Learning Bags
This year we made a bunch of fun learning bags in an effort to keep the littles learning and busy while the big kids did school. So first I will show you what we have done. This would work great with any kids, deaf or hearing!
Pom Pom Magnets
My two oldest are here hot gluing magnets to many colored pom poms, 160 to be exact. I already had the magnet roll and we paid $2 for the pom poms. They had a blast doing it and it didn't take as long as I thought. And only one injury!
I also picked up two cookie sheets from the dollar store for $1 each. Cookie sheets plus pom pom magnets equals lots of fun! Peanut took right to them! Now the idea is to keep them picked up so that they are a special activity to do only during school time. So they are now put up on the school shelf.
Today they just drew pictures and wrote letters with the magnets, but I have print outs with patterns for the littles to match colors and build shapes too.
Today they just drew pictures and wrote letters with the magnets, but I have print outs with patterns for the littles to match colors and build shapes too.
Magnet Letters
Another easy way to use the cookie sheets. I found these letters for $1.27 a package at Wal-Mart.
Pom Pom Shapes
I printed these shape pages (they were originally meant to be used with those dot markers), placed them on the cookie sheet, and the kids can use the pom pom magnets to make shapes.
Clothespin Matching
Tinker used cardboard boxes and wooden clothespins for this next activity. She colored the end of the clothespins with a color and also a spot inside the box the same color. Now we have a matching game! She also did numbers on the opposite side of the box with matching clothespins. In another box we did the whole alphabet set.
Button Sorter
I found this veggie platter at the dollar store for $1. The buttons I already had, but plan on adding more. The kids can sort by color or shape.
Pasta Counting
What kid doesn't love to play with pasta? Tinker helped make this easy project. Each card has a number on one side and the corresponding number of dot stickers on the other. The child can learn to count by placing one noodle on each dot. It's fun and different.
Nuts and Bolts
For fine motor skill practice I bought different size nuts and bolts. This will keep a young child busy trying to match up the right nuts to the right bolts.
Shape Patterns
I found these cool shape stickers at Mardels and had to use them for something! All I have done with them so far is create a pattern matching game. Each card has a pattern with 4 different shapes. The child has to find the matching cards. They could also flip them all upside down and play a matching game with a sibling!
Learning Coins
This one really isn't a game, but a fun way to remember which coin is what. I also found these cool coin stickers at Mardels. We put a sticker showing each side of the coin on one side of the card and I wrote the value and its name on the opposite side. I plan on making more activities with these cool stickers.
As we make more learning bags (or boxes) for the littles, I will keep posting!