Creative Family Fun

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Learning Activities for Kids

Valentine Word Family Game

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I love to add a holiday twist to learning games.

It adds to the fun and can help make a reluctant kid eager to learn.

Since Valentine’s Day is coming up, I’m going to share some fun ways to incorporate the holiday into learning. We’ll start with a simple Valentine word family game that makes use of heart doilies.

Get out paper doilies to help practice word families with a fun Valentine Word Family Game. It's a fun Valentine reading game.

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

I usually like to stick with supplies that I usually have at home to make a learning game. But, this time I made an exception. I spent a little bit of money on some heart doilies to make a fun activity even more special.

Supplies Needed:

Heart doilies
Red or pink construction paper
Circle punch
Black Marker

Get out paper doilies to help practice word families with a fun Valentine Word Family Game. It's a fun Valentine reading game.

Make your Valentine Word Family Game:

Decide on the word families you want to work on. Choose the ones that your child is working on in class or select something you see they are struggling a bit with. If you’re not sure where to start, here is a great list of word families I refer to quite often.

Use your heart doilies for your word family base. Use the black marker to write a word family on each doily. Don’t do too many, 3 or 4 word families should be plenty.

Next, make your game pieces. I have a circle punch, so I just cut out four circles from my construction paper for each word family. If you don’t have a circle punch, you can cut out small squares or even small hearts.

Write a word on each circle from each word family. I had four circles, so four words for each word family.

An example would be: -est family, nest, rest, test, best.

Get out paper doilies to help practice word families with a fun Valentine Word Family Game. It's a fun Valentine reading game.

Play the game:

Give your child the word family doilies. Turn the paper circles upside down and mix them all up.

Choose a paper circle and read the word. Put the circle on the correct word family doily.

Keep playing until all the paper circles are on the correct doily.

Extend the fun:

Use just the word family doilies and see how many words you can write down for each word family.

Play the game with more than one kid. Have each child take turns turning over a paper circle.

How would you use this Valentine Word Family Game?

Get out paper doilies to help practice word families with a fun Valentine Word Family Game. It's a fun Valentine reading game.

If you enjoyed this post, you are welcome to share the above photo on Facebook, or the photo below is perfect for Pinning.

Get out paper doilies to help practice word families with a fun Valentine Word Family Game. It's a fun Valentine reading game. #Literacy #ReadingGame #ValentinesDay #BetterThanHomework

You may also like one of these reading games:

Word Family Four Square 

Stacking Rhyming Words

Word Family Sort at Creative Family Fun

Word Family Snowball Toss at I Can Teach My Child


Stacking Rhyming Words

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Rhyming words are fun to say.

And make reading work feel like play.

Hooray!

Alright, alright. I’m not going to rhyme this whole post today. (Kidding!) But we will be having fun with rhymes as we build our own reading game for some fun rhyming practice.

Practice rhymes with this simple reading game for kids.

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

Why is rhyming important?

It’s one of the stepping stones to learning how to read. It’s all a part of phonemic awareness.

But, wait, what’s that?

Phonemic awareness is simply learning about language, like the sounds and how they go together. Learning to hear the sounds and how to decode them. It’s something our kids are doing every day.

But, rhyming doesn’t stop the minute a child learns to read. It’s a great thing to practice to help your kids get even better at reading and decoding words.

This game is an easy way to to have fun practicing rhymes.

Practice rhymes with this simple reading game for kids.

Supplies Needed:

2 empty paper towel rolls
4 colors of craft paint
Scissors
Black marker

How to Make the Game:

Divide your cardboard tubes in half, either cut them or eyeball them. Paint each half a different color so you have four different colors of cardboard tube.

Practice rhymes with this simple reading game for kids.

After your tubes have dried, cut each color segment into four different pieces. You’ll have 16 different sections, four in each color.

Divide your tubes into sets so that each set has one of each color. Use your black marker to write your words. Each set will be one group of rhyming words, for example: clip, chip, hip, and dip. Change up the rhyme for each set.

Hint: This game is a great way to incorporate words your child needs to work on. Are there words from a sight word list you can choose? Are there specific ending sounds your child needs to work on, like -eep? Make sure to include those words.

Practice rhymes with this simple reading game for kids.

How to Play:

Mix up all your cardboard words on a table. Have your child make stacks of each set.

Stacking can get a bit tricky at times and your rhyming tower may collapse. But, that’s part of the challenge!

If the stacking gets frustrating, make pyramids. Or, just line up your rhyming words.

Practice rhymes with this simple reading game for kids.

Extend the Fun

Instead of including four words in each set, use only two words so you can match up pairs.

Turn this into a hide and seek game. Hide the cardboard tubes around the room and challenge your kids to find the rhymes.

See if they can name even more words for each set. How many words can you come up with?

Have fun practicing rhyming words with this fun DIY reading game.

Practice rhymes with this simple reading game for kids.

Did you enjoy this post? If so, you can share the above image on Facebook or the image below is perfect for Pinning.

