Make your own ABC PUZZLE

We have had so much playing with these I thought I would share the idea, in case any other little ones might like it too.
Jay is really into puzzles and letters so these have been great (and cheap!) toys :)

Supplies: thin cardboard (cereal boxes work great), permanent markers, "scrapbook-type" scissors.


1- cut strips of cardboard (ours were 2" tall)
2- Cut those up into pieces (ours were 2"x2.5")
3-Using a variety of scrapbook scissors (you know, the kinds with the fancy edges) cut down the middle of each piece.

4- Write the uppercase of the letter on one side and the matching lowercase letter on the other side.
{Little Project Tip:} I wrote all of the vowels with the same color of marker so we could talk about them and the sounds they make.

5-Ideas for how to Play with your ABC PUZZLE:
* Play a matching game: upper and lowercase to form the puzzles for each letter

* Memory game: turn them over and try to find the right matches-(the back of the cereal box may give them away. You can cover that or use blank cardboard.)

* Find things around things around the house that start with that letter


* Use the letters to spell words and/or sentences.


Have fun with this Little ABC puzzle Project!

Tot School #3

I'm late again getting this done, but I think it is worth doing anyway. I love having a picture record of some of the things the kids are doing. And I love seeing what others are up to because it inspires me. So here is a little about our past week.

Jay is still into frogs and spelling.  Here he got to combine both.  We've played with magnetic letters a lot and it's always really effective for him.
Kay and Jay practiced transferring beans from one bowl to another.
Jay wasn't as enthusiastic about this puzzle as he used to be.  We should do it more often (from Target $5)
The kids LOVED this Cake Walk Alphabet Game we played for Dr. Seuss day!
Kay can't get enough of stacking and sorting and collecting.
We made alphabet pancakes and ate words.
I love this book and so does Jay (Border's Bargain book).  It has a dry eraser marker that lets you use it again and again!  You can pull out the tabs to see if you were right!
It's a great way to practice spelling, reading, and writing (with very little work on my part, which I don't mind!)
These are the math equations we did on our abacus.  Writing them as we did them tied the two things together better.
We checked this abacus out from our children's library-what a treat!
We are getting ready to go visit DC, so we have been reading about US presidents.
Kay loves sorting and playing with these pom poms.
Kay is really good at feeding herself.  And when she's not, I love this bib (from IKEA!)
Jay read the newspaper for the first time this week.  It's a habit at our house to have it out, but I didn't think he was paying much attention.  Best Buy might be proud to know that those were the first words he sounded out reading a newspaper :)
We made banana boats for a treat to celebrate the reading we did about Curious George and his ice cream/banana adventures.
Kay has noticed puzzles lately.  And I'm noticing she is pretty good at them.  She must be related to her puzzle-monster brother!  I love these Melissa and Doug chunky ones.  The animals can all stand up on their own so they double as fun toys and are great for little hands to maneuver.
Jay loves to play "Go Fish" and gets a little better each time.  He sorts, counts, and practices taking turns.
As always, Jay is a great helper in the kitchen measuring and stirring. This week we had fun making our waffle sandwiches for dinner!

We've been watching our bean plants grow!

Making these books (from one piece of paper) was also a fun.

For more ideas about Tot School go Here.

Map Munching

We call our new game: "Map Munching."
It's a great way to make snack time educational. Plus, there is a built-in reward system!

I've blogged before about Jay's love of geography.  Like anyone, he forgets things if he doesn't review.  The challenge is to keep the learning of geography fresh, while reviewing.  The same old thing just won't do.  If you (the Mom) need a geography refresher, jump in and play too.  You can both have fun with this game we made up today :)

We started with the states: Cover your map (this one is from the $1 spot at Target) with one snack on each state. Ask your child to find your home state. If he does, he gets the snack that is sitting on it :) You can branch out from there according to your child's age and attention span.

 Want to play too?

You need: a map (see links below to print one out), and some small snacks like: cheerios marshmallows, trail mix, etc.

Ideas for ways to play Map Munching:

Identify the State:
1-Put snacks on a few states and practice just the same ones until your child has learned them.  Ask your child to find your home state. If he does, he gets the snack that is sitting on it :) Repeat with other states.
2-Use geographic regions, like: west, midwest, southwest, New England, East, southeast.
3-Repeat. Repetition really is the key. You can use snack time again tomorrow, or another way to review. Just keep at it. You will be surprised what children can remember.

