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.

Montessori math manipulatives from recycled trash: Easy, free DIY math activities

Educational wisdom says hands-on learning works best for kids. Here are hands-on Montessori math activities using homemade Math Their Way type manipulatives from recycled trash. Make easy, free or cheap eco-friendly math lesson plans for learning centers Homeschool parents, keep Montessori math activities on hand for homework help and summer enrichment. Use these math manipulatives to teach place value, addition, subtraction, carrying, borrowing, multiplication, division, fractions, decimals, percent, story problems, sorting and classifying, even basic algebra. 

Milk rings from recycled trash. Use milk rings in different colors to teach place value. Bundle in groups of ten like Montessori base10 blocks. Teach math operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. 

Twist ties and bread tags from recycled trash: As with milk rings, bundle different colors together to show groups of ten or one hundred. Use like Montessori golden beads. Math Their Way uses milk rings, twist ties and bread tags for place value, sorting, counting and classifying. 

Play dough math manipulatives. Save play dough scraps and give each child a tub. Have students make clay numbers or clay balls to count. Students can also roll clay out and cut with cookie cutters to create shapes, patterns and Montessori style geometric solids. 

Dice math activities: Keep these as car games for math facts practice, homework help or summer enrichment. Play multiplication, division, subtraction and addition games. Shake two die and add, subtract, divide or multiply the two numbers. 

Recycled game pieces. Save old game pieces, bingo or poker chips and game tokens to use for counting, like Montessori Teddy Bear Counters. Play Math Their Way sorting, classifying and organizing math games. Use to demonstrate story problems. Teach ratio, percent and fractions lesson plans. 

Domino math games . Dominoes make great hands-on math manipulatives. Use as car games for homework help and summer enrichment, practicing times tables and math facts. Have students add, subtract or multiply the dots shown on the domino. 

Playing cards. Recycle and repurpose mismatched playing cards as flashcards. Have students play math games like war, only they add, subtract or multiply the cards drawn. These make great car games for homework practice and summer enrichment. 

Stickers for DIY flash cards and math worksheets. Repurpose partially used sheets of stickers to make DIY math flashcards and math problems. Students create math problems by writing numbers on blank stickers. Students can also use picture stickers to show story problems. 

Yarn and straws. Cut straws into equal pieces and have students "string" straw pieces like beads.  Use for counting and patterns, abacus math and fine motor skills practices. 

Beads. String mismatched beads from broken jewelry and use like a DIY abacus, golden beads or base 10 blocks. 

Cardboard. Cut cardboard strips to make rulers for measurement, base 10 bars (like Cuisenaire Rods). Teach place value, geometry, multiplication, division. Make fraction bars and fraction pies from recycled cardboard. Make flashcards and file folder games. Here are some free printables for file folder games. (From ABCs to ACTs blog)

Health science lesson plans: Nutrition chemistry and recipes to fight obesity

Childhood obesity is a dangerous health issue that affects more kids annually. What can we as parents and teachers do about it? Weight loss under age 13 is tricky because preteens are still growing. Better to teach good nutrition in health and science lesson plans. Here are healthy food swaps for favorites kid foods and ways to teach nutrition in the classroom. 

* Salt: Teach properties of salt in kitchen chemistry lesson plans. Teach children to read labels and seek out low-sodium varieties of favorite snacks. Put out healthy snacks and let kids make trail mix in snack size bags to control portions. Make low salt popcorn in class. For fun nutrition lesson plans, instruct kids to research salt substitutes--lemon juice, vinegar and herbs.

* Soda pop. Have students study nutrition labels to discover how much sugar pop contains. In chemistry
science lesson plans, demonstrate how sugar dehydrates, and how the acid in pop burns grime off a penny and in the same way burns stomach lining and tooth enamel. Help students create healthy carbonated drink recipes with 100 percent fruit juice and soda water. Demonstrate the importance of plain water in curbing obesity and overall health. 

* Pizza: Kids love pizza and there are a million great ways it can be used in lesson plans. Let students make clock faces with vegetables and cheese on personal crusts. Experiment with creative pizza recipes using healthy toppings and creative crust food swaps. Made right, pizza can actually fight childhood obesity. 

