Cow Appreciation Day! Giveaway Time!!!

Lately I've become inspired by random obscure holidays. It gives me the opportunity and inspiration to create unique packs with themes that may not be seen elsewhere. One of my main goals is to provide unique ideas and while I will create packs using common or traditional themes, I like to offer something different that wouldn't be seen elsewhere.

Last month, I created two unique packs for obscure holidays: Sunglasses Day and Camera Day. The packs themselves are not tied directly toward celebrating the holiday, but just use the theme itself. So, I have to offer in my Teachers Pay Teachers Store, my Sunglasses Pack and my Camera Pack. These packs are so cute and the Sunglasses Pack is perfectly appropriate as a spin on generic "summer" packs. The Camera Pack was actually the star in my last post about how I put together these packs for my kiddos (post found here).

So, this month, I have another adorable pack and this time, it's to celebrate Cow Appreciation Day! Some folks may be familiar with a certain chicken sandwich chain that celebrates the unique holiday sometime in mid-July (which landed on today's date this year), but it seems there are other places that date this "holiday" on alternate days in July. In any case, I decided I'd celebrate this holiday in a unique way by not only creating this adorable pack (because really, who can resist Krista Wallden's artwork?), but also by offering a giveaway of this mini pack!

This mini pack really packs a punch. With 20 pages of activities, it's smaller than my standard sized packs which typically range from 30-50 pages, but it is chock full of a wide variety of activities. Some of the pages focus on letter recognition and letter formation. There is also an observation exercise, counting practice, and simple addition. Manipulative activities in this pack include number puzzles and size sorting.

Back to the giveaway though. Check out my Facebook page to get details, but entries for the giveaway will available until tomorrow night (July 15th). Like and comment on the giveaway post and you are entered to win! The more comments, the more free packs will be given away!

Have fun and good luck!!!

Setting Up a Pack

It's been awhile since I wrote up a blog about my packs and how they work. This post is less about a specific activity and more about how I typically go about setting up a pack for my little ones. For this blog, I'm going to show you the setup I did for one of my recent packs, the Camera PreK Pack.

The first thing I do is peruse the file and decide which activities I want to print out on paper vs. card stock. Manipulative type activities are ones I typically print on card stock, and of course, there is always the option to laminate for durability. The activities that are more like sit-down worksheet activities, I usually print on standard paper.

With the worksheet type activities, I usually take note of which pages are on level or a bit of a challenge for my kiddo and print them out. Since my kids are almost two years apart, it's pretty obvious that they are at different levels. Each of my packs offers a wide variety of activities so some may be on level, some may be below level, and some may be above level depending on each individual kid and how they pick up concepts. As such, I typically choose different pages for each of my kids based on where they are. I'll also usually print out some activities that my kids enjoy doing even if they are a bit too easy for them. This way, they get some variety as far as difficulty level goes. I like to hole punch the pages and place them in a 3-ring binder. You always have the options to place the worksheets in page protectors or laminate them individually. With these methods, your kiddos can use dry erase markers or overhead markers (do those things exist anymore?) to complete worksheets. This type of method allows for repeated use, so it's pretty popular. For my kiddos though, most of the worksheets are a one shot thing and they tend to not go back to them. I figure if they want to repeat something, I'll just print it out again. That way, I don't have to store so much.

Since I use binders with clear covers, I usually add a nice cover. This helps my kiddos know what theme the activities are inside and it differentiates the binders for each of my kids with their name.

Each pack usually has between two and four manipulative type activities. These activities take a bit more preparation and I like to print them on card stock, but that's not always a must. These activities include things like image sorting, puzzles, matching cards, roll & graph activities, size sequencing, clip cards, etc.

In the camera pack, I included size sorting, number matching cards, and grid games. I try to include some variety, so you may see two different image or color variations for a single activity. This is to add interest or provide a different example for the kiddo so they can work at applying the same skills with a different but similar set.

The camera pack has two color options for size sorting. You can pick whichever one you like or do both. I printed out the blue cameras and cut out each image. You can opt to do rectangles or cut around the image which adds a degree of challenge.

Another manipulative activity included in the camera pack is the number matching cards. Again, the prep on these is quite simple, just print out the cards and cut them out. For the number matching cards, there are a few options. You can simply have your little one match the cards or based on their level, you can opt to play memory to add a bit of challenge and difficulty. Even my almost 6 year old enjoys a simple matching exercise. Even though it's easy for him, he gets excited and grabs these and matches them right away. It doesn't take long, but it reinforces something he already knows so I'm more than happy to let him do it.

