Math facts practice kit activities for portable math learning centers

Here's a homemade mini math learning center. Use this shoebox math facts practice kit for independent, on-the-go learning. Retention of math facts and operations is vital for higher math. Use this math homework practice kit to reinforce addition, subtraction, multiplication and division facts.

 Children should practice 5-10 minutes 4-5 times a week. In a shoebox or plastic lidded box, place these items 

--color-coded list of digits. For example: 0-yellow, 1-blue, 2-red, 3-orange, 4-purple, 5-green, 6-brown, 7-pink, 8-black, 9-gray. Some 1,983 would be written blue-1, gray-9,black-8 and orange-3. Color coding helps many students visualize and organize numbers, learn place value and memorize math facts, 

--set of dice. Practice math facts by casting die and adding or multiplying two numbers shown. 

--set of dominoes (base 12 set is best) or homemade "domino" flash cards made from index cards. Write domino dot configuration in number color from chart. Student selects a domino and adds, subtracts or multiplies the two numbers. Write answers on back for self-checking. Here are free printable dominoes. 

--deck of playing cards--student chooses two cards and adds, subtracts, or multiplies them. Face cards are valued as such:(ace-1, jack-10, queen, 12 and king-0) Here's a free printable deck of playing cards. 

--math flashcards for each fact family. Purchase at Dollar Tree or discount store. Here are free printable math flashcards. Make flashcards by writing math fact (problem) in color code on one side and the answer on the back. 

--pencil, eraser and scrap paper squares--student writes out a fact family, or writes story problems, illustrating with items to represent (three apples times seven apples). Use for pop quizzes also.

 --tablet of small stickers or mini-stamper marker-- Child makes his own flashcards with stickers and scrap paper, for the math facts family on which he's working. 

--100 chart or cheat sheet. Student uses to skip count by different numbers (multiply), look for patterns, or practice facts. Here are free printable 100 charts. 

--yarn strung with 100 plastic beads. This homemade abacus is a great visual for math operations. Give student a problem, like 7x8, She counts out and add seven groups of eight. 

--food snacks with little pieces; fish crackers, breakfast cereal, raisins, candies, pretzels. Students demonstrate math facts with food while eating it. 

Keep math facts practice kit in the car. Use travel time for homework reinforcement.

Dr. Seuss activities, games, crafts, lesson plans for preschool learning centers

The Cat in the Hat doffs his cap on March 2, to honor the 117th birthday of his creator Ted Geisel, better known as the beloved Dr. Seuss. To celebrate Seuss, the NEA (National Education Association) hosts "Read Across America." March is also National Reading Month and a perfect time to explore Dr. Seuss. Here are a hatful of literature-based activities to extend reading in preschool learning centers.

 Dr. Seuss is right at home in the book or library learning center. Fill your book corner with Seuss books. Emergent readers will love the pictures. Scatter some comfy pillows and any Seuss character toys. If you're like me and not into licensed characters, gather generic stuffed animals with Seussian theme: from Horton Hears a Who: elephants (Horton), birds (Daisy-headed Maisie), monkeys (Wickersham brothers), kangaroo and joey, turtles (Yertle), moose (Thidwick), cats (in silly hats), dogs (Max from the Grinch). From The Lorax; swans, bears, fish. Throw a Seuss story party (details to follow in my next post). 

For a Dr. Seuss art center, display his books: The Cat in the Hat Comes Back, Bartholomew and the Oobleck, How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Each day of Read Across America week, create Seuss-inspired artwork. Paint some of his crazy creatures at easels with brightly colored paints. Model creatures in clay or playdough. Create silly Seuss sculptures by poking recycled materials in Styrofoam blocks. But don't just model...create your own! 

To teach Dr. Seuss at the collage center, make Seuss toys from "How the Grinch Stole Christmas." Put out oddly shaped cardboard containers, egg cartons, aluminum foil and cans, plastic containers and colored fabric scraps. Students can design their own version of a Whoville Jing Tingler, Flu Flooper, Tar Tinkers, Who Hoover or Who Carnio Flunx. Make silly hats like Bartholomew Cubbins' 500! 

Bringing Dr. Seuss to music learning centers, is as easy as cut, glue, decorate! Using ideas from "How the Grinch Stole Christmas", make homemade Seuss-ical instruments. Create noise-makers like the Grinch's hated Gar Ginkers Trum Tupers Slu Slumkers Blum Bloopers Who Wompers and Zu Zitter Carzays. Encourage students to give their musical instruments silly sounding names. 

Dr. Seuss fits perfectly in dramatic play or dress up learning centers. Have students design masks of Seuss characters: Thidwick the Big-Hearted Moose, Horton the elephant, Yertle the Turtle, Maisie the bird, the Wickersham monkeys, the Kangaroo and her joey.  Let children create their own Seuss creatures. Encourage kids to perform a Dr. Seuss parade like the one in his first book "And to Think I Saw It On Mulberry Street." Dress in homemade Seuss costumes, play musical instruments and show off homemade toys.

