12 Ways to Learn While Playing with Food (Love to Learn Linky #42)

We all have probably told our kids at one time or another to not play with their food! Well, sometimes you can let them play and use it as a learning experience. Here are some awesome ideas for learning with common snack foods including goldfish, oreos, M&Ms, crackers and more!

How about some STEM learning with goldfish crackers? Use these free Goldfish Printables to practice math skills, and see how to engineer a Goldfish pulley system.

Read the book Brown Bear, Brown Bear and try this color matching activity with Teddy graham crackers.

Sort your lunch into different shapes with this free Shape Sorting Printable.

Have a blast cutting up your food with this Scissor Skills Lunch activity.

Got M&Ms? Practice spelling words with these free M&M Word Printables, and have fun counting with this M&M School Bus Math game (also includes free printable).

Try one of these 8 creative ways to learn with Oreos.

Learn about constellations with Fruit Gummies and this free printable.

Practice addition with these free Jellybean Math printables.

Make your own Very Hungry Caterpillar out of these healthy snack foods.

Learn to count to 100 with Skittles in this free printable basketball game.

LOVE TO LEARN LINKY

Visit my co-hosts to see their posts and features!

Fun Ways to Paint with Kids from A Little Pinch of Perfect

Now it's time for some more links! I hope you'll join me and a couple of friends for a brand new linky party!

Bloggers, link up your posts every Thursday and watch as we round them up and share them all over the place.

Almost anything goes, we're just hoping your activities teach kids (or us!) something. (science, art, cooking, behavior, crafting, parenting, etc...)

Love to Learn Linky Etiquette:

• Posts should be about educating our kids in any way - science, art, cooking, crafts, behavior, parenting, etc. Please keep them family friendly and please no Etsy shops or giveaways unless they are relevant to the topic.

• Upload your direct post link to the InLinkz widget. Link up to 3 posts.

• Like the hosts on Facebook: Totschooling, A Little Pinch of Perfect, Left Brain Craft Brain and One Time Through.

• Or follow the hosts on Pinterest: A Little Pinch of Perfect, Left Brain Craft Brain, Totschooling and One Time Through.

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An InLinkz Link-up

Gone Fishing Game for Preschoolers

I can't wait to try this super fun and educational "fishing" game created by Tiffiny from Spark and Pook. Tiffiny is an elementary school teacher turned stay-at-home mom, blogging about playful learning ideas, children's books and traveling with kids. Be sure to check out her (free printable) Make Way for Duckling Matching Activities and her 10 Apples Up on Top Book Activity.

Gone Fishing Game

For my daughter’s third birthday party, I put together a game I call “Gone Fishing” using simple materials I happened to have around the house. The game was such a hit with Pooky and the other kids that I decided to share it with you. The game is quick to set up and provides oodles of educational fun (a win-win in my book).

What you will need:

- Gone Fishing Printable (or draw your own simple fish outlines)
- small dowel rod (you can also use a wooden spoon or unsharpened pencil)
- baker's twine, yarn, or some form of thick string (about 10-12 inches in length for each "fishing pole")
- construction paper or foam sheets in a variety of colors
- paper clips (one per fish)
- dot magnets
- a "pond" of some sort in which to place the fish

Assembly:

1 - Make the fish. I wanted more durable fish, so I printed the Gone Fishing Printable onto plain paper and then used that to trace and cut foam fish in a few different colors.  If you don't have or want to use foam, just print the fish onto colored construction paper, and then cut them out. I created a total of nine fish for our game, but you can make as many as you'd like.

2 - Once the fish are cut out, attach a paperclip to each fish in the place where a mouth would go.

3 - Assemble the fishing pole by tying a double knot of one end of the string to one end of the dowel rod (or the straight end of a wooden spoon). Using the other end of the string, tie a double knot around the dot magnet. (If using foam fish for the game, use two dot magnets together instead of one.)

4 - Place the fish inside their bucket (or makeshift pond).

Ways to Play:

- Since we had multiple players ranging from ages 2-3, I made a "fishing pole" for each fisher. The initial goal was simply for each child to "catch" a fish with their "fishing pole" (without touching the fish with their hands). For toddlers, this takes a good deal of concentration and coordination. Pooky and her friends played this game repeatedly taking turns to catch the 9 fish.

- Once children become skilled at using the "fishing pole," challenge them further by asking them to fish for a specific color. (This takes greater hand-eye coordination.)

