If a kid enjoys reading, then I feel like they are pretty much guaranteed to get a better education than a child who attends school for 6 to 7 hours a day and does NOT enjoy reading. Kids forget 95% of the facts they learn anyway. (I just made that statistic up, but it feels right, doesn’t it?) But stories? Those last. Someone who reads confidently and comfortably can learn anything. As a bonus, reading about characters and storylines that authors have taken the time to carefully construct get lessons on life and character and morality. It is a rare day when I stop one of my children from reading a book for pleasure. Though, to be fair, this also true of when they are drawing, building, playing fantasy games, etc. Some parents never wake a sleeping baby. I never interrupt a happily playing child that is using their imagination.

Now, my first two children became readers fairly naturally. This may have a lot to do with the fact that I had a lot more time to practice with them when they were young. See this adorable reading log train I used with them. My third child was diagnosed with dyslexia in third grade. Getting him to be comfortable reading took a lot more work, but now he is going into 6th grade and reads ALL the time. He was literally bugging me just a few minutes about when the libray books I requested for him are coming in. (Answer, sometime between Tuesday and December. You never can tell.) My fourth child though…oh my poor fourth child. I went back to college to become a teacher when he was 6. I finished my degree, got my teachers license and am not working full time. The end result? He is going into fourth grade and was still reading at about a first grade level in January.

This needed to be fixed. In my opinion, the best way to teach a kid to read is to facilitate practice. I started by going back to basics. I learned from my dyslexic child the importance of decodable texts for building reading skills so I went back and redid my kindergarten and first grade suggestions on my Book Series for Kids page. Then I told him the plan. We were goign to make a reading chain, because who has time for a train in this busy world, and I was going to sit with him every day so we could read books (easy books) to add to his chain. His reward was that once he chain was as long as our hallway, he would get to pick a flavor of ice cream that we would have for dessert.

We used many of the books on the Kindergarten and First Grade series pages, though I’m realizing now that I forgot to add the ones in the picture above. Those are from Julia Donaldson’s Songbirds series (affiliate link) which is a bit expensive, but quite lovely. I will be saving them for any future potential grandkids.

What I was even more pleased by though was that when we finished our chain, my then third grade son did not want to stop. He kept going on his own. He made little rocketships and would add them as he read his easy readers by himself. At first, he was not adding the titles, but when I told him he should, he started doing it.

Even my 5th grade dyslexic child didn’t want to miss out on the action. He made his own reading chain too. At this point, he is obsessed with the Wings of Fire books and read one every 3 days or so, but for his reading challenge, he went back and read some books that were easy for him like Dragon Masters. It does not matter to me what they read, as long as they are reading.

Overall, I am very pleased with how this went. We are using different strategy over the summer, to ensure my youngest makes the most progress possible in this downtime. I’m hoping to share this with results at the end of summer. However, the reading chains were a very successful strategy during the busy school year time. It took some diligence when I was the one reading with him every day and helping him make his chain, but it was worth it. I did not even expect him to take over and keep doing it on his own. That was just a bonus. I would say he progressed about a full grade level during the 5 months of so that he was doing it, which still leaves him about a grade level behind his age and about a grade level from the really fun books.

All kids develop at their own pace, so I never want my kids to feel pressured. However, if we can use this summer to turn him into someone who really enjoys reading, I am all for it!

Recommended Age Range: Preschool, Kindergarten, Elementary
Time Required: ~10 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Cost: Practically free

Materials:

• paper (preferably colored construction paper for visual appeal)
• scissors or paper cutter
• tape

Instructions:

1. Cut the paper into strips.
2. Acquire some easy books. Check your local library or my book series suggestions.
3. Everytime the child reads a book, either alone or with your help, write the title and add it to the chain!

That’s it! Happy reading!

Click here for more Starting to Read activities for kids.

Related Links

Best Books for Kids
Homemade Fun for Preschoolers
Learning Activities for Kids

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Originally, I didn’t start off by making them into alphabet displays. When my oldest was maybe 6 months old and we were practicing signing, I hung a few animals around the house….a frog, a deer, a panda, a wolf. When he would get a little fussy, we would walk around the house looking at all our animal friends and making the signs. It worked so well that if an unfamiliar visitor came over and wanted to hold him, I could pass him off and say, “Go show him the wolf.” Usually, he would be distracted from wanting me because he was so excited to see the animals.

