140+ Best Learning Activities of 2013

2013 has been a hectic year for me. Especially the last 5 months since I returned to full-time teaching. The blog has had to take a back seat but I am still here, hoping to find time to share with you again - soon.

I am so appreciative for those of you that continue to visit, comment and share our ideas. You keep me motivated to keep things going here, no matter how infrequent for now.

As 2013 comes to a close I wanted to take a moment to reflect on the posts we've shared with you. I love taking stock like this and looking back. It always amazes me which activities get the most attention. They aren't always the ones that I think will be well received.

Here are our Best Learning Activities of 2013 (chosen by your traffic). Together they provide 140+ ideas for making learning engaging, memorable and fun for children.

55 Ways to Make Handwriting Practice Fun for Kids

50+ Early Literacy Activities for Kids

Easter Science Activities for Kids

20 Alphabet & Phonics Activities

Favorite Books & Activities for Kids

Did your favorite learning activity post make our Top 5?

I'd love to hear which one was your fave.

Keep learning, playing & having fun together!

Bern

Top That! A Sight Words Game

Summertime is a wonderful opportunity to review those skills that were learned in the previous school year. And what better way to review than through play? Last summer, we spent one morning a week reviewing sight words. We've repeated a few of those simple games this year and added a few more. One of those games was this easy sight word activity with spinning tops {obtained in a fast food kids' meal}. It was a hit with all three of my older kids!

To prepare:
I took a piece of paper and created a 4 x 5 table of sight words from my son's 1st grade year {I picked a few "easy" words, but also sprinkled in some words that were still tripping him up a little.} For my younger son {age 4}, I printed off a 4 x 4 table of sight words from my Reading the Alphabet curriculum. To cut down on prep time, tables and words could totally be hand-written! I placed each paper into a metal cookie sheet.

To play:
My boys spun their tops on the table of words within the cookie tray. When it stopped, they simply read the word aloud and spun again.

To extend:

My oldest son began to cross off each word, hoping to get his x's in a row, which made me think this might be kind of fun to play with your child {or sibling}; one person crosses of in one color crayon and the other in another color to see who can get a row first. My younger son actually grabbed a near-by crayon, paper, and clipboard and began writing every word that the top landed on. The boys were enjoying themselves so much that my daughter {3 years old} asked to join in. I quickly drew a chart for her with letters and she went to town, spinning her top and calling out letters.

To Adapt:
Don't have any tops lying around? Ask your child to stand back a couple of feet and toss a coin onto the cookie sheet and call out the words as it lands! It really is that simple.

Becky Spence is a homeschooling mama to four little blessings. She is passionate about teaching, specifically literacy. She is the author of This Reading Mama, where she shares reading and writing activities as well as free literacy curricula and printables. You can connect with her on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Google +.

Shower Curtain Sight Word Activity for Kids

Are you ready for an easy sight word and writing activity for kids? You know I like utilizing things around the house for learning fun but Dyan from And Next Comes L outdid herself with a re-usable Shower Curtain Sight Word Activity.  Here's Dyan to tell you all about it........

Hi!  I'm Dyan and I blog over at And Next Comes L.  I am a stay at home mom to two boys, but I also teach piano from my home.  My passions are music, writing, and anything arts and crafts wise.  My two boys keep me busy.  J will be four in September and is a very bright child who started to read and spell before he turned two.  Shortly after he turned three, that passion for reading and spelling turned into writing everything by himself.  K will be two in September and is a busy monkey.  He climbs everything!  He is following in his big brother's footsteps as he too has learned all of his letters, uppercase and lowercase, by 20 months of age.  So I am sure he will be an early and avid reader just like J!  

I am so excited to be guest posting on Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas today.  I have always admired the sight word activities that Bernadette comes up with for her girls.  Since J is a sight reading pro, naturally, I had to make my guest post about sight words!

I have mentioned before that I have inherited a large box of shower curtains and shower curtain rings.  As a result, I have been using them for all sorts of different activities with my boys.  Since shower curtains wipe clean so easily, I figured that I could write on them using window markers.  And if you have read my blog before, you will have noticed that I love window markers and have written on many different surfaces, including Mega Blocks here and here.  So I decided to get some sight word practice in with J using a shower curtain and some window markers.

