Letter Tree Play Dough Mats

Make learning the alphabet and letter-formation engaging and hands-on with our letter tree play dough mats.

Your little learners will 

• roll play dough
• form snake shapes
• twist dough into letter shapes 

Laminate the mats to use with dough or use them with:

• dry erase markers - write the letters
• small equipment like counters, tokens and mini-erasers 

This activity is encouraging many dough skills that will help your students fine motor strength. All 26 letters of the alphabet are included in lower case. 

Each mat features the short rhyming text that students can say as they work away on their letters:

Look, I'm a letter, up high in the tree,
Roll and shape the dough, to make me!

We've also included a worksheet for follow-up so that students can transfer their learning about letter shape and proportions and track each letter. Tracking is a great precursor to tracing and  involves the students staying between the lines on the outline of each letter shape.

Hop over to TpT to find this new resource!

Cupcakes for the Class - Free Number Games

Over in our TpT store you can find a printable for making a versatile math resource - Cupcakes for the Class. And it's FREE!

The resource includes number cards on cute cupcakes that can easily engage your little learners - tell them they are working in a cupcake shop or baking cakes!

We've included lots of number related activities to play with the cards, but creative teachers can no doubt think of many more. 

Here are a few of ours:

Forward Counting 

• ask students to order the cards in forward counting sequence
• ask students to start from one and sequence numbers to 20 in a long number line
• challenge students to start at random positions and order the numbers - e.g start at 7 and keep counting 

 Backward Counting

• ask students to order the cards in backward counting sequence
• ask students to start from 20 and sequence numbers back to 1 in a long number line
• challenge students to start at random positions and order the numbers - e.g start at 7 and count back

Order and Position of Numbers to 20

• flash a card quickly at students and ask them to identify the numeral
• ask them to tell you the number after (e.g. you flash 7, students say 8)
• ask them to tell you the number before
• ask them to double the number
• ask them to times the number by 3, 5, 10 (grade 3 level)
• ask them to halve the number (grade 3 level)
• ask them to keep counting from this number forward until you say stop
• ask them to clap this many times
• ask them to trace the numeral on the floor or in the air (numeral formation) 

• make a line of sequenced numbers (either forward or backward), ask students to close their eyes and remove a number from the sequence - ask students to identify the missing number 

• print 2 sets of cards, put one set in a face-down pile, the rest face-up and scattered
• students take a card from the pile, flip it over and then find the number that comes after from the scattered cards - put these together in pairs in the playing space 

Number Sense

• students place counters on each card to match the numeral

• students draw dots on each cupcake with a dry-erase marker to match the numeral 

We hope you enjoy using the cupcake cards with your class, in small or large-group activities. Laminate a few sets and have them ready for engaging hands-on activities to implement in a snap. 

Hop over to our TpT store to find this printable activity pack HERE

5 Ways to Play Build a Fence

Over in our TpT store we offer a free printable math activity - Build a Fence. The activity is so fast to prep - no cutting required on the game mats and the number cards take less than a minute to snip.

To the included game instructions, it is perfect for students who need practice in:

• numbers to 20
• counting out groups of objects to model a number
• comparing numbers

Number Sense

Children, either independently or in a group, will build a fence with popsicle sticks on their game mat to match a number card from 11-20. After building (encourage verbal counting) encourage math talk! Talk about:

• how many more sticks needed to make 20
• how many more sticks than 10
• is it an odd or even number
• it is bigger or smaller than the last fence you built
• how much bigger or smaller
• count the sticks again, touching each stick (great for students without 1:1 correspondence) 

There is no 'winner' in this game, just lots of counting and number sense. 

Today however, I would like to share another 4 ways to use the game so you have 5 alternative ways to use this resource once you make it. 

Addition Game

• each player has a mat
• take turns to roll the die
• add sticks to match your die roll
• encourage awareness of how many more needed to make the full set of 20 - ask students questions to foster this, e.g. how many have you added in total so far? how many more do you need?

Patterns

• encourage students to make repeating patterns using colored sticks
• students can record their patterns on scrap paper before they make a new one 

 Subtraction

• students take 2 cards and subtract the smaller number from the larger number
• students build a fence to show the answer, e.g. 15-11 would yield a fence of 4

Compare Fence

• students play in pairs
• each student take a card and builds their fence
• fences are compered and the biggest/smallest is determined 
• challenge students to find the difference in the size of the fences and record as an algorithm on a whiteboard

 We hope this posts gives you some creative ways to use this resources. If you are not in a position to print at the moment, you could play by building a fence with sticks directly on the table. Our printable pages add an element of fun and engagement that is often needed to motivate children, but behind the printable pages are solid and essential skills and concepts.

Hop over to our store to find this pack - FREE:

Printable Learning Plans

Our children are engaging in home learning again this week and we have found a daily learning plan overview to be very effective for our day running smooth. 

We write the plan together with Sam in the morning before he starts the day just in case there are any last minute amendments to the order of learning activities provided by his school. The checkboxes provide for both motivation and readiness for the day ahead. 

We would love to share a sample with you to try. Just print it and start organizing your day or week! Find it in Google Drive: Free Printable Learning Plan

If this style of planning works for you in home or classroom learning, you may like to take a peek at our 2 printable packs that also include text-editable versions. 

Thanks so much for stopping by the blog today - if you'd like to get bi-weekly updates from us, sign up to our newsletter over on the website. 

Premium Coloring Pages

Friends, you know I love coloring pages and if you've been here since 2011 you will know I've loved sharing them for a long time. 

This month we offered an opportunity for you to access premium coloring pages. It is over on our  Coloring Club website which also hosts a free library.

Today I wanted to give you a sneak peek at some of the content in the premium club and also let you know that there are only a few days left to secure a 20% discount on a membership. 

Find out more HERE

These are just a few of the pages in the library and we have so many new fresh pages to add each week!

We can't wait to see your projects on social media too - add #pondcoloringclub to your posts so we can see them!

Earth Day Paper Craft

Make this cute craft to celebrate Earth Day with your creative little learners today! Just use the templates in our printable pack and team it with crayons, scissors and glue!

Choose from the various layout choices

• all in one (minimal cutting)
• one page craft (all pieces for one person on one page)
• traditional template style (multiple pieces on one page, great if you want to copy on colored paper)

We used the 'one page craft' style today and colored with crayon.

Next we cut all the pieces out and wrote a response on the writing prompt.

We glued the feet on the writing paper to help display our work!

This fun craft is over in our store!

Ladybugs on a Leaf Art Project for Kids

We would love to help guide you through a ladybugs-on-a-leaf art project today. We've included step by step drawing photos and some ideas for painting. You can also watch Mel draw it in the video below:

• place your page in landscape position
• draw a giant leaf shape

• 2 draw 5 circles on the leaf - these are the ladybugs!

• draw a T on each ladybug to divide the head and wings

• draw a face on each ladybug

• draw spots on the wings

• draw antennae on each bug
• draw a center line down the middle of the leaf

• draw the sun and a cloud
• draw some extra leaves around the edge if you wish

• watercolor your drawing

• add crayon detail to brighten the details and make the edges bolder

• your finished!

We also offer this page in a pack in our store.