My almost 6 year old grabbed these as soon as he saw them
and went to town, matching away.

So, along with the grid game boards, these are the manipulative activities for the Camera PreK Pack. I like to do the 20 "square" grid game boards for my kiddos. They both love playing these and 20 is a good number to keep them occupied but not take too long. They'll usually play the game through half a dozen times before moving on to another activity.

For full page manipulative activities, I store them in a binder. The smaller cut outs usually go into baggies or envelopes, just based on what I have. I keep these activities in storage bins and pull them out from time to time.

So, there you have it. The basics of setting up a pack. At least, that's how I do it. Since these activities are purely supplemental for my kiddos, they do them when they want to at their own pace. When they finish a workbook, they usually get their choice of what comes next. Sometimes they pick from packs I've already created and sometimes, they give me ideas for new packs. Each pack can certainly be inspiration for or supplements to unit studies and include other activities you come up with. Certainly, if you are seeking a particular theme to go with a unit you are planning, let me know, I may have a pack that would coordinate or I may be able to create a whole new set!

Here is a preview of several of the pages in my Camera Pack. If you are interested in grabbing the Camera PreK Pack for yourself, check it out in my TpT store here.

Prep and Using Clip Cards with Valentine Sweets Clip Cards

I wasn't planning on doing another Valentine's related post, but I love my new Valentine Sweets Pack so much, that I had to get out the goodies and show you something. This set has a preK/preschool pack, tot pack, 3-piece number cards, and a tic-tac-toe game/busy bag. But, enough about the pack, what I'm going over today is clip cards like the set included in my preK pack.

Clip cards are pretty awesome. They are another manipulative type of activity, but they don't have to be. Number clip cards are the most common ones I've done, but they can also be made for other matching and association activities.

Prepping the clip cards is pretty basic. Print on card stock and cut out. You may wish to laminate for durability. With my holiday sets, I will print on card stock, but I save on the laminating. Each activity will likely only get used a few times, but not enough - in most cases - to be destroyed before the holiday has come and gone. I'd recommend laminating items that will be used by a lot of children or get heavy use, like year-round themed items.

The default of these cards is to use a clip, most popularly, spring-hinged clothes pins. They are great for helping to strengthen small hands for writing, so these cards are not only for honing counting and number identification (if using number clip cards), but also for fine motor development. Using binder clips will also suit this function. Paper clips can be used for fine motor development as well, but they won't help with strengthening hand muscles.

If you don't have clothes pins around, you can also use other small manipulatives which are also good for fine motor practice. Some ideas of things you can use are place markers (small plastic discs), foam shapes or table scatter, or even coins if you don't have any of the others readily available. Be creative with whatever you have on hand. It doesn't have to be cute or coordinate, it just has to act as a place marker. Here, my kiddo is using some adorable felt cupcakes I found that coordinate with my sweets pack! I originally picked them up for busy bag activities like the tic-tac-toe one, but they work great for this as well.

Even without card stock or small manipulative items, you can still get use out of these pages. Printing on regular paper is just as viable of an option. On paper, think of other things your child can use to mark the numbers. A few examples are shown here - stickers, stamps, dot marker/bingo dauber, or even a basic pencil or crayon. Don't let lack of supplies limit your use of this great activity. All you really need is printer, paper, and pencil. Everything else is just the cherry on the top. Mix it it up or keep it simple, it's up to you.

For storage, I have used a few different options. If I'm giving these as a busy bag activity, I'll usually include the clothes pins (enough for each card) and an instruction sheet. If I want to keep options open for other manipulative items (or just to store easier), I can put the cards in a bag or envelope by themselves.

So that's it for these clip cards! I hope I've given you some inspiration for use! If you've worked with them before, what are your favorite ways to use them?

If you want to check out the rest of my Valentine Sweets Pack, you can find it here: 

Find the preK pack here on TpT!

Valentine Patterns and Busy Bags

Lots of Hearts Valentine Pattern Busy Bags

My collection of packs this year.

So, I've been a bit preoccupied. After a hectic couple weeks compiling a handful of Valentine's packs, I then had to get my most recent fun pack together. More on fun packs in another post.