One rainy day, while K was napping, I set up this sight word activity for J.  I taped a shower curtain to my kitchen floor using some duct tape.  Then I wrote a variety of sight words, from different grade levels, using the window markers.  I tried to choose some words that I knew J could already read, but I also picked a few that I was unsure of whether or not he could read.  To my surprise, there were only two or three that actually stumped him.  Oh, how my three year old surprises (and challenges!) me on a daily basis!

The set up.

All ready to go for some rainy day learning.

I also gave him a window marker, in a different color, to practice writing.  Within a few seconds of me handing him the marker, he started reading and then tracing the letters of the sight words.

Tracing letters.

A close up of J's letter tracing.

J concentrating really hard.

Tracing the word "write."

J's finished tracing of the word "write."

This activity was great for helping J practice his lower case letter writing since when he does "little letters" (as he calls them), they often end up very jagged and sharp.  It was a great writing and reading exercise for him.  However, this activity could be modified to practice letter identification and writing too.

To clean up, I just tossed the shower curtain in with some dirty laundry so that it's ready to be used again!  And if you're looking for others way to learn and play with shower curtains, check out my homemade play parachute made from shower curtains and my shower curtain ring counting activity.  You can also check out my other sight word activities here.

If you enjoyed this post, please be sure to check out my blog, join me on Facebook, or follow me on Pinterest.

- Dyan

Musical Sight Words Game: Move, Groove and Read!

If your kids like to dance, hop, skip, crawl, move and play then this reading/sight word game is for them!

Both of the Lil Divas are doing great with reading - I am a proud mama. Most of our at home reading time is now focused on comprehension, fluency and enjoying books together but I still like to play games that review sight words, tricky words or phonics to keep them fresh. 

As part of my Learning Through Movement series with Train Up a Child and Mess for Less I wanted to share one of the Littlest Divas favorite games - Musical Sight Words.

To play, I write target words on index cards and arrange them in a big circle on the floor. This game can easily be adjusted to review letters, numbers, colors, math facts and more. 

I turn on the music and the Lil Divas dance around the circle. When the music stops, they must read the word closest to them.

The reason this is one of the Littlest Divas favorite games is because we change our movements up for each new round. I like to make our games silly, fun and engaging so that the Lil Divas want to play (and learn!).

We use movements like hopping on one foot, skipping, walking backwards, leaping like a frog, crawling like a baby, tip toeing, twirling, slow motion, marching, space walking and so on. Get as creative as you want - the sillier, the better.

The more kids move and laugh - the more memorable the game (and the learning) will be. This is why I am a huge fan of learning through movement and play. For more Learning Through Movement ideas for reading be sure to check out Mess for Less and Train Up a Child's posts as part of our series.

I have lots of Sight Word Activities on the blog and an awesome Sight Word Pinterest Board where I share even more fun ideas from around the web.

Have fun Moving, Groovin' and Reading!

Bern

Sight Word Gold Hunt Game for Kids

It's been one of those weeks where I truly wish I had more time. I had lots to share with you and simply not enough time to sit and write. With St. Patrick's Day this weekend, I didn't want to miss the opportunity to share a quick and fun sight word game with you that I set up especially for my Kindergarten Diva - Sight Word Gold Hunt.

This little playful learning game was easy to set up. I used a bin we had on hand, 1 bag of fake Easter grass, gold coins (22), a black marker and some dot color coding labels. 

I wrote 20 target sight words on the dot labels and put a red dot on 2 gold coins.

I hid the coins under the Easter grass and invited the Kindergarten Diva over to play.

To play, she had to dig in and find a gold coin. In order to keep the coin, she had to read the word correctly. If she read the word incorrectly, it went back into the bin (this allowed for more review/repetition of the word). 

If a coin with a red dot was chosen that meant all the coins had to go back into the bin.  The red dot coin was not returned to the bin (or the game would never end!). 

