How to Use Building Printables

This “building” printable comes from my Toddler Curriculum. It’s from the E is for Extinct unit. If you want to know how to use other preschool printables, check out my How to Use Preschool Printables post for lots of different printables directions. Today I am going to tell you all about how to use building printables. If you don’t have printables specifically for building, never fear! You can just use regular matching cards.

I always start by laminating. (I use this laminator and this printer in case you’re interested). Laminating is of course optional, but since the laminating sheets I buy are so cheap, it’s worth it to me to make the pictures a lot more durable. Basically what you do is cut out one set of pictures into individual cards and leave the other set whole. Have your child arrange the pictures in the same order next to (but not on top of) the whole set of pictures. Check the pictures below to see what I mean.

This activity will help prepare your child for Kindergarten math. Matching games for kids teach spatial relations.

The simple act of having the pictures next to the whole set of pictures makes it much more difficult to put the pictures in the correct order. If this activity is too difficult for your child, you can always have him or her use the cards like regular matching cards. Just have your toddler put each cut picture onto the matching picture on the whole page.

This activity will help prepare your child for Kindergarten math. Matching games for kids teach spatial relations.

Matching Games for Kids Teach Spatial Relations

Doing building is a wonderful way to teach spatial relations. I am always surprised by how hard building type activities can be even for Little Bear who is almost 6. Smiley Man still needs help to complete printables like this, but he is getting better the more we practice. Use matching games for kids to teach your child lots of pre-math skills. This will really help him once it’s time for kindergarten.

Other Matching Games for Kids to Teach Spatial Awareness

Zoob Jr. (comes with 8 instruction cards)
Color Cube Task Cards
Another Color Cube Activity Set
Pattern Blocks and Pattern Block Activity Pack or Beginner Pattern Blocks
Excellerations Spatial Relations Playset
Castle Logix (see my review here)
3-D Spatial Relations Activity Set
Sort & Snap Color Match

Inexpensive Mother’s Day Gift Ideas

0 Comments/ in Other Fun Things We Want to Share / by Kirstylee Moody

April 10, 2014

Where can I find a nice, but inexpensive gift for Mother’s Day?

It seems like Mother’s Day always sneaks up on me every year, so this year I was determined to get ahead of the game. I have been searching out and brainstorming a bunch of inexpensive Mother’s Day gift ideas and my list kept getting longer and longer. So, I did the only logical thing for a blogger to do; I turned my list into a post. Hopefully this list is helpful to you as you brainstorm your own Mother’s Day gift ideas.

Over 70 Inexpensive Mother's Day Gift Ideas

These gift ideas are separated according to who would be giving the gift. There is obviously some overlap, but in general I think of mother’s day gifts from kids being homemade or “cutesy.” I think of gifts from adults (whether adult children, adult grandchildren, husbands, etc.) as being more “sophisticated.” If you have any other ideas to add to the list, feel free to add them in the comments!