* Veggies and dip: Kids love vegetables in ranch dip so let them invent healthy dip and dressing recipes. Use food swaps of yogurt, garlic, pepper and a little Parmesan cheese. Teach colors and patterns with cut vegetables. Help them to explore texture and taste and then write descriptively. 

* Spreads and condiments: This is a great place to learn measurement and portion size. Let kids practice measuring serving sizes of ketchup, jam for PBJ, butter, mayo, etc. Explore calories and teach math by counting and adding calories in math lesson plans. 

* Breads: Help kids explore healthy vs. unhealthy ingredients in breads. Bring in your bread machine and use it to teach cooking, nutrition and kitchen chemistry lesson plans. Help kids invent and write nutritious bread recipes using different grains, nuts, seeds and dried fruits. 

No nutrition lesson plans are complete without the fitness component. Get kids away from screens and outside playing. Active children will not need to worry about weight loss and obesity. 

Valentine candy hearts cookie recipe, math lesson, craft, preschool counting games

Looking for ways to use up leftover valentine candy hearts? Here's a cute Valentine craft and snack that teaches math using Valentine's Day Necco Sweetheart conversation hearts. They're an edible flashcards to help children practice counting and other mathematics skills.

Counting Hearts Cookies

You'll need 55 candy hearts per child and a roll of sugar cookie dough (enough for 10 cookies per child). Let children slice their dough logs into circles. This provides fine motor practice and eye-hand coordination. Talk about shapes as they cut; discuss geometry, circles, cylinders. Have children think of other round and tube-shaped objects. Make a list. Children can write it down in math journals or illustrate later.

Next have children divide candies per circle. Place 1-10 candy hearts per cookie, so each cookie has a different number of hearts. Count as you go. You might have to spread the 10-heart cookie thinner to get them all on.
When baked, use cookies as flashcards. Play counting and adding games. Say "show me three hearts." Or how many is "two hearts plus five hearts?" Let kids eat number cookies on the hour. Eat the 1 cookie at 1 pm, 2 at 2 pm. You can use these Valentine counting heart cookies in any number of ways.

For more free educational activities visit my blog Free Lesson Plans 4U. For specifically preschool lesson plans visit Preschool Child Activities. For more leftover use-up recipes, visit Great Food 4U.

Free Printable Math Activities: Lessons, Cut and Paste, Games

Teachers and homeschool parents are always looking for ways to make learning fun. One way is to use hands-on lesson plans and interactive educational materials to engage kids in active learning. Math is sometimes difficult to teach in hands-on lesson plans. So here are free printable math games to use as math worksheets and lesson plans that are enjoyable (rather than painful). These math worksheets help students with concepts that are hard to visualize. Much math content is abstract which means kids have to "think outside the box." with no frame of reference. These free printable math games provided that concept framing. Free lessons are perfect for homeschool families living on a budget.

Dr. Mike promises hands-on lesson plans and cool math games on his website and does he ever deliver. He's created free printable math games and free printable math worksheets on an array of subjects. There are free printable games, online games, calculator games, math worksheets and board games, magic squares, times tables and more. These challenging math games cover operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication and division), fractions, patterns, cryptograms, number mazes, geometry, place value, magic hexagon, deductive reasoning. inductive reasoning, spatial relations, countdowns (using an Advent calendar) and others. Homeschool families, you will like the free printable 3D geometric solid models for kids to cut, fold and paste. How's that for hands-on lesson plans!

This articles doesn't link to individual games at Dr. Mike's request. He would like visitors to be directed back to his site. You'll be glad he did it that way. This way, you can see all the nifty math games, puzzles and activities that you may have missed had I linked you to an individual page. Printables include all pieces needed for game play. Hands-on lesson plans list items (all easy to find) that may be needed that he cannot add. Dr. Mike makes these games available free of charge for teachers, homeschool, parents, day care providers, grandparents--anyone who needs math worksheets for non-profit use.

