Fall Cutting Strips

Happy Tuesday!

Does it feel like Fall where you are? Still feels like Summer in Southern California...

To get in the mood, I created some Fall cutting strips.

Spiderman wasn't sure what months are in Fall. He knows that Fall comes after Summer, but not the months. And the answer of course depends on where you live. But for the U.S., there isn't much confusion. So, some fine motor control, some learning about seasons and months, and lots of fun! These clip arts are great conversation starters, or writing prompts.
Spiderman told me it would be "awesome" to jump on a pile of leaves. He thinks he would like to gather them the first time. But after gathering, jumping etc, he would be "too tired", so I would have to gather the leaves the second time :)

The one for September is free. Get it here.
Please Note: This is for personal use only. Teachers, please see my TpT store.



The pictures inspired him to hunt down Pumpkin Soup , and Delicious , followed by Leaves (a wonderful book meant for a somewhat younger crowd. In my house, Batman reads it, and Spiderman turns the pages), and Big Pumpkin , with more books being gathered. 

Spider-man's list (for right now):
1. From Seed to Pumpkin
2. Curious George Goes to a Costume Party
3. Quite a few Dora and Diego Halloween themed books
4. Spooky Bunny Tales (Max and Ruby)

Batman's list looks more like this:
1. Calender Mystery #10 - October Ogre 
2. Flat Stanley and the Haunted House  
3. Ready Freddy! #11: Pumpkin Elf Mystery 

We are still adding to the list...

I had made Halloween themed A to Z Cards. After cutting the clip-arts, and taking a look at the cards, the two super-heroes were happily (read no fighting, screaming and whining)  engaged in creating fall themed cards of their own...

For the other two months, take a look here. These are great to associate events with months. Halloween is in October, Thanksgiving in November etc. I will add more as the seasons change.

Find my post and other awesome ideas here.

Transportation theme - Week 1

Do you trip over hot wheels, get poked by helicopters while in bed, find Lego pieces in your purse?
Have vehicles, or transportation doo-dads all around the house? 
Think puzzles, toys, hotwheels, trains, tracks, building blocks, legos, car wash, remote controls...
Do I see some head nodding?
With two boys, and numerous birthdays and special occasions, I do. So why not make a theme out of it? 

We can combine numbers, letters, science, crafts, and good old fashioned fun! Win win for everyone!

Ever since Smelly Letters, Batman has been on a quest of trying to alphabetize everything! Wow, me the trend setter. So when he wanted to alphabetize our vehicle collection, I thought, why not? Might be fun!

 

 

 This is just a trailer. Stay tuned - Transporation A to Z is coming soon to a blog near you...

But while we find things inside our house for every letter of the alphabet, let's have fun with some other stuff!!  

How about Automoblox? Put the different parts together, learn their names, mix and match the wheels, rims, front and back ends, tops for cool cars, and shh, work on some fine motor skills. 

Or how about the Battat Take Apart vehicles? I have a 4x4, and both Batman, Superman and all their friends enjoy them! More taking apart and putting them together fun! When the drill runs out of battery, I just let the kids use the bits as screw drivers. Some lefty-loosy, righty-tighty review, and off we go...

The Geo-board set that I have (could not find it on Amazon any more) had template for quite a few that went nicely with our theme. After we made some impromptu sling shots with the rubber bands, we got down to business...

 

Spiderman wanted to soar into the sky as well. To infinity and beyond in the rocket ship with drill and design set...

 

 

And then Batman wanted wanted to do a Hovering Helicopter, because a plane/jet can't hover, you know Mamma? This a Quarcetti set.

Make some crayons for those spectacular drawing of the boat or train to follow. It helps that Spiderman likes to strip the paper. And of course, an exacto knife.

And then there are the classics, Legos!! We had plenty lying around to go with our theme...

Batman, my emerging party planner, commented - "with all the stuff we have, we can almost have a Transportation themed birthday party, Mamma. Remember, like the one we had for Spiderman last year, with small stations set up everywhere with all train stuff?"

But sadly, neither Batman nor Spiderman wanted a Transportation themed birthday bash, as "we already did all these stuff" ... 

Linked up to:
Link & Learn, Monday Kid Corner, It's Playtime, The Sunday Showcase, Montessori Monday, Tuesday Tots, We Made That 

Beach Sensory Bin

It started out as a simple activity, some fine motor practice for the boys, and a few minutes of peace for mom. 
Hammer and nails - check.

Open the pretty parasols, stick them in the Styrofoam - check, umm, no, wait..

Inspiration behind the Beach sensory bin

Batman came back to me, and said, mom, those pretty beach umbrellas really do need a beach to go along with it. <OK, I can take a hint. >

So a simple bin was born, providing hours of fun for my two boys......





.. and tons of fine motor practice with the "pretty beach umbrellas"! 

Of course, then we need a beach towel under the umbrella, a picnic perhaps on the towel, and a chair or two if you don't want to get all messy on the sand!

Batman was more into this bin because he was trying to build as many sand castles as space would allow, with moat, flags, pretty stones...

