I am truly one of those people who like to have a fixed curriculum.  I like to have lesson plan complete with visuals, props, games, etc…  As a teacher, I began to realize that kids learn a lot through the completely routine and sometimes “unplanned” activities.  I call these on-the-go activities.  The following are only a few of the so many easy, zero set-up, little or no materials needed activities:

Math Activities

Counting backwards: I count backwards a lot to indicate transitions, which include turning off the water for anything (such as washing hands), brushing teeth, moving from one room to another, changing clothes, etc…. Mix it up and count backwards from 7 or 13, have the kids help you. Be sure the shout “blast off” at the end, that’s the best part.

Counting steps: We count stairs all of the time and we also count how many steps we take to get to the mailbox, etc… Counting objects is important when learning one-to-one correspondence (being able to point and count to individual objects, not just counting aloud), but kids can often lose track of what objects they have counted, but counting steps tends to be a bit easier. Mix it up: Have kids guess how many steps or stairs before counting and see how close they are.

Number Identification: Panda could tell me every single digit number, but still struggles with double digits. We have begun to use speed limit signs to test his ability, at least he will be able to identify double digits ending in 0 or 5. Mix it up: Mastered the two digits? See if kids can count up or down from whatever number they see. For example: 45MPH, 46, 47, 48, etc… Super kids: Pick another number to add to the speed limit.

Directions: I am pretty sure my parents never taught me the difference between left and right and now I am severely directionally illiterate, just ask my husband. I even have problems navigating when google maps tells me which way to go. We work on left and right throughout the day, going for a walk, which way left or right? Which way are we turning.?? Mix it up: Go for a walk and let the kids decide if we should take a left or take a right or take a straight.  Note: We have actually gotten lost in our own neighborhood, believe it or not.  It might be good to bring your phone with you, so you can google your way home.

Reading Activities

I Spy with letter sounds: We play a lot of I Spy.  My kids are masters of color, but recently started using letters and letter sounds, like I spy something that begins with an A or the sound “a”.  Mix it up: Try spying end letters and sounds.  Actually we use I spy for everything: I spy something that rhymes with cat. I spy something red. I spy two of something.  I spy mommy’s favorite drink.

Music: Play those wonderfully repetitive, sort of annoying learning songs in the car when you know that there is an end in sight. We love Dr. Jean, but will often just grab a cd from the library or go on Spotify.  We have actually listened to the alphabet song so much that Grizzly can even sort of sing along. Bonus: A lot of children’s songs actually teach rhyming, such as “Down by the Bay.”  Take these songs and make up your own hilarious rhymes.  Have you ever seen a cat eating a hat??

Context Clues: Panda loves anything that has to do with construction. When we are on walks, he is constantly asking me what the workers are building or fixing. Honestly, about ½ the time, I don’t even have a clue. Instead of making up answers, I ask him what he thinks they are building and then I ask him why…throwing his favorite word back in his face. Seriously, though, what does Panda see that makes him think that the construction workers are building a circus museum next to the park?  I will never know. Bonus: Stop and ask the workers what they are building, if it is not too dangerous, of course.  Many people are more than happy to respond to 1 or 2 questions.

Making Lists: One of Panda’s and Koala’s favorite things is to help me make lists, probably because they see how much joy lists bring me. They especially love to tell me what kinds of food they want for the week. Many grocery words are hard to sound out, but they can usually tell me the first letter. Mix it up: Have the kids write lists too. Inventive spelling is actually a very important part of development, so its completely ok for kids to misspell words.  Not writing yet?  Have them draw pictures of items.

Vocabulary: One of the easiest and most important skills you can help a child in learning is vocabulary. Seriously, just talk to your kid and name items. Once they get a hang of and can repeat simple words (cat), use descriptive words to enhance vocabulary. Brown cat, big, brown cat, ….Mix it up: Add emotions to the mix. Scary, big, brown cat. Happy, big, brown cat. Annoying, big, brown cat!

Honestly, I could probably write an entire book on easy, on-the-go activities.  Even though I do like my planned instruction, real world learning is so much more important.  With these activities, children are not only practicing skills, they are also applying these skills.

What are some of your favorite on the go activities?

The Plan

Letter A: Apple Art to form letter A.
Sight Word: Elkonin boxes. Writing with over dots.
Math: 1&2 Motion activity: One hand up, two hands up, one hand down, one foot up, etc.. may progress to Simon says.
Theme: Animal Sounds: Practice sounds with each animal. Down on grandpa’s farm. Old McDonald

What Actually Happened

Theme: Animal Sounds: Practice sounds with each animal and songs, “Down on Grandpa’s farm” and “Old McDonald”
We started with aby watching the “Old McDonald” and “Down and Grandpa’s Farm” on YouTube.  I stopped the videos before the animal sounds to see if the kids could identify the sounds. We used the Little Tykes book to make the sound of the farm animals. For some reason, Panda still gets cows and horses confused?!?! Koala is actually shining in this area and knows almost all of the farm animal sounds.