- You can practice other skills by drawing shapes, numbers, or letters onto the fish and asking the child to "fish" for specific ones.   (To make the fish re-usable use a small sticky note instead of drawing directly onto the fish.) See the examples below.

- Write numbers on the fish (one on each) and have the child "fish" for the numbers in order. If they accidentally "catch" the wrong number, throw it back in.

- Draw some shapes that your child is familiar with on the fish so that there are multiples of each shape (i.e. three fish with a square, three fish with a circle, etc...) Create a landing spot for each type of fish so the child can sort their fish into the correct shape "bucket."

- Label the fish with some letters your child has been learning. Choose only a few letters and mark one fish with the capital letter and another fish with its corresponding lowercase letter. Then have the child fish for a specific letter and match the uppercase and lowercase into pairs.

Those are the ways we've been playing "Gone Fishing," but I'm sure there are many other ways you could play. Once Pooky knew how to play, we turned it into a Busy Bag activity. I take it out periodically and it's fun and educational all over again. You can find more busy bag ideas here.

Skills addressed with this activity:

- gross motor: hand-eye coordination
- social skills: taking turns
- math: counting, sorting, ordering, matching
- literacy: letter identification

Happy Fishing!

Meet Tiffiny:

I am a certified elementary school teacher turned stay-at-home mom. I’m a foodie, traveler, and avid reader. I love to share these joys with my husband, daughter, and the blogosphere. On my blog, Spark and Pook, you will find tips for traveling with children, children’s book reviews, and learn-though-play activities for toddlers and preschoolers.

12 Creative Ways to Learn with Coloring Pages (Love to Learn Linky #37)

Coloring pages seem like the perfect quiet time or busy activity for kids. However, my daughters (and I'm sure my kids aren't the only ones) will spend about 5 minutes or less if I give them a coloring page and crayons. Granted, this may be because they are still young (3 1/2 and almost 2 yrs), but I wanted to find a way to engage my kids and also get some educational value out of a simple coloring page. 

Recently, we went on a vacation which involved an airplane flight as well as multiple car rides. While I thought I had packed enough activities, I ended up running out of things to keep them busy. I went out and bought some coloring books and decided to get creative!

Here are 12 ideas for creative ways of using and learning with coloring pages, as well as a list of my favorite free coloring page resources at the end!

1. Color By Number
This is a super easy way to turn a coloring page into an educational activity! Just create a legend of numbers and their corresponding colors, and write the numbers on the picture where the colors go. For a fun twist, you can play a roll & color game by rolling a die, calling out the number and then coloring one of the numbers in the picture. Keep rolling and playing until the picture is complete.

2. Color by Letter or Sight Word
This is the same idea as number 1 but you can use letters, words, shapes or anything else that your child is learning.

3. Color by Dots
Use a marker to create little circles, essentially labeling which colors go where on the page. Great for color recognition in young children.

4. Color by Sequence 
Write numbers or letters throughout the picture and ask your child to color in numerical or alphabetical order. 

5. Sticker by Number/Letter/Word
This one is a favorite at our house! Hide letters, numbers or words throughout the picture and also write them on a set of stickers (I like to purchase these circle labeling stickers at the dollar store). The child then places the stickers over the correct letter or number.

6. Cut & Make into a Puzzle
This one is really easy to prep. Just cut the paper into 4, 6, 9 or 12 pieces and let your child put it back together. You can also let the child do the cutting and it doubles as cutting practice!

7. Cut in Half and Complete Picture
Learn about symmetry or just let your child use their imagination to complete the picture.

8. Find & Color
Depending on the type of coloring page, ask your child to find a specific shape, object or character and once they find it they color it. Repeat until the whole page is colored. This would be great with a more complex coloring page with many different elements.

9. Make a Collage
We do this one a lot at our house. I give my kids craft supplies such as tissue paper, pom poms, feathers, googly eyes, scrap paper, buttons, etc and have them glue these things onto the coloring page. It usually comes out like a work of art! You may need to reinforce the paper or, if you are printing, you can print on cardstock or heavy paper. 

10. Turn into a Playdough Mat
Any coloring page can be turned into a playdough mat. Just laminate the sheet (or not) and give your child playdough to "color" in the picture. Tons of fun and great for fine motor skills.

11. Turn into a Lacing Card
This one works best if the coloring page is mainly one animal, object or character. Laminate the page (or print on cardstock), then cut out the main object and punch holes around it. Give your child a shoelace, string, yarn etc. to lace around the picture.

12. Cut out Characters/Animals/Objects and Make Story Puppets
Another idea that works only for certain coloring pages. Cut out the main characters, animals, etc. and turn them into puppets by taping a craft stick to the back. Ask your child to come up with a story and use the puppets to act it out.