Dr. Seuss finds a play in science learning centers, using Lorax inspired life lessons. The Lorax deals with environmentalism and respect for biomes and animals on the planet. Set up an experiment on decomposition and pollution. Place different pieces of trash in zippered bags with a little water. Monitor them over time to show students how slowly trash decomposes. Students could also tend "truffula seeds" (use any flower seeds, sunflower, cosmos or daisy). Explore the food chain and animal species and habitats using these free printable habitat dioramas from First-Palette. Make Oobleck mixing liquid laundry starch and white school glue.

To teach a Dr. Seuss practical life area, use "The Cat in the Hat", "Green Eggs and Ham" and "Horton Hears a Who." These books deal with caring for others, preparing food and house cleaning. Do a Cat in the Hat tidy up relay race. Cook green eggs and ham. Care for an insect or goldfish.

Supplement with these free printable Dr. Seuss activities from Rock Your Homeschool. These are just a few of the Dr. Seuss activities to inspire a love of learning and reading in preschoolers. 

Homemade Cardboard Sink and Refrigerator for Preschool Practical Life Learning Centers

Homemade Cardboard Play House Furniture and Appliances: Sink and Refrigerator 

When I was young, my parents made an entire play house for me from recycled cardboard boxes. You can use your recycle bin to make a cardboard house for homeschool or preschool learning center. Here's a tutorial for homemade child sized sink and refrigerator. 

To make these easy cardboard play appliances in less than an hour, you will need cardboard boxes, box cutter or sharp scissors, permanent marker, plastic dishpan or tub, duct tape or box tape and two pump dispensers from soap bottles. 

To make a play sink, tape a cardboard box closed. Cut slits in the box. Insert a small plastic dishpan or tub like hospitals send patients home with. Push tub down into the hole you cut. Cardboard frame will hold the tub in place and create a 'sink'. 

Make faucet, spout and handle for your play sink from two recycled dispenser bottles. Foaming hand soap dispensers look the most realistic. Cut small holes in the back of the box sink. Drop dispenser pieces into the holes so that just the top pump part shows through. Tape inside box so it doesn't wobble. Children can pretend to run water by pressing pump dispenser. 

Or make pretend handles. Make discs of cardboard, clay or cork. Cover with duct tape. Punch hole in center. Insert old pencils or straws. Cut a hole in the back of the cardboard near faucet. Insert straws/pencils and tape to back inside of box. Label "hot" and "cold." Rotate discs like knobs. Place recycled dish soap bottle on sink.

Use a tall rectangle box placed upright for refrigerator. Duct tape pieces of cardboard to make a shelves. Place an old plastic dishpan or plastic box in the bottom for a vegetable drawer. Cover all cardboard surfaces with contact paper and seal edges with duct tape so cardboard appliances last longer. Place small clothing rack near the play kitchen to hang aprons and chefs hats. Dress up is essential in child's play. 

Wood Working Activities for Preschool Learning Centers

Safe, Child Size Wood Working Learning Center for Preschool, Elementary School One of my favorite memories in kindergarten was wood shop. Here are preschool lesson plans to do woodworking in learning centers. When I was a kid, we made wood working projects with scrap wood, hammer and nails. Modern preschool learning centers can't use real tools for wood working activities for safety reasons. But some programs such as High/Scope and Montessori preschool teach children adult tasks using child-sized versions of grownup tools. Here are safe, child-sized wood working and woodshop activities for Montessori preschool learning centers

Many preschool learning centers rely on play tools for woodshop or building activities. Plastic toy tools are fun for children to play with, but they really don't teach anything practical life skills about wood working or tool safety. In fact, kids learn that it's okay to be careless when they play with toy tools because they won't get hurts. Montessori preschool woodshop learning centers educate children about safety. Any child-sized wood working learning stations should include safety glasses, work aprons to cover clothing and gloves to prevent splinters. Children should be required to wear available to wear safety equipment. Any child not behaving safely in woodshop learning centers should be removed and lose privileges.

While it mightn't be practical to use power tools, children can use small hand tools. Kids can practice hammer skill using a tack hammer, heavy plastic hammer or small wooden mallet. You can use wood and nails in learning centers with older children. Montessori preschool learning centers may substitute golf tees and recycled Styrofoam. For child-sized woodshop activities, let students pound golf tees into large pieces of Styrofoam to practice hammering. They can attach small chunks with golf tees to simulate nailing wood pieces together. Use recycled Styrofoam pieces old coolers, surfboards, packing materials, clean vegetable trays even packing peanuts.