Practice rhyming words with this simple DIY reading game for kids, stacking rhyming words. Build towers out of rhymes and see how high you can make them! #rhyming #literacy #kindergarten #BetterThanHomework

If you liked this post, you may also like one of these reading games:

Word Family Four Square

The -at Hat: Word Family Game

AD Word Family Activity: Highlighter Words

DIY Sight Word Memory Game

Stomp it Out Phonics Game for Kids at School Time Snippets

Telling Time with a Turkey Clock

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How does a turkey tell time?

With a turkey clock, of course!

Okay, okay… I know none of us are trying to teach a turkey how to tell time. But, I know plenty of kids that need to learn.

A Turkey Clock is a fun Thanksgiving math activity that will help your kids learn how to tell time.

And, once you’ve made your clock, check out all of our fun Thanksgiving Crafts for Kids here.

Practice telling time with a turkey clock. It's a fun Thanksgiving math activity that your kids will love. It's perfect for homeschool or classrooms.

Let’s gather our supplies and get ready to make this fun paper plate clock.

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.

Practice telling time with a turkey clock. It's a fun Thanksgiving math activity that your kids will love. It's perfect for homeschool or classrooms.

Supplies Needed:

2 paper plates
Orange, red, brown, white, and yellow paint
Red construction paper (you’ll only need a small piece, so a scrap of paper will work)
Ruler
Black permanent marker
Brass fastener
Glue

Practice telling time with a turkey clock. It's a fun Thanksgiving math activity that your kids will love. It's perfect for homeschool or classrooms.

How to Make Your Clock:

Use your ruler and a pencil to divide the edges of one paper plate into 12 equal sections. This will be your turkey feathers and the numbers on your clock.

Paint each outer section in alternating colors of orange and red.

Paint the round middle section with brown paint.

Practice telling time with a turkey clock. It's a fun Thanksgiving math activity that your kids will love. It's perfect for homeschool or classrooms.

While your turkey is drying, draw two beak shapes on your second paper plate. These will be the hands on your clock, so you will want one beak to be longer than the other.

Paint each beak with yellow paint.

Cut your beaks out once they are dry.

Practice telling time with a turkey clock. It's a fun Thanksgiving math activity that your kids will love. It's perfect for homeschool or classrooms.

After the brown paint dries, locate the middle of your turkey plate. Put your brass fastener through the wide top of your short beak and then the wide top of your long beak. Attach your beaks to your plate by pushing the fastener through the middle of your turkey plate.

Paint two white ovals above your beaks for the eyes.

Use the red construction paper and cut out a small piece for the wattle. Glue this next to the beaks.

Once all your paint is dry, use your black permanent marker to write your numbers on your clock and add the details to your eyes.

Practice telling time with a turkey clock. It's a fun Thanksgiving math activity that your kids will love. It's perfect for homeschool or classrooms.

How to Play with Your Turkey Clock:

Tell Time: Move the beaks to a specific time. Have your child read the clock and tell you what time it is.

Move the Beaks to a Specific Time: Ask your child to show 3:00 or to show 6:45. Call out different times and have them move the beaks to the correct locations.

Find Elapsed Time: Elapsed time is the amount of time that has passed. You can use your turkey clock to practice calculating elapsed time. Set the clock to a specific time, such as 2:00. Ask your child what time it will be in 30 minutes. Let them use the clock to figure out the new time.

Practice telling time with a turkey clock. It's a fun Thanksgiving math activity that your kids will love. It's perfect for homeschool or classrooms.

This Turkey Clock is a fun tool to use in the classroom or at home to practice telling time. It’s easy to make and a great way to get your kids learning.

Practice telling time with a turkey clock. It's a fun Thanksgiving math activity that your kids will love. It's perfect for homeschool or classrooms.

You may also like one of these fun math activities:

Thanksgiving Math Activities for Kids

Pumpkin Pie Fractions

Apple Counting Rocks

Sidewalk Chalk Clock Game

Turkey Feather Math at Fantastic Fun and Learning

Kid-Made Bird Feeders for a Bird-Friendly Yard

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Birds certainly are fun to watch, aren’t they?

A house never quite feels like home to us unless we’ve got birds fluttering around.

We like to attract them to our yard with bird feeders that we keep filled all year long. Most of ours are store-bought, but it’s always fun to offer a kid-made bird feeder to our feathered friends.

Invite the birds to your yard with one of these kid-made bird feeders. DIY bird feeders are a great family craft and a fun way to learn about nature.

You can buy a bird feeder, make your own, or have a combination of the two if you want a bird-friendly yard.

Keep reading below for some fantastic ideas for kid-made bird feeders. They’ll all attract fun feathered friends to your yard.

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

Invite the birds to your yard with one of these kid-made bird feeders. DIY bird feeders are a great family craft and a fun way to learn about nature.

For the Little Kids

(pictured left to right)

A bird feeder doesn’t have to get more complicated than stringing bird-friendly food. This Cheerio Bird Feeder is super-easy to make and the birds love it.

Add some berries and you’ve got these great Cheerio and Berry Bird Feeders from Happy Hooligans. I love how you can make them into lots of different shapes.

