Creative Family Fun

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Learning Activities for Kids

Indoor Color Scavenger Hunt for Preschoolers and Toddlers

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There are so many fun and playful ways to learn about colors.

One of my favorite ways is with a color scavenger hunt.

It’s fun for both preschoolers and toddlers.

This preschool scavenger hunt is so easy to set-up. There is very little prep time so there is more time for fun.

Learn all about colors with this fun and simple indoor color scavenger hunt for preschoolers and toddlers. It's easy to set up and perfect for a rainy day!

Disclosure: This post contains Amazon Affiliate links. Please see my Disclosure Page for more details.

Set up is easy!

It took me only a few minutes to set this up.

I chose several sheets of construction paper: red, yellow, green, and blue and laid them in a row on the floor. You can choose whatever colors your would like, but I just stuck with the basics.

Learn all about colors with this fun and simple indoor color scavenger hunt for preschoolers and toddlers. It's easy to set up and perfect for a rainy day!

Let’s go on our color scavenger hunt!

After our color hunt was set up, I sent the girls on their quest. They needed the find items that matched these colors and the items must be small enough to fit on a piece of paper.

It turns out our house is full of small items in primary colors! Who knew?

Learn all about colors with this fun and simple indoor color scavenger hunt for preschoolers and toddlers. It's easy to set up and perfect for a rainy day!

The girls found puzzle pieces, Duplos, crayons, card games, craft supplies, game pieces, play food, and more. They brought all the items over and put them on top of the correct piece of colored paper.

It was so much fun to see the items that they found.

Learn all about colors with this fun and simple indoor color scavenger hunt for preschoolers and toddlers. It's easy to set up and perfect for a rainy day!

This simple color scavenger hunt  got the girls thinking and moving. It was perfect for some indoor fun on a rainy day or a cold winter’s day!

Do you kids like to go on scavenger hunts? It’s a favorite game at our house!

Learn all about colors with this fun and simple indoor color scavenger hunt for preschoolers and toddlers. It's easy to set up and perfect for a rainy day!

Make this a family adventure:

Cost: Free

Planning time: Under 5 minutes. Or, as long as it takes you to find some construction paper.

Ages: Preschool and toddler. While anyone can play and it’s a fun family activity, this activity is best enjoyed by kids under age 5.

Time Needed: Varies. You can follow your child’s lead with this activity. When they start losing interest, it’s time to wrap up the scavenger hunt.

Notes: It can also be fun to set a timer. For example: How many red items can you find in two minutes?

Have more colorful fun with one of these activities:

Colored Ice Fun

Color Mixing Lab

Story Time: Great Book About Color

Fun Color Games for Toddlers

Color Sorting Train at Mom Inspired Life

My Book of the Four Seasons: A Paper Bag Book

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I’ve stumbled across the idea of a paper bag book several times.

I’ve filed it away in the back of my mind as “something I want to make with the girls some time.”

Now that I’m working on writing with my oldest and we also plan to do some four seasons projects, that “some time” became now. Yay! We’re going to make a Four Seasons Paper Bag Book.

A paper bag book is a fun homemade book for kids to make. Put one together and then fill the pages and pockets with information about the four seasons.

Paper bag books are so much fun to create, plus they’re unique and easy-to-make.

And the best part is that they have all sorts of fun pockets for hiding little treasures. Imagine all the fun things you can put in the pockets!

Disclosure: There are Amazon Affiliate and other affiliate links in this article which means, at no additional cost to you, we could receive compensation for our recommendations. You can read our full disclosure policy on our Disclosure Page for more details.

A paper bag book is a fun homemade book for kids to make. Put one together and then fill the pages and pockets with information about the four seasons.

Supplies needed:

Lunch-sized paper bags (for each book)

Hole punch

Yarn (or string)

We used three paper bags for each book we made.

How to make your paper bag book:

We first folded each paper bag in half. Since one side of the bag is open and the other closed, we alternated the directions of the bags when we put the books together.

If you don’t alternate the directions, you’ll have all of your pockets in either the front or the back of the book.

A paper bag book is a fun homemade book for kids to make. Put one together and then fill the pages and pockets with information about the four seasons.

Once we had the bags in the order we wanted, we punched two holes along the middle seam of the book. Punch through all three paper bags.

We then threaded the yarn through the holes and tied a strong knot in the middle.

Special note: If you find your knot does not want to stay tied, add a drop of glue to the middle of your knot. Once it dries, your knot will not come untied.

A paper bag book is a fun homemade book for kids to make. Put one together and then fill the pages and pockets with information about the four seasons.

Write your four seasons book:

The process of making the book was quick and easy, but it definitely wasn’t the best part.

We loaded the table full of supplies, such as markers, stickers, crayons, old magazines, scissors, construction paper, and glue.

