Bear Finger Play

We have a new bear math 2D shape craft in our store and it got us thinking about other great bear activities for back to school. Our Bear Cave finger play is perfect for helping students learn with their new teacher and class at the beginning of the school year. It is perfect for transitioning between learning activities and to help students learn to settle on the mat and be ready to listen.

We know your children will love this little rhyme and be eager to perfect the actions. This finger play will help them:

• focus as a class group in the learning space
• get their hands moving
• learn to look at you and listen
• learn and repeat a rhyme
• follow directions
• be playful and imaginative
• move from active to focused attention

Read or say the finger play to your students doing the actions as you go. Encourage them to copy and join in. Emphasise the progression from active fingers to finishing in their lap.

Finger plays can :

• be a classroom management strategy
• build class community
• develop confidence in little learners - they are proud when they learn something new, quickly
• build vocabulary and language skills - rhyme and rhythm 
• help early reading - point to the words as you read each day
• fine motor
• create a transition between activities
• build verbal and auditory-memory skills

Team it up with a lovely bear book for a fast-prep and engaging whole group literacy session. 

Print it out from our free printable in Google Drive: Bear Cave Finger Play

Available in our TpT store is a more detailed version, including printable worksheets, puppets and craft.

Ask your students to help you tell a story of a bear in a cave with the finger play:

• This is the cave

• And this is the bear

• Curl up tight, sleep in there

• Wake sleepy eyes

• Open them wide

• Run from the bear

• Hide, hide, hide

We hope your little ones love learning this new finger play!

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Finger Play

Reading Fluency

Do you need motivate your students with phonics and fluency in reading? We have a fast-prep series of activity cards that your students will love!

Zoom Cards are a way for students to gradually build their skills in recognizing letters, sounds and decodable words though a sequenced set of activity cards. Students can work at their own level, practice and self-monitor their assessment. 

Each of the sequenced phonics cards is provided in the a hand-sized format (4 to a page sized) as well as jumbo page-sized versions, perfect for students who need large print. Why not also use the page sized cards for a whole-class fluency focus lesson? 

The cards are numbered from 1 to 34 will step learners through a sequenced set of letter sound patterns and words.

They include cards for

• single sounds 
• word families 
• cvc words 
• consonant blends 
• ccvc words 
• cvcc words 
• consonant digraphs 
• nasal sounds

Teachers who have used these cards have told us they are:

• a great warm-up in guided reading groups
• comprehensively cover a broad range of abilities 
• fast to prep
• easy to implement and maintain
• engaging and foster independence
• sequenced and increasingly challenging
• helping students with automaticity 
• making a huge difference to their reading levels

The cards are backline so you can copy them onto brightly coloured paper to add some interest. 

Give each student a small plastic pouch to keep their cards in. You can assess the students quickly on a Friday to determine if they are ready to move onto the next card. It is personal choice, but I would recommend aiming for 100% accuracy. 

Students have a card for the whole week and time themselves reading the sounds/words each night. They can record their best times and try to get faster as the week progresses. With 34 cards, there is enough to cover the whole year. 

Our printable Zoom Cards file can be found in our TpT store!

We hope this system helps you think of ways you can master phonics fluency in your classroom and that this printable packet can support you in your pedagogy. 

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Learning to Read, Phonics

Free Cat Craft

I know your little ones love to do craft and we have a new free project to share with you today. With just a few supplies you can set up a creative experience to follow on from, or springboard into a range of literacy experiences.

To make this cute cat paper craft you will need:

• the free one page craft template - over in our Coloring Club (sign up with just your email)
• a printer
• pencils or crayons
• scissors
• glue

To make this paper craft cat:

• color the cat parts
• carefully cut them out - we've made them perfect for early-scissor-skills
• glue the head on the body followed by the tail behind the body

Cat literacy activities

Why not combine this activity with some reading and writing:

• brainstorm a list of cool cat names for a story
• write a list of cat sounds to make a story about a cat more engaging and descriptive
• make a list of things a pet cat needs
• draw a home for a pet cat or create it from paper scraps
• ask students to tell you words that rhyme with cat
• with kindergarten, model how to write a sentence about a cat and ask students to attempt some writing too
• first and second grade could write a paragraph or short story about a cat's nightly adventures
• read Mrs Brown and the Midnight Cat, one of our faves
• role play going to the pet store to buy a cat - have students practice structuring questions to enquire about the suitability of a particular cat (language activity)
• together as a class, research 5 fun facts about cats and record them on paw prints to display with the crafts 

We would love to have you as members of the Coloring Club so you can access the template for this craft and a growing collection of other creative pages to keep your little ones engaged, learning and busy!

