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!