Most Loved Toys - Vol. 2

Balloons

 While we do not have balloons around everyday, we certainly do not reserve them only for birthdays. It's just an empty rubber bubble, yet so much fun for a kid. Whoever came up with the idea really should have been paid a million dollars. I have a feeling he didn't.

Yes, that is my kid licking a balloon.

Big Box of Pom-Poms

Yes, it makes a mess every.single.time the box of pom poms are out, but for some reason, that box holds the magic to entertain all four kids at the same time. Into the box I threw a few small containers, some serving tongs, and an old Christmas candy jar. The kids play candy store, scoop and dump, throw snowballs (uh, yeah. not my favorite), stuff them in their shirts... whatever pops into their little heads.



{For those who are also Money Saving Mom readers, I promise that while she beat me to it, I am not just copying her post today. I took these pictures last weekend and woke up this morning with the intention of writing this post tonight. Honest, really and truly. I take no blame for making you want to run to the nearest craft store to buy pom poms.}

Most Loved Toys - Vol. 1

This week's most played with toy...

Wooden Train Tracks and Vehicles

(Pardon the flash-erized photos. Our living room has terrible lighting,
 and Photoshop is down. {insert sobbing face here})

Math and Reading Activity Swap Sign Up

This Swap Is Closed

Please allow one week from the date the swap was closed (11:59 pm, Mon, Sept. 5) to hear from a coordinator.

So, fiiiiiiiinally, here's your chance to sign up for the math and reading swap. I know it would have be so nice to have this done before school started. I wish it had been.

So, here's the scoop...

This swap form will be open until midnight Monday (eastern time). If (due to the holiday weekend) not many people sign up. It may be extended.

1.  READ THIS POST before going any further. (If you already read the new procedures, make sure you check out some changes in #9.) Still think you'd like to join the swap? Then move on...

2.  Look through the following list of activities, and choose you top three choices. Activity assignments will be made on a first come, first served basis. While we will take your top three choices into consideration, there is no guarantee that you will be assigned one of them.

I did not have time to check all the activities to insure they are within a $1 per bag budget. Please price out your activity before starting. If it is going to put you over budget, let me or your coordinator know right away, and I will either help you fit it in, or assign you a new activity.

A lot of these activities are paper ones requiring printing and sometimes laminating. It's just the nature of school related activities. If you do not have a printer or access to a laminating machine, please let us know in the comments section of the form. Lamination is only required if the activity will be used for dry erase purposes. Please print non-laminated items on cardstock, unless otherwise noted.

Math and Reading Activities

Reading

Spin and Spell - any letter combinations to create any words
(Use a sharpie to label nuts with letters, rather than stickers and mod podge.)


Zap! Sight Word Game - sight words
(Scroll down. Third one in the list. Please include a container of some sort, such as disposable drinking cups, from which to draw the popsicle sticks.)


Sight Word Wheel - sight words
(Scroll way down, about half way down the page. Can use paper plates.)


Word Doctor - CVC words
(Print on cardstock. Lamination is optional. Supply tweezers, but skip the other props. Tweezers can be found in a 2 pack at Dollar Tree.)


Letter Tiles and Two Vowels Speller Cards - two vowels go walking rule
(Print only pages 6 & 7 on cardstock. Lamination is optional.)


Silent E Worksheets - silent e words
(Print only two pages. Laminate back to back, or put them back to back in a sheet protector. Or cover with contact paper. Provide a dry erase marker (packs of 4 at Dollar Tree) or a washable crayon.)


R-Controlled Four in a Row - r controlled vowels
(Print on cardstock. Lamination optional. Include a die.)


Contraction Camera Game - contractions
(You do not need to include the recording sheet. Print on cardstock. Lamination is optional.)


Silly Sentence Game - general reading
(Print on colored paper and laminate OR print on colored cardstock. [different color for the three sentence parts].)


CVC Donuts - CVC words
(Print on cardstock. Lamination is optional.)


