Friday Folder

This is an activity that I LOVE and the kids love it too! Hay even complained today that he hasn't had a chance to do it yet. As I searched for things that would help with fine motor skills for Keaton I came across push pinning. He still has shaky little hands when he tries to write or cut. We used to think it was due to his asthma meds but he hasn't needed those in awhile (Praise the Lord!) so I'm not sure if those skills just haven't developed or if he inherited the shaky hand syndrome from his daddy and grandpa. I came across this activity and it was so easy (of course) and I believe it is actually helping!

I cut a couple squares of carpet from a small roll I found in our basement and taped cardboard to the back to make it more sturdy. Siara helps me trace different designs on construction paper (we use stencils and just about anything we can find to trace). I started with basic shapes but we have now done letters, animals, and other things. The only other thing you need is a push pin.

(of course I don't know how to rotate this!)

You place the paper on the carpet mat and then they use the push pin to trace the outline by poking holes all around it. The way they hold the pin is pretty much the proper way to hold a pencil! Sometimes I do a little correcting if he's in a hurry but for the most part he holds it right. The groove in the pin is perfect for their little index finger and thumb to fit into and there's not room for any other fingers! This was great because I could not quite get this little guy to hold his pencil correctly and it has improved greatly! 

You can do seasonal themes or whatever you can find to trace. My kiddos love to put their pictures in the window after they've finished and let the light shine through the holes. You can't really see the pictures well but I am so glad I found this. I just wish I had found it sooner so we were a little further along with this skill!

You can find this and other fine motor activities at  http://www.thevirtualvine.com/finemotor.html. 

Friday Folder

Well, I missed the Friday part but here goes...

K-bear is working on days of the week so I wanted to help him recognize the words and put them in order so I made a folder game for it.



I used an envelope glued inside the folder to hold the pieces and placed 7 velcro dots in the folder.


I made day 1-7 cards with a flower and put a velcro dot on the back so they would stay in place once put in order in the folder. Then I made bee cards with the names of the days of the week.


So...to play he pulls out all the cards and puts the numbered flower cards in order then matches the day of the week bee to it. Easy to make, easy to play!

Friday Folder

Time for Friday Folder! I had a hard time deciding which idea to share this week since it was the first week I really got to put some of the things I found to use. I finally chose counting bags. These are super for young learners and oh so easy to make yourself.

First, I made number cards and laminated them. I did numbers 1-20. Next, I picked some themes. Below is a beaded necklace counting mat. I picked this because I had beads that were similar to use as the counters. I put it all in a pencil pouch and voila! - counting bag ready to go! The child lays out the number cards and draws one. Then, they put that number of items on the counting mat. Simple enough?!

Here's another version of a counting bag - bugs. Pipe cleaners work as legs and antennae for the counters. Some other versions of counting mats I made are a piggy bank with pennies as counters, bag of popcorn and I will pop some popcorn when we do that one for a treat (you could use popcorn kernels instead), and notebook paper with paper strips for the lines. I had a lot of strips of laminated paper leftover from from making the number cards which made great "lines" for paper.


The idea for making counting mats came from http://www.hubbardscupboard.org/counting_bags.html.
There is a vast amount of information on this site, even a complete (and free) curriculum for young ones!

Come back next Friday for more ideas and bring some of your own!

Friday Folder

I'd like to do a Friday Folder post each week. The purpose of it will be to share at least one resource, game, link, craft, or book that I used or discovered that week. For instance, today I'm going to share a couple things that I made for our room.

I wanted to add a chart or something with all the months and days of the week. I've been looking at them in stores and couldn't bring myself to pay for them so I decided to make my own. I had fun doing it and creating my own stuff has helped me to get much quicker at making decisions on fonts and clipart! I have always had a hard time choosing but I am learning to pick the first one that looks good and not keep browsing!

I put the months next to our calendar wall and the days of the week beside the chalkboard. Above the days is where we keep track of the code date. You can't see it well but it's a laminated sheet hanging on hooks that Hayden will take down every day and fill in the new date with dry erase markers. Do you have anything to put in the Friday Folder?

You can download days of the week and months here: