Terri Thompson

Find and Tally Sight Words Activity

April 28, 2022 By Terri Thompson

Since my youngest daughter is heading into first grade in the fall, we’ve been focusing a lot on ways to learn sight words.

She’s got a great handle on some, but as you know, there are many to learn.

We’re trying to keep up the practice over the summer, but I definitely want to keep things simple.

That’s where this fun Find and Tally Sight Words activity comes in. It’s easy to prep. Simple to do. And, it’s fun.

Learn sight words with this fun reading game that adds a little math in with your reading practice with this Find and Tally Sight Words activity.

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How to set up your Find and Tally Sight Words activity

This activity was so easy to set up.

I started by making a list of sight words that my daughter needs to learn. I chose only six because I didn’t want her to be overwhelmed by too many.

Next, I made it into a pretty chart to make the activity all the more appealing. But, this is not at all necessary, you can just grab some paper and jot down a few sight words leaving room for your sight words.

Now it’s time to tally sight words!

Now, it’s time for the fun. Let’s practice our sight words!

Give your child the chart and a book. They need to go through the book and make a tally mark each time they find one of the words.

It can be slow going and they may not get through the whole book. We didn’t. Our focus was on sight word identification and not reading, so we just did a few pages. We’ll read the book together later.

At the end, add up the tally marks. Which word did you find the most often? The least?

Learn sight words with this fun reading game that adds a little math in with your reading practice. Sight Word Tallies is easy to set up and fun to play for your beginning readers.

Can I give you a quick word of advice?

I made the mistake of not comparing my list of sight words to the book when I did this with my oldest. Oops. It was a lesson in frustration. Page after page and no sight word in sight.

Take the time to make sure the sight words are actually in the book you’re using. The activity is so much more fun when you can actually find the words!

I loved this sight word activity because it was easy to prep and fun to do. Plus, it added in a bit of sneaky math practice with the tally marks.

We’ll do this fun Find and Tally Sight Words activity over and over again for a fun way to practice our sight words.

Choose a great book for this activity:

We found success using a book that my child was already familiar with. I’d suggest you turn to your own library of books for inspiration.

You’ll want a book with several instances of the sight words you’re working on. Do check to make sure the sight words you need are in the book!

Here are some great options:

Beautiful Daffodil Crafts for Kids

April 27, 2022 By Terri Thompson

I always feel so hopeful when I first see signs of spring flowers. Don’t you?

It won’t be long until all those colorful spring flowers bloom.

Even if you still have awhile before the flowers bloom, these daffodil crafts will brighten up your home.

Daffodil crafts for kids

You’ll find a wide variety of daffodil crafts in this list below.

There are ideas for kids of all ages. You can make a fun 3-D crafts, or a beautiful card to send to a friends.

Whether you use a paper plate or some recycled materials, let’s grab our supplies and get started creating.

Daffodil Crafts for Kids

Your kids will love to welcome spring with these beautiful daffodil crafts.

Beautiful daffodil pinwheels :: St David's Day craft

Photo Credit: nurturestore.co.uk

Have fun playing with this beautiful daffodil pinwheel that you make yourself.

Paper Plate Daffodils

Photo Credit: www.herecomethegirlsblog.com

Turn paper plates into a bouquet of daffodils.

Potato Stamped 3D Daffodil Craft

Photo Credit: www.iheartartsncrafts.com

Use potato stamps to create this pretty daffodil craft.

3d Pop Up Daffodil Card - Red Ted Art's Blog

Photo Credit: www.redtedart.com

Make a pop-up daffodil card to send you to your friends.

Create a Spring Daffodil Picture

Photo Credit: rainydaymum.co.uk

Cut and glue to make a pretty daffodil picture.

Pop Up Daffodils

Photo Credit: kidscraftroom.com

Turn paper plates and cupcake liners into gorgeous pop-up daffodils.

Daffodil Thumb Print Salt Dough Keepsake

Photo Credit: www.learningandexploringthroughplay.com

Make pretty salt dough daffodil keepsakes.