You'll love the tessellations game and the rice and chessboard story. Read the book "One Grain of Rice: A Mathematical Folktale" by Demi. This relates the old legend of how the gift of one grain of rice grew exponentially to a kingdom full of rice in one month. Dr. Mike's games not only teach kids valuable math lessons in a manageable format, they're also a lot of fun. Teachers and homeschool parents, play these games with students and you'll hear no groans and only cheers at math time.

Free Printable Geometry Lesson Plans from Sir Cumference

Children's literature author Cindy Neuschwander, with illustrator Wayne Geehan has written a math adventure series that is perfect for Pi Day on March 14. In the books, Sir Cumference, Lady Di of Ameter and their son Radius solve math problems, geometry puzzles and medieval mysteries. The name puns are only the beginning of the fun. Children learn about geometry, measurement, counting, algebra, formulas and math lesson plans in charming medieval fairy tales. 

The Sir Cumference books include: 

--Sir Cumference and the First Round Table (A Math Adventure) (1997) Lady Di of Ameter and her son Radius help Sir Cumference figure out the most user-friendly shape for the table to seat his knights for their meetings. Great exploratory book for understanding shapes, angles and geometry. 

--Sir Cumference and the Dragon of Pi (A Math Adventure) (1999) It's Radius and Lady Di of Ameter  to the rescue again to save Sir Cumference who has been eaten by the Dragon of Pi. By visiting the cooks in the kitchen Radius learns how the Greek term Pi works in geometry and uses it to solve this math riddle. Use this one for Pi Day!

--Sir Cumference and the Great Knight of Angleland (A Math Adventure) (2001) Radius goes off on a quest with Sir D'Grees to battle a Pair of Lells (dragons). In clever geometrical exploits, they teach math lesson plans on angles and measurement. 

--Sir Cumference and the Sword in the Cone (A Math Adventure) (2003) Again brave Radius, assisted by his friend Vertex learn about geometric solids and how to pull out the famous sword Edgecaliber from the cone. There are solid math lesson plans in this fun adventure. 

--Sir Cumference and the Isle of Immeter (A Math Adventure) (2006) Radius must help his cousin Per face down dragons and learn about geometry in a game called Inners and Edges, so that Per can rescue her kingdom and become Per of Immeter. Lady Di of Ameter and Sir Cumference lend a hand. 

--Sir Cumference and All the Kings Tens (A Math Adventure) (2009) Sir Cumference and his Lady Di of Ameter discover that when planning a birthday party for the King that using a base 10 counting system (or metric system) is the only way to count this growing crowd of guests. 

Here are some free lesson plans based on Cindy Neuschwander books. Teacher Vision has free printable Sir Cumference math lesson plans for Pi Day. Check Education World for a complete unit of free printable Pi Day activities, geometry worksheets and math lesson plans from Sir Cumference geometry books. Lesson Planet has many free printable geometry worksheets that are specific to Sir Cumference and the Dragon of Pi for Pi Day. Here's a site with free printable Sir Cumference lesson plans. Math Geek Mama has created loads of lesson plans on Sir Cumference books. She sells an activity book for each of the Cindy Neuschwander books and offers free printable geometry worksheets, games, activities and lesson plans from each. 

Free TI 30, TI-83, TI-84 Online Calculator Download

Free TI 30 Online Scientific Calculator Trial Download

The TI-30 scientific calculator from Texas Instruments is the required calculator for most middle school math classes. TI-83 and Ti-84 are graphing calculators used in high school math classes. These calculators can be pricey. So try the free calculator downloads and graphing calculator apps available here. 

TI-30 scientific calculators have function keys for algebra and algebraic equations, trigonometry, scientific math, decimal to fraction converter, unit converter, complex numbers and RPS.

EEWeb has free online scientific calculator tools for laptop and desktop computer software.

Texas Instruments website  has free downloads for their products also. The online TI-30 scientific calculator software can be purchased for $14.95. The advantage in using online scientific calculators is that handheld are easier to lose or get stolen. 

Google Play has free graphing calculator apps for Android users. iTunes has free TI 30 apps as well. If you can find a good freebie, I suggest buying an app for the iPhone or Android. This turns makes the device into a calculator and means one less tool to lose. 

