Here
are a few more suggestions for creating independent, self-contained activities
for your children. Wouldn’t
these be a good project for families to create for you? You could give them suggestions, or
just let them come up with their own ideas.
Inventor’s
Box – Recycle toilet
paper rolls, bottle tops, and other materials and challenge children to invent
something with them.
Cutting
Box – Put scissors, scrap
paper, junk mail, and old catalogs in a box.
*Hole
punches are also good for small motor development.
Dealer’s
Choice – How about a deck
of cards or other simple card games like “Go Fish” or “Old Maid”?
Play
Dough Factory – Play
dough, cookie cutters, plastic dishes and silverware, and cookie cutters will
entertain children and develop small muscles.
Puppet
Box – Hand puppets,
finger puppets, or stick puppets can be placed in a box for story telling.
Story
Box – Put a book and
small stuffed animal children can read to in a box.
Sew and String – Fill a box with sewing cards, shoe laces, wooden beads, pasta with holes, and other things that you can sew or string.
Nature
Box – Collect leaves,
sticks, rocks, pinecones, shells and other natural objects that children can
examine, sort, and explore.
Dress
Me – A shoe that ties,
shirt with buttons, buckle belt, or other clothing are great for practicing
self-help skills.
Common Core Standards in a Box
RF.K.3.c. Read common high-frequency words by
sight (e.g. the, of, to, you, she, my, is, are, do, does).
Clip
and Read - Write high
frequency words on the ends of craft sticks and place them in the box. Write letters on clothespins. Children clip the clothespins to the
end of the stick to spell the words.
String
and Read - Place a list
of words in the box along with pipe cleaners and letter beads. Children string the beads on the pipe
cleaner to spell words.
Math
- Write numbers from 0 to 20.
Represent a number of objects with a written numeral 0-20 (with 0
representing a count of no objects).
Smart
Cookies - Write numerals
on plastic plates with a permanent marker. Put play dough in the box along with the plates. Children take play dough, roll it, and
place it on top of the numeral.
Then they make the appropriate number of cookies out of play dough. Can they put the cookies in a line and count them? Can they put them close together and count them?*You can also write numerals on paper and insert it in clear sheet protectors or folders.
*My
mind’s going 90 miles an hour.
Visit my website in October to see what I’ve come up with. I might call it “Common Core in a
Box.” If you have any suggestions I’d
love to have you email them to me.