Around his second birthday, I decided I wanted to put up an animal for every letter of the alphabet. I trimmed the calendar pictures to fit inside page protectors and used index cards and markers to make an uppercase letter to go with each picture. The original animal posters were taken from a couple of animal calendars my mother-in-law had given us. Obviously, there weren’t animals for every single letter, so I had to get creative and print a few pictures from Google Images to fill in the gaps. Ibex, anyone?

Here are the animals we ended up using based on the calendars we had.

A – Antelope

B – Bison

C – Condor

D – Deer

E – Elk

F – Frog

G – Goat

H – Hedgehog

I – Ibex (printed)

J – Jellyfish (printed)

K – Kangaroo

L – Leopard

M – Moose

N – Narwhal (printed)

O – Octopus (printed)

P – Panda

U – Urchin (printed)

V – Viper (printed)

W – Wolf

X – X-ray Fish (printed)

Y – Yak

Z – Zebra

Over the years, once my oldest became good at the uppercase letters, I went back and added the lowercase letters. These wall letter posters then stayed up for at least 7 years straight for my next 2 kids. I took them down for about a year when I got tired of looking at them after my third child mastered his letters, but then I put them up again for my youngest who has just recently mastered all his letters. Now is it is time they came down for good! Here are some of the ways we have used them over the years.

How to Use Wall Letter Posters

Visit the Animals

When my youngest was a toddler, I would carry him as we would walk around the house visiting the animals, especially when he was in a bad mood. Once I added the letters to the pictures, we just talked about that too. “What animals is this? Yes, it’s a frog! Ribbit, ribbit. Do you know what letter frog starts with? It starts with an F. Can you touch the F?” Simple, easy, effective. I didn’t do this with my youngest since I had taken the letters down and he was the oldest to finally master his letters at 5 and a half. My oldest knew them all by 3. My middle two kids were somewhere in the middle.

Hide and Seek

One of the easiest ways to use the wall letters is to just have your child go find a letter. You can say, “Where is the F?” If they need help, you can use warmer/colder style clues to direct them to the right vicinity. Once they are close, you can help them narrow down which one is right by giving hints like, “F says ffff. Which animal starts with ffff? Is it the fffff-frog or the guh-guh-goat?”

Another way to play hide and seek with the letters is to write the letter they are trying to find on a post-it note. Then they can move around the house carefully comparing the shapes of the letters until they find a match.

Treasure Hunt

This activity involves a bit of prep work, but the kids think it is so fun. Write each letter of the alphabet on its own index card or scrap of paper. Rearrange the letters so you have a stack of letters out of order. (Note: You do not have to use the entire alphabet…you can just write down a list of a few that you would like to practice that day.) The letter on the top of the stack is the start of your treasure hunt. Leave that one on your counter or taped to your mirror or somewhere to hand to your child at the start of the game. This is your “starter” letter.

Next go to your starter letter and tape the next letter in your stack near it, but facing the wall so the child can’t read the letter without taking it off the wall. This is the second letter in your treasure hunt. Go to this second letter and tape the third letter until you get to the end of the stack. When you reach the bottom of the stack you will have directed your child to the final letter. At this final letter, tape an index card with a direction to the “treasure.” I typically just hide a little plastic dinosaur then at the end tell the child where they can find the dinosaur. The last letter will have a message that says something like, “Look in the piano bench.”

This involves some prepwork, but it is worth it, because the kids love playing this game and don’t even realize that they are practicing letter recognition.

Mixed Up Letters

Once your child knows their letters fairly well, it can be fun to mix up some of the letters and see if your child notices. Put the N on the Moose and the M on the Narwhal and tell your child that a crazy alphabet goblin broke into the house and messed up some of the letters. This is a little bit advanced and honestly, my 5 year old still probably couldn’t do this, but if your child has mastered their alphabet and is familiar with their sounds, they will enjoy finding the mistakes!

These homemade wall letter posters might not be the most attractive part of your home decor, but I think they make it clear to your child that these squiggly things we call letters are actually pretty important. If you decide to put up some letters in your home, I hope you and your child find these activities helpful and enjoyable!

Related Links

Best Books for Kindergarten
Reading and Writing Activities
Pre-K Learning Activities

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As I mentioned in my multiplication star chart post, I have mixed feelings about star charts. I’ve never used them in the past. I’m especially wary of them when it comes to behavioral issues. I don’t want my toddler to think he’s going to be rewarded every time he behaves! However, I really feel like there is a place for them when it comes to the tedium of memorization.