Digraph Die - th, ch, sh, wh, tr, dr
(Feel free to diviate from the die template. Use can use small 3/4" blocks  or foam cubes and write on them with a sharpie. Please use the following digraphs and blends: the, ch, sh, wh, tr, dr.)


Toss, Read, and Write - cl, bl, fl, pl, gl, sl
(Scroll about a quarter way down the page until you come to the photo of a muffin tin. You do not need to include a recording sheet with this activity. Just the muffin tin [or other such item, if it the foil muffin pans are too expensive] with the sections labled, and a pom pom. Please use the following sounds: cl, bl, fl, gl, pl, sl.)


Power Tower - ay, eigh, ow, ou, ew, ui, ei, igh
(Use 3 oz. paper water cups. Walmart has packs of 100 Dixie cups for under $4. You do not need to provide Pringles canisters. Please use words with the following sounds: ow [as in cow], ou [as in out], ew [as in new], ui [as in fruit], ei [as in reign], eigh [as in neigh])


Ah! Cute Babies File Folder Game - au, aw, and short o
(Printing on regular copy paper is fine. Use whatever file folders you wish.)


Making Words File Game - combining beginning, middle, and ending sounds
(Printing on regular paper is fine. Use whatever file folders you wish. I am unsure of the cost of the post its. You are welcome to come up with a different way, if needed.)



Math

Place Value Cups - place value
(Provide cups, counting items, and one recording sheet. The receiving moms can print more should they wish to.)


Fraction Action - basic fractions
(Purchase 3 large foam shapes per bag [circles, squares, or rectangles - check Dollar Tree]. Leave one whole and write the number one in the middle. Cut the other in half, and write 1/2 on each half. Cut the last shape in 1/4s and label each quarter with "1/4". Use these as teaching tools and also as puzzles, by asking the child to creat 3/4, etc.)


Felt Number Tiles - provides hands on equation building
(Please provide numbers 1-10 and the signs +, -, and =.)


Bankrupt! Money Game - coin values
(Provide popsicle sticks with plastic or paper [cardstock] coins glued on, and a container such as a disposable drinking cup from which to draw the popsicle sticks.)


Odds and Evens Game - odd and even numbers
(This link is a round about way to get to the directions. Scroll past all the photos. Click on the first sentence of the third paragraph under the photos. This will open a Word document with several math games listed. Odds and Evens is the first game on the list. Please provide counters [such as beans] and a pair of dice.)


Round It Game - rounding to the nearest ten
(This link is a round about way to get to the directions. Scroll past all the photos. Click on the first sentence of the third paragraph under the photos. This will open a Word document with several math games listed. Odds and Evens is the second game on the fourth page. Please provide a deck of cards [2 pk. at Dollar Tree] and a hundreds chart printed on cardstock.)


Add and Subtract Mat - addition and subtraction
(Please print board and pieces on cardstock. Lamination is optional. Paper counters are optional. you may provide beans or other small items in place of the paper counters.)


Bill Buster File Folder Game - quarters to dollars & dollars to quarters
(This is another file folder game. Print pieces on regular copy paper. Use whatever folder you wish. Contact me if you need help figuring out the assembling.)


Time is Up! Game - telling time, digital and analog clocks
(Please provide 2 game boards printed on cardstock and some sort of game pieces marked with digital times [can be squares cut from foam sheets or whatever else you can think of that fits in the budget]).


Measurement Journal - measuring
(Please provide measuring tool(s) [as many as you can fit in your budget]. Ideas: a ruler [check Dollar Tree for pacaks], measuring spoons, measuring tape, plastic measuring glass. Include a small notebook [look for packs of tiny composition books or spiral flip notebooks] for child to record what he measures and its measurement.)


Counting Coconuts - counting & beginning addition
(Scroll down until you see a felt coconut tree. Please provide a small felt board [a half sheet of felt glued to a half sheet of cardstock], a felt coconut tree, 12 felt coconuts, and 2 die [Dollar Tree].)


