Blog Archives

Gingerbread Number Match

11/28/2016

The free membership printable this week is a gingerbread number match 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.

You can grab the patterns for free until Sunday December 4th ... after that they will only be available in the member's section which is also where I have added a gingerbread alphabet match.

gingerbread alphabet match for preschool and kindergarten

gingerbread alphabet match added to the member's section

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Countdown To Christmas

11/27/2016

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Countdown To Christmas Activities For Preschool and Kindergarten

I wanted to share some of my favorite "Countdown To Christmas" activities that we have done in the past. I have made the countdowns easy to make and the children enjoy keeping track of many days are left until Christmas.

Countdown to Christmas Mats:

Print either on regular or cardstock paper. Glue on to a sheet of colored cardstock paper. Starting on December 1st cover up the number 25 on the mat. Each day cover up another number (24, 23, 22, etc) to count down to Christmas.

You can download the countdown mats here.

Scissor Skills Christmas Countdown:

I made countdown that also work on scissor and fine motor skills. The patterns can be printed on regular or cardstock paper and the children glue them together where indicated to form a long strip. Each day they cut off a number from the bottom of the strip until it is Christmas.

You can grab the patterns here and see a video of this activity by clicking below:

Christmas Countdown Chain:

For this countdown we cut red and green construction paper into strips and put a number on each one. We alternated the colors of each number link ... for example the first one was red and the next one was green and the third one was red etc.

Children glued together the ends of the first link (number one) and then laced the second link through and glued the ends together. They continued until they had connected all 25 links.

We hung the chain up and each day a child was chosen to removed a link from the bottom of the chain which would the show how many days were left until Christmas.

You can grab the number circle patterns here and see a video by clicking below:

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December Number Tracing Calendar

11/23/2016

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Where does all the time go? It's hard to believe we are almost at the end of another year!! Here is Decembers's number tracing calendar and other December items including daily reports and calendar numbers. I included both snowflake and holiday tree themes.

december number tracing calendar for preschool and kindergarten

I also made snowflake and holiday tree themed days of the week and months of the year strips that can be used in pocket charts or in your calendar centers. We also do sequencing and matching with them. Just print ... cut ... and laminate.

number tracing calendar

calendar numbers and other items

days and months

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Fine Motor Cover-Ups

11/18/2016

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fine motor cover-ups download for preschool and kindergarten

I am so excited to announce my fine motor cover-up mats download is now available in the download store!! There are 52 mats designed to work on fine motor development. The mats can also be extended into math activities by adding dice.

Each mat comes with three different color levels (b&w - part color - full color) and two different cover-up levels. Cover-up circles are included with the patterns but you can use other items such as those shown in the images below:

fine motor cover-ups for preschool and kindergarten

When children pick up and place the cover-ups on the mat it helps to develop fine motor muscles in the fingers which are needed for cutting and writing (as well as other daily activities like getting dressed and eating). I like to introduce one or two mats a week but you can also print out several and have the children self-select which ones they want to do.

You can learn more about the fine motor cover-up mats download here and see a video by clicking below.

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Turkey Cover-Up

11/17/2016

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turkey fine motor cover up for preschool and kindergarten

Here is another sneak peek at my new fine motor cover-up download release which you can find here. 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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Turkey Pattern Match

11/15/2016

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turkey pattern match for preschool and kindergarten

The free membership printable this week 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.

You can grab the patterns for free until Sunday November 20th ... after that they will only be available in the member's section which is also where I have added a turkey match and clip activity.