I know my toddler is capable of learning his letters just through repeated exposure over a couple of years. If he loses interest in this star chart, we’ll definitely go that route, as it’s worked for my previous 2 kids. The most important thing for me is that he retains his love of learning. However, if he wants to spend a little focused effort to earn a reward just like the big kids in our house, I’m not going to stop him!

The way this chart works is that my son earns a star for every letter he can remember as I point to them. Once he can remember all the letters in a given row, he earns the reward for that row. One he completes the whole page, there is bonus reward for reaching that goal as well.

Occasionally, he might forget a letter he’s already earned the star for. To deal with this potential problem, I created a “probation” zone. Before he can redeem the reward for a given row, he has to show me that he still remembers all the letters that have stars. If he forgets one, I write it on a post it note and put it in the probation section. We wait about 15 minutes and then review those letters again.

So far he’s memorized about two thirds of his uppercase letters. Whenever we find a letter that’s particularly tricky for him, like G, I like to go the Measured Mom’s website and download some of her free printables. I’m especially fond of these free printable letter books. That way, when the bigger kids are taking turns reading aloud to me, he can have a turn “reading” to me too. “G is for grapes. G is for gumballs…” So far, it’s worked like a charm.

Once we go through the charts and he recognizes all the letters, we might go through them again and focus on the sounds each letter makes.

Recommended Age Range: Preschool, Kindergarten
Time Required: ~5 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Cost: Free printable. Optional: A couple dollars for foil stars (with a bunch left over)

Materials:

• Paper for printing alphabet star charts.
• Foil Stars (optional: could also just put checks or draw happy faces)

Instructions:

1. First, print the alphabet star charts.
2. Next fill out the rewards. You could use the same reward for each row or choose something different. For mine, I used a combination of food treats (such as candy and ice cream), media usage (like watching tv and playing on my tablet), and activities with a parent (like playing a board game or cooking). When my son completes the entire chart, I plan to give her $5 to spend on a toy. Do whatever you feel comfortable with!

In case you’re interested, be sure to check out the sight word star charts and multiplication star charts I made for my older kids.

Enjoy!

Click here for more Letter and Letter Sound activities and printables for kids.

Related Links

Letters and Letter Sound Activities
Best Books for Kindergarten
Learning Activities for Kids

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The great thing about making your own number strip puzzles is that it’s not only easy, but you can personalize the image to the child. Whatever you think would motivate your kid…Disney princesses, Pokémon, their favorite animal, etc…it’s simple to turn it into a number strip puzzle. You could even use pictures of your child.

Really, the concept is simple. By downloading the templates below, you can use any photo-editing software to overlay one of these number puzzle frames on the image of your choice. Below you’ll find a step-by-step tutorial for using the online photo editor, PicMonkey (affiliate link — note, you can use the free version for this tutorial, but paying for a membership will give you cool fonts and other features). There are templates to help your child learn to count to ten, count to 20, count to 30, count by tens, count by fives, and learn their even and odd numbers up to 20.

Number Frame Templates

• Number Puzzle Frame: 1 to 10
• Number Puzzle Frame: 11 to 20
• Number Puzzle Frame: 31 to 30
• Number Puzzle Frame: Count by Tens
• Number Puzzle Frame: Count by Fives
• Number Puzzle Frame: Count by Evens
• Number Puzzle Frame: Count by Odds

Recommended Age Range: Preschool, Kindergarten, Early Elementary
Time Required: ~10 minutes
Difficulty: Fairly Easy (Does require a tiny bit of basic computer skills, like saving and locating files)
Cost: Free (except for whatever printer ink/toner gets used)

Materials:

• Paper
• One of the Number Frame Puzzle templates above
• Digital image of your choice

Supplies & Tools:

• Computer with internet access
• Printer
• Paper trimmer or scissors
• Glue stick

Instructions:

1. First, if you haven’t already done so, you need to select which image you would like to use and make sure you know where it is saved on your computer. I recommend using Google Images. Since this is for personal use, you don’t need to worry about violating any copyright or trademarks.



2. If using Google Images, click on the picture you want, then right-click and select “Save Picture As” to save the image to your computer.



