Here are December's number tracing calendars and other calendar items. You can download the patterns from the link below.

december number tracing calendar patterns

The free membership printable this week is woodland animals cover up mats which is great for fine motor skills. I printed the patterns on cardstock paper and laminated them for durability.

I made two different types of mats ... one with three animals and 30 blank circles to cover and one with a single animal and 20 blank circles to cover.

Children can cover the blank circles on the mats with a variety of materials. We use buttons ... playdough ... and paint daubers.

To turn this into a math activity add a dice for children to roll. They would cover up the same number of blank circles on the mat as displayed on the dice. Once the circles were all covered the children could then roll the dice and removed the same number of cover ups.

You can download the patterns below until December 2nd. After that date they will only be available in the member's section which is also where I have added turkey alphabet cover up cards.

woodland animals cover up mats

I made fall two piece puzzles which are great for visual discrimination skills. Print the patterns on cardstock paper and cut out. Cut along the line to make two halves for each puzzle and laminate.

There are twenty-eight different puzzles and you can sit set out as many or as few as you like. We separate the puzzle pieces into two different piles and then mix up the pieces in each pile.

Children pick a puzzle piece and then find the matching puzzle piece and put them together. You could also put all the piece together in one pile which would make find the matching piece more difficult.

This activity is currently located in the member's section which is also where I have added:

fall leaves color match

I am running a membership special from now until November 30th!! When you purchase a twelve month membership you will get another twelve months free ... when you purchase a six month membership you will get another six months free. If you already have a membership your membership will be extended. 

click here to see more included activities

click here to join

click here to see more included activities

click here to join

We made paper plate ladybugs this week and they turned out super cute. We did this project over a two day period to make sure we had enough time for the paint to dry.

To make the lady you will need red paint ... glue ... scissors ... black construction paper ... wiggles eyes ... and paper plates. We used the thicker chinette brand for our paper plates.

The first step is to paint the back of the paper plates red. You can do this by using a paint and paint brush or a paint dauber. After we painted the plates we let them dry for the rest of the day.

We cut head shapes out of black construction paper and glued them on to the bottom of the paper plates.

The next step was to glue wiggle eyes on the heads. If you do not have wiggle eyes a different color of construction paper such as yellow or blue cut into small circles will work fine.

We cut circle shapes out of black construction paper and glue them on to the painted paper plate. You can put as many or as little spots on the ladybugs as you want.

We cut black construction paper into 3-4 inch lengths and folded them back and forth (accordion style) for the legs.  We glued three on each side of the paper plate.

We hung our ladybugs up around the room.  The children got lots of fine motor practice through the use of scissors and gluing pieces together.

You can see a video of this project below:

I made fine motor flowers for fine motor skills development. The patterns can be printed on cardstock or regular paper depending on how you will be using them. 

I have included black and white as well as color patterns for this activity along with a square border version for easier cutting. 

If you are using pony beads with the flowers you can print the patterns on cardstock and laminate them. Remember to use close supervision with children three and under while using the pony beads.

We also glue sequins on the flowers. Children dip cotton swabs in glue and then put the glue on a circles and press a sequins on.

Children can also color in the dots with crayons ... markers ... or colored pencils. We also dip cotton swabs in paint and fill in the circles.

This activity is currently located in the member's section which is also where I have added:

flower letter tracing