Continue playing until child has earned all the gold coins. 

This would be a fun small group center in a classroom or at home with more children. I am going to make a similar game with math facts for the First Grade Diva. She wanted to play but this was too easy for her as she has all her sight words mastered, so she got bored very quickly.

Looking for more sight word play? Check out all our Sight Word Fun posts and our Sight Word Fun Pinterest Board. You'll be glad you did! 

Happy Gold Hunting!

50+ Early Literacy Activities for Kids

Early literacy is crucial to later reading success. The best way for children to learn is through hands-on exploration, repetition and of course play. Today, I am excited to bring you 50 Early Literacy Activities from the members of The P.L.A.Y Group that readily incorporate those qualities and are sure to make learning both meaningful and fun in your home or classroom.

What is the P.L.A.Y Group? A group of moms and teachers dedicated to making learning and play activities readily available to everyone. We share our activities and ideas in the P.L.A.Y Group G+ Community and on our Pinterest board. 

Today, I am excited to share some of our favorite early literacy ideas with you.

Alphabet

It all begins with the alphabet, doesn't it? In order for children to learn to read they must learn these 26 letters and their sounds. Luckily, there are many ways to play and learn when it comes to the alphabet. Here are some of my favorite ways to help children master those ABC's -

Alphabet, Numbers and Colors Game (One Perfect Day)
A-Z of Learning Letters: 90 Fun Activities (Learn with Play at Home)
Alphabet Goo (Learn with Play at Home)
DIY Montessori Letters (Train Up a Child)
Milk Cap and Clothespin Alphabet (Train Up a Child)
Sensory Alphabet (Growing a Jeweled Rose)
Fishing for Letters (Growing a Jeweled Rose)
Wash & Learn Alphabet Bath (Growing a Jeweled Rose)
Eye Spy Alphabet Squish Bag (Growing a Jeweled Rose)
Alphabet Apple Tree (Growing a Jeweled Rose)
Alphabet Soup Bath (Bath Activities for Kids)
Magnetic Alphabet Bath (Bath Activities for Kids)
Alphabet Letter Hunt (Bath Activities for Kids)
Bubble Bath Letter Pit (Bath Activities for Kids)
Frozen Word and Number Scramble (Bath Activities for Kids)
Easter Egg Letter Match (Mess for Less)
Magnet Letters & A Cookie Tray (Mess for Less)
ABC Name Word Hunt  (Toddler Approved)
Alphabet Bowling (Toddler Approved)
Alphabet Sticky Wall (Toddler Approved)
Watering an Alphabet Garden (Toddler Approved)
Alphabet Rocks (Parent Teach Play)
Musical Alphabet Game (Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas)


Sight Word & Phonics Fun

Mastering letter sounds, phonics and sight words are a crucial part of learning to read but it can be tedious and boring for kids to practice those skills. How can you make it fun? Let me share the ways -
Learning Sight Words - 10 Fun Ideas (Learn with Play at Home)
Sight Word Spray (Train Up a Child)
Sight Word Mash (Train Up a Child)
Snapping Out Sight Words (Toddler Approved)
Silly Sight Word Sentences (In Lieu of Preschool)
Conversation Hearts Sight Word Game (Mess for Less)
Sight Word Jenga (Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas)
Sight Word Tic-Tac-Toe (Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas)
Sight Word Connect Four (Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas)
Sight Word Hopscotch (Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas)
Sight Word Twister (Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas)
Sight Word Discovery Bottles (Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas)
Sight Word Island Jumping (Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas)


Simple Word Family Game (One Perfect Day)
Feed the Monster: Letter Sound Activity (Train Up a Child)
Silly Phonics Game for Beginning Readers (Train Up a Child)
Word Family Slam (Toddler Approved)
Word Family Trees (Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas)
Catch the -at Word Game (Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas)
-ig Word Family Slide Pig (Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas)
Word Family Eggs (Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas)


Other Fun Reading Activities:

A great way to get kids reading is by using visuals and/or providing symbols/logos that they are familiar with. Make a Grocery Game for kids that will not only kept them entertained at the grocery store but also practice pre-reading skills (B-Inspired Mama).