3. Next, make sure you have the number frame template you would like to use saved to your computer. Here they are again:
   • Number Puzzle Frame: 1 to 10
   • Number Puzzle Frame: 11 to 20
   • Number Puzzle Frame: 31 to 30
   • Number Puzzle Frame: Count by Tens
   • Number Puzzle Frame: Count by Fives
   • Number Puzzle Frame: Count by Evens
   • Number Puzzle Frame: Count by Odds
4. Next, go to Picmonkey.com.
5. First click on Edit, then click on Computer in order to select an image from your computer. Locate the picture image that you want to use for your puzzle.



6. Once your image is open, click on the Overlay (butterfly-shaped) button on the left hand side.



7. At the top of the page, click on Add Your Own, then My Computer. Locate the Number Frame template you would like to use.



8. Now you should have the number frame template on top of your picture. Drag the Overlay and Layers boxes out of the way of your image. You could also just close them.



9. Next you just need to move the frame and resize it until it is covering the part of the picture that you want. You can move it by clicking in the middle of the overlay and dragging. You can resize the overlay by clicking on the corners or edges and dragging. Note: If you want to stretch the overlay, just hold down shift while you are dragging.



10. Next, you can crop the picture around the template. Note that you don’t really HAVE to do this step, since you’re going to cut out the pieces anyway, but you can save ink by getting rid of the parts of the image you don’t want. Click on the Basic Edits button near the top left. It looks like 3 sliders.



11. Click on Crop. Drag the corners of the crop box to fit around your number puzzle. Then hit Apply.



12. Now you are ready to save your image. Click on Save at the top.



13. Click on Save to My Computer. Make sure you know where the file is being saved on your computer and what it is named.



14. Next, print the file you just saved. On a PC, you can just right click the picture and select Print. It will give you options of how big you want to print your picture. Make sure you de-select the box that says “Fit Picture to Frame” to make sure none of your picture gets cut off. You could also insert the image into a document before printing if you want it to be sized a certain way.



15. After you’ve printed your picture, cut if out.
16. Give the pieces to the child to work on along with a blank piece of paper and a glue stick.

A great thing about these puzzles is that they are self-correcting. If the child does not put the numbers in the correct order, the picture will not look right.

However, if your child desires help figuring out the order, I fully recommend giving them some help. My 5 year old does not know how to count by 5’s, so when we did this puzzle, I wrote down all the numbers 1 to 50 on a piece of paper then had her circle every 5. She still might not know how to count by 5’s, but she’s gaining familiarity. Funny story: recently she was showing someone how she could count by tens by reading one of these number puzzles. After they expressed some awe at her amazing mathematical talents, she sadly admitted that she cheated. Apparently, she considers me having told her how to read numbers (10, 20, 30, etc.) as cheating.

Enjoy!

Related Links:

Math Activities for Kids
Best Gifts for Kids
Homemade Fun for Kids

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Really, this reading log is primarily for my 7 year old. He is already a decent reader, but at any given moment, he can think of 100 things he’d rather do than read. I don’t blame him. Life is fun, especially when you’re 7. However, he’s not going to get to the really amazing books of childhood until he’s reading the books at his level more fluidly. That’s going to take some practice.

This “reading log” is motivating, because each time he reads a book, his train gets longer. It’s only been a week, but so far, it seems to be working. It’s also great, because my 5 year old, who is just starting to sound out simple words, is motivated to keep up with her brother. Unfortunately, while there are lots of great books at the library for her big brother, there’s not much available that she can read in a short period of time.

I fully support immediate gratification when encouraging young readers. For someone who is just starting to sound out words, the Tug the Pup series is wonderful, because each book is so simple and short. Another good option is the series of free printable sight word and phonics books by The Measured Mom. (I’ve used hundreds of her resources with my preschool-aged kids.)

I wanted my toddler to feel included as well, so he has his own train too. Since he can’t read, I decided I’d put letters on his train as he mastered them. Unfortunately, he can’t keep up with the big kids. He’s got A and B down, but he still always says O for C. It’ll come. Fortunately, he doesn’t seem to mind having a shorter train. I’ve been adding a letter or two to his train each day whether he’s reading them reliably or not. We spend a minute reviewing them whenever we add new letters.