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

Play Dough Recipe and Easy Geography Landforms Lesson Plans

Here is an easy, hands-on geography lesson plan. Use this lesson plan in the general education classroom, homeschool and special needs classroom. Students of all ages enjoy this interactive geography activity. Begin by mixing up a large batch of play dough. Make the play dough in class and use it for an interactive math measuring lesson plan. Here's an easy play dough recipe:

  1 cup hot water

  

  1 cup white flour

  

  1/4 cup salt

  

  1 teaspoon vegetable oil

  

  2 teaspoons alum or cream of tartar

  

  blue or green food coloring

  Mix with fork or by hand. Adjust recipe for a larger group using a 1:1 ratio for water, flour and salt, a 1:2 ratio for alum or cream of tartar and a 1: one quarter ratio for salt. Measuring and mixing this play dough in class gives students practice in ratios, fractions and measurement. When mixed, separate into two balls. Color one ball blue (or green) for water. Leave one ball plain color for land. Give each student a paper plate, a plastic knife and a zippered bag of blue play dough and another of plain play dough.

Introduce geography terms and definitions used for landforms. Here are free printable landforms coloring pages and geography vocabulary lesson plans. Demonstrate the shape of the landform using play dough or drawing the landform on the overhead projector. Use black pen for land and blue for water. Students will use their blue and white clay to create landforms based on drawings from the board or overhead projector.

Marketing, Business, Math Lesson Plans with Manufacturer's Marketplace

In my never-ending quest to make learning more hands-on and content more approachable, here is a school activity that combines business and money math, writing, design, marketing, public relations and organization: it's called Manufacturer's Marketplace. If you want to engage your students in active learning and create a memorable lesson plan that everyone will enjoy then Manufacturer's Marketplace is the venue for you.

  The concept behind a Manufacturer's Marketplace is quite simple. Each student must design and produce a good or service, which he vends to his school community on a given school day. All that is needed from the teacher's perspective is a time, place and student body. Manufacturer's Marketplace can be held in any grade; in school districts in which children enter middle school in sixth grade, Manufacturer's Marketplace makes a great 'farewell to fifth grade and elementary school' project'.

  To organize Manufacturer's Marketplace with your students or homeschool cooperative, each child should be given a planning sheet to fill out with parents, explaining what good or service he plans to market, his costs involved and his final price per unit. Goods should be made by hand and not purchased. Students should draw a model of their product or service as well as an advertising poster to be hung in the school hallway. Cost per product should be kept under $1.00 per unit so that student's with little pocket money can still purchase something. As a class, students should create a take-home flyer to be sent home with students in all grades, reminding students to bring money for Manufacturer's Marketplace Day.

  On Manufacturer's Marketplace Day, students should set up their product on individual desks or tables. Part of the assignment is to create enough product to supply the number of students in the school. Recommend that students bring at least one unit for every three - five students in the school. An important part of this marketing assignment that students will learn is about supply and demand. Classrooms of students should be given slots of time to browse and shop.

  After Manufacturer's Marketplace Day, the student should calculate profit, any discounts they may have given, any hidden costs incurred as well as any leftover product (to be deducted from the sales as a business liability). Students should also write a brief business report analyzing the project, listing successes as well as changes that they would make next time (bought too little, over-bought, etc.).

Manufacturer's Marketplace is a great math, business, book-keeping, design, entrepreneurial, marketing and social event for your school.

Free Marketing Lesson Plans, Science Inventions

Looking for a way to teach marketing and business in elementary school, middle school or high school? Here are cross-curricular business math lesson plans with recycling connections. Use these business math lesson plans to teach environmental science in Earth Month. Students design, manufacture and sell inventions made from recycled materials. These marketing lesson plans are perfect for school, homeschool, 4H clubs, scout troop merit badges, Destination Imagination (DI) teams and Junior Achievement clubs. Plug business math lesson plans into a science unit on technology or simple machines. Tie in activities on inventors for social studies, history and biographical literature lesson plans. Of course marketing has plenty of business math and consumer math applications too. These marketing lesson plans include a component on advertising which addresses design, writing and public speaking activities. . Here is a scope and sequence for each content area. This lesson covers the higher order thinking skills of analysis, application, synthesis and evaluation.