Our goal was to write a book about the four seasons.

A paper bag book is a fun homemade book for kids to make. Put one together and then fill the pages and pockets with information about the four seasons.

We used a spread of two pages for each of our seasons.

The girls wrote the name of the season and then filled the two pages with images.

They used Christmas and Valentine stickers for winter and then drew snowflakes and Christmas trees.

They added the sun for summer and lots of flowers for spring.

A paper bag book is a fun homemade book for kids to make. Put one together and then fill the pages and pockets with information about the four seasons.

Add an extra writing challenge:

I added an extra writing challenge for my first grader.

She used an index card to write words that described each of the seasons. When she was done, she tucked the card into one of the pockets.

A few other surprises made their way into the pocket too, such as big stickers and special pictures.

Book making is fun! Early writers get to practice their new skill. Older kids can learn to be more comfortable with writing. And, pre-readers get a chance to practice story-telling with pictures. It works for every level.

Have fun making a paper bag book with your kids!

A paper bag book is a fun homemade book for kids to make. Put one together and then fill the pages and pockets with information about the four seasons.

If you enjoyed this post, the photo above is perfect for sharing on Facebook, or you can share the photo below on Pinterest.

A paper bag book is a fun homemade book for kids to make. Put one together and then fill the pages and pockets with information about the four seasons.

More fun writing activities:

Write Hand Print Poems

Give flowers a personality with this Flower Personification Activity

Making Lists: An After School Writing Activity

Beach Ball Poetry

Are you looking for more activities?

Join our fun Facebook community, Creative Family Fun for Busy Families, for daily activities that are great for kids and families. We’ll chat, share, and have fun. It’s a safe and private place to share idea for family and kids activities.

I’d love for you to join me! Just click the link below, request to join, and answer the questions (they’re easy, I promise). Come join the fun! Join the Creative Family Fun for Busy Families community here.

AD Word Family Activity: Highlighter Words

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Teaching a child to read seems like the most daunting task in the world, doesn’t it?

You just start at the very beginning and practice, practice, practice.

One of the areas to practice is word families. This -ad word family activity is east to pull together and is a simple way to fit in a little reading practice after school.

Highlighter Words is a simple -ad word family activity to help beginning readers. Includes printable word family cards to make the activity easy to set up.

Disclosure: This post contains Amazon Affiliate links. Please see my Disclosure Page for more details.

Set-up is easy

First, you’ll need your set of word family cards. You can get the -ad word family at this link. Or, if you’re working on a different word family, you can access all my word family cards here.

Print out your word family cards, cut them out, and gather several highlighters.

Gather them together in a small container, or pack everything in a bag for a little reading practice on the go.

Download your AD word family cards here.

Highlighter Words is a simple -ad word family activity to help beginning readers. Includes printable word family cards to make the activity easy to set up.

Practice is fun with this -ad word family activity

The more you practice reading, the better you become. We all how important it is for our kids to practice, but the last thing we want to do is overwhelm them.

That’s why I love super-simple ideas and this idea is about as easy as it gets.

Invite your child to pick their favorite color of highlighter and trace each of the words. That’s it. They’ll practice reading, writing, and becoming comfortable with the -ad word family.

Highlighter Words is a simple -ad word family activity to help beginning readers. Includes printable word family cards to make the activity easy to set up.

Extend the fun with one of these ideas

Find as my colors of highlighter as you can. Make each letter a different color for a colorful rainbow word family activity.

Use this method for any set of words you child needs to learn. Pick a different word family, sight words, or even spelling words.

Decorate the words. Add polka dots, flowers, or stripes. Let your child have a little fun with the highlighters (because we all know kids love highlighters) and make their words family cards pretty. They’ll still be gaining familiarity with the words while they’re getting creative.

Highlighter Words is a simple -ad word family activity to help beginning readers. Includes printable word family cards to make the activity easy to set up.

If you enjoyed this -ad word family activity, the picture above is perfect for sharing on Facebook or you can share the photo below on Pinterest.

Highlighter Words is a simple -ad word family activity to help beginning readers. Includes printable word family cards to make the activity easy to set up.

You may also like one of these reading activities:

The -at Hat Word Family Game

Word Family Four Square

Word Family Sort at Creative Family Fun

Stomp It Out Phonics Game for Kids at School Time Snippets


Math Paper Plate Games

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Paper plates are inexpensive and easy to find at the store. I always keep a pile of these, but we never ever use them for eating.

Instead, I store them with the craft supplies. We use them all the time for crafts and other activities. They’re so versatile!

Because they’re shaped like a circle, paper plates are perfect for math games. Here are some fun ideas for math paper plate games suitable for all grades from kindergarten through fifth grade (and up).

All of these math paper plate games are easy to make and can turn math into a fun, hands-on activity. You'll find activities for all elementary grades.