Strategies & Ideas for Reading with Children

Strategies to Use When Reading with a Child (In Lieu of Preschool)
25 Ideas to Get You Little One to Love Reading (In Lieu of Preschool)
6 Keys to Make Reading Fun for Kids (B-Inspired Mama)
Reading Comprehension for Preschoolers (& Beyond) (Learn with Play at Home)
R is for Reading (Rainy Day Mum)
The ABC's of Learning to Read Through Play (Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas)
Gifts to Inspire & Encourage Budding Readers (Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas)
7 Tips to Encourage Your Beginning Reader (Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas)

Writing

How do you get your children writing? It all starts with recognizing and learning to spell their name? Try these fun name recognition activities -

Learn Your Name with Playdough and Pom Poms (Learn with Play at Home)
Rainbow Name Writing (B-Inspired Mama)
Shamrock Name Fishing (B-Inspired Mama)
Letters in Our Name Twister (Toddler Approved)
I Can Spell My Name Hopscotch (In Lieu of Preschool)
Rainbow Color Writing (Parent Teach Play)

The best way to get children excited about writing is to make a game out of it, of course! You might want to try these hands-on writing activities -

Water Painting on a Chalkboard (One Perfect Day)
Salt Tray Writing Tray - (Rainy Day Mum)
125+ Ways to Practice Making Letters (In Lieu of Preschool)
25 Ideas to Get Your Child Ready to Write (In Lieu of Preschool)
Coconut Scented Writing Tray (Parent Teach Play)
Dry Erase Board Writing Practice (Mess for Less)
Tracing with Yarn (Mess for Less)
15 Ways to Encourage Letter Formation & Handwriting Practice (Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas)

Isn't that a fabulous list of literacy ideas? 

Be sure to bookmark this for later because that's not all.

For more fun hands-on learning ideas be sure to check out 

the other bloggers that are part of the P.L.A.Y Group - 

Housing a Forest - Mess for Less - Rainy Day Mum - Parent Teach Play  

In Lieu of Preschool - One Perfect Day - B-Inspired Mama 

Toddler Approved - Train Up a Child - Growing a Jeweled Rose  

Bath Activities for Kids - Nature and Play - Learn with Play at Home

Plus, this is a blog hop! 

So be sure to check out all the other great topics and posts:

Art Activities from the PLAY Group  (B-Inspired Mama)

Art and Play Recipes for Kids (Bath Activities for Kids)

The Ultimate Guide to Cooking with Kids from the PLAY Group (Rainy Day Mum)

150+ Early Learning Activities from the PLAY Group (Growing a Jeweled Rose)

200+ Fine Motor Skills Activities from the PLAY Group (In Lieu of Preschool)

75 Math Activities from the PLAY Group (Toddler Approved)

200+ Ideas for Messy Play from the PLAY Group (Train Up a Child)

Get Out and Play (Nature and Play)

Recycled Craft Activities from the PLAY Group (Housing a Forest)

175+ Ideas for Repurposing Items for Play from the Play Group (Mess for Less)

100+ Science Activities from the Play Group (Learn with Play at Home)

The Ultimate Guide of Sensory Play Activities from the PLAY Group (One Perfect Day)

Happy Hopping & Learning!

Bern

Tumbling Tower Sight Word Jenga Game

You all know that I LOVE taking our games and turning them into fun learning opportunities. My Kindergartener is on a quest to "master" her sight words before anyone else in her class. I promise you this is her idea, not mine. Of course, this mama is happy to oblige her in her educational efforts, especially ones that help her in her "learning to read" journey. One of my latest play to learn tweaks on a game is taking a generic version of Jenga (I scored this on sale for super cheap before Christmas and was giddy!) and turning it into a Tumbling Tower Sight Word Game. She loves it. What kid doesn't like to play Jenga? It's fun!

Tumbling Tower Sight Word (Jenga) Game

Set up for this was super easy. I just took our target sight words and wrote them on the blocks. I opted to use 2 words per block but you can do just 1 to start with and have room for more as you go along.

