Learning Activities for Kids

Library Scavenger Hunt

April 30, 2015 By Terri Thompson

Summer reading is not a huge struggle for us.

We usually participate in our library’s summer reading program and tend to read above and beyond what it expected of us.

My kids love reading. But, I know not all kids are as motivated to pick up a book. (Or, they might be like my daughter who will get obsessed with a particular series of books *ahem… Junie B. Jones* and read them over and over and over…)

Whether you’re looking to motivate your kids to read or you just want your kids to branch out a little and read different things, I’ve got a fun free gift for you.

Challenge your kids to read their way through this library scavenger hunt. They’ll have a lot of fun and they’ll hopefully discover some new favorite books along the way.

Explore the library with this fun summer reading challenge for kids. Can you find and read all the books on this Library Scavenger Hunt?

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Find some awesome new books

I made two versions of the library scavenger hunt. Both are available to download and print at the end of this post. One is for kids who are reading chapter books, the other is for kids reading (or listening to) picture books.

Can you find and read a book about… a mystery, history, an adventure, or a biography? How about a book that makes you laugh out loud or one written before you were born?

Or maybe a picture book about the ocean, a farm , the ABCs, or one with no words?

Read and record

I’ve left plenty of room for your kids to write down the name of each book they read. Each scavenger hunt has 12 different topics, so hopefully your child won’t get overwhelmed. This should be a fun summer reading challenge!

Challenge your kids to search through the library themselves to find books that match. This will help them get more and more comfortable with the library.

Use the time to show them around, especially if they are unsure of where to find a specific book.

Where are the biographies kept? Show them or let them ask a librarian.

How do I find a book written before I was born? Teach them where to find that information in a book.

Download your Library Scavenger Hunt here

Are you ready to get reading? Click below to download and print the library scavenger hunts. (Each hunt is only one page.)

Download the chapter book scavenger hunt here.

Download the picture book scavenger hunt here.

Books pictured (and highly recommended) are:

Biography: Ballerina Dreams: From Orphan to Dancer by Michaela DePrince

A Kid Your Age: Violet Mackerel’s Brilliant Plot by Anna Branford

A Kid Your Age: Clementine by Sara Pennypacker

That Makes You Laugh: Geronimo Stilton: A Cheese-Colored Camper by G. Stilton

Mystery: Agatha: Girl of Mystery series by Steve Stevenson

3 Easy Ways to Practice Sight Words

April 21, 2015 By Terri Thompson

It's so easy to work on sight words at home. Try one of these low-prep and fun easy ways to practice sight words. Your kids will have so much fun learning at home.

Are you knee-deep in sight word practice? We certainly are. With a kindergartner and a second grader, it’s a big part of their reading practice. Our teachers are always telling us to practice at home with our kids, which leads to the question… how can I practice at home?

A quick search on Pinterest will lead you to a million ideas. Many of these are fun and your kids will absolutely love them. But, sometimes your day calls for simple. I’ve got three of the easiest ideas ever for sight word practice in this post. Keep them in your back pocket, you’ll use them often.

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

Write in a Salt Tray

A salt tray is really easy to set up. I used a 9×13 baking pan and trimmed up a piece of brightly colored paper to put on the bottom. The paper isn’t necessary, but it does make it more fun. Next I added salt (regular table salt) to the pan. I added enough salt so that it was about 1/2-inch thick over the entire bottom of the pan. Now it’s ready to go.

I wrote out a few sight words on index cards and put them near the salt tray. My daughter uses her fingers to trace the words. She uses a small 6-inch ruler to “erase” or smooth out the words when she’s done. Easy and fun.

Quick tip: When you’re putting this away, add the salt to a plastic bag to reuse. You won’t want to cook with it, but you can use it over and over in a salt tray.

Rainbow Writing

I borrowed this ideas from my daughters’ school. They use it often and the kids really seem to enjoy it. Plus, it’s an easy thing for you to recreate at home. All you need is some writing paper and colored pencils. Have your child write each sight word and then trace over the words several times using different colors. They’ll practice, practice, practice while they make their pretty rainbow words.

Quick tip: Invest in some primary writing paper for home. Your child probably uses this often in school and the format help them with their letter formation. You can find it in most stores that sell school supplies.

Window Writing

You’ve probably guessed that this is a very popular way to practice. Because really, what kid doesn’t want to write on a window? The set-up is super easy. Just tape a few sight words to the window and grab a pack of window markers. That’s it! You’re kids will take care of the rest.

Quick tip: I’ve found that painter’s tape and washi tape both come off windows easily and leave no sticky residue.

What are your best ideas for sight word practice?

Play and Learn With Fun Hundred Chart Activities

April 16, 2015 By Terri Thompson

Don’t think I’m crazy, but I really believe that hundred charts can be tons of fun. It’s a perfect base for any number of math games.

So, let’s play and learn with some fun hundred chart activities.

Don’t think I’m crazy, but I really believe that hundred charts can be tons of fun. It’s a perfect base for any number of math games.

Why the hundred chart? Well, it’s an important math tool in the elementary years. It’s a map that shows number order and highlights patterns among the number. I got down to basics in my Math Homework 101: The Hundred Chart post. Check it out for the low down and to get your own printable hundred chart.

The hundred chart is not just for school. You can use it at home in all sorts of fun ways to help your child review math. You can absolutely have fun with it and your kids will be learning a ton in the process.

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

Here are some great hundred chart activities you’ll want to try.

Can you paint 100 colors? Turn your hundred chart into a work of art with this project from NurtureStore. You’ll even find some additional activities to do with it once it’s complete.

Do you have a light table? Still Playing School has a couple of great ideas using the light table. First, she shows you how to find patterns on the hundred chart. She also made a bottle cap hundred chart. This one can be used on or off the light table.

Buggy and Buddy has a great explanation about finding number patterns on the hundred chart. Plus, she’s got an awesome free printable hundred chart book of patterns. Awesome!

Can you put a hundred chart back together? Try it out with the Wacky Mixed Up Hundred Chart activity at Better Than Homework.

You can use a hundred chart to make pictures. This Reading Mama has free Mystery Letter Hundred Charts you can download and print.

Go on a penny hunt and put them all on a hundred chart. Rubberboots and Elf Shoes shows you how.

Coffee Cups and Crayons played with a sticky hundred chart on a window. So much fun! Check out all the ways you can use it.

Playdough to Plato shows you how to make hundred chart puzzles. Can your child reconstruct a hundred chart? These are so much fun to do!

For another kind of hundred chart puzzle, check out our fill-in-the-blank puzzles. They’re easy to make for kids at any level.

Finally, if you’ve got kids that need to move, play with a driveway hundred chart. I’ve got the details here, plus several options for games to play.

Go ahead, find some fun hundred chart activities. Your kids will have a blast!

Fill-in-the-Blank Hundred Chart Puzzles

April 13, 2015 By Terri Thompson

Does your kid love puzzles? Mine do.

And luckily, many learning activities can be turned into a puzzle.

These fill-in-the-blank hundred chart puzzles are an easy DIY game your kids will love.

Grab a few colorful markers and sit down to make this fun hundred chart game.

Try filling in a small snippet of a hundred chart with these easy to make Fill-In-The-Blank Hundred Chart Puzzles for a little extra math practice at home.

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

Supplies Needed

Hundred chart (You can find one to download and print here.)
Graph paper
Markers

If you don’t have graph paper, you can use plain paper to draw your puzzles. I just found that the graph paper made the drawing so much easier. You can also find free printable graph paper online.

How to make your hundred chart puzzles

To help you figure out the shape of your puzzles, take a marker and draw a few shapes on your hundred chart.

Make large cubes, L-shapes, crosses, angles, etc. Make them as hard or as easy as your child needs.

For example, I only used horizontal lines for my kindergartner. She’s not advanced enough for the complicated shapes and the last thing I want to do is make math discouraging for her.

After I found my shapes on the hundred chart, I recreated the shapes on my graph paper.

For the final step, I filled in one or two of the numbers in the shape.

How to work your hundred chart puzzles

The challenge for this game is to fill in all the blanks. Each puzzle is just a small section of the hundred chart.

Your kids have to figure out the missing numbers using the shape and the numbers you provided.

Depending on the shape, they may have to go +10 or -10. Or, they may go +1 or -1. The game can be quite challenging.

My girls had so much fun with these puzzles.

And, they were learning along the way. They were working on simple addition, like +1 and -1, and number order. They also worked on adding 10 and subtracting 10.

There are just so many skills to learn with this simple game.

Don’t you just love when you can make learning fun?

Driveway Hundred Chart Game

April 9, 2015 By Terri Thompson

My kids often use a hundred chart on paper. But, sometimes it’s fun to go a little bit bigger.

While my kids were at school one day, I ran outside and created a giant hundred chart on our driveway so we could play a fun hundred chart game.

I couldn’t believe how excited they were to see it. And, I love that they still get excited about things like this!

Take math outside and have some fun with this Driveway Hundred Chart Game. Your kids will be moving, learning, and having tons of fun.

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

Create your driveway hundred chart

All it takes is some sidewalk chalk, a large portion of concrete, and some elbow grease to create your hundred chart.

You’ll want it set up exactly as the paper form that your child is familiar with.

You need 10 number across and 10 numbers down. I did not create a grid, just wrote out all the numbers.

Make sure you leave plenty of room for your kids to hop, skip, and jump!

How to Play Race to 100 Hundred Chart Game

You can use a driveway hundred chart in so many ways.

We played a simple game I called “Race to 100.”

All you need to play this game is your driveway hundred chart and one or two dice. (Just grab a couple from a board game.)

Each person started at zero. They threw the dice and moved that many spaces. The first person who got to 100 won.

It’s that simple. While they were at it, my girls were learning number order and simple addition.

You can also play a slightly different version by going in the opposite direction, “Race to Zero.” Start at 100 and go backwards. Now you’re working on subtraction.

There are so many other ways to use a driveway hundred chart.

Let your kids walk, jump, or skip their way through the chart while saying the numbers out loud.

Test your jumping skills by skip counting. Can they make the big leaps required when counting by 5’s? It’s fun to try

Walk your way through addition or subtraction problems. It’s a fun way to practice your math facts.

Practice your multiplication tables. Jump your way through the 2’s or 3’s or 4’s or… you get the idea. Jump from 3 to 6 to 9 to 12 all while reciting your threes multiplication facts. Sometimes kids just need the movement to help them learn these things.

I’m sure if you and I kept brainstorming, we could come up with many more versions of this fun driveway hundred chart game.

Do you have any fun ideas? Leave them in the comment section. I’d love to see them!

Learning Activities for Kids