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Craft for Kids

Number Craft - Rainbow Bird

Display your learning about counting and numbers in Kindergarten with our new Rainbow Bird math craft.

Students will display a chosen number by adding tail feathers to their bird. Together they will make a beautiful colorful display.

Perfect for little learners this activity features:

• easy clear simple shapes to cut
• just a few steps to sequence

Included in the pack are options to make it perfect for your classroom:

• complete version - minimal cutting
• one page version - all pieces for 1 student on 1 page
• template version - great for copying on colored paper

This craft teams perfectly with a game in Math Pack 1 - Numbers to 3.

Our Math Packs feature a sequence of 5 activities on one developmental step in early math. 

In Clip It Birds students will count and clip to their birds to show their understanding of numbers 1 to 3 in numeral, word, dot patterns and finger count representations. 

As well as playing math games and daily counting, encourage number awareness and familiarity by singing counting songs and rhymes. 

• 5 Little Speckled Frogs
• 5 Cheeky Monkeys
• 10 in the Bed
• 10 Fat Sausages Sizzling in the Pan
• 1, 2 Buckle My Shoe

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mathtivity

School Bus Craft

Making something to hang in a classroom display in the first few weeks of school is such a lovely way for our new students to feel part of the class. Many may not be ready to express too much verbally and after a long break at home, be eager to complete a set task that offers some structure and creativity. 

Our easy-cut crafts will help you create a happy and inviting display of students work with the option to use the themed writing papers to extend the learning with a writing project. 

This new craft is a happy little school bus and features some simple clear big shapes to cut - perfect for learning scissor skills. 

The craft template pieces can be printed on color paper, or print them on white paper and ask your students to shade them. Add crafty details if you choose, to make this a more complex activity for your students.

3 versions are included for your convenience:

• a 'complete' version with minimal cutting
• a 'one page' version with all pieces needed by one student on one page
• a traditional template version with multiple pieces on one page - great for copying on colored paper

You can find this new printable of our over in our TpT store.

Some things to consider when implementing craft activities:

• remind students that craft work makes them better writers - helping develop fine motor and sequencing skills
• remind students that craft works provides for the perfect time to practice mindfulness 
• depending on your group, spread the completion of the craft out over a few days - coloring on one day for example, cutting on another
• expect a few students to struggle with the cutting and plan how you will respond to this - calm, encouraging words and support can make a huge difference
• for the first few craft projects of the year, praise and encourage all attempts and interpretations - there will be reluctant crafters but the more they experience 'success' and see that you value their effort, the more engaged they will become

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Back to School

How to Make Super Smooth Play Dough

Would you like to make beautiful, super smooth play dough? I polled our Instagram audience and 100% of friends agree with me - our learners love using playdough!

I've always found that cooking play dough is the best way to achieve a super smooth consistency. It takes practice and a good mixing arm - you need to stir continuously, especially in the last phase as you see it merge from a mixture into dough. 

I started using this recipe when I was 15 years old. I was a Junior Leader for Gumnut Guides (very young members of what is similar to Girl Scouts) and quickly became responsible for the weekly program. Apparently I had a knack for sequencing creative and themed activities for 5 year olds - who would have thought?! The adult leader made this recipe every week and arrived with a big warm bowl of freshly made dough. The Gumnuts squealed with delight every week - we used it to engage the girls as they arrived. They would gather around a table and have fun playing while we dealt with administrative issues and welcoming families. 

Then of course as a teacher and a parent I have always appreciated the value of a play dough routine. My kids had a little stash under the kitchen sink and I taught them quickly how to become independent with setting up and playing with dough. You will find very few better activities for fine motor! I now use a Thermomix recipe to save time, but in case you don't have a Thermomix I will share the stove top version with you today. 

Quick hint: when finished, soak your saucepan in cold water not warm to more easily clean the dough reside off. If using the Themo, whiz some water and detergent around the bowl before you take it apart to clean.

Play Dough Recipe

Here is the USA recipe we suggest for cooked playdough - Australians change 3 tablespoons of cooking oil to 2 tablespoons. We also have it in a printable pdf version for you to download from Google Drive:

USA Recipe for Play Dough

Australian Recipe for Play Dough

Play Dough Activities

We make a huge growing range of play dough mats to help focus your students and to allow you to merge curriculum with play.

See the full range easily, over on our website and you can click through to TpT to purchase them. A really practical set to start your collection is our set of Number Mats.