Recommended Age Range: Preschool, Kindergarten, Elementary
Time Required: ~30 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Cost: Free printable

Materials:

• paper for printing Reading Log Train template
• construction paper
• small picture of child’s face (optional, to put in the train windows)

Supplies & Tools:

• glue
• markers
• scissors
• paper trimmer (optional, but convenient)
• pencil
• 1″ circle hole punch (optional, but SUPER convenient)

Instructions:

1. Print the Reading Log Train template.
2. Decide where you want to place your train and which direction it will go so you know which train to use. We decided to place our trains on the wall going uphill by our stairs.
3. Have your children color in the train facing the appropriate direction.
4. Cut out a picture of your child’s face that is 1″ square. You can cut out and trace the square on the template page to make it easier.



5. Glue the picture onto the window.



6. Cut out the train.



7. Next, cut out rectangles from the construction paper that are 2″ by 3″ (or whatever size you desire). If I only had one child, I might make different size train cars to show the complexity or level of difficulty of the book. Since I have 3 kids, I kept it simple by making them all the same size.



8. Cut out 1″ circles. Initially, I cut them out by hand using the circle on the template page. However, I ended up buying this hole punch to make my life easier.



9. Cut out little strips of paper to connect the trains. I used my paper trimmer to make a long, skinny 1/4″ strip. Then I cut 1″ long pieces using scissors.



10. Gather all your train car pieces.



11. Assemble your train cars! Initially, I let my kids glue on the wheels.



12. Eventually, I just made a bunch myself assembly-line style.



13. After your child reads a book, write it on a train car.



14. Watch the train grow!



HAPPY READING!

Click here for more Starting to Read activities for kids.



Related Links

Best Books for Kids
Homemade Fun for Preschoolers
Learning Activities for Kids

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The research behind this method originates with a 1988 paper called “Accelerating Language Development Through Picture Book Reading” by Whitehurst, et. Al. In this study, 30 kids between the ages of 21 and 35 months were selected from middle class families in Long Island, New York. These kids were randomly divided into two groups. At the beginning of the study, each group had about equivalent language abilities. All the families that participated in the study were told to audio record their storytime sessions with their child 3 or 4 times in the week.

The control group was given no additional instructions. They continued to read to their kids the same way they always had. The experimental group was given two 30 minute lessons on how to read with their kids, one at the beginning of the month-long study and the other half way through. At the end of the 4 weeks, all the children were evaluated using common tests of verbal ability. On one test, the kids in the experimental group scored 8.5 months ahead of their control group counterparts. On another test, they were 6 months ahead. Although the differences decreased slightly over time and were less statistically significant due to kids dropping out of the study, the kids with parents who had been coached on how to read to their kids were still advanced 9 months later.

Crazy, right? So what is the magical formula for improving kids language skills through picture book reading? Basically dialogic reading boils down to having a dialogue with your child while reading. The more you can get your kid talking the better. I know many parents, including myself, are often eager to get through the bedtime routine, but there is a legitimate and really important reason why we should remember to slow down.

Here are some techniques the parents in the study were trained to use to get their kids talking:

• Instead of just reading the words on a page, ask your child questions. I’ve created a free, printable bookmark and poster as a “cheat sheet” to get you started.
• Make sure your questions progress along with your child’s advancements. On the free bookmarks, the easiest questions appropriate for the youngest kids (even those who may not be talking yet) are listed first. However, as your child masters labeling objects, make sure to move on to the more open-ended questions.
• Repeat and expand on what your child says. If a toddler correctly labels a dog in the picture, respond with something like, “You’re right. That is a big, brown dog. Isn’t he acting silly?”
• Give feedback. Make sure when your child gives you an answer, you praise or correct as appropriate. I thought it was interesting that according to the paper, praise went “down over time in the control group while going up in the experimental group.” I honestly don’t know why that would happen and the authors didn’t speculate, but engagement with your child is clearly an important component of this technique.

Recommended Age Range: Baby/Toddler, Preschool, Kindergarten, Elementary
Time Required: ~15 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Cost: Free printable, less than $1 in used supplies



Materials:

• paper for printing Dialogic Reading cheat sheets in bookmark and/or poster form
• 1 or 2 laminating sheets (the bookmarks kind of need to be laminated in my opinion. the poster is optional.)

Supplies & Tools:

• laminator (affiliate link)
• scissors

Instructions:

1. Print out the bookmark and/or poster Dialogic Reading Cheat Sheets.
2. Laminate the bookmarks (and the poster if you want).
3. Cut out the bookmarks.
4. Keep the bookmark or poster handy when you are reading aloud to your child to remind yourself to engage your child in conversation during story time. The questions on these cheat sheets can give you a starting point to begin your conversation, but feel free, of course, to come up with your own questions. The most important aspect of this technique is to have a dialogue with your child and keep him or her talking as long as possible.