More to the point, tomorrow is the Valentine's party at my older kiddo's school, so we were prepping Valentine's for his class. Last year, all we did was sign the card for the class, but I wanted to do something more. As I was already doing busy bags for the fun pack, I decided to create one more, well 15 anyway. I put together a smaller version of the pattern busy bag I've done with previous sets, only this time, I made it to coordinate with my Lots of Hearts pack. This pack started out as just a sampler for my Teachers Pay Teachers store, but I've ended up adding multiple coordinating supplement sets (and still have plans for more). In any case, it was a perfect theme and I thought a mini version of the busy bag would be a fun and simple addition to the Valentines for my son's class so to work I went. Turned out to be a bigger project than I had planned, but I got it completed.

I made the set in the manner I had done a previous patterning busy bag. The intent is to improve observation and help develop one to one correspondence and help with pattern recognition. It's a simple enough activity and has the benefit of requiring little parent interaction or guidance (that would be the point of busy bags, after all, right?). I figured since my kiddo's class has been working on various patterns this year, it would be an appropriate activity.

The premise is pretty basic. Each card has a series of hearts in a particular pattern on it based on the color of the hearts and the student uses the manipulatives to repeat the pattern. The original printable busy bag pack contains 16 different patterns, 4 each of AB, AABB, ABB, and ABC patterns. Each of the individual ones I put together contains half of the patterns.

 Because I used half the available patterns for each set, there created two different sets. It made it easier to do it this way rather than mix them all up so that I could ensure consistency. Each set has 2 of each type of pattern. Only the colors used vary bag to bag.

I love to use foam shapes and similar items for these sets. Foam shapes are great for little hands and art projects. Conveniently, these hearts came in four colors which I used for the pattern pack. I did include a page in the printable file of the pack with individual images that can be cut apart and used to make the patterns. I do this in case parents don't have easy access to the foam shapes or other similar manipulatives, though I personally prefer them for these activities. I'm a big fan of incorporating different textures and small objects for kiddos to manipulate and handle. To a certain extent, they can help with fine motor skills, but that is not the focus of this patterning pack.

 So here it is, the collection of hearts and pattern sets. I also included an instruction card insert similar to those that I include with all my busy bags. It's a bit of a calling card, but it also helps to guide in the use of the busy bag. I like to think that it's obvious, but just in case an individual hasn't come across an activity like this, I don't want to take it for granted that they have.

And the finished set of bags. Each pattern set is individually bagged with coordinating hearts and instructions ready to go. I hope my kiddo's classmates love them! Of course, I won't hate if the parents of his classmates decide to look up my stuff, but that would more be the cherry on the top rather than the main intent. 

Happy Valentine's Day! I hope you enjoy celebrating with your own kiddos!

3-Part Cards, Prep and In Action

Ah, 3-part cards... These are one of my favorite things (in addition to what I call 3-piece cards - you know, I avoid confusion since an alternate word starting with "p" makes all the difference). The thing about them is that if you've never worked with them, seeing the pages among the others in my printable packs may be confusing, so here's a bit of a how-to and why I love them.

So, what are these things? Well, 3-part cards are actually inspired by Montessori style teaching. Actual Montessori 3-part cards are typically a bit more complex, preferring photographs over illustrated images and mounting the cards on color coordinated paper according to subject matter. Even without these aspects, they are still a great teaching tool. 3-part cards are intended to facilitate word recognition, a sort of extension to sight words or, they may be made with sight words. The idea is to match the words with their associated image and help youngsters learn the word by sight, also called whole word recognition. It is an early reading skill for children. This is done in a gradual process by starting with a combination card of both the picture and word and matching it to the individual pictures and words. With repetition and practice, kiddos will eventually learn what each word looks like and will no longer need the combination card to match the images to the words.

So, once you know what they are and how they are used, preparation seems much less daunting. For this guide, I'm using my Snowflake 3-Part Color Cards which were the Facebook Fan Freebie for January. These cards help with learning the basic color words. First print your cards, preferably on card stock. You'll notice that one page has a black line separating the image from the word, this is the card you will cut in two along the line. The other card without the line stays as is; you just cut around it.

Once all your cards are cut out, you can see how they work better for matching and recognition. With true Montessori 3-part cards, the background is plain and the cards are mounted on a colored background for categorization. I tend to put a decorative background on them to coordinate with a pack, but, you can certainly still mount them on colored card stock or construction paper if you choose. After mounting the cards, or simply cutting them out, you may choose to laminate them if you expect them to get a decent amount of use.


Your child can then get to work matching the cards. I just spread them all over the floor and let my kids have at it. We don't go in any pattern, but you can put all the combination word/image cards in a row and separate the word cards and image cards in their own groups or rows. You can work on alphabetizing them, etc. Basically, anything you can think of, go for it. The idea is, after working on these over time, your child will learn to identify the word that goes with each picture without using the combination card.