Disclosure: This post contains Amazon affiliate links. Please see my Disclosure Page for more details.

Note: I tried to place these math paper plate games in approximately the correct grade level. As always, your child may be working above or below this level. Choose an activity for the concept your child needs to work on, regardless of the grade level.

Preschool and kindergarten games

Use paper plates to learn about shapes. This shape activity from Laughing Kids Learn is a fun combination of crafts, fine motor, and math practice.

This simple printable from Teach Mama will turn a simple paper plate into a fun number sense puzzle. Learning counting, tally marks, numbers, and more with this great activity.

First and second grade games

Practice skip counting with a lacing game from 123 Homeschool 4 Me. It would be so easy to adapt this activity for any set of skip counting numbers.

Add a fine motor twist to skip counting with this paper plate math game. All you need are some paper clips!

A paper plate is the perfect tool to use practice telling time. Frugal Fun for Boys and Girls shows you how to make a simple paper plate clock.

Add some simple manipulatives, like buttons, and you can use your paper plate as a fun, hands-on addition game.

Memorizing math facts can be fun if you play this fun math fact paper plate game from 123 Homeschool 4 Me.

All of these math paper plate games are easy to make and can turn math into a fun, hands-on activity. You'll find activities for all elementary grades.

Third and fourth grade games

You can easily illustrate fractions with a paper plate. Add a splash of color and you have these awesome fraction flowers from Teach Beside Me.

Use a paper plate to help memorize your multiplication facts. Find out how to make a paper plate multiplication wheel at School Time Snippets.

Games for fifth grade and up

Create a polyhedron out of paper plates! All For the Boys shows you how you can make this 3-D geometrical shape.

Illustrate Pi with this combination craft and math project from JDaniels4’s Mom.

Use a paper plate to illustrate the diameter, radius, and circumference of a circle with this simple idea from The Reading Buddies.

Which of these math paper plate games are you going to try?

There are just so many fun ideas to do with a paper plate to turn math into a fun, hands-on activity. Choose the one that will help your child the best.

All of these math paper plate games are easy to make and can turn math into a fun, hands-on activity. You'll find activities for all elementary grades.

You may also like one of these math activities:

Domino Addition

Exploring Greater Than or Less Than with Playing Cards

Hundred Chart Hidden Number Game

Kindergarten Math: Counting to 100 by Ones and Tens


10 Fun Ways to Practice Spelling Words

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Spelling words have been a fact of life for many years.

My parents had to study them in school, I did, and so do my kids.

It’s important, but that doesn’t have to mean it’s boring.

Take these ten ways to practice spelling words. They’re simple; they’re hands-on; and best of all, they’re fun.

10 fun and hands-on ways to practice spelling words. Fun ways to prepare for spelling tests at home or in the classroom.

Disclosure: This post contains Amazon Affiliate links. Please see my Disclosure Page for more details.

Keep it simple.

One thing that ties all of these activities together is the simplicity.

They’re all out-of-the-box ideas, but none of them require expensive supplies or a lot of prep time. It’s so easy to pull everything together when your child brings home spelling words.

These ideas all versatile enough to work with any set of spelling words.

10 fun and hands-on ways to practice spelling words. Fun ways to prepare for spelling tests at home or in the classroom.

10 Ways to Practice Spelling Words

Grab a stack of sticky notes and use them to spell your words. Spelling with Sticky Notes is always fun!

Get out your bin of LEGOS and use them to build your words.

Sometimes you just need to move, and when that happens, you can spell your words on a driveway letter grid.

Add a bag of dry beans to your learning supplies and you can build your words with dry beans anytime.

10 fun and hands-on ways to practice spelling words. Fun ways to prepare for spelling tests at home or in the classroom.

Keep a salt tray available and you’ll always be able to practice your spelling words with salt writing.

Grab a set of letter stamps and spell your words that way.

Make up some paint in a bag and use it to write your words.

Combine spelling with art and create some watercolor resist spelling words.

10 fun and hands-on ways to practice spelling words. Fun ways to prepare for spelling tests at home or in the classroom.

Find a tub of paint and finger paint your spelling words.

Grab the tiles from a game and spell your words with Scrabble tiles.

Buy the 31 Ways to Practice Spelling Words Ebook

You can purchase a printable form of this book for $7.50 The book is designed to print and turn into a half-page size booklet. It’s perfect to keep at your homework station. Your kids can flip through and find a fun way to practice their spelling words.

The ideas will be convenient and ready to use. No need to turn on the computer every day for ideas.

Most activities require little to no prep time. And, if you make sure you have all the supplies on the Master Supply List (included in the book) on hand, you’ll be able to do any of these fun spelling word ideas any time.

10 fun and hands-on ways to practice spelling words. Fun ways to prepare for spelling tests at home or in the classroom.