  
The teeny tiny flower pots, and some small buckets to make the mounds, scrap paper glued on toothpicks for the flag, small pebbles for the moat, a shovel for him, and he was in sand castle heaven...

 
We had some tidal pools in our bin, with the kind of ocean animals we might see in them.
These are the "grow in the water" kinds, and we will play with them later... 

See the net? It's for beach volleyball. But I was not allowed to put in a ball, because apparently it got washed away by the waves, so only the net remains...

My two super heroes had a fun time digging for treasure (pretty stones) in the sand, and I am to make a pirate bin, and use the beach in here....

The only twist in this sensory bin is that I used baking soda (colored yellow) instead of sand. I saw these wonderful post on "bath dirt" and other wonderful tactile bath fun, and wanted to give it a try. So the "bath sand" is getting played in the sensory bin now, and later on will make a transition into the bath tub, along with the grow in the water ocean animals, before it gets washed out!

Linked up to:
Screen Free Activities and Resources, Stress-Free Sunday, Link & Learn, Montessori Monday, Monday Kid Corner, and Tot School Gathering Place

Now I know my 1 2 3 s...

Write Your Numbers!

My super-heroes are not big fans of writing.

So I am always looking out for ways to make it more fun, and do "super-writing" worthy of Spiderman and Batman.

How many ways can you write your numbers?

This post is about numbers. But of course, it applies to just plain old writing, for numbers, letters, shapes, and all the fun ways to do it. I think we tend to focus more on writing our letters, than numbers. In defense of the letters, I understand there is more of them.
After all, there is no uppercase and lowercase numbers, but nonetheless, this post is dedicated to numbers.

Drill your numbers!

There are some awesome ideas out there to tempt even the most reluctant "writers". They generously gave me permission to link back to their posts. Give it a spin...

• Tried and tested - write it out :) You write the numbers, they trace over it. Rockabye Butterfly shows us how to trace over with Q-tips. While you are there, don't forget to check out the fun way to learn about number words!
  

  

  Rockabye Butterfy - Number Words

  
  
• Trace - sandpaper numbers, or other tactile numbers. 

Trace it, then write it...

• Play at Home Mom shows us how to make fantastic squishy bags! Make sure you play with them a while before passing it on to the kiddos :)
  
  
• Read a book with sensory numbers, like this book with large grooved numbers, and trace them!

  

  Books with large grooved numbers to trace

• Go with the staples. Fun worksheets, wipe-off cards! I have the Kumon workbooks, and the Flash Cards. I like using the Dry Erase Crayons with the flash cards! Just wipe it off with a damp paper towel when you are done!

  

  Worksheets

  

  Wipe-off Flash Cards

  
  

• Make them with bingo markers, or Do-A-Dot markers! You can find tons of free printables online. The one shown here is from a book made to go with the dot markers.

Numbers with Bingo Markers

• Or for a fun twist, use the same sheets with flat pebbles backed with magnetic strip and a baking tray. Or let the kids wing it!
  

  

  Magnetic numbers!

• Write it on paper, chalkboard, sidewalks. Write with pencils, crayons, markers, paints, chalks, finger paints, window crayons, puff paints! Here is a very fun twist on writing on the chalkboard from Kingdom First Homeschool.

  

  Kingdom First Homeschool - Writing on chalkboard!

• Write in on the shower stall after a steamy bath! Write it in the shaving cream. Write it in the sand tray, or in sugar, cornmeal. Here is a fun twist on the sand tray from Teach Preschool.

  

  Teach Preschool - Feather and Sand

• Shape it out - with pipe cleaners, tooth picks, craft pieces, play-doh, pebbles, shells... Cut out the various curves and lines from felt, and ask your number-expert to put it together!!

• How about with nails and hammer? Play at Home Mom shows us how.
  
  

  

  Play at Home Mom - Nails and Hammers

•  How about making them with play dough? Use these awesome Number Play dough Mats from Homeschool creations.

  

  Homeschool Creations - Playdough Mats

  
  
• How do you write a 3? Go around the tree (from "Everyday Snapshots") of course!

  

  Everyday Snapshots - Write a 3!
  

  Some numbers are trickier than others. Here is a wonderful post on how to teach kids to write number 5 from "Teach Mama".
  
  

  

  Teach Mama - Write 5!

  
  
• For those who already know their numbers, reinforce with these fun ideas. Build some fine motor skills along the way...


• Ask them to make you a number on the peg board. For those not comfortable making it on their own, take a picture of your effort (or older siblings), print it out as a pattern, and then ask them to make their own.
  
  

  

  Peg Board Number Fun

• Let them "Drill" their numbers with this board, pun intended!

  

  Screw and drill board number practice

• How about rubber bands and geo-boards?

Rubber band and Geo board number fun

• Or droplets of water on a suction mat? Or beads on the fuse mat?

How do you practice your numbers (& letters, shapes...)? Let us know!

Linked up to:
Montessori Monday, Monday Kid Corner, Tuesday Tots, and After School Link Up