Cross-curricular lessons plans: Graphic Design: The student will design and sketch a product or tool of his own invention.

Cross-curricular Science Technology: The student will plan, organize and build products or inventions using only materials found in a recycle bin. Make these in Earth Month to reinforce eco-friendly design. These may be primary inventions (for example, a hand can opener) or secondary inventions (a development or improvement on primary inventions, for example an electric can opener.) All inventions or products should be creative or unique in some way.

Environmental science: The student will create inventions using only found, reclaimed, repurposed or recycled materials. Students might clean up the playground or empty recycle bins for Earth Month.

Art: The student will decorate or embellish the invention to make it more aesthetically pleasing and marketable. She will also design promotional materials--posters, flyers, product commercials or bill boards. Promotional materials should be made from recycled materials for Earth Month.

Literature: The student will choose an inventor in history to profile. TSW read a biography or autobiography on his inventor and explore the inventor's background and body of work. Ideally the inventor would somehow be associated with the type of invention that the student is creating.

Social studies: The student will develop a poster, timeline or DVD or presentation showing how other variations of her products or inventions have been used in history or around the world.

Writing: The student will write a short one minute commercial advertising her product or invention. Commercial should demonstrate how the invention is used, how it will benefit consumers and why they should buy it.

Theater/Drama/public speaking: The student will perform her commercial and demonstration for the class or school. Teachers, give extra credit for costumes, make-up and scenery (a free standing cardboard box backdrop and props made from recycled materials ties in well with Earth Month.)

Music: The student will compose a simple musical jingle to advertise his product. The student should emphasize that inventions are made with recycled environmentally friendly sustainable materials.

Math: The student will calculate the costs of production, establish a retail price, develop a marketing strategy and sell the product at a student "Market Day." She will keep track of sales, discounts, extra costs, etc. She will fill out a teacher-made balance sheet.

Use as many or as few of these components of the unit as you wish. You might opt to take one or two pieces and expand them to fit another lesson or activity that you are doing. These business math lesson plans and activities can be tweaked to fit almost any age of student or size of group.

Free Printable Educational Board Games, Card Games

Card games and board games are excellent teaching tools. Card games can be created to teach content area and subject matter in lesson plans Card games help students memorize information. Here are free printable educational card games, playing cards, flashcards, dominoes and Memory games to use as lesson plans. 

The Kidz Page has free printable educational card games, word games, flashcards, math games, sudoku games and lots of other educational learning games. They are brightly colored, cheerful games. Activity Village has free printable educational cards games, deck of cards for learning games, Memory games and more. 

Free Printable Math Manipulatives, Hands-on Math Tools, Activities

The best way to teach math is with real-life applications. The best way to explain math concepts is with hands-on materials that are multi-sensory. These tools are called math manipulatives because kids can touch and interact with them. They're not just paper and pencil activities or textbook lessons. Math manipulatives include real or play money (for market math), clocks for telling time, fraction bars, pattern blocks, parquetry blocks, peg boards, base ten blocks, Unifix cubes and Cuisinaire Rods. Here are websites with free printable math manipulatives for homemade materials.

Mason has a webpage with dozens of links for free printable math manipulatives, Print pattern blocks, geometry shapes, Base Ten blocks, color tiles, XY blocks and fraction bars. These tools are commonly used in preschool, kindergarten and special needs classrooms, but should be used in all grades to teach geometry, algebra and other maths.

Sparkle Box from the United Kingdom is jam-packed with free math manipulatives and printables. There are free printable PDFs of clock activities for telling time, fraction pies and bars, coins and play money for learning about money math and many free printable math games. Math games include spinners, dice, game board, pieces and accessories, all free printable cut-out activities.

Making Learning Fun has hundreds of free printable math games and manipulatives. This website is organized according to theme, such as Cats, Apples or different children's literature books. Each theme or topic has free printable math lessons, crafts, cut and paste, puzzles and more.

Jimmie's Collage is a neat homeschool blog with gobs of mom-teacher-made math manipulatives to print. Use in the classroom or at home.