One of my favorite simple bird feeders is a Toilet Paper Roll Bird Feeder. The Resourceful Mama shows you how to make this simple project.

Before throwing away fruit that’s past its prime, turn it into these “Clean Out the Cupboard” Bird Feeders from Happy Hooligans.

Turn a pine cone into a bird feeder. You can find the instructions for a Pine Cone Bird Feeder at Juggling With Kids.

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Invite the birds to your yard with one of these kid-made bird feeders. DIY bird feeders are a great family craft and a fun way to learn about nature.

For the Bigger Kids

(pictured left to right)

Turn a simple wooden frame from the craft store into a fun (and colorful) refillable bird feeder. You can find the instructions for Homemade Bird Feeders Using Frames at Buggy and Buddy.

Decorate your trees with pretty shaped bird feeders. Kitchen Counter Chronicles has the instructions for these simple Cookie Cutter Bird Feeders.

Clean out a lotion bottle and turn it into a bird feeder. Find out how to make this recycled bird feeder at Teach Beside Me.

Have you ever seen those beautiful bird feeder wreaths? Did you know that it’s a project you can do with your kids? Suger, Spice, & Glitter has all the instructions you need for creating a Kid-Made Bird Feeder Wreath. 

Turn a gourd or small pumpkin into a bird feeder. Check out Kitchen Counter Chronicles for this pretty project.

Don’t forget to keep track of all your feathered friends with a Bird Watching Journal!

Invite the birds to your yard with one of these kid-made bird feeders. DIY bird feeders are a great family craft and a fun way to learn about nature.

You may also like one of these fun bird activities:

Family Bird Watching Club

Bird Watching Journal

After School Fun – Hummingbird Suncatchers

All About Birds Scavenger Hunt at Inspiration Laboratories

Bird Watching Journal

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Whether you’ve started your own Family Bird Watching Club or you just enjoy observing your feathered friends while they flit around your yard, you’ll want a way to record the birds you see.

You need a Bird Watching Journal.

You can record your frequent visitors and make note of those times when you see a bird you don’t normally see. Or you can take it along on a trip and record the birds you find that are different than the ones you normally see at home.

There are so many ways to use a Bird Watching Journal.

Do you love watching birds? Record all the birds you see in this DIY bird watching journal. It's simple to make and a fun place to write about birds.

You can certainly use a plain notebook for your Bird Watching Journal. But, wouldn’t it be fun to have a fun, pretty, and personalized Bird Watching Journal?

Of course it would! Let’s get started.

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

Do you love watching birds? Record all the birds you see in this DIY bird watching journal. It's simple to make and a fun place to write about birds.

Supplies Needed:

2 Coloring Pages of your choice (I used this one)
Sharpies (or coloring tools of your choice)
Composition Notebook
Mod Podge
Paint Brush
Scissors
Small Piece of Cardstock


Pick a coloring page

You know what fun about this project? You get to start by coloring. Fun, right? Pick out 1 or 2 fun adult coloring pages for your notebook and spend a pleasant evening coloring. I found the one I used at this link.

If you really, really don’t want to color 2 different coloring pages. Pick your favorite and color it with bold colors. I used Sharpies on mine. Once you’re done, take it to a color copier and make a copy. (And, I’ll confess, that’s exactly what I did because I wanted the front and back of my composition notebook to be identical.) No matter what you choose, you need two coloring pages.

Do you love watching birds? Record all the birds you see in this DIY bird watching journal. It's simple to make and a fun place to write about birds.

Make your bird watching journal

Trim your pages a bit and position them on your composition notebook.

Position your coloring page so that it fits flush against the black binding and overlaps on the top and bottom and side.

Brush an even coat of Mod Podge with a paint brush over they entire front of your notebook. Carefully place your coloring page on top and smooth out your wrinkles. Mod Podge gives you a bit of time to tweak your cover so you have it covered correctly.

Let it dry a bit, then turn your notebook over and repeat the process on the back cover.

Do you love watching birds? Record all the birds you see in this DIY bird watching journal. It's simple to make and a fun place to write about birds.

Once everything has dried (I found it took a couple of hours on my notebook), trim the overlapped edges. I cut right up to the edge of my notebook.

If you find sections of your coloring page that did not stick, reapply some Mod Podge and let it dry.

Use your Mod Podge to glue your small piece of cardstock to the front of your notebook.

Once dry, label it however you wish. I went with the simple, yet effective “Bird Watching Journal.” Simple always works, right?

Do you love watching birds? Record all the birds you see in this DIY bird watching journal. It's simple to make and a fun place to write about birds.

Now that your Bird Watching Journal is ready, it’s time to start recording.

Use the journal to record date, time, location, and type of bird. Make a bucket list of birds you would like to see. Create a special list of birds that love your backyard.

I’m sure you’ll come up with tons of ways to use your Bird Watching Journal. Just have fun with it!Do you love watching birds? Record all the birds you see in this DIY bird watching journal. It's simple to make and a fun place to write about birds. #journal #CreativeFamilyFun