HAPPY READING!

Click here for more Language Arts activities for kids!



Related Links

Best Books for Babies and Toddlers
Best Books for Preschool
Pre-K Learning Activities

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After about 10 minutes, I decided it would be easier to just make what I was looking for. As usual, this took a little longer than I was planning as well, but in the end, here is some free, unmarked, no-email-required, printable, lined paper for young writers (maybe kindergarten through second grade…I don’t know, we’re not there yet. When do kids transition to wide-ruled?) There are 4 different options. I made them in vertical and horizontal, because after I made it vertical, my 6 year old informed me that it would make more sense to make the paper go the other way so he could fit more words per line. Also, I decided my initial attempt had lines that were not quite big enough for him, so we’ll graduate to the smaller version eventually.

Recommended Age Range: Kindergarten, Early Elementary
Time Required: 1 minute
Difficulty: Easy
Cost: Free printable

Materials:
paper

Instructions:
Print out the version you desire as many times as you want:

Related Links

Charlotte Mason Learning
Reading & Writing Activities for Kids
Best Books for Kids

The post Lined Paper for Young Writers appeared first on ResearchParent.com.

If you like this style of learning tools as well and are interested in free, printable versions of the multiplication and division Montessori learning tools, sign up for my newsletter to stay up-to-date (and receive some free educational printables). The more advanced math learning tools are on my near term to-do list.

Recommended Age Range: Preschool, Kindergarten, Early Elementary
Time Required: Less than 1 hour
Difficultly: Easy
Cost: Free printable, less than $2 in used supplies

Materials:

• Printed Subtraction Strip Board document
• Optional: Printed Subtraction Tables and Subtraction Tables – Mixed Up
• Optional: Printed Subtraction Chart document
• 3 laminating pouches
• 1 sheet of poster board (I used a 14″x22″ sheet, though it will be trimmed to roughly 5″x18″)

Supplies & Tools:

• laminator
• scissors
• paper trimmer (optional)
• glue stick

Instructions:

1. Print out the Subtraction Strip Board document.
2. Laminate all 3 sheets.

1. Cut out both halves of the subtraction strip board and the long white strip as well as the 9 numbered pieces.

1. Glue both halves of the Subtraction Strip Board onto the poster board and cut out. Repeat process with the long white strip.

1. Print out the supplemental worksheets to be used with the board: Subtraction Tables, Subtraction Tables-Mixed Up, & Subtraction Chart

To use the subtraction board, use the long, white strip to cover up all the numbers past the first number in the problem (the big number). For example, if the problem is 14 minus something, the child would use the white strip to cover up the number 15 and beyond as shown.

Next the child would find the blue strip corresponding to the number that is being subtracted and place that next to the white strip. For example, if the problem is 11 minus 5, first the child would use the long, white strip to cover up the numbers 12 through 18. Then he would find the blue strip consisting of 5 squares and place this 5-strip next to the white strip which would cover up numbers 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11. The numbers remaining would be 1 through 6. Therefore, the answer to the problem would be 6, as shown.

To use the supplemental worksheets, I recommend starting with Subtraction Table: Ones and progressing through Subtraction Table: Nines if this seems to be at your child’s level. If your child quickly realizes that there is a pattern to the answers and stops thinking about what the problems actually mean, you might want to skip to the Mixed Up Subtraction Tables to give them more practice using the board. Lastly, you can have your child fill out the Subtraction Chart. To use the chart the child picks an empty box and subtracts the number to the right of that box from the number straight above. An answer key is provided. In this case it is completely okay, even desirable, for your child to realize that there is a pattern to the table.

Related Links

Mathematics Activities
All Learning Activities
Best Books for Kindergarten

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She invited all the neighborhood kids over to her house and made up hand-drawn posters and tickets. She “sold” popcorn, candy, and drinks. We all had so much fun “going to the movies” that it didn’t even matter that we’d already seen Pinocchio or whatever movie she played a million times.

When I saw all my kids Halloween candy sitting on our counter a few days ago, I knew exactly what to do with it. My kids have had so much fun playing movie theater. My kindergartner loves paying for the food and tickets with real money and doesn’t seem to realize that all the adding and calculating he has to do to figure out what he can buy is math. I’m not sure he’s quite caught on exactly what it means yet, but since he now knows that 4 quarters make a dollar, he’s technically learning fractions as well.