Spring Art Project for Toddlers and Preschoolers

Photo Credit: rainydaymum.co.uk

Paint pretty daffodils with this simple art invitation.

DIY Daffodil Clay Pots or Candle Holders 14

Photo Credit: www.muminthemadhouse.com

Create a gorgeous clay daffodil candle holder.

Spring Daffodil Craft

Photo Credit: clareslittletots.co.uk

Make this beautiful 3-D daffodil craft.

Cupcake Liner Daffodil Art

Photo Credit: kidsactivitiesblog.com

Turn cupcake holders into a simple daffodil craft.

Spring crafts :: beautiful daffodil bunting

Photo Credit: nurturestore.co.uk

Decorate with a beautiful daffodil bunting you made yourself.

Panda Reading Pointer Craft

April 25, 2022 By Terri Thompson

A reading pointer is a great tool for beginning readers. It helps them track the words on a page and trains the eyes to follow along.

You can grab any sort of reading pointer, but if you’ve got a kid that loves animals, they’re going to definitely love this fun panda reading pointer.

Use a craft stick to make this simple panda reading pointer for kids. It's a fun tool for beginning readers and animal lovers!

Also, CraftProjectIdeas.com sent me some of the supplies used on this project. All ideas are my own.

Supplies needed for your panda reading pointer

Jumbo craft stick
White craft paint
Black craft paint
Black felt
Glue
Small googly eyes

How to make your panda bear reading pointer

First, paint the entire front and back of your craft stick with white paint. Allow it to dry completely.

While your paint is drying, cut two small circles from your black felt to use as your ears.

Once your white paint is dry, add your details with the black craft paint. Add two ovals for the eyes and a small circles underneath for the nose. Draw your simple mouth details. Finally, add two half circles under your face for your paws. Let all your black paint dry.

If you need something to do while your waiting for paint to dry, read a great book about pandas! Goldy Luck and the Three Pandas by Natasha Yim is a fun choice. It’s a Chinese American retelling of Goldilocks and the Three Bears.

After your paint is dry, glue your felt ears to the back of the top of your craft stick.

Attach your googly eyes on your eye ovals. I found that using self-sticking googly eyes made this step really easy!

Once your glue is dry, your reading pointer is ready to use! Let this cute panda help your child practice reading.

Make this simple panda bear reading pointer for your beginning readers.

Yield: 1 Reading Pointer

Panda Reading Pointer

Make this simple panda reading pointer out of a craft stick. It's a great tool for your beginning reader.

Prep Time 5 minutes

Active Time 15 minutes

Total Time 20 minutes

Difficulty Easy

Estimated Cost Under $5 (depending on the supplies you already have on hand)

Materials

Tools

Instructions

Paint your entire craft stick with the white paint. Let dry.
While your paint dries, cut two small circles out of your black felt for your panda's ears.
Once the paint is dry, add details with your black paint. Add two ovals for your eyes and a small circle for the nose. Add a simple mouth and two half circles for your paws. Let dry.
Once your black paint is dry. Glue your two ears to the back of the craft stick at the top.
Add your two small eyes to the black ovals.

Notes

If you don't have any black felt you can use craft foam or black card stock instead.

Spring Family Fun Ideas to Do in May

April 23, 2022 By Terri Thompson

I don’t know about you, but it can be quite difficult to come up with simple family fun ideas, especially ideas that are inexpensive (or even free).

My mind always goes to ideas like a trip to the movies, or to bowling, or dinner at a restaurant. They’re all fun ideas but can end up costing a lot of money. You can’t do these all the time, so you end up skipping family time.

So what can you do? Wouldn’t it be nice to have a list of inexpensive and simple family fun ideas that could be done any time? I think so.

Luckily, I’ve got just the list for you – some Spring Family Fun Ideas you’ll love!

Enjoy some simple and fun quality time with your family this May with these Spring Family Fun Ideas. Print off the list and go have some fun together!

