Hands-on math: Ice Cream Shoppe

 My kids have liked playing Ice Cream Shoppe for math lately--and it has a lot of variations for different skill levels. I cut out a variety of construction paper ice cream "scoops" and a handful of brown "cones." (If you need a pattern, this link may help.)

(Our Ice Cream Shoppe is casual: No shirts, no shoes, who cares?)

The kids get to make their own ice cream cones with whatever and how many flavors they like. We can practice

1) addition: how many of each color; how many scoops on two or three cones

2) counting money: one cent for each scoop, ten cents per scoop (for counting by tens), etc. Somehow using real money makes it feel more fun for us!

3) colors, for pre-K students

4) role playing

5) number writing: we keep a dry erase board nearby to write our addition problems, number of scoops, etc.

6) making patterns using scoop colors

For a little more variety, we switch places and I buy the ice cream from them!

My daughter, paying for her ice cream

Hands-on early readers' activity: Body outline

For this activity today, I

1) outlined the kids' bodies on freezer paper. (I use freezer paper because it's cheaper and wider than art paper, and lined so it doesn't seep through.)

2) Then they filled in the outline with paint. In theory it was supposed to look like them, but, well, you can see how that turned out.

3) Later on as a reading exercise, they read the names of body parts I'd printed on index cards, gluing them in the right place.

Three quick younger-elementary activities using Microsoft Excel

1) Capital/lowercase Memory. Using a large and easily read font, make an Excel workbook page of the letters of the alphabet in lowercase and uppercase, with one letter in each cell. Make sure you make borders visible for easy cutting. Print out the letters onto cardstock, then cut them up for a Memory/Concentration game to identify and match uppercase and lowercase letters.

Tip: Start with a small number of letters (like 10) first, to avoid the game being overwhelming.

2) The Name Game. Using a large and easily read font, make an Excel workbook page of the letters of the names in your family and/or your last name, one letter in each cell. Make sure you make borders visible for easy cutting. Print out the letters onto cardstock, then cut the pieces up. Ask your child to use the letters to spell out your family's first names.

Tip: To teach name-spelling, try putting the names to the song B-I-N-G-O. My family used it for me, and now I use it for my kids! Trust me, if it works for Breitenstein, it works for anything.

3) Stairsteps. As a spinoff of a classic Montessori activity, print out an Excel workbook page with large-width columns and rows, borders visible (as an option, you can fill in the cells with color). You'll be cutting out a strip of one cell, then a strip of two connected cells, then of three cells, etc. Place the various sizes of connected cells in an envelope, and see what your child does with them (Montessori functions with minimal instruction, in my understanding). If your child needs assistance, see if they can arrange them from the smallest number of squares (or rectangles) to the most (or least to greatest, if you're trying to teach these terms).