Practice carving and cutting skills in child-sized woodshop learning centers using plastic knives and bars of soap. Older children can use child-sized saws or hack saws and pieces of balsa wood or pine. This gives students the idea of sawing wood, without the danger of injury. Children should be taught to be as careful as if they were using full-sized tools. themselves. To practice child-sized drilling activities, provide children with a non-powered hand drill, also called a bit and brace and child-sized vise. Children will love putting pieces of wood or Styrofoam in the vise to hold it secure while they work. They can practice opening and closing vise carefully so as not to pinch fingers. If your preschool learning centers have a child-sized plastic work bench, it will have play vise for children to use.

Good resources for realistic child-sized tools are Handy Andy tool kits. These were completely functional child-sized hand tools, made of realistic metal and wood, that came in a metal or wooden tool kit. Handy Andy tool kits are collectibles. Check the Ebay to buy vintage Handy Andy tool sets. 

Recycled Cardboard Play House for Preschool House Area Learning Center

Easy, DIY, Recycled Cardboard Play House for Preschool Learning Center Practical Life Area   

Preschool children are wonderfully imaginative. If you give them an old box and tell them to pretend it's a car, they will enjoy hours of fun in their Maserati. Kids don't need expensive playhouse to have fun. You can make a recycled cardboard playhouse easily. In fact, teachers and parents, you can create entire Montessori preschool practical life learning centers for home or school, with just a refrigerator box, available in dumpsters behind appliance stores.

First a word on the refrigerator box--it's a wonderful tool for Montessori preschool play. It's green, versatile, sturdy enough for children to play in and recyclable when you're finished with it. My father made me an entire cardboard playhouse full of furniture, with recycled cardboard boxes. Here's how to make a cardboard playhouse for Montessori preschool practical life learning centers. First, cut the refrigerator box along one of the long edges. Now open the box and flaps of both ends. Place refrigerator box upright around one corner of the room, flaps toward the floor. Alternate flaps, one in, then the next facing outward (to form a base). Arrange the cardboard playhouse so that it encloses the corner. Invert refrigerator box so printing faces inward. Duct tape edges of cardboard to the walls and tape flaps to floor. This is not meant to be a permanent structure; but the tape will prevent the cardboard box wall from collapsing. There is no need for a roof or ceiling. Children understand the concept and will be able to imagine a ceiling.

Cut a window or two in the sides of the box. Cut window panes and curtains and color them in. Or staple scrap fabric to make curtains. Draw a flower box on the outside or make a little rack to place real plants. Cut a door that opens and closes or cut a doorway and hang a piece of cloth like a curtain. Place green and brown towels along the bottom of the cardboard playhouse to look like earth and grass and to mask the edges. Inside your Montessori preschool practical life learning centers, place a doll cradle with assorted dolls, child-sized table and chairs, with play kitchen furniture, play food and dishes and house area costumes. Make recycled cardboard appliances. Set up artificial trees and flowers to lend verisimilitude. Inside the house, put a basket of books that pertains to the subject you're studying. Add comfy throw pillows. This makes your Montessori preschool practical life learning centers into a quiet reading or library learning centers.

Habitat Science Tubs and Preschool Learning Center Activities

Preschool and Elementary Science Learning Center Ideas for Habitat Study Learning occurs best when it's interactive. Bring hands-on, cross-curricular activities to every preschool classroom learning center. Studying different countries, cultures or habitats in your classroom? Here are hands-on science center activities. 

Montessori type learning centers focus on hands-on child-led mastery learning, individual work stations and play as work activities. Activities in learning centers aim for mastery learning through exploration and task completion. Montessori science learning centers are also called sensory or sensorial learning areas. Here's a system for portable exploratory science tubs with task-oriented science experiments and activities for mastery learning.

Montessori learning centers are organized, precise and minimal. Instead of a jumble of toys, there are specific ordered learning materials with task-oriented goals. Children work in individual work stations instead of desks or tables. These are usually portable mats rolled out on the floor. Portable unit-based science tubs work well. Materials in science tubs may be preset on stationary learning mats and children rotate through learning centers to complete activities. Or children may select science tubs, bring them to their mat work stations where they interact with materials to accomplish educational tasks.

To create exploratory science tubs, you'll need small plastic boxes with lids, baskets and different science unit materials. Stacking boxes or drawers in a rolling cart work well too. You might also use zippered plastic bags for individual science units. You will arrange materials by content area. When you're studying a particular content area, you'll remove materials from drawer or box and place in baskets. This makes learning materials more appealing and approachable.

Themes for exploratory science tubs include: magnets, matters, animal classification, mammals, reptiles, air, water, weather, measurement, polymers, plants, rocks and minerals, chemistry, seeds and seed carriers, feathers, electricity, atoms, food, bubbles, bugs, spiders, electronics. Place materials to explore in science tubs. Add several related follow up tasks for mastery learning--flashcards, worksheets, matching games. Children can do mastery learning tasks in science journals for follow up.

