It's gingerbread week!! I made a matching activity which is great for number recognition  and fine motor development. I printed the patterns on cardstock paper ... cut them out and laminated them.

I separated the gingerbread houses from the gingerbread people and then mixed up the numbers.  I set them out in a basket along with large plastic coated paper clips.

If you did not want to use paper clips you can use clothespins instead. Both of these are great for developing fine motor skills. 

In this activity the children pick a gingerbread house and then find the gingerbread person with the same number and clip them together.  You can also turn this activity into a sequence match by having the children put the gingerbread houses in numerical order and then place the matching gingerbread people on top of the houses.

As of 2022 this activity can be found in the member's section which is also where I have added a gingerbread alphabet match. 

I made a turkey cover-up that is great for fine motor development. Just print out the turkey mat on cardstock paper and laminate.  There is a black and white version ... a part color version ... and a full color version to choose from.  There are also two different cover-up levels. 

In this activity children cover up the blank circles.  We used pom poms and tweezers but you can use items such as:

playdough
magnets
stickers
flat glass beads
do-a-dot markers
bingo daubers
finger paint

You can also have the children roll a dice and cover up the same number of circles on the mat for a roll ... count ... and cover/remove activity.

Always remember to use supervision when using small items with children under the age of three and those still in the stages of putting items in their mouth.

You can grab the turkey cover-up here and if you get a chance let me know what items you would use with this activity by leaving a comment.
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Here is a turkey pattern match which is great for visual discrimination and fine motor development. I printed the patterns on cardstock paper ... cut them out and laminated them.

I set the turkey cards and pattern circles out in a basket for the children to self-select.  There are a total of twenty pattern cards but you can choose how many to use with your early learners.

In this activity the children pick a turkey card and then put the matching pattern circle on the turkey.

As of 2022 this activity can be found in the member's section which is also where I have added a turkey match and clip activity.

I designed a set of circle puzzles to help work on color recognition.  I printed them out on cardstock paper and cut them out. Next I cut along the lines in the center of the circles to make two halves and then laminated all pieces.

I set separated the circle halves into two piles and mixed them up. The children picked a half from one pile and then found the the matching half in the other pile.  The then put the two halves together to form a circle.

You can grab the patterns below:

circle color puzzles
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I made a Pilgrim letter sequence activity which is great for letter recognition and review.  I printed everything on cardstock paper.  I cut out and laminated the letter squares and glued the Pilgrim mat to the back of the letter mat.

I made a blank mat ... an uppercase mat ... and a lowercase mat.  I also made upper case and lowercase letters.  

In this activity the children put the letter squares in alphabetical order. With younger children I start with the guided letter mats and then move on to the blank mat.

As of 2022 this activity can be found in the member's section which is also where I have added a Pilgrim number sequence activity.

Glitter slime is great for sensory play but I have been putting off making it for my early learning environment because I could never get the right consistency for the mixture.  It always turned out hard and broke when being stretched. After a lot of trial and error I found a recipe that works well.

 You will need to have:

glitter glue (I purchased mine from walmart)
plain water
borax mixture (1tsp of borax mixed with 1 cup of water)

Start by emptying the entire bottle of glitter glue to a bowl.  Next add 1 tablespoon of water to the glue and stir.

Slowly pour in a little of the borax mixture and stir everything together.  Keep adding small amounts of the mixture until you are able to form a soft ball shape.

Pick the glitter slime up and begin kneading ... pulling and stretching until it is the right consistency.  If it is too thick add a little plain water ... if it is too runny at a little of the borax mixture.  

You want the glitter slime to be able to be very thin when stretch.  You can store the glitter slime in air tight containers.  If it becomes too dry or too wet you can always add water or borax solution (save the left over that you made).

You can see a video of how I made glitter slime below: