#496. backpack activities

, level: all
Posted Wed Jul 1 18:22:45 PDT 1998 by Sandy/K/Mo (angel893@aol.com).

Backpack/bag activities
Birthday pack

Books... Clifford's birthday and Jake baked a cake

I put in a small jiffy cake mix for the parents and child to make and a
pattern for Clifford. Also there is a dot to dot birthday cake.
Objectives.. following directions, number recognition, problem solving

Sorting Beans
Book Jack and the Beanstalk

Materials bag of 15 bean soup beans skills classifying, communicating,
small plastic bag or clear jar counting, measuring,
predicting
several small plates
scale

Read the book
1. Group beans by color on separate plates.
2. Which group of beans do you think has the most? Guess how many? Count
them.
3.Count the beans in all the groups. Did you guess right?
4. Which group do you think will weigh the most? Are you right?

Journal activity
Record the number of beans in each color group and the weight of the group.
See if you can name all the beans starting from smallest to largest.

*** Can do this with Buttons also. book Bert's New Collection or any other
button book.

Look at Leaves
skills communicating, classifying, counting, measuring
Materials
collection of leaves
4 index cards
rulers
colored markers
1. Go on a nature walk and collect leaves.
2. Laminate or use clear contact paper to preserve them.
3. Label each index card with one of the following pointed edges jagged or
sharp edges, rounded edges, smooth edges

Books Leaves by Fulvio Testa A Tree is Nice by Janice May Udry or any
number of others.

Place the leaf cards face up and look at the edges of each leaf. Decide what
type of edge it has then place below that card.
Count how many leaves are in each pile.
Choose any ten leaves and measure how long each leaf is.

Journal
Draw a picture of one of the leaves you chose and write a sentence to describe
it. Measure the leaf drawing and write it's measurement.

**** Leaf concentration game glue two of each type of leaves to different
index cards and laminate. Play concentration :-)

Magnets
Skills classifying, comunicating, experimenting, observing, predicting
Materials
assortment of materials that will ATTRACT a magnet.
assortment of materials that will NOT attract a magnet.
several types of magnets
2 paper plates
marker
Label one paper plate with yes and one with no.

Books.. All about Magnets bye Stephen Krensky Mickey's Magnets.

Look at each of the things in the box. If you think a magnet will pick it up,
place it on the plate marked yes. If No then on the plate marked no.
Test all the things. How many things did you get right?
What did you notice aabout the material that attracted magnets?

Purple Crayons
Materials purple crayons (It is important to have one Crayola brand crayon
in this because it sinks while the others will float.)
permanent and washable purple and black markers
paper towels
container for water
eyedropper

Books Harold and the Purple Crayon By Crockett Johnson
Purple, Green and Yellow by Rober Munsch
Read the book
What do you think will happen if you drop the purple crayons in the water?
Try it. What happened? Discuss your results.

What would happen if you took the purple markers and put lines on paper towels
and then added water to the lines? Try it. Is there a reason for this? What
happens if you do the same for the black marker? Is there a difference?

Hope some of these help. I have made several concentration games using dots
and numbers... 0-1 10-20 and put in the book Cliffords numbers. From Box it
and Bag it I have snaggles the snake who has numbers on his back. When you
land on a square it has a number and you are to put that many squares on top
of him.
Insects... backyard insects and a magnifying jar. Write/draw what you find
and bring into class. Will graph as a group.
Made a lot of number cards using the back of old business cards that several business donated when they changed addresses and glued to a piece of construction paper. With these # cards you can play war.. highest number wins the pile, lowest number wins the pile, or concentration where you match the # to dots. I even had my brother in law make me a dalmation dog for one set of cards. 0-10 and then 10 - 20 I usually make 13 sets of cards so that I can pair up each child with a buddy.

Found a picture of a can of paint with a splash and a paint brush. Wrote the color word on one of them and then the color on the other.

Opposites.. Found pictures in Mailbox Bulletin Board book and then did them like flash cards.. also used a phonics clip art book for all kinds of games too.

Rhyming... again used phonics clip art to make matching game. The clip art book also gave me my word bank for the kids to use in the writing center.

Senses.. Walmart or any film processing place will give you the empty containers of film and you can use that for smelling, or listening items.

Old socks and the plastic containers pudding (lunch) comes in make a handy what have I grabbed. Make and laminate shapes. Put all of the shapes you want to test in each sock and make a spinner with a piece of tag board and a paper clip. Draw the shapes on the tag board and the kids/parents FEEL for the right shape.

Get a grid of a blank 100 chart. Cut it in half or so. Make a colored pattern on one half and leave the other half for them to match the pattern. Laminate the sheet so it will stay longer. Make several different patterns with degrees of hardness. Cut out 1 inch squares to use to make the pattern
Made a lot of number cards using the back of old business cards that several business donated when they changed addresses and glued to a piece of construction paper. With these # cards you can play war.. highest number wins the pile, lowest number wins the pile, or concentration where you match the # to dots. I even had my brother in law make me a dalmation dog for one set of cards. 0-10 and then 10 - 20 I usually make 13 sets of cards so that I can pair up each child with a buddy.

Found a picture of a can of paint with a splash and a paint brush. Wrote the color word on one of them and then the color on the other.

Opposites.. Found pictures in Mailbox Bulletin Board book and then did them like flash cards.. also used a phonics clip art book for all kinds of games too.

Rhyming... again used phonics clip art to make matching game. The clip art book also gave me my word bank for the kids to use in the writing center.

Senses.. Walmart or any film processing place will give you the empty containers of film and you can use that for smelling, or listening items.

Old socks and the plastic containers pudding (lunch) comes in make a handy what have I grabbed. Make and laminate shapes. Put all of the shapes you want to test in each sock and make a spinner with a piece of tag board and a paper clip. Draw the shapes on the tag board and the kids/parents FEEL for the right shape.

Get a grid of a blank 100 chart. Cut it in half or so. Make a colored pattern on one half and leave the other half for them to match the pattern. Laminate the sheet so it will stay longer. Make several different patterns with degrees of hardness. Cut out 1 inch squares to use to make the pattern

Grid of 100 chart with numbers... laminate and then cut into pieces. Puzzle where they have to put back together in order.

Pattern Blocks. I ran off on the right color of construction paper, laminated and cut out each piece. I then copied several patterns some with the shape outlined and some without the shape and laminated. Put the pieces in a zip lock bag. The same can be done with Tangrams. Of course there are always books that can be put in. :-)

I made flannel boards out of the cardboard that comes in shirts and a Mom cut out all different sizes and shapes of flannel. Put this in a box for them to make pictures with.

From Yes and No slips from Highlights I got magnetic letters and numbers also at garage sales. and put in a small cookie sheet. Work on numbers and letters.

Shaving cream, water with eye droppers are great at this too.

More later if you want it.

Sandy/K/Mo