Ordinarily I don’t let my kids watch movies and eat candy in the middle of the day, but this exception was definitely worth it.

Recommended Age Range: Preschool, Kindergarten, Elementary
Time Required: ~30 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Cost: Free printable, less than $2 in used supplies (Basically free if you don’t laminate.)

Materials:

• Paper for printing Movie Theater Pretend Play printable
• Laminating Pouches (optional)

Supplies & Tools:

• Laminator (optional, affiliate link)
• Scissors
• Marker
• X-acto knife (for cutting slot in food labels)

Instructions:

1. Print out the Movie Theater Pretend Play printable. Note that there are a few blank labels at the end in case you want to fill out your own, so you may or may not want to print the last page.
2. Laminate everything (except the tickets) if you’d like to reuse them again later.
3. Write the name of the movie you’ll be watching on the “Now Playing” sheet and hang it up at the entrance to your movie theater.



4. Cut out around the food labels, removing the grey triangles on the printout.



5. Cut the two sides in half.



6. Cut the grey lines on the food labels to make the slot and the triangular tabs. The slot is easiest to cut with an X-acto knife, but scissors would also work.



7. Fold the food label into it’s triangular shape. Fold the small triangle tabs inward and stick them through the slot.


This is what it should look like completed.


8. Set up your concession stand.



9. Next, fill out the movie tickets with the name of the movie, the date, and time.



10. Set up your box office.



11. Give your kids a little cash (I went with $3.50) and let them buy their tickets and snacks.



12. Dim the lights and enjoy your movie!

Related Links

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The post Movie Theater Pretend Play appeared first on ResearchParent.com.

I really enjoy making 3-part cards, because I usually learn a lot in the process of making them. (You’ll find many other sets in the free printables section of this website.) I really wanted my son to get a sense of how big these dinosaurs actually were, so I included a little man on each card for reference.

I’ve never actually made a lap book before. Since I started homeschooling my son a month ago, I’ve come across this concept in a number of places and they look like so much fun. I had no idea that this lap book would end up being so educational as well. Not only did my son learn some facts about dinosaurs, but he also got practice writing and learned a little geography, science, history, and math.

On one of the internal pages, he wrote about his favorite dinosaur, “stegosoris.” He also glued each of the 12 dinosaurs in the set onto the continent where their bones have been found. We choose the 12 dinosaurs to feature in this set together based on his favorites, so I had no idea they would be so North America heavy. However, my son is happy, because now he thinks he might find all these dinosaur bones in our backyard. On the side flaps, we did a little extra science by learning the scientific names for plant-eaters and meat-eaters.

Another activity involved sorting the dinosaurs into their respective time periods. He thought this was interesting, because he had assumed Stegosaurus and T-rex fought each other, but now he understands that didn’t actually happen since they lived at different times. The battles between T-rex and Triceratops, however, are free to rage on in his imagination. (As a side note, if you disagree with the dates in this activity based on your religious beliefs, please see the end of this post for an alternative version of the printable.)

The last activity involved sorting the dinosaurs from smallest to biggest, which took some critical thinking. He needed to consider the perspective of the little reference man in each image to figure out how big the dinosaurs really were. I was surprised that he was able to do this almost entirely on his own. I consider this to be a math activity as it involves mathematical thinking to complete. The other sorting activities (herbivore/carnivore, time periods, and world map) also provided valuable opportunities for him to practice organizing information in different ways, a skill that is important in the study of science.

To complete these cards, I used Wikipedia and the National Geographic Kids book called The Ultimate Dino-pedia (Amazon affiliate link). I recommend checking it out from your local library if available.

Recommended Age Range: Preschool, Kindergarten, Elementary
Time Required: 30 minutes to laminate 3-part cards, 30 minutes to get lap book ready for child, about 1-2 hours for child to complete lap book
Difficulty: Easy
Cost: Free printable. Less than $2 in used supplies (even less if you use contact paper instead of laminating pouches to laminate).

