Hot Cocoa Paper Craft - FREE Template

 

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Roll and Tell

 

Musical Sight Words Game

A great indoor game! Simple play rule--when the music stops, each child has to read aloud the word they're standing on. If they can't, they have to sit down (and another child takes their place if there are more students waiting for their turn.)

You can start off simple using just the alphabet (upper and lower case), first naming the letter, then making the sound of the letter. 

 

50 Indoor Activities for Kids to Burn Lots of Energy

 

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Toma Todo, a Neat Little Counting Game for Cinco de Mayo!

 Fellow teachers introduced me to this neat little game that is very much like the dreidel game played by Jewish children. Except, in this case, this is the hispanic version.

It's called TOMA TODO, and it's played this way.

The "top" is six-sided. Each side has a phrase.

Toma means to take. Pon means to put. So Toma Uno means to Take One, Pon Dos means to Put Two. 

Todos means all. So Todos Ponen means to Put All. And Toma Todo means to Take All.

Here's how the game is played. Each child begins with 10 tokens. (In many cases, these tokens are pieces of candy. For adults who play the game, they use nickles, dimes, or quarters.) Everyone puts one token in the middle of the table, or "pot".

Each person twirls the top and follows the directions that end up, putting in or taking out however many they're told. If a person luckily gets the Toma Todo, or Take All, they get everything in the pot, and the game is over.

To say this game is addictive is putting it lightly. It's a lot of fun, and makes an excellent center activity, too! Furthermore, it's a super way to celebrate Cinco de Mayo!

* Note: You can get these tops at Amazon.

Give Them a Chore You've Been Meaning to Tackle

The Junk Drawer

For kids, cleaning out junk drawers is a bit like discovering treasure. Have them start by separating and putting like objects together in piles. For the pens and markers, give them a piece of scratch paper to write on. If the writing utensil doesn't work, chunk it.

Finally, grab some dividers and small baskets from the dollar store, and let the kids rearrange the items back inside. Not only will that be one less item on your To Do list, but it will have kept them occupied for a while. Please be warned you will be interrupted several times with amazed "Ooh! Look at this!" and "Look what I found!" comments, as well as curious "Mom, what's this for?" and "Can I have this?" remarks.

(Additional hint: this type of activity works best on a bad weather day, when they can't go outside to play.)

Nothing Beats BALLOONS!

Kids will bypass the more "expensive" toys in my treat box to get to the balloons. The more colorful, the better. And the best ones have pictures or faces on them.

Blow 'em up to bounce in the air, make water bombs out of them, or twist them into animal or other shapes.

You can't beat balloons!