As I reviewed Andrew’s end of year progress report, I noticed that he still needed some reinforcement with graphing. I looked through my stuff to see what I could have him graph. There were all sorts of things – stickers, buttons, a variety of Goldfish crackers, fruity Cheerios, pattern cards, etc. (Here is a past post I did on graphing using a small bag of M&M’s.) I decided to choose these colorful foam pieces that I found in the dollar section of Target. They came in cylinders, cubes and triangular prisms.
Funny Story – I was teaching a parent session a few months after I had picked these up. I pulled them out of my basket of stuff and one of the moms yelled out, “I have those! I knew you would get them and show us some ways to put them to use so I got them as well.” Ah, I’m beginning to rub off on people and I love it!!
While I usually use a sheet of white printer paper to make graphs with him, this time I decided to use my Melissa and Doug pattern piece background and a pipe cleaner bent around the sides as my border.
I am demonstrating here two different graphs using these foam pieces. One is graphing cylinders by color and the other is sorting by shape.
I also like to include question cards to help build math vocabulary while analyzing the data. You could also begin this activity with making a prediction or hypothesis about which color or shape your child thinks will have the greatest/least/same amounts. Anytime I can sneak in vocabulary in the context of play I do! Click here for a great resource listing math vocabulary in alphabetical order with illustrations to help build understanding – A Maths Dictionary for Kids 2011.
Some question cards to go along with the graph.
Graphing by color station all set up and ready to go!
My Obstacle Course Station Activity: Basic Object SortingIn the process of making the graph.Graph completed. Now for some question cards!
Graphing by shape station set up and ready to go!
Graphing shapes.Shapes graph finished.
I encourage you to get creative by looking around in toy bins and pantry cupboards to see what easy items you have to help your child build graphing skills. These are just examples of basic graphs that can be easily put together as a station activity.
If you’ve been reading my posts for a while, you know that I love finding things to go with the theme we are doing. These little July themed pails were in the dollar section of our Target and I know that they are the perfect addition to a July themed My Obstacle Course sorting station. It really is easy to blend a sorting activity, which provides a quick opportunity to build or reinforce an academic skill like spelling patterns, with these thematic pails to create a fun and appealing My Obstacle Course station.
Patriotic pails!
My Obstacle Course Station Activity: Sort By Vowel Pattern
At this particular station, we are working on sorting by vowel pattern, specifically /i/ words, but please realize that this activity can be modified to build the literacy skills that your child is ready for (Ex. Sorting by beginning sound with pictures.). (Click here for an index of vowel patterns.)
I used some small red index cards and wrote the sorting labels (short i words, words with “igh”, words that follow the i_e (“i consonant e”) pattern, and words that have long /i/ sound made with “y”.). For the sorting activity, I wrote three words that fit each pattern on cards, mixed them up and placed them in a pile.
My Obstacle Course Station Activity: Sort by vowel patternThe word "kite" to be sorted into the pail with "i consonant e".Placing the word into the correct pail.Short i word."Big" placed in the short i pail.Words sorted into the pails are easy to check when the child is finished.
This is something that can be done throughout the year with spelling words but can still look fun by using different colored cards and different sorting containers. The word cards and labels can also be stored and used for future word sorts, review stations or a game like “Guess the Sort”.
Fourth of July hat “Search and Find” is a modification of the “St. Patrick’s Hat Search and Find” I posted on in March. This version uses a July themed hat (think Uncle Sam and parades!) along with some different textured items. I liked this hat because it was deep enough to put items in so the child cannot see what is in there. They have to use their sense of touch and also think about what the items feel like, connecting the feelings with words.
This was something I did with Andrew early on to see if he understood words that described the feeling or texture of something. If he did not, this was a perfect opportunity to teach the word since he could make the direct connection between what he was feeling and the word I was using to describe it.
Fourth of July themed hat.
As I will often do for station activities, I went on a little treasure hunt around my house to see what sorts of things I could find that had unique or different textures. A good place to look is a scrap bin or catch-all box if you do arts and crafts or the crafting aisles at Michael’s. Pictured below are some of the items that I gathered up for our My Obstacle Course.
Some different textured items for this activity.
I typed up and printed out some basic instructions each beginning with “Find something” to help build literacy skills. These could be printed out on pieces of paper or index cards but I like how quick it is to just print and cut them into strips. Do whatever is easiest for you!
Clues!
My Obstacle Course Station Activity: Uncle Sam Hat “Search and Find”
Station all set up and ready to go!
I like to turn the strips of paper over to make it more of a game and allow him to choose.
First thing to find is something round.Reaching into the hat, but no peeking!!
Keep in mind that if your child needs to look to find it, that is okay! This is a fabulous opportunity to help them build their knowledge of specific, descriptive vocabulary right along with something real that they can touch.
A colored puff is round (when I'm not squishing it 🙂 )!Something shiny - a ribbon bow for a gift.Items matched with descriptions for one "Search and Find" station.Items matched with descriptions for another "Search and Find" station
We began basic with very different kinds of textures and progressed to being even more specific in choosing the best item to fit a description. This basic activity can be adapted in so many different ways – I love things like this!!
