Creative Homeschool

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Tracing Cards for Beginning Writers

My ABC Tracing Cards have been a huge hit and I have been using them to take advantage of our down time. I have a set in the school room for the girls to use whenever they have free time and I also keep a set in my purse. The girls use them while we are shopping, waiting for our food in restaurants, during sisters soccer practice, and any other time we have a few minutes of down time. The girls love the ABC Tracing Cards so much that I decided to make some more.

These tracing strips are perfect for beginning writers who have not yet mastered the art of tracing their ABC's. There are 8 tracing strips that range from super easy straight lines to slightly more difficult designs.

I suggest laminating the cards so that they can be used with dry erase markers. You can also punch a hole in the corners and keep them together with a binder ring.

Tracing Strips - View & Download

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Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Lined Paper Printable for Beginner Writers

I made this lined paper for my two girls who are still in the beginning phases of writing. Both of the girls have notebooks to write in but the lines are a lot smaller and they just get frustrated with them.

My 5 year old loves these so much that I decided to leave a stack of them in the living room for her to write letters to friends and family members. Her writing has improved so much over the past couple weeks and these pages are the main reason for that.

Lined Paper - View & Download

Monday, August 19, 2013

7 Toddler Approved Halloween Crafts

Halloween is fast approaching. Have you thought of any craft projects to do with your kids?

Here are a few ideas to get your creative wheels spinning.

Candy Corn Hat

Scrap Paper Jack-O-Lantern

Spooky Hand Print Spider

host

Marshmallow Ghost

Spooky Halloween Wreath

Bouncing Bat

Friendly Ghost

Thursday, August 15, 2013

Summer Tracing Package

Summer is coming to an end.

But before it's completely gone, I thought I would share a quick freebie?

I usually laminate these so that my girls can trace them over and over again.

I hope your kids enjoy them as much as my girls do.

Summer Tracing Package - View & Print

For more tracing practice try these other great freebies:

Spring Tracing Package

Alphabet Tracing Cards

Also check out these great post to help fine motor skills:

Fix This - A list of fine motor skills

Shoe Tying Practice {Freebie Included}

Don't miss my Fall Tracing Package coming soon!!

Stay up to date on SJT freebies by following me on facebook

Thursday, June 20, 2013

Spring Tracing Practice Pages

Yes, I know... Spring is almost over with.

Better late than never, right?

I made these tracing sheets a few months ago and finally got around to converting them to PDF's so that I could upload and share them with you all.

My girls love doing these worksheets so much that I ended up laminating them so that they can use them as often as they would like.

Spring Tracing Package View & Download

Thursday, June 13, 2013

100+ things to do with your kids this summer (Most of them are free.)

1. Go on a treasure hunt.
2. Have a picnic.
3. Have a tea party.
4. Play a board game.

5. Make Bubble snakes (via Come Together Kids).

6. Feed ducks at the park.
7. Play hopscotch.
8. Play a card game.
9. Play "I Spy".
10. Have a dance party.

11. Join a Free Summer Reading Program (via Saving Dollars and Sense).

12. Play "Simon Says"
13. Play "Red Rover"
14. Go to the "Kids Workshop" at Home Depot (Check your local Home Depot for day and time. Ours is the 1st Saturday of every month.)
15. Go to the Library.

16. Make Homemade Ice Cream (via Spoonful).

17. Go on a bike ride.
18. Put together a puzzle.
19. Roast Marshmallows.
20. Have a water fight.
21. Blow bubbles.
22. Visit a farm.
23. Tour a factory.

24. Make lanterns (via Picklebums).

25. Go for a hike.
26. Tell ghost stories.
27. Start a garden.
28. Go fishing.
29. Swim in the lake.

30. Make bugs and critters from nature (via Filth Wizardry).

31. Have a pillow fight.
32. Play dress up.
33. Have a tea party.
34. Play "Hide & Seek".

35. Make raised salt paintings (via One Perfect Day).

36. Have a sleep over.
37. Watch a sports game.
38. Run in the sprinklers.
39. Build a sand castle.
40. Have a water balloon fight.

41. Play balloon ping pong (via Pen N' Paperflowers).

42. Play in the mud.
43. Write a pen pal.
44. Build with legos.
45. Build a fort.

46.Make a sun catcher (via Estefi Machado).

47. Visit a national park.
48. Spread wild flower seeds in an empty lot.
49. Set up a lemonade stand.

50. Make exploding sidewalk chalk (via Growing a Jeweled Rose).

51. Make paper airplanes.
52. Have a slumber party.
53. Sing a song.
54. Do a puppet show.

55. Have a toy car wash (via What Do We Do All Day).

56. Go stargazing.
57. Tell jokes.
58. Bake cookies.
59. Pop popcorn and watch a movie.
60. Camp out in the backyard.

61. Make a marble maze (via Frugal Fun for Boys).

62. Have a photo shoot.
63. Play catch.
64. Go birdwatching

65. Make a bird feeder (via DIY Home Sweet Home).

66. Play with play dough.
67. Get a pet rock.
68. Go to a museum.
69. Play in the river.
70. Catch fireflies.

71. Make crayon art (via college craft).

72. Make homemade pizza.
73. Pick wildflowers.
74. Go apple dunking.
75. Have a pie eating contest.

76. Make a sun dial (via Green Kids Crafts).

77. Go bowling.
78. Paint rocks.
79. Go strawberry picking.
80. Play tag.

81. Make slime (via Tot Treasures).

82. Make smoothies.
83. Build a tower with blocks.
84. Go out for frozen yogurt.

85. Microwave a bar of soap (via Our Best Bites).

86. Fly a kite.
87. Have a water balloon fight.
88. Go for a car ride to a town you haven't been to.
89. Go to the zoo.
90. Make shadow puppets.