Shape Graphing - shapes & bar graphs
(Scroll down to the sixth photo. Print sheet and laminate [or cover with contact paper or slip into a sheet protector]. Create a shapes die using a small wooden block or foam cube. Use a sharpie to draw shapes on the die. Please also include a dry erase marker [Dollar Tree] or washable crayon.)


Egg Carton Shake It Up - equation practice
(If this activity is assigned to you and you do not have access to egg cartons, let me or your coordinator know immediately. We can assign you another activity. You may substitute the erasers for any small item, such as large beans.)


Dice Greater or Lesser - greater than, lesser than
(Print, laminate [or contact paper or sheet protectors]. Include dice {Dollar Tree] and a dry erase marker [Dollar Tree] or washable crayon.)


Reading or Math

Flippin' Cookies - any skill
(Print, laminte, cut out pieces. Please include a dry erase marker [Dollar Tree]. True laminatation works best for this activity. Please do not substitute contact paper as it is not stiff enough. If you are assigned this activity and do  not have access to a home laminator, please let me or your coordinator know right away.)


Build a Sandwich - any skill
(Print, laminate, and cut out pieces. Please provide a dry erase marker [Dollar Tree].)


Fish for Knowlege - any skill
(Link provides the concept. To make it busy bag friendly: Create a fishing rod using an unsharpened pencil, yarn [string, etc.], and a strong magnet. Create simple fish shapes. Attach a paper clip. Laminate. Include a dry erase marker [Dollar Tree] or washable crayon. Parent writes words or equations, etc. on the fish. Student catches one fish at a time and reads the word or answers the equation.)



3. Fill out the form below. If you wish to simply be assigned an activity without listing your preferences, please select "other" in the activity drop down menus.

4. You will be contacted by a coordinator within a week.

K-2nd gr. Busy Bag Swap

This is just a quick note to let you know that I will not be sending out the activity assignments tonight. There are too many loose strings with the preschool swap that I need to tie up before I can take on more. Hindsight is telling me that perhaps four different swaps with multiple coordinators was a little much all at once. J I will be sending out the list of names and activities for each group to the coordinators very soon. It just won’t be in the timeframe I originally planned for. I am sorry for the inconvenience this may have caused you.

This Swap is Now Closed.

There will be 5 groups of 30 and 28 fill ins. If you do not hear from your coordinator by Thursday, the 28th (this accounts for not working on the weekend), please check your junk and spam folders.

To keep your email service from sorting the swap emails to the junk folder, add my email address to your email address book.

brenners at the herd . us 

This swap is for K - 2nd gr. ONLY. If you're looking for the toddler or preschool swap, they are closed. If you are looking for the Math and Reading only, it will be posted soon.

This swap will include 30 activities and 30 swappers + fill ins for each group. 


Want to join this one?

Step 1: Please review the following list of activities. Choose your top three choices of which you would like to create, or let me know if you have another idea that is not listed here. Other ideas are welcome. (While we take your choices into consideration, there is no guarantee that you will be assigned one of your choices.)

You may need to be creative when you brainstorm your activity to make it fit into the budget or into your current stock of stuff around the house. It's ok to deviate from the original instructions.


Check out this list of good deals to be found at Dollar Tree, Target, and Walmart.

Reading/Language Activities


Sight Word Popsicle Stick Game


Letter Tiles and CVC Word Speller Cards
(CVC pages only)


Flippin Cookies


Letter Tiles and Long Vowels Word Speller Cards
(Two Vowels Go Walking [ae, oa, etc.] and/or Silent E pages only)


Math Activities

Fraction Action
(For each bag you will need 4 large foam circles, squares, or rectangles [great price at Dollar Tree]. Leave one whole. Write a big 1 in the middle. Cut the second one in half. Write 1/2 on each piece. Third one in 1/3s, and the last one in 1/4s. Child will treat the pieces as a puzzle. They must put them together to create 4 whole shapes.)