Dinosaur Card Supplies:

Dinosaurs Lap Book Supplies:

Materials:

• paper (for printing Dinosaur Cards, the corresponding control cards, and the Dinosaurs Lap Book)
• 6 laminating pouches
• 1 file folder
• 2 pieces of cardstock

Supplies & Tools:

• laminator (affiliate link)
• scissors
• glue stick
• packing tape
• paper cutter (optional)

Instructions:

1. First, print the Dinosaur Cards, the corresponding control cards, and the Dinosaurs Lap Book).
To make the 3-part cards
2. Laminate the dinosaur cards and the control cards.
3. Cut them out.



To make the lap book
4. First open the folder up flat. Then fold the two edges into the center. I folded the shorter side exactly to the center and folded the longer side so that it overlapped by the size of the tab.



5. Next open up the flaps and tape the pieces of cardstock onto the top and bottom of the middle sections. Make sure to that when you apply the tape to the back side, the cardstock is already folded in, as shown.


This is what it should look like when they are attached.


6. Place the cover where you would like it to sit on the front of the lap book. Then lift up the top flap and place it on top of the cover without moving the cover. Trace the line along the top flap as shown.



7. Cut along the line and glue the two pieces onto the cover. I didn’t do this, but you might want to have your child write the name and date before you cut and glue the cover onto the file folder.



8. Next, cut the carnivore/herbivore activity in half and glue one half to each of the two inner side flaps. Cut out the dinosaur pieces to go with this activity.



9. Glue the favorite dinosaur and map activity page onto one of the two pieces of cardstock. You may want to have the child write first before you glue since it might be a little easier to write on a hard surface. Cut out the dinosaur pieces to go with the map activity.
10. Glue the time period activity onto the other piece of card and cut out the dinosaur pieces for this activity.



11. Lastly, glue the “Smallest to Biggest” label on the very top of the opened piece of cardstock and cut out the information cards to go with this activity. I chose to leave the descriptions and pictures attached and let my son cut them in half once he decided where they should go. See the pictures above for how the completed project should look.

You should have all the pieces cut out and ready to be glued on at this point. (You could also have your child do the cutting, but I knew mine would get super frustrated if I made him do this much work before the work actually started.)

Note that you don’t have to cut around each dinosaur for the map, time period, and herbivore/carnivore activity, but the squares will need to overlap slightly if you don’t. I think it’s more fun if you cut around each dinosaur to make them look more like stickers.

To do the activities in this lap book, I had my kindergartner use the laminated control cards for reference. You can do the activities in any order, but to start, he took all 12 control cards and sorted them by dinosaur size. Once he was done, I showed him how to use the lengths printed on the cards to switch a couple of them, but honestly, a couple of the orderings are a little arbitrary since some of the dinosaurs are slightly taller than longer dinosaurs.

I then helped him glue the dinosaurs onto the inner 3 page length section.

For each of the 3 remaining gluing activities, my son again used the laminated control cards. He’s not reading yet, but I showed him how to recognize the words “carnivore” and “herbivore” and he sorted them into two piles, before gluing the cut out dinosaurs onto the appropriate sides. I also showed him how to recognize “Jurassic” vs. “Cretaceous” so he could sort them by time period and how to read “North America” when he was sorting them into continents. When he found the 3 that were not from North America, I read them for him and helped him find where they went on the map. (In the future, I’d like to do another set, where I specifically look for dinosaurs from other continents.)

Overall, I think this lap book was a success and I plan on making more lap book templates in the future. My son loves the finished product and couldn’t wait to show his dad when he got home. After all the exposure to these 12 dinosaurs through the various activities, he now recognizes and can name almost all 12 by sight. It’s pretty awesome to hear my 5 year old confidently saying things like “The Pachycephalosaurus is an herbivore.” If you’re interested in future lap books, please consider signing up for my newsletter to be notified when they are available. (You’ll also receive access to a page of subscriber freebies.)

Lastly, as I’ve started my homeschooling journey, I’ve recently come to learn that many of the homeschooling people in my community disagree with the dates that science has come up with to answer questions like, “When did dinosaurs live?” I honestly had no idea that an old Earth/young Earth debate even existed. While personally, I believe that the dates scientists have found are accurate, I want to be respectful of all beliefs. Therefore, I created another version of the lap book that does not specifically mention any dates. It does however still use terms like Jurassic Period and Cretaceous Period. If this goes against your religious beliefs, then I would suggest replacing this page with an activity such as: “Draw and color a backdrop and glue the cut out dinosaurs into your scene. (Volcanoes recommended!)”

Click here for more Paleontology activities for kids.

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