Here are some ideas for the month of May. The weather is warmer and daylight lasts longer so you can spend time together outside. These ideas are perfect for springtime and May, but many can be done at anytime of the year.

So, print out your list, hang it up, and plan some family fun time.

Spend some time with your family this spring with these simple family fun ideas for the month of May. Print out the idea list and have some fun!

Spring Family Fun Ideas for May

Go bird watching

Grab a bird book and go on a bird-watching hike. Choose a park or a nice hiking trail. Watch, observe, and listen. If you don’t already have a bird guide, you can borrow one from your local library for your hike. You can find some more family bird-watching tips at this post, Family Bird Watching Club.

If you’re looking to add a great bird field guide to your family library, I’d recommend either the Peterson Field Guide to Birds of North America or The National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Birds: Eastern Region or Western Region.

Have a favorite food dinner

Have a dinner consisting of each person’s favorite food. Don’t worry if they don’t exactly make up your ideal meal. That’s part of the fun! Pizza, peas, and ice cream sound perfect.

If your kids are old enough, let each person in the family prepare their favorite. You can have fun in the kitchen and at the dinner table!

Look at the clouds

Lie on your backs and find pictures in the clouds. What do you see? Can you make up stories about the pictures you find?

Turn this simple cloud watching time into story time and bring along a copy of Little Cloud by Eric Carle to read.

Create a family mural

Tape a large piece of paper to the wall and create a family mural.

You can cut off a large piece from a roll of paper to make a large enough mural the whole family can work on together.

Draw separate images or work together to make one larger image.

Play with balloons

Have a balloon party!

Play “keep it in the air”, where everyone works together to keep the balloon from falling on the ground, or play a game of living room volleyball.

You can also rub the balloons in your hair to try and get them to stick to the wall or ceiling. Warning: this activity can cause a lot of laughter!

Take a picnic to the park

Have a picnic at the park and spend the evening playing together on the playground.

If you enjoy picnics with the family, invest in some tools like a nice personalized picnic blanket and an insulated picnic basket so it’s easy to head out anytime you want.

Bake cookies

Bake cookies as a family. Make a family favorite recipe or try something new like these Lemon Poppy Seed Cookies at Kitchen Counter Chronicles.

If you make too many, package some up to deliver to friends or neighbors!

Go on a twilight walk

Go on a walk at twilight.

Look and listen. Do you hear different sounds at this time of day than you do in the middle of the day?

Pay attention to the sky and watch the change from daytime to nighttime.

Take silly pictures

Get out a camera or a smart phone and take silly pictures of each other.

You never know, you may find a new masterpiece that need to be printed and framed.

You could even make some of these simple Craft Stick Picture Frames to display your fun picture.

Have a dance party

Crank up the music and have a living room dance party!

It’s a great way to get moving, blow off steam, and have a lot of fun together.

Print out your spring family fun ideas and have some fun.

In order to make things easy for you, I’ve put all of these ideas in a simple printable list.. Print it out, stick it to the front of your fridge with magnets, and use it for family fun ideas all month long.

Get your printable May Family Adventures here.

Schedule your spring family fun time.

In order to make sure that we fit in some family time each month, I’ve found that it can help to schedule a couple of activities for the month. It doesn’t have to be set in stone, but if you plan on going on a bird-watching hike on Saturday, scribble it on the calendar and let the whole family know. They’ll look forward to it and so will you, which makes it less likely that you will skip it.

Which of these ideas are you going to add to your calendar this month?

Family fun activities I recommend

It’s so easy to have some family fun if you keep a few outdoor games around. Grab one and head outside for simple fun!

Here’s some fun ideas:

Ladder Toss Game

Ring Toss

Lawn Darts

Or one of these other ideas below.

Fun Weather Crafts for Toddlers

April 20, 2022 By Terri Thompson

Do you like to craft with your toddler? They’ll have so much fun with all of these awesome weather crafts for toddlers that I found!

