Tag Archives: hands-on

Pool Noodle Covered Wagon

In honor of the recent Pioneer Day (the Utah holiday that celebrates the arrival of the Mormon pioneers to Utah in 1847), we try to do something pioneer related each year, since my husband’s family is from Utah and it’s a part of our Mormon heritage as well. This year (to go along with Strawberry’s always kinetic learning style) we made a pool noodle covered wagon by converting our red Radio Flyer wagon!

Our pool noodle "covered wagon" was a fun way to make learning about history a movement-based activity.

In the past, we made a milk carton covered wagon and acted out pioneer scenes with it. Another time, I shared favorite pioneer books. We also learned about modern-day pioneers and interviewed family members, and we did a “scavenger hunt” in a non-fiction book to learn about using an index. I think making our pool noodle covered wagon was the most fun yet!

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Whole Body Butterfly Life Cycle

Strawberry simply loves butterflies right now! As we prepared a report about butterflies for our recent project fair, we took the chance to act out the parts of the butterfly life cycle. This whole body gross motor play is just how she learns! I know she’ll not forget the details we discussed: egg, caterpillar, chrysalis, butterfly with antennae and proboscis. These are now ingrained in her memory. Plus, it was tons of fun to act out!
Use a party blower as a proboscis in this whole body butterfly life cycle gross motor imagination game.

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Flower-Themed Word Family Picture Sort

Now that Strawberry is becoming more and more aware of words and sounds and even starting to sound out consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) words, she was very excited to try a flower-themed word family picture sort.
Put the image-flowers into the correct flower pot with this word family picture sort perfect for spring!
Strawberry loves flowers. The beautiful springtime is finally showing us tiny green buds and she cannot wait to see the blooms. For this activity, Strawberry said the name of the picture on each flower. Then, she found the matching short vowel pot to put it in. Using mini-flower pots from the gardening center and popsicle sticks and clothes pins made this word family picture sort into a multi-dimensional hands-on activity. Continue reading

Hands-On and Interactive Community Helpers Activities

Last week my daughter and I read some great books about community helpers and did some activities to recognize the community workers all around us. Now we are noticing all the people that help us on a regular basis. The librarian, the eye doctor, the worker at the dry cleaners, and the construction workers along the side of the road all are community workers. We’re grateful to all in our community who help make our lives easier and more pleasant! Together we did hands-on and interactive activities to recognize community helpers.Match the community worker to the place of work or the vehicle, either with a hands-on fine motor activity or at Boom Cards, where the matching is digital. Continue reading