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.