Free Printable File Folder Games

 Hello my Omschooligans! Games and craft projects make excellent lesson plans. Making learning games as craft projects is a perfect way to extend activities. And one of the simplest and easiest games to make are file folder games. Here are lesson plans to teach reading with file folder games. Students can learn just about any subject using file folder games to reinforce content and practice skills. Here are free printable file folders games online. Besides reading, teach math, reading, spelling, grammar, phonics, science, social studies and more. Print games for all ages and ability levels: preschool, kindergarten, elementary, special needs, middle school. Use for homeschool, too.

File Folder Fun has over 100 free printable file folder games in content areas across the curriculum. Search by age, grade level, theme and subject. File folder themes include animals, foods, flowers, weather, ocean life, circus. Themes teach math, reading, science, social studies, phonics, spelling, math,

ELA (English Language Arts) history, music and other preschool and elementary school subjects. Click the games you want. The click "download." And voila, a screen appears with game background, pieces, cards, all materials you need, free.

Play to Learn Preschool has a free downloadable pack of 10 free printable filefolder games for math, English, reading, writing, spelling, science, social studies and more. Games can be used with varied ages. Click the game you want. The print, cut out and and assemble. Or better still, print in black and white. Have students color, cut and paste and assemble. You get two activities--craft, lesson plan and game--all in one!

Cindy's Autistic Support has free printable math file folder games. Use to teach counting, addition, subtraction, multiplication and division file folder games. You can make individual games for each math fact (times table) family.

Stitching Hearts WW offers an assortment of free printable file folder games to download, print, color and assemble. 

To make file folder games:

Print game board and glue to inside of file folder. Write instructions on outside. Laminate or cover with contact paper. Make a spinner by drawing a circle. Divide like a pie. Label segments with game advancement options. Place paperclip on paper fastener (brad). Poke fastener through center of circle. Spin paper clip.

Store game cards or pieces in zippered plastic bag or envelope stapled to folder. File folder games store upright in filing cabinet or drawer. Get extra craft project mileage from free printable file folder games by assigning students make them. They can practice cutting, pasting, assembling and following directions. 

Play Dough, Oobleck, Moon Sand, Lint Dough, Silly Putty recipes

March is National Reading Month. For hands-on reading lesson plans, how about homemade science recipes and kitchen chemistry experiments? Here are recipes for silly putty, noise or farting putty, Flubber, play dough, melting goop, Oobleck, Moon Sand, lint dough, modeling clay, paper mache, and soap dough.

Noise Putty, Farting putty or Flubber: Silly putty is called farting putty, because it sounds like passing gas when squished. This simple recipe has wowed generations of students in three decades of teaching. Mix blue liquid laundry starch and white school glue. Laundry starch is found in laundry section. Sta-Flo is the most common brand. Blend in cup or zippered bag with fingers. Mix till sticky glue is blended in and putty is slippery and rubbery.

Magic Melting Putty or Oobleck. This simple recipe defys the laws of matter. Mix a little water in corn starch. It hardens to a solid then "melts" when you touch it. Put melting putty in the preschool sand and water table. Or fill a child's pool with cornstarch and water for hours of messy fun. Great preschool birthday party activity!

Moldable Moon Sand. This dough recipe teaches ratios. The ratio is 2 to 1 to .5. Mix 2 cups of commercial play sand, 1 cup corn starch to one half cup of cold water (color water with food coloring if desired). Dissolve corn starch in cold water (cold doesn't clump, but you can let kids experiment with warm to discover that for themselves). The blend sand and corn starch together. Make a large batch for classroom sand table.

Perfect Play Dough: Blend 1 cup salt, 2 cups of flour, 1 cup boiling water, 1 teaspoon of cream of tartar or alum, food coloring, cooking oil (about 2 T.) Dough too sticky? Add flour. Too dry? Add water or oil.

Soap Dough: Mix 1 cup powdered laundry detergent, an eighth of a cup of water and food coloring. Mold or sculpt as you would with play-dough. Store in refrigerator.

Paper mache. Tear any recycled scrap paper in pieces. Soak in hot water till pulpy. Add a dribble of white school glue. Blend till smooth. When cool, spread over boxes and containers to form shapes. Great eco-friendly craft.

