Number Hop

I made numbers using painter's tape on the tile floor. Then I would call out a number and my little one hopped from one to the next. Great way to release energy and practice number recognition. Next time we may even try to do some adding or putting down some letters for letter and sound recognition. Great activity for a chilly inside day!

Beginning Sounds Balloon Game

You will need: two ballons, a sharpie, minimal artistic skills

Blow up two balloons. One one write letters, and on the other draw pictures of things that start with that letter sound. 

To play throw the balloon with the letters up in the air and have your little one catch it. Have him choose a letter he is touching when he catches it and tell you what sound the letter makes. Then throw the second balloon with the drawings and have him find the object that begins with that letter sound. We began with letter A-I and then gradually added more letters and drawings. 

This was a great activity for my active boy. He wanted to keep playing and playing!

Falling Leaves ABC Game

You will need: 

Construction Paper

Scissors

marker

Basket

I made 26 leaves by cutting construction paper and wrote upper and lower case letters on each leaf. Then I gave them to my little one and had him throw the leaves and high as he could. He loved that part! He then made sure all the letters were facing up. I would call out a letter and he would put it in our little basket. Then we would talk about what words began with that letter sound. Great game for letter recognition and sound recognition. 

DIY Angry Birds

If your little ones are anything like mine they would love this angry bird game. My 4 year old loved tumbling down structures with his new homemade toys. 

Materials:

balls

red material

rubber bands or string

sharpie

Wrap the balls in red material and secure with a rubber band or string at the top. Draw an angry bird face on the material. Now you're ready for action!! 

We used our building bricks from a previous post, and they worked perfectly for this angry bird game. The pigs can also be made a similar way. 

Box Shape Fun

Materials: cardboard box, box cutter, markers, stickers, balls

We made this game based on the idea found on this website. I thought it would be fun if the kids were involved in the decorating process. We colored it with markers and then stuck a bunch of stickers on it. Then I gathered all the balls and bean bags that would fit into the shapes and they put them through the shapes. With my four year old we also played a game where I would tell him "Put the ball in the...." and then would call out a shape. 

Fly Swatter Game

Materials: New fly swatter, paper flies (using word), contact paper, tape, or lamination. Dry Erase marker, sticky tack.

1. First I made a word document with 26 flies and printed it out.

2. Then I cut out small squares our of the same paper to put in the center of the fly with glue.

3. I then put a strip of clear tape over the fly and cut them out. You can also used contact paper or lamination to laminate them and to have a surface for writing with a dry erase marker. 

To play: Decide what topic you want to review, such as, letter, lower and upper case, shapes, numbers, letter sounds, sight words, etc. and write them on your flies. Stick them with sticky tack on your wall. You can certainly put magnets on them and put them on your fridge to play. Call out a letter and have your child swat it! 

Bean Bag Toss Game: Shapes

Materials:  a piece of fabric, a bean bag, bottle caps, a computer to make a grid with the four shapes. 

1. I painted the shapes on an scrap of fabric. 

2. I made a word document with four of each shape and printed it off.

To play: toss the bean bag on one of the shapes and put a bottle cap as a marker on the chart. You can play alone and try to get a certain row, column, or fill out the whole chart, or play with several people and work together. Or you could also have each person be a different row and try to get those shapes before the other person gets theirs. So many possibilities!

ABC Monster Game

I found this idea here. Practice capital and lower case letters or letter sounds.