Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Busy Bag: Flipping Cookies


This next activity is easy and versatile (though not truly a busy bag since it won't all fit in a zip-lock).  I actually got this idea from a kindergarten teacher's page.  Her idea was similar in letting kids use this strategy to practice their site words.

  Materials:  brown construction paper, labels, laminator, cookie sheet and spatula

Assembly: 
1st: I decided on what words I would like Theo to start recognizing.  I chose colors (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, brown, white and black), animals (cat, dog, rabbit, sheep, pig, cow, horse) and people (Mama, Dada, Theodore, Elijah).  Nouns tend to work best for this, and you could definitely use specific letter sounds or blends your child may need to work on.  I think the next batch I do may be the names of Thomas and Friends trains, since he is obsessed with them right now.

2nd:  I used a template for a set of address labels, and chose photos to go with the words.  I printed out the labels.

3rd:  I cut out random "cookie shapes" from brown construction paper.

4th:  Then, I just put a word label and the coordinating picture label on opposite sides of the cookie, drew on chocolate chips with a sharpie, and then popped the whole thing in the laminator.  Theo loved this part, and helped me "cook" the cookies.  Once you cut them out they are ready to go.

Activity:  The child should select a cookie with the spatula.  Picking it up, they try to read the word.  The photo on the back makes this activity self-checking, and once they flip the cookie over they can see if they are correct!

Theo really likes playing with this already, even if he can't "read" the words yet.  He likes to just identify all the letters in the words, and then flip it over to see "what that spells".  When he is ready to sound out words I will probably make another set with specific sound words.


And of course, he likes to pretend to eat them as well!

1 comment:

Ashley said...

Ok, this is seriously adorable!! Just when I thought I couldn't like these more - this is my favorite one yet! :)