I’ve got ideas for snow, rain, clouds, and sunshine that are simple enough that your toddler can do. But, they’ll also be fun for older kids, which makes these crafts perfect for siblings to do together.

Let’s grab some supplies and get ready for a fun craft project with your toddler!

Grab a fun book to go along with one of these fun crafts. This makes for a delightful activity time together with your kids.

For example: Read Little Cloud by Eric Carle along with the Cotton Ball Painted Cloud project.

Weather Crafts for Toddlers

You'll enjoy all these toddler weather crafts that celebrate rainy days, clouds, and sunshine. They're all easy enough for toddlers to enjoy, open-ended, fun, and creative. These crafts are a perfect way to spend some quality time with your kids.

Making Umbrellas

Brighten a rainy day with this simple paper plate umbrella craft. It's open-ended, fun, and makes a pretty window decoration.

Making Clouds

Let your toddler paint these simple clouds with a cotton ball. It's easy and so much fun!

Cloud Mobile

Photo Credit: craftulate.com

Your toddler will have great fun gluing cotton balls to make this simple cloud mobile. It's a fun craft that they'll be proud to display.

Squish Painted Sun Craft

Photo Credit: www.123homeschool4me.com

Celebrate sunshine with this fun mess-free painting craft. It's beautiful, easy, and fun!

Q-tip Painted Snowflake Crafts

Photo Credit: www.notimeforflashcards.com

Paint with Q-Tips to make this simple snowflake craft. This is great craft for fine motor skills.

Bubble Wrap Rain Craft

Photo Credit: www.123homeschool4me.com

Save a bit of bubble wrap so your kids can great this fun printed rainy scene. Prep the umbrellas ahead of time (or use a sticker) to make this craft go smoothly.

Rain Cloud Gravity Painting for Kids -

Photo Credit: alittlepinchofperfect.com

Let gravity do the work to create this fun rain cloud craft. Your kids will be amazed and love their finished product.

Puffy Paint Clouds

Photo Credit: www.notimeforflashcards.com

Try this simple puffy paint clouds craft. It's a completely open-ended and easy craft. Your little one will definitely want to create more than one cloud!

Super Easy Snowball Painting

Photo Credit: brilliantlittleideas.com

Create a snowy day with this simple printmaking craft. It's so much fun to paint with a puff ball! (Psst... this is another craft that is great for fine motor skills.)

Tissue Paper Rainbow Craft for Kids

Photo Credit: whereimaginationgrows.com

Decorate your window with this simple rainbow craft. It's colorful, fun, and looks absolutely beautiful!

So, what do you think? Don’t these ideas look like fun?

Choose a few ideas and plan some fun activity time with your toddlers. They’ll love the chance to create and will have a project that they’re proud of.

Which of these weather crafts for toddlers is your favorite?

How to do crafts with toddlers

If you want to have a great time doing crafts with your toddler, there’s one important thing you need to do. You need to let go of all your expectations.

Your toddler has a mind of their own, so their project may look nothing like your plan. And, you know what, that’s ok! The important thing is that they have fun and you have fun with them. (And, you won’t have fun if you worry about the outcome!)

These toddler weather crafts are all appropriate for 2-3 year olds, but that doesn’t mean your finished product will look like the picture. Introduce the activity, show them how to use the supplies and let them have fun.

For example, with the Paper Plate Umbrella craft, you can cut the paper plates ahead of time and cut out the handle. But, let your toddler do what they want when they decorate their paper plate. They may smear, finger paint, use a small amount of paint, or mix all the paint colors together! Let them own the project and do what they want. They’ll have tons of fun and so will you!

Combine this activity with a fun weather book

I always love to combine a book with an activity. And, luckily there are some awesome weather books to go along with a fun weather craft. Here are a few that I like:

Maisy’s Wonderful Weather Book by Lucy Cousins

Biscuit’s Snowy Day by Alyssa Satin Capucilli

Let it Rain by Maryann Cocca-Leffler

Or you can try any of the other choices below. These books are perfect to go along with any of these crafts.