The number mat set features:

• counting on a ten frame
• subitizing on a ten frame
• language and rhyme (students say the little poem as they make)
• numeral identification
• numeral formation
• use with dry erase markers as an alternative to play dough

Perfect for kindergarten they feature numbers to 20 with an engaging, clear and skill-focused layout.

Set Up a Play Dough Routine

Set up a routine for play dough so you can whip up a solid learning experience with ease and student independence.

• have play dough kept in a air tight but easily opened container that is labeled and easy to reach
• provide placemats or laminated paper as work mats
• provide a few tools for advanced students but remember we want to encourage work and skills with fingers and hands
• show students how to share the dough available, fairly
• set up expectations - no mixing colors (if it bothers you) etc
• show students the basic skills of rolling, flattening, squeezing and pinching
• model for the students the exact way you want them to pack up so they can become independent with this
• show them how to 'mop up' tiny stray pieces - I call it the hoover - hold a small ball in your hand and dot it up and down all over the play space, the small stray pieces will stick to the ball and they are easily gathered up, and kids love to do the 'hoovering' 
• as you teach each new set of play dough mats, leave a few of each out with the equipment for students to use independently 
• if using the curriculum focused mats, implement the expectation that they complete a set number of cards, e.g. 5-10, before having a reward of a few minutes of free play and exploration

Talking and Creativity

All this fun play can become a springboard for essential language development in the early years. Please make time for it if you can. Choose a few students to come to the front of the class and talk about their creations. Prompt the more reluctant ones with some questions and help them build their confidence. This verbal sharing of playful experiences helps language development, listening, creativity and curiosity. Not to mention building a culture of shared learning and community. As a teacher in these moments to can model respect, curiosity and communication. 

We hope you have fun making play dough for your little learners and incorporate a play dough routine into your learning program. 

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play dough

Counting Finger Play

Yesterday we added a Happy Flower coloring page to our Premium Coloring Club featuring 10 beautiful big joyful faces!

I want to share with you a few ways to incorporate this page into some deeper lessons and activities. 

Coloring Page

Coloring is engaging for many students and will help them develop skills ready for penmanship and writing. It is also a relaxing activity that can assist in mindfulness. 

Finger Play Counting Rhyme

I wrote a little finger play to go along with the page. As your class is sitting in front of you encourage them to join in. To name just a few, finger plays are wonderful for

• classroom management
• building class community
• developing confidence in little learners
• building vocabulary and language skills
• early reading
• fine motor dexterity 
• transitioning between activities 
• building verbal and auditory-memory skills

Ask your students to pop their fingers up and pretend they are flowers waving in the breeze! As the rhyme progresses they put a finger down to keep track of the backward count. You may like to pause and talk about how removing one has resulted in a new number.

I would love to share a printable version of this today from our TpT store!

You can download it from Google Drive and print it in color or blackline. 

Counting

• provide counters and ask your students to match a counter to each flower as they count them from 1 to 10

Roll and Add to 10

• provide dice and counters and ask students to roll and add counters to they make exactly 10

Play Dough Flowers

• use the coloring page as a play dough mat
• laminate them or put them under a clear plastic sheet

To make a play dough flower, use 3 dough skills:

• students roll a little ball of play dough between two palms or hand-to-table
• students flatten ball between two palms
• students pinch petals around the flattened ball to create petals
• place flower on mat and keep going to make 10

More finger plays and hand rhymes

• find more of our action rhymes on the website
• creative learners might take our rhyme and change it - encourage your students to be playful with words and rhymes
• read other rhyme books like this one I've used often in my teaching:

Thanks so much for stopping by the blog today, we hope these ideas help with or without our flower coloring page.

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Finger Play, Numbers

Growing Pattern Activities

Do you need a fast way to prep deep, meaningful learning for growing patterns in first and second grade? Look no further!
This fun math center activity will be prepped in minutes and is engaging for students.

Your students will analyze the growing pattern featured on one of the 48 cards, recreate it with pattern blocks and then continue the pattern by 'growing' an additional few stages.

Encourage your students to:

• describe and discuss the pattern, linking it with numbers (e.g. It grows by adding 2 each time)
• talk about the shapes used
• use directional and positional language as they build

Ask your students to tell you how it grows from the first step to the second. Ask them to add this new part to what they have arranged already. 

Encourage students to 

• 'keep going' with their pattern beyond the steps shown on their card
• work with other students if needed
• create their own patterns after doing a few cards
• record their learning on a blank sheet of paper

Pattern making is so valuable to many mathematical concepts - provide your students with loads of opportunities to make patterns - both repeating and growing patterns. 

This printable activity will save you many hours of your curriculum planing time and is available in our TpT store

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Patterns