Sight Word: Elkonin boxes. Writing with over dots.
We have only used Elkonin Boxes or sound boxes once before. The point of this activity is to be able to separate sounds of words, not necessarily letters.  For example the word “see” has only two sound boxes because the only sounds are “s” and long “e”.  This prereading and prewriting activity can help kids identify beginning, middle, and ending sounds and can also help them visualize a word.  I decided just to use the 2 boxes for words with 2 sounds, we haven’t gone passed that yet. The kids definitely need more support in this area, but were able to put their fingers in the boxes and follow along. Panda is beginning to progress to pointing to the right box for a sound after we do it together several times. We then practiced writing the word out. I am trying to get Panda to do as much fine motor as possible, he seems to need more focus in this area. Then we played the animals in game again. Grizzly was still asleep and the big kids really wanted to play it

Math: 1&2 Motion activity: One hand up, two hands up, one hand down, one foot up, etc.. may progress to Simon says.
This activity didn’t go very well. I asked the kids to put up one hand, then stamp two feet, the put two hands on their heads, etc… The kids were all over the place and not listening. I will admit defeat. We will go back to this activity in the future.  Listening to direction was simply not our strong point today.

Letter A: Apple Art to form letter A.
We ended with our art activity, but of course, Grizzly woke up just in time to join in the messy fun. I just wrote the capital letter A on a piece of paper. I used paint and an apple and showed the kids how to stamp the apple on the paper.  I tried to get them to stay on the lines to actually make the letter A. They did pretty awesome on their own. For some reason, Grizzly ended up with paint all over him even though the paint was too high for him to reach.

 

 

The Plan
Theme: Match objects to words: Pig, Sheep, Chicken, Barn, Cow, Tractor; Book
Sight Word: Create and read animals “in” sentences using farm words
Math: Building with one and two blocks
Letter A: Play-do letter As; Book

What Actually Happened…
Theme: Match objects to words
I really only planned on reading a couple books about farms throughout the two weeks, but the kids really wanted to read one today. I have a feeling that we may read a book about farms every day, which is great because that means they are interested.  After the book, I pulled out the farm pictures first to see if the kids could identify them. Koala and Panda were easily able to identify my rough drawings. Then I pulled out the words. I was pretty surprised the Panda was able to match most of the words to the pictures. I wasn’t sure how he would do because I haven’t really tried an activity like this before. I think it helped that most of the words started with different letters and he could identify the beginning sounds. With Koala, I really am just focusing on building her vocabulary.

Sight Word: “In” sentences
The kids LOVED this activity. We began with matching the words to the objects and repeating the word ‘in”. I worked with Koala to complete this activity using just the pictures and the word “in”. She then told me phrases like “pig in tractor.” Then she took the picture of the pig and put it on top of (in) the tractor. Apparently, this was pretty hilarious and she continued to put different animals into the tractor. With Panda, I started using the pictures and the word “in”. We then began using the words instead of the pictures. I was really impressed that he was able to place the words with the pictures based on the beginning letters sounds. Once again, he hilariously placed the cow in the chicken, etc… We could have done this activity for at least an hour, but Grizzly kept stealing the cards and causing his usual chaos.

Math: Building with one and two blocks
I planned on just having the kids build towers with one or two blocks, but that went rather quickly and seemed entirely too easy. I dumped out all the blocks and had them give me 1 or 2 blocks of a certain color. Panda knows all of his colors, so he had no problem, but Koala is just learning hers, so this was a good activity for her. I tried to challenge Panda by telling him to give me 1 red block and 1 blue block, but again this was pretty easy for him so I had him help Koala when she struggled. This was a very basic, very easy activity that I will do with higher numbers as we go along. It can also be a great clean-up activity.

Letter A: Play-doh letter As; Book
We read the beginning of the BOB A-B book twice. The first time I read it straight through. The second time, the kids were able to identify most of the pictures and corresponding letter A words. Then we ended with the day play-doh because I knew they would want to play for a while after the activity. We quickly made the capital A and smaller a. I thought I could get the kids to make some creations that began with the letter A, but I had already lost them to the magic of the play-doh, so I made dinner.

I am a former teacher turned stay at home momma of three. I taught special education in Chicago for 11 years and I have a master’s degree in special education. I found teaching students with special needs both challenging and rewarding, I found doing the mountains of paperwork both challenging and unrewarding. Although I do see myself in the classroom again (eventually), I am (mostly) enjoying being at home with my kids. I have a 4 year old son (Panda), a 2 ½ year old daughter (Koala), and a 1 year old son (Grizzly). Panda is a miniature defense lawyer and can explain away any wrongdoing. Koala had the most beautiful smile and the worst, most dramatic cry. Grizzly screams at everything, all the time, just to let you know he is still there. My husband works hard, plays hard, and makes me laugh every day (haha, you think I’m going to remove the wasps’ nest from the porch, hilarious). I try to be a middle of the road kind of parent because it just seems so tough to commit to one kind of parenting style; I like parts of all of them.