International Puzzle Day

Today is international puzzle day, so take out those puzzles and get your kids to solve them.

Puzzles are a great learning tool and aid children's cognitive development. One can teach young kids a lot of stuff  like shapes, numbers and letters through puzzles. Puzzles also help in developing fine motor skills in children and build problem solving skills. It gives them a challenge and provides them with an opportunity to think and  come up with strategies to solve a problem. It also provides them with a sense of accomplishment when they complete a puzzle, thus boasting their confidence.

I love puzzles and so do kids of all ages. I created number and animal puzzles for the little kindergartners to enjoy. It is a freebie, so click HERE the to get it.

Just print, cut on the lines, mix the pieces and ask children to put them in order. The puzzles focus at numbers from 1-50. There are also skip counting puzzles for that extra challenge.

So let the kids exercise their brain muscles, they are sure to have fun solving the puzzles.

Chinese New Year Fan Craft

Try out this adorable craft with your little ones for the Chinese new year. You don't need much paraphernalia to do this craft. Just a colored sheet of paper, few ribbons and a chopstick.

 Make folds on a rectangular piece of paper till you reach the end of it.

Punch holes on the top corners.

Add ribbons on both the sides.

Put a chopstick in the center of the fan fold and secure it with a tape.

Let children make colorful designs.

The Chinese New Year Fan is ready! Have fun doing this simple and easy craft.
Do check out my literacy and math unit for Chinese new year by clicking on the LINK..

Chinese New Year

This year the Chinese new year falls on 8th February. I got acquainted with this festival while I was living in Singapore. The whole island would come alive with beautiful red decorations and  every once in a while the loud sounds of cymbals would reverberate around the town signaling a dragon dance. The mouth watering pineapple tarts and the sales used to add to the fun. For the Chinese, this was a time to bond with their families and for us it was vacation time. We always planned a trip outside Singapore because the whole island used to shut down for 4 days. There was a lot of excitement and joy in the air and it wasn't difficult to sense it.
 Sigh! Good ol' memories!

And to refresh those memories, I created a fun learning pack for little ones. I enjoyed making this unit, and I am sure the little ones will enjoy doing the activities as much.

In this unit, you will find word and picture puzzles.

A number order puzzle.

Memory game cards.

Lots of math activities.

Literacy worksheets.

Beginning sound cards.

Grab this unit from my Teachers Pay Teachers Store and have fun teaching your kids about Chinese New Year.

Penguin Literacy center Idea

If you are doing a unit on penguins which could be perfect during the winter months, try out this cute literacy center on penguins. It is super simple to create and the kids would have a blast learning letters/words through this game.

All you need is a cardboard box and some colored prints of a penguin and fish. Stick the penguin on the box and make a slit around its mouth. Write letters on the fish and ask children to feed the letter fish to the penguin. They should be able to say the name and sound of each letter. Encourage them to cross out the letters on the recording sheet. 

They can do this activity independently or with you if you are trying to assess their letter knowledge.

100 Days of School

The 100th day of school must be around the corner for most of you. I love this day and my kids always eagerly await it. They love to welcome Zerona, Zero the hero's wife! And get super excited with the surprises they bring us.

To celebrate the day, I put up a welcome banner on the door. Once I made a huge 100 cutout, so the children could enter and exit from the zero. Of course, the banner didn't last too long with all the excitement ! :)

We always start by reading Miss Bindergarten celebrates the 100th day of kindergarten to find out how her class celebrates the 100th  day of school.

I hide 10 packets with the numbers 10-100 written on them. I place 10 different candies in each and ask children to find all the 10 packets. We then put them in order from 10-100 and children get to pick two of their favorite candies.

We love making 100 day crowns and always do a food activity. Our favorite is with fruit loops.

I also use activity sheets from my 100 days of school pack. Find them HERE.

And we end the day by taking home some goodies.

Try out these fun activities with your students and have a blast on the 100th day of school.

Republic Day Vocabulary Cards

Integrating literacy into a theme gets me super excited and while I was planning activities for the republic day, I thought of making some vocabulary cards which would help in introducing children to words associated with the republic day festivities.

So, what are you waiting for? Grab this freebie and help your kids to read the words. Just print these vocabulary cards, cut the words apart and get the kids to  match them to the pictures. You can  do a whole group activity first, by placing them in a pocket chart and reading with your whole class. 

Later place them in your literacy centers and let them work with these cards independently. For younger kids, print two copies of each page. Cut pictures from one set and let them match the pictures.

Have fun using these CARDS.  

Republic Day- Soldier Emergent Reader

Republic day is also a day to remember our brave soldiers who laid their lives for our country. I love using this day to talk about our veterans with little children. I created a very simple book which you can use to initiate a discussion in your class.

Grab it from HERE !

You can follow up with a soldier craft. Give them cutouts to assemble and let them sponge paint with green and brown paint.

Brainstorm the characteristics of a soldier with children and record their answers. 

All these activities will definitely make your kids proud of our soldiers and help them understand the sacrifice the soldiers make to keep us and our country safe.

Republic Day Craft

The Indian republic day falls on the 26th of January and it is a special day for all Indians. The Rashtrapati Bhavan and India gate comes alive on this day. As a kid I used to love watching the parade. It used to be a delight watching the armed forces marching in all their finery and the innumerable cultural performances showcasing the rich heritage  of our country. I used to eagerly await the stunts performed by the jets in the sky. 

And it is that memory which made me come up with a craft you can do with the kids for republic day.

 

You need two ice cream sticks, blue paper, cotton and some paint.

Let the kids stick the ice cream sticks on paper and add cotton for clouds. Allow them to use the tri color paint to show the aerobatics of the Indian Air Force.

Hope your kids have fun doing it. If you try this craft, do share your pictures with me.

I will be coming up with more activities for the Republic Day, so don't forget to come back.

Happy New Year

New year wishes to all my followers and readers! 

I know I got late in putting up this post but I was so preoccupied with finishing work on my 3rd book, that my little blog got ignored. And it really is a coincident that last year too I did the same thing and wrote a post only on the 12th. So to make up for it, I am sharing a fun writing activity you can do with your kiddos for the new year. 

You can also turn the activity into a craft. 

Just print the template, ask the kids to cut it and color it. Give them a ribbon or a pipe cleaner for the string of the balloon. 

Simple and easy! And you get to know what the kids would like to do in the new year . Click on the LINK to get the freebie.

The balloons and new year resolutions will make a wonderful door display too!