Make available tools for exploratory science: microscope, slides, magnifying glass, tweezers, magnifying box, telescope, gram balance scale, ruler, protractor, measuring tape. On the top surface of the plastic science tubs shelf, draw outlines of tools so children know where to place tools when finished. You could also make a pegboard for them to hang tools. Children perform exploratory science tasks and then return materials to original places so other children can use them

Preschool Sand Table Lesson Plans for science learning centers

A sand table is a low child-sized table with tubs that can be filled with materials for children to explore. The sand table, also called sand and water table, is the backbone of preschool science activities in learning centers. Early childhood special education classrooms use a sand table, or water table. The sand table provides hands-on,interactive learning, cognitive and perceptual development and tactile stimulation. You can make your own sand table for preschool learning centers. Then use these sand table science activities for early childhood lesson plans.

Water: Fill tubs with water to make a water table. Add floating toys and bath tub toys. Provide different sized containers that encourage children to practice pouring and measuring. Place revolving water wheels in the water table. Add some items that sink and some that float. Use water table for hands-on exploration with the scientific concepts of flotation, water displacement, density and specific gravity. Create a "What Sinks? What Floats?" chart.

Bubbles: Make a simple bubble solution with water, lemon Joy dish soap and glycerin for sturdy

bubbles. Add bubble making toys and every day household gadgets: apple corer, egg beater, whisk,

egg slicer, slotted spoon, fork, cone shaped applesauce mill and any other safe gadgets for water

science activities in learning centers.

Rocks and seashells: Fill your sand table with water and sand. Add rocks, seashells and old (sanitized)

recycled toothbrushes. Children can scrub shells and rocks with toothbrushes. Shells and rocks are

best seen in water, which brings out their hidden depths. Children will love exploring the intricate

beauty of shells and rocks.

Shaving Cream: Allow children to squirt shaving cream into water table tub. Concentrated gel shaving

cream is lots of fun because it foams up as it sprays. Teach safety so kids don't get soap in their eyes.

Exercise caution with aerosol cans. It may be advisable to have an adult add the shaving cream.

Encourage finger painting and drawing in shaving cream. Make sure children wash their hands after

doing science activities in learning centers.

Snow: Fill the sand table with snow and add plastic sand shovels, trowel, ice cream scoop, melon

baller, recycled plastic cups and containers for molding and shaping snow. Have children to wear

gloves and keep several pairs near the water table.

Recycle bin paper scraps: Place scrap paper in sand table tubs and add scissor with patterned edges

and paper punches. Children love to snip, trim, cut and punch paper. Exploring with paper in the sand

table keeps scraps in one place. This exercise provides good practice in cutting skills, scissors skills,

eye-hand coordination and fine motor skills.

Dried beans or rice: Add plastic measuring cups, spoons and cups with pour spouts. Teach children

about measurement math. Preschool children can practice counting, sorting while getting good tactile

stimulation in learning centers.

Aquarium Fish tank rocks: Buy bags of multicolored aquarium fish tank rocks (the small kind that line

the bottom of the tank). Fish tank rocks make excellent media for pouring, scooping and measuring.

Aquarium rocks also don't draw insects like beans and rice. Beads work well in the sand table, too,

but can be expensive. Explore other materials for your sand table science activities.

Preschool Learning Centers: How to structure

The best lesson plans include learning centers with lots of interactives, hands-on activities. Preschool, special needs, gen ed and even homeschool students benefit from learning centers. Here's a simple guide to set up learning centers with inexpensive, recycled, repurposed materials. 

1) Set up cross-curricular learning centers based on units being studied. Include math, science, social studies, literature and technology. 

2)  Each center should include a shelf or basket of books related to unit. Social studies units include books on countries and cultures. DK--Dorling Kindersley makes excellent science reference books and field guides to use in science learning centers. 

3) Manipulatives: Fill learning centers with a variety of hands-on games, crafts, Montessori type flashcards and learning sets appropriate to unit. Science centers include STEM diagrams, charts, experiments and activities. Literature units might include paper dolls and dioramas. Fills social studies learning centers with maps, globes and artefacts. Math centers should have measurement, counting, operations and other math lesson plans. 

4) Preschool centers: There are 4-6 basic learning centers in a preschool classroom. Dramatic play, practical life (house), building, science and gross motor. 

5) Tasks: List tasks to complete in each of the learning centers, according to age. Preschool and young special needs students may just explore with middle school students will have activities to complete. Keep them as open-ended as possible to address HOTS (higher order thinking skills). Also, make lesson plans self-checking for immediate feedback.