Dryer Lint Dough. Teach ratios 1.5:1:.3. Mix 1.5 cups pressed dryer lint with one cup cold water and one third cup of flour. Add a drop of oil to prevent mold. Dissolve flour in cold water and blend to get rid of lumps. Carefully add lint and stir constantly until mixture forms stiff peaks. Mold like paper mache.

Free Printable Play Money, Coins, Bills, American and Euro Currency

Money math, banking and finance are some of the most practical math applications. Students learn real-world math lessons by writing checks, balancing checkbooks and managing debit and credit cards, savings and checking accounts. To help, here are free printable blank checks, play money, check register forms, banking slips, deposit slips and withdrawal slips. Use to teach hands-on money math lessons Use for consumer math classes, special education lesson plans and homeschool math activities.

DL-TK has several pages of pretend free printable blank checks and banking slips for play. There are two free printable check varieties, using the American "check" and Canadian "cheque" spelling. Both are available to print in color or in black and white. Visit Free Stuff 4 Kids for free printable blank checks for play and for math lessons. Use these in combination with free printable play money. These links provide free printable play money in denominations of one, five and ten dollar bills. Use these free printable checks to set up a classroom bank, preschool math learning center or token economy. Use banking slips and play money to teach economics, math skills, banking, counting changes and money math lessons.

Money Instructor has many free printable money math lesson plans, blank checks, play money, banking slips and money math lessons and worksheets. Not all printables are free but there is a nice selection of free printable samples. Print free banking slips, deposit slips, withdrawal slips, check registers and checking account slips. Money Instructor has interactive money math lessons, check writing, check endorsing, checkbook balancing tutorials also. It is recommended that teachers of economics, consumer math, life skills, special needs, accounting and personal finance subscribe to these sites. This link will take you directly to a page of free printable practice blank checks.

Free Botany Lesson Plans--Plant Science-Roots and Stems

Biology science activities naturally focus on living things. Teach students about botany and plant biology in spring science activities. As students watch nature awakening all around, they observe plant biology and plant structure--seeds, roots, stems, buds, leaves, flowers and fruit--first hand. Teach kids about botany for Earth Month in April. In May and June, students can explore flowers and more mature plant structure. Here are links and websites with hundreds of free printable spring science activities on botany, plants, trees, plant biology and flowers. Get free printable spring science coloring pages, worksheets, charts and diagrams.

The Teacher's Corner has free printable biology science activities and botany lesson plans. Plants and trees cover enormous area to study that you will want to check out these websites and see which have materials specific to what you need. Activities cover edible plants, medicinal plants, toxic and unsafe plants, plant biology, finding and naming plants native to your area, biomes and much more. Visit Enchanted Learning's science homepage for general biology, spring science activities andfree printable lesson plans on trees, plants, botany and plant biology.

Lesson Plans Central has free printable science lesson plans and spring science activities. Instead of linking to the page on plants, visit the general science activities page for more extended spring science lesson plans. Edupics is always a superior internet resource for free printable realistic coloring pages. Edupics has many coloring pages of trees, plants and botany coloring pages for spring science. Primary Games has lots of free printable flowers and plants coloring pages. Biology Junction 

Free Printable Disney Lesson Plans

Free Printable Disney Lesson Plans: Spelling, Math, Reading
Want to spark some fun in learning? Why not print some of these free printable Disney lessons? Learn math, story problems, money, time, spelling and reading with Disney cartoon friends! Free printable Disney lesson plans. 

Free Printable Paper Folding, Graphic Organizers

Graphic organizers, content maps, information flowcharts and diagrams, content webs and story maps all refer to visual aids created by teachers to help students organize information into understandable patterns. Here are free printable graphic organizers, visual aids and content maps. Graphic organizers were a product of special education classrooms but such visual aids are useful with general education students as well. Special education teachers know the importance of making lessons hands-on, multisensory, interactive, individualized and broken down into manageable, bite-sized pieces.