I also have my child work on spelling and letter recognition as he says each letter in the word.

This set focuses on the colors and their names. I have done other similar 3-part color cards with various themes to coordinate with several of the packs I have done. This adds a bit of a change, but also allows your child to make the associations with other things. I created a set with colored gingerbread men for one of my Christmas packs. Shown here, I have a set that goes with my Back to School pack. In addition to different themes (snowflakes, gingerbread men, crayons, etc.), you may also notice that I've used different fonts for different sets. While I often like using a basic font with standard version of the letters, I also like to mix it up a little to help kiddos recognize the letters when they are written a bit differently. With several letters like 'a' and 'g' having alternate styles, it helps with letter recognition if little ones see them in action.

Colors certainly aren't the only use for these cards as you have probably guessed. They can be used for any number of things. While colors are one of my favorite uses for these cards, I also have made multiple number sets to help my kids start recognizing their number words. Here is the set included in one part of my Sailboat Pack.

One last thing: storage. I keep my 3-part cards in individual baggies. They get stored with many of the other printable manipulative activities we've done. It's not the most organized system, and I hope to improve upon it, but it works for now.

Thanks so much for checking out how to use these cards and a peek at how they work in action! Please let me know if you have any questions!

Welcome to Boisterous Boys!!!

Welcome to Boisterous Boys!

Meet Noah and August, my inspiration for Boisterous Boys. These two keep me on my toes. They are very much what one would call "all boy." They are adorable risk takers that love to test boundaries. They also are very curious and love to learn.

What started as a few printable activities with Noah when he was three became an obsession of mine as I hunted down more and more packs and ideas to find topics, concepts, and skills that my boys would love. August (who is just shy of two years younger) caught on to these activities less than a year after I started introducing them to Noah. So, at the ages of 4 & 2, I could barely keep up with their demands for more.

I started with a few holiday packs, creating some sturdier reusable manipulative activities on card stock and compiling coordinating "workbooks" for each one based on their skill level. After a while, I decided I wanted more themes and activities to work on with them and became disappointed at not finding certain themes and topics. Holidays were easy enough, at least the big ones, but others were not so easy. I tried my hand at a few, almost completed one, but I was having some difficulty giving it the clean look that I wanted, so I abandoned the handful of the ones that I started.

When February 2014 came around, I wanted something to help teach not only the basic concepts and skills they were working on, but also to help teach about Groundhog Day. I found nothing (ok, that's not true, but I found sets that either weren't what I was looking for or they charged an arm and a leg for them). I was newly determined to create a set which became my first complete set. Then, it became two sets. I was hooked. I already had a love of clip art and this just blew it over the top. Think of all the things I could create!

I started creating more and more, some holiday based, some general themes. When Mardi Gras came around, I couldn't find a single set, so I set out to make one that could provide enough activities and interest for my munchkins. Usually, I put together pages and activities from different creators, but without other resources, I needed to create it all. This set became so huge. 5 preK packs, 1 tot pack, a set of number cards, dot marker pages, and even my own version of Uno. A little crazy? Maybe, but my kiddos loved it.

After I gathered quite a collection and managed to finish off the long abandoned packs I started off with, I decided I wanted to share these great sets that I had made. I was a bit nervous putting myself out there, so I asked some moms in my mom group if they wanted to try them out and give me feedback. The feedback I got was encouraging - ideas for new activities, a few error corrections, etc.

In the fall of 2014, I started a Facebook page to gain exposure. Soon after, I opened my Etsy shop to share my packs. I started with just a few listings, most notably, my Halloween Monsters pack that actually grew to include 3 preK packs, a mini preK pack (that I offered as a freebie), a tot pack, a kindergarten pack, plus a bottle cap activities pack. What can I say, I loved that clip art set (and the coordinating images I pulled from others sets from the same artist). Since then, I've just kept it up. I put together several fall themed packs, Thanksgiving packs, and now Christmas packs. I opened a TpT store in December to allow another avenue for exposure. Now I'm working on several winter packs and I have plans for other packs through to next year and beyond.

Thank you for joining me on this journey! This blog is just one more way I can share these awesome packs, and show some behind the scenes. I also want to share the packs in action and help with preparation tips for some of the various activities, a sort of "how to" if you've never done some of them before. I am so happy you are here and I'd love to hear from you!