Set-up the game and play as you would your typical Jenga type game. For each block that the Littlest Diva extricated from the tower, she had to correctly read the words before she could add it back to the top of the tower.

We have had lots of fun playing and learning together and the Littlest Diva is quickly mastering her sight words at the top of her class.

Have fun playing and learning!

Bern

Top 10 Sight Word Games of 2012 on Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas

I am looking back on all we shared in 2012. Yesterday, I shared our Top 12 Most Popular Posts of 2012. Today, I want to share our Top Sight Word Games of 2012. These tend to be some of my favorite posts shared on the blog because I love coming up with new ways to make learning fun for the Lil Divas and with a kindergartener and a first grader learning to read has been a huge focus for us the past few years.

Our Top 10 Sight Word Games of 2012

1.  Sight Word Tic-Tac-Toe 

2.  Sight Word Hopscotch

3.  Pizza Party! A Sight Word Review Game

4.  Sight Word Connect Four

5. Erase the Sight Word Game

6.  Clothes Pin Sight Word Match

7. Water a Sight Word Garden

8.  Sight Word Bowling

9.  Sight Word Egg Hunt

10. Ten Apples Up on Top Sight Word Game

Have fun playing to learn!

Bern

Learning Fun: Sight Word Tic-Tac-Toe

You know I am always looking for ways to make learning fun for the Lil Divas. The youngest Diva has sight words to learn in kindergarten but she isn't a fan of flashcards or going over things tediously. I have to continually come up with different ways for her to play in order to review the words. One of the games she loves to play is tic-tac-toe. She wears us out once she gets started with it because she can play endless rounds.

I decided to take her love of tic-tac-toe and use it to my advantage to practice sight words.

The prep for this activity was super easy. I took a sheet protector I had handy and inserted a white piece of copy paper that I had drawn lines on for a tic-tac-toe board. I took colored construction paper and cut it up into squares the same size as the game board. Since the game board had nine squares, I wrote 18 sight words on separate cards that I wanted the Littlest Diva to review. I placed 9 of these words face down on the game board and kept the others aside. I wanted extra words to change out for continued play to give her more of a challenge.  

How to Play:

I wanted this to be an activity that the Lil Divas could play together, independently of me. Therefore, I kept it simple. In order to write their x or o on the game board, the sight word covering the play spot had to be read correctly.

The first person to get 3 in a row for tic-tac-toe won the game.

Any words not flipped over remained on the game board. The others were randomly changed for the next round. 

The Littlest Diva played round after round, as I knew she would. This was definitely a hit!

Happy Tic-Tac-Toe Playing,

Bern

Play to Learn - Sight Word Connect Four

Do your kids enjoy board games as much as mine? Are they working on sight words, word families, letter/number recognition or another similar skills? If you answered yes, then I have another fun learning game to share with you today.

Sight Word Connect Four

Set Up:

Setting this up was super simple. We already had the game - Connect Four so all I did was use some dot stickers (I get mine from the dollar store!) to write target sight words and stick them in the center of the playing pieces. I only put the words on one side (read why below). 

How to Play:

It's a quick and easy way to play and practice those sight words, letters, numbers, etc. Play Connect Four as you normally would (trying to get 4 in a row) with the exception that before the child takes their turn they have to pick one of the playing pieces which are turned with the sight word stickers face down and read the sight word correctly before putting the piece into play on the game board. 

If the child gets a word wrong, tell them what the word is and have them return it face down and pick a new word. In order to play a piece, the player must first read a word correctly. I use words that are already mastered, words we are working on and even a few we haven't covered for variety. It give a nice blend of difficulty and ease to keep interest going and you don't have to re-do the stickers each time you play. Once the words have all been mastered I change out the stickers to add some new words.

What do you think of Sight Word Connect Four? I think it's fun and easy to play which makes it perfect for the Littlest Diva and her big sis enjoys playing with her and helping her practice her sight words. Sight Word Connect Four has really been a hit here and I am sure it will be well received in your house or classroom as well.

Have fun Playing to Learn!

Bern