Eduplace has over 35 different free printable graphic organizers and visual aids. Graphic organizers can be used to teach a variety of content area material. There are free printable KWL charts and diagrams (Know-Want to Know-Learned), story maps, observation flowcharts (for science), word webs, cluster maps, ISP charts (Information, Sources, Pages), E-Charts, T-Charts, flowcharts, spider flowcharts, clocks, Venn Diagram, Tree charts, 5 Ws Chart, Inverted Triangle chart, KWS charts (What I Know, What I Want to Know, Possible Sources), Ice Cream Cone Chart, Sandwich chart, sequencing charts, ladder charts, story maps and webs, planning charts, wheel charts and many more free printable graphic organizers. These free printable graphic organizers are available in Spanish also.

Super Teacher Worksheets has over 20 free printable graphic organizers. Free printable Venn diagrams, column charts, story maps, charts and diagrams webs, content webs, paragraph organizers using hamburger and flower models, wheel charts and diagrams, and much more. ABC Teach has free printable graphic organizations, story maps, flowcharts, content diagrams, content webs and other visual aids, KWL charts and diagrams, information and content maps and worksheets. Enchanted Learning has free printable graphic organizers and visual aids galore. Get pie charts, Venn diagrams, story maps, content flowcharts and diagrams and more.

School Service Projects, Student Community Volunteer Activities for Kids

School Service Project, Community Volunteer Activities Use this lent alms giving project to practice spiritual exercises of fasting, prayer and sharing. Service project can be adapted for public school use. Good way to get school required community volunteer credits for high school students. May be used for alternative education extra credit, too. Activities focus on Social Justice, World Church, missions and prayer. Muslims may wish to use this project for Islamic zakat giving. Jewish families might use this for an alms giving activity, too. Lesson plans include social studies and math extensions; multiplication, division, counting, sorting, grouping and story problems. Great education for all children. Use for CCD, religious education, classroom service project, homeschool, scout troop, 4H group and more!

* Collect gently used clothing for warming centers.

* Wash used stuffed animals to a children's hospital or nursing home. Sew a little heart on donations for sweet little no-cost good deeds.

* Print and color Bible coloring pages, write messages on the back and send to lonely senior citizens.

* Visit a nursing home and lead a sing-along. This is great friendship building volunteer work for kids!

* Bring tea and cookies to a shut-in neighbor; stay to visit. Gifts of time are the highest form of almsgiving.

* Shovel a disabled person's walk (or mow grass in warmer climates). These no-cost good deeds are so appreciated.

* Plant a tree and nurture it. What great donations of time and talent.

* Pick up trash in the park. The whole community benefits from this ROAK.

* Call grandma.

* Skype or FaceTime with your annoying older brother in college.

* Fold your sister's clothes.

* Tidy dad's work area.

* Cook, serve and clean up dinner. Mom will love these donations of time and talent.

* Donate used puzzles to the library.

* Repair gently used toys and bring to the mission thrift store.

* Drop used books in Green Earth Books boxes.

* Teach your little brother to play a song on your guitar.

* Knit a blanket for a new baby (little blankets make great starter project for kid knitters).

* Bike to the store to pick up your elderly neighbor's prescription.

* Fix up your old bike and give to the neighbor's child.

* Wash gently used clothes and drop in Goodwill donations box.

* Make a meal for someone who had surgery.

* Let your little sister pick the TV show.

* Do volunteer work for kids in your family. Play Legos with your little brother.

* Have a free garage sale. Or put gently used give-aways on the curb for people to take. This volunteer work for kids can have a network of positive connections.

* Fill a bag of groceries and leave it on your laid-off neighbor's porch.

* Draw and frame a picture for your priest's, rabbi's, minister's office.

* Write your doctor a note thanking her for caring for you.

* Find out what the food pantry needs, go shopping, bring groceries.

* Paint a pretty mug for your teacher and fill it with her favorite coffee.

* Attend a funeral (this isn't exactly volunteer work for kids, but it is a very generous gift and not always so easy to give).

* Cheerfully clean your room without being asked.

* Leave a plant for your mail carrier.

* Babysit your irritating cousins for free (awesome ROAK!)

* Help your grumpy neighbor wash his car (this volunteer work for kids may not involve money, but it will cost patience!)

* Eat only vegetables once a week and put donate money to food pantry.