Have I ever mentioned that I love using things I already have around my home to help Andrew build developmental and academic skills? Perhaps only a hundred times but it is so true! I also like to pass on ideas to you that are simple to put together and also easy to adapt to various skill levels.
Most everyone has Scrabble or Bananagram letters in their house and they are so great to help build literacy skills. In this My Obstacle Course Station Activity, I have combined some basic cards with sight words written on them with these letters to create a different version of my “Make the Same” game. (Click here for a list of Dolch Sight Words.)
Sight word cards on a ring.Bananagram letters
My Obstacle Course Station Activity: Make the Same – Sight Word Building
I had picked up this colorful pack of round cards that are perfect for creating flash cards (You could also use index cards or any note paper that you have at home, I would just recommend that it is thick enough so you are not be able to see the word from the other side.). This particular set comes with one of those binder rings to keep them organized and make it easy to flip through them.
For this activity though, I went through and chose some words to build and took them out of the pack. I flipped them over to make it more of a game, giving him the choice of which card to flip over first and set out the letters he would need to make the words. The set up for this only took a few minutes and could be done with basic word families (click here for a list of common word families on EnchantedLearning.com), spelling or Word Study words, thematic or unit study vocabulary words or words that go with a speech sound your child is working on.
My Obstacle Course Station Activity: Make the Same
This is such a simple game but gets the child actively involved in putting the letters together to form the word. This can help children who are having difficulties with sight words and utilizes all modalities of learning – visual (seeing the word), auditory (hearing the word said out loud) and kinesthetic (putting the letters together to form the word).
Flip the card and spell the word.Spelling the word "they".Spelling the word "this".
The fact that this is turned into a game and that they have the choice of which card to flip helps to reduce the struggle and frustration that can occur when practicing or building skills that may be more challenging.
If your child is ready for more of a challenge, have them choose the card, read the word to them without letting them see it and see if they can put it together. If they get stuck, the card is there to help them correct any errors.
I found these dinosaur/dragon type water squirters at Walgreens in the “seasonal” aisle. They are basically water guns without the pointy gun aspect, which I really like!
Dinosaur/dragon type water squirters.
I picked them up because they are great for water fun on hot days but also help build hand strength through squeezing to squirt the water out. If you look closely, you can see that the part they will squeeze to squirt the water is quite long, requiring all of the fingers to squeeze down, which builds hand muscles.
As a My Obstacle Course station activity, I would fill up the squirter with water…
Filling it up with water.
and provide a purpose either by squirting water into a sand bin or filling a cup or container to a certain point. I recommend first showing them the hole where the water will come out so they are not surprised and can practice aiming. This will also be helpful to not get water squirted around your house!
Squeezing!Squirting the water into a sand pail.
If you have a child who is already familiar with water guns for squirting other people, you may wish to keep this as an outdoor activity, perhaps incorporating it into an outdoor My Obstacle Course.
I have to admit that I am one of those moms who is not crazy about children playing with toy guns so this toy will allow him to play and build his hand muscles in the same way!
I’ve done previous posts on using sensory bins with dried beans and fake snow and think that a perfect summer sensory bin is a sand bin. This is something that I would do in a low, wide plastic bin with a lid, so it can be stored away while not in use. I would also place it on a beach towel to contain the sand.
This may be something that your child already does all of the time but in the past it is not something that has been a preferred activity for Andrew. There are so many motor skills to work on, such as scooping, pouring, raking and sifting.
My Obstacle Course Station Activity: Sensory Sand Bin
Hide some sand safe objects in the sand and the child uses their hands, fingers or tools to dig and find the objects. You can include a sheet of paper with a list of the hidden objects to help give purpose while also building literacy/vocabulary skills. Other objects that could be hidden are letters, numbers, blocks, cars, little toy animals or items that could be sorted by color or shape.
Sand BinWooden letters spelling out his nameDigging in the sand to find letters.Using the sand sifter and finding the letter "n"!
This type of activity is another example of the importance of reintroducing something that a child may not have been into before. I have done sand bins with Andrew before and as I said above, he was not into it. Knowing how this goes but also wanting to give him another shot at experiencing this, I make sure that the station activities are easy to set up and keep my expectations in check, not planning on him spending hours playing in the sand as I did as a child.
Fingers and hands in the sand!Look at that! One hand in the sand, the other one grasping the shovel.Hooray! An "M" was found!!
I included the sand bin in our last My Obstacle Course and he was totally into it! I hid some letters that spelled out the word “summer” and he worked with his hands and with some tools that I provided to dig out the letters. He was so excited as he found each letter. I even found him smoothing the sand with his hands and squeezing his sand filled hand, allowing the sand to sift through his fingers. His hand muscles are clearly getting stronger, as I noticed him able to grasp and actually dig down into the sand. This is huge for us!!
I look forward to providing more of these opportunities for him while also making sure to give it a purpose (spelling words, finding hidden objects, etc.) until he decides he is ready to just “play in the sand” (if and when this will happen).