Identify the Country:
1-Put snacks on a few countries and practice just the same ones until your child learned them. Ask your child to find your home country. If he does, he gets the snack that is sitting on it :) Repeat with other countries.

2- Use geographic areas such as Continents to break it down.

3-Work on your home country/state first and then branch out from there. Utilize what your child is familiar with. Does a relative or friend live in a certain place? Talk about it. Look at pictures of that place.
4-Repeat. Repetition really is the key. You can use snack time again tomorrow, or another way to review. Just keep at it. You will be surprised what children can remember.



Identify the Capitals:
1-Put snacks on a few capitals (countries or state capitals) and practice just the same ones until your child has learned them. Ask your child to find your country's capital or your state's capital (depending on which game you are playing). If he does, he gets the snack that is sitting on it :) Repeat with others.

2-Start on your home country/state CAPITAL first and then branch out from there. Utilize what your child is familiar with. Does a relative or friend live in a certain capital city that you can talk about and see photos of?

3-Repeat. Repetition really is the key. You can use snack time again tomorrow, or another way to review. Just keep at it. Geography is FUN!  You will be surprised what children can remember.

{Little Project Tip} We used a Children's Atlas (Border's Bargain Book) open to different pages today but I want to laminate some maps to use for this and another geography idea I have brewing...so stay tuned!

Do Mom and Dad want to join in the geography fun?  Get a map too and make it a race!

They say that the best learning happens when your child is having fun. A full belly helps too :)
That was a fun learning Little Project. Hope you can use it too!

UPDATE: Renee left a comment about playing Don't Eat Pete too-great idea! I can just hear it now, "Don't eat Spain! or "Arizona!"

P.S. For more educational games, check out my links in the left side bar.

Dr. Seuss Day

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss! We love having an excuse to have a party!
Below you will find our Cat in the Hat hats, chocolate drawings, Rhyming Hat sheet and GAME, and a Cat in the Hat TREAT!

We've been watching some of the older Dr. Seuss movies (the animation is the same as the books) which are fun because they have some cute song in them too.

If you need a "cat in the hat" hat, here's how to make one:

It is similar to the one we made for our President's Day Party.

1st- Get a paper plate and cut the inside out of it.

2-Then we cut 2.25" strips of paper and 

3-taped them together.  They are long enough to go around the middle (circumference) of the hat.  

Jay really enjoyed all the taping that we did.  It was good practice for him. 

4-Tape all the stripes together. 

5-Next you need to roll the stripes into a tube that is the size of the opening of the top of your hat and tape to hold the tube together.  Is tube the right word?  It should look like a cylinder.

{Project Tip:} If you put the side with all the tape pieces on the inside of the cylinder it looks better :)

5-Then tape the striped cylinder to the inside of the paper plate.  I used about 4 pieces going from the inside of the cylinder to the underside of the paper plate. 

And then put it on your head!

Baby Kay wanted a purple one (her new word this week is purple).

And since my kiddos are pretty much Thing 1 and Thing 2 incarnate, I let them make a big mess drawing letters in chocolate pudding (and eating it too!)  It seemed like a Seussish thing to do.
yummy words!
Just spread chocolate (or any flavor) pudding on a cookie sheet and use your fingers to carve away.  They wanted to use utensils to carve too.  Then just re-spread it out to make new words.

{Project Tip} don't leave Thing 1 and 2 unattended, even for a minute.  You will regret it (I did!)

We hat fun doing THIS Cat in the Hat rhyming sheet!
Below is a game we made up to practice making rhyming words.  Just cut strips of cardboard from a cereal box.  Use different colors to make the ends of words (click on the picture to see closer).  Then just change the letters around and say them out loud to hear the rhymes!

And here  is our "Cat in the Hat Treat" of red and white stripes.
To make yours, you need strawberries, red jello, and yogurt (or vanilla pudding).  Just layer the yogurt in the glass and put the strawberries around the edge of the glass.  Fill the inside of the red layer with red jello.  Then repeat!  Yummy!


Have a Happy Seuss kind of day with a Seussish Little Project!

Check out the Crafty Crow to see our "Wocket" Little Project that was featured there and more for Dr. Seuss Day!