91. Paint with milk (via Flutter Flutter).

92. Go geocaching
93. Climb a tree.
94. Play frisbee.

95. Make rain sticks (via Happy Hooligans).

96. Make cheerio or candy necklaces.
97. Make a house from a cardboard box
98. Visit the animal shelter.
99. Buy a goldfish.

100. Go on a dragon hunt (via Making Boys Men).

101. Make popsicles.
102. Paint the sidewalk with water.
103. Play horseshoes.

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Alphabet Tracing Cards -Free Printable-

The girls have been working on their handwriting and I thought it would be a great idea to make a set of mini tracing cards. I laminated the cards so that they can be used with dry erase markers. I also punched holes in the corners to clip them all together.

Alphabet Tracing Cards - View & Download

Monday, April 22, 2013

12 Free Word Family Sliders - Fun with Reading

Monkey has been a reading machine lately. I wanted to add some variety to her reading routine so I made these fun word family sliders.

Word Family Sliders - View & Download

After you print you will need to cut out all the pieces, then cut along the dashed lines on the rectangle for the letter slides.

There are 12 total sliders to include:
ag, an, ar, at, ed, en, et, ing, ip, og, ot, and ug.

Friday, April 19, 2013

DIY Table Top Organizer Made From Recycled Materials.

In our school room there are a few items that we use everyday and sometimes several times a day. I decided that it would be easier if I could keep all of these items in one central location that was easy for the girls to reach without getting out of their seat. This organizer was the perfect solution. It sits on the table between the girls, it is easy to move if we need more table space, and best of all... it was free!

Decide what boxes you are going to use and cut them all to the same height. I used two shoe boxes and the bottom of a cereal box. The cereal box was 2 inches longer than the shoe boxes so I cut the cereal box in half, slid one half inside the other until they were the same size, then glued them back together.
Cut a strip of scrap paper the length of your box. Line the center of the scrap paper up with the center of your box and form to the inside. It is easier to make your creases first before glueing the paper to the box. Now cut another strip to go along the width of your box and glue down. Don't worry if the paper does not cover the outer sides. These will be covered later. Repeat this process with the rest of your boxes.
For the dividers, cut a length of cardboard and fold the ends in (you can see my dividers in photo #1) Cover the cardboard in scrap paper then glue them in place inside your boxes. Use clothespins or clips to hold them in place until they dry.
Arrange you boxes the way you want them and glue them together. I also wrapped a strip of heavy duty tape around the boxes for extra durability.
To cover the outside of the boxes I wrapped decorative duct tape around them but you could also cover the outside with scrap paper, or let the kids get crafty and paint or glue objects such as buttons , magazine cut-outs or tissue paper to the outside.
Now you can fill your organizer with whatever you need. In our organizer you will find pencils, colored pencils, markers, dry erase markers, glue, pencil sharpeners, erasers, scissors, rulers, a hole punch, and crayons.

Thursday, April 18, 2013

Learning about the United States one state at a time.

Bug and Monkey have been learning about the states.

I found these amazing printable maps at Your Child Learns. You can print out maps of each continent or even a world map. They also have multiple sizes of each map You can print a map on a single piece of paper all the way up to the largest size - 64 pages or 8 x 8 pages.

I chose to print the U.S.A map on 16 (4x4) pages. I used clear tape to connect the pages then hung it up on the wall in our school room. For the states I traced each one onto brightly colored construction paper. (I just hold the construction paper over the map and trace the state then cut it out. If a color is to dark to see through I trace the state onto white paper and then hold it up to a window and retrace it onto the construction paper) I was cutting the states out as we went but I had some spare time last weekend and decided to trace and cut the rest of the states. Then I wrote the name and capitol on each state. It only took me about 1-2 hours.

I got online and found photos of all the state flags, state flowers, and state birds. I transferred these to a photo shopping program and minimized them to fit the states.

We try to learn one state a week. The girls color and glue on the state birds and flowers while I color the flag. We talk about each one and I have the girls point out any details they notice on the flag. Then the girls take turns finding our state on the large map and gluing it in place.

After we complete the map I plan on going back over the states and going into more detail about each one. I love how colorful it is and can't wait until it is complete.

Thursday, April 11, 2013

Introduction to Coin Value - Free Printable

Bug has recently become interested in money so I wanted to come up with a simple yet fun game to introduce her to the value of money. Starting at the first square she finds the coin that is equal to the value in the square. She then finds the coin for the second square. This continues until the maze is full.
I really didn't expect Bug to enjoy it as much as she does but she literally begs me to let her play it almost every day.

Intro To Money Maze - View & Print

Other posts you may enjoy:

Thursday, March 28, 2013

52 Creative Ideas to Entertain Young Kids

Throughout my years of blogging I have received several e-mails from parents asking what kinds of low cost activities they can do with young kids.

While there are several ideas online, I have gathered up 52 of my favorite ideas.

That's right! 52 ideas!

That's one for every week of the year. Or do one a day for 52 days. All of these ideas are low cost and many of them may not cost you anything at all. They are simple enough for younger kids however, older kids may enjoy them as well.