Paint Stick Number Line
(Number Line Stickers are at Dollar Tree in the teachers' section.)

Math Circles or Felt Number Tiles (with +, -, x, division, and =)(Unless you love to cut circles or have a 1.25" - 1" circle punch, you might not want to commit to the math circles, or maybe cut them in squares instead.)


Bankrupt! Money Game


Science Activities

What's Magnetic?
(A magnet and several small objects to test magnetity on. A chart to record findings)


Materials Scavenger Hunt


Backyard Boredom Flipbook


Other Skills


Shoe Tying Card


Art Dice


Just for Fun

Masking Tape Fun
(A roll of masking tape and a list of tape activity ideas)

Hardware Play
(Nuts, bolts, and other inexpensive hardware)

Chalk Games - Annihilation & London Calling
(Sidewalk chalk and an inexpensive water gun. Write words or answers to math sums or pics or anything on sidewalk. Parent (or other child) calls out words, math problems, etc. and player squirts the answer. Continue until all words, etc. have disappeared. London Calling instructions linked above.)

Pom Pom Shooters
(Only with pom-poms instead of marshmallows to avoid spoilage)

Balloon Paddle Ball
(About halfway down the page)

Stretchy and Activity Cards
(I'm unsure on the cost of lycra fabric. I don't know if this would fit a $1/bag budget.)

Snowflake Builder


Eye Spy Bottle


Memory Game (wooden discs & felt, fabric scraps, miniature, wood squares, recycle kids' books)
(These are just ideas. I was thinking something more substantial than paper... wood, ez felt, foam? I'm not so sure this age group would really get into just another paper matching game. The set should probably consist of at least 6 matches.)


Popsicle Stick Puzzle
(Can be smaller than 16 popsicle sticks. Perfect if you have lots of old magazines or calendars.)

Spooning Beads
(Parents can give their child and egg carton and maybe let the child rummage through the kitchen junk drawer for other things to play with along with the beads. My 6 year old really enjoys this. You could maybe include yarn, if it's in the budget, in case they want to make jewelry.)

Playdough and Playdough Mat(s)
(Lots to choose from!)


Egg Puzzles
(Made from similarly patterned paper [hard to differentiate] or from felt or cardstock of all one color with different cut patterns... to make it harder for big kids)


Ping Pong Basketball
(Could use plastic cups rather than containers. This could be played alone as well, and would not have to be so complicated... just try to bounce the ball in a cup. Two or three cups could be placed in a line so that the last is farther away. Each cup could be a different score.)


Felt Board and Felt Pieces to Create a Scene
(One sheet of felt glued to one sheet of cardstock OR half a sheet of EZ felt. The felt play pieces should be things they can use to build a scene... examples, but DO NOT SEW, do not include toys, and it doesn't have to be as elaborate - simplify it: construction and train, farm, dinos, castle, meadow)


Catapult
(This requires a small block of wood, like a 2x4. If you've got scraps lying around or are not intimidated by power tools, like some people {ahem}, then this might be perfect for you.

Pinchers & Small Items
(Salad servers or something like it [check Dollar Tree] and small items like pom poms [or anything else that would work]. Child uses the pinchers to pick up items.)





Step 2: Read the general overview of the swaps, if you haven't yet.


Step 3: If you're absolutely sure this is something you want to do, fill out the form below. This form will be taken down in 48 hours or when a "ridiculous" number of swappers is reach. (he he)

Filling out the form is not a way of expressing interest. It is a commitment to be a part of the swap.If however, you do sign up with full intentions of participating, but then realize that for some reason you are unable to continue, please let me or your swap coordinator know right away, so that we can contact someone else who would love to be involved.

Step 4: Wait patiently to hear from your coordinator. You should receive an email in 3 days or less (from the time the swap is closed) informing you or either your activity assignment or your standing as a fill in. If you do not hear anything after 3 days, check your junk mail folder or spam folder. If you still hear nothing, email me.