Free Coloring Pages & Resources:

300+ Disney Princess Coloring Pages by What Mommy Does
35 Free Disney's Frozen Coloring Pages by The Kid's Coloring Pages
1000+ Free Disney Coloring Pages for Kids by The Farm Girl Gabs
Famous Paintings Coloring Pages by Super Coloring
Marvel Superhero Squad Coloring Pages by On Coloring
Robots Coloring Pages by The Art & Craft Giraffe
32 Free Zoo Animal Coloring Pages by Raising Our Kids
Animal Coloring Pages by Better Homes & Gardens
Eric Carle Coloring Pages by Mom Junction


LOVE TO LEARN LINKY

Visit my co-hosts to see their posts and features!

Dinosaur Crafts & Activities for Kids from A Little Pinch of Perfect
DIY Cardboard Rocket Ship and Space Play Ideas from One Time Through
Play Dough Robots from Left Brain Craft Brain

Now it's time for some more links! I hope you'll join me and a couple of friends for a brand new linky party!

Bloggers, link up your posts every Thursday and watch as we round them up and share them all over the place.

Almost anything goes, we're just hoping your activities teach kids (or us!) something. (science, art, cooking, behavior, crafting, parenting, etc...)

Love to Learn Linky Etiquette:

• Posts should be about educating our kids in any way - science, art, cooking, crafts, behavior, parenting, etc. Please keep them family friendly and please no Etsy shops or giveaways unless they are relevant to the topic.

• Upload your direct post link to the InLinkz widget. Link up to 3 posts.

• Like the hosts on Facebook: Totschooling, A Little Pinch of Perfect, Left Brain Craft Brain and One Time Through.

• Or follow the hosts on Pinterest: A Little Pinch of Perfect, Left Brain Craft Brain, Totschooling and One Time Through.

• Post our button on your site.

• By linking up, you agree to have your images shared with credit.

Link up and grab a button!

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An InLinkz Link-up

Orange Tree Counting Activity with Free Printable

The next wonderful guest blogger in our series is Tarana from Sand In My Toes. Tarana is mommy to a toddler, writing about parenthood, activities and crafts for preschoolers. Some of my favorite posts of hers are Alphabet Matching Activity (with free printable), Hidden Letters Painting and Pasta Counting Activity. She is here today sharing a fun counting activity with orange trees!

Counting is one of those skills which gets better with practice. Toddlers can start counting pretty early if they are interested, and we have been doing counting activities since my son was two (he’s three now).

The reinforcing is important too, so counting is something preschoolers and kindergartners should practice routinely.

The only thing is that they tend to get bored with numbers at that age (or pretty much anything!), so I’m always looking for new ways to make counting interesting.

We loved doing this Orange Tree Counting Activity. Kids love anything bright and colourful, so this is a great activity to get them interested in numbers! And there’s a free printable too (link below), so you can set it up pretty easily.

The printable has tree cards from 1 to 20, but I only used the cards from 1 to 6 when we did the activity.

I cut out circles from orange craft paper to make the ‘oranges’, but you could use stickers, play dough, pom poms, or even finger paint!

I set out the cards randomly and placed the right number of oranges needed for completing them.

We first read the number on the card out loud and then glued on the oranges in the correct quantity. You don’t need to glue them on if you plan to use the cards again. You can even laminate the cards to make them last longer.

It didn’t take too long for us to complete the activity, and we’ll soon do it with the bigger numbers. Hope you have fun doing this too!

Click here to Download the Free Printable Orange Tree Counting Activity!

Tarana Khan is mom to a toddler, living an expat life. She loves writing and has done her stints as a copywriter, reporter and content editor, before embracing parenthood full time. She blogs at Sand In My Toes, where you can drop by to read more of her parenting and other adventures! Tarana also has a series called Busy Hands where you can find more activities and crafts for toddlers and preschoolers. You can also catch up with her on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest or Google+.

Free Easter Basket Matching Game

The next fabulous blogger in my guest post series is Deborah from Mommy Crusader and Her Knights and Ladies. She is mommy to five young children, and blogs about kid's activities, crafts, parenting and even creates free printables like the one she is sharing today! You can find a lot of great ideas for preschool educational activities, such as C is for Counting, D is for Dots and E is for Equals, all of which include free printables, so definitely check them out!

I’m so excited to be guest posting for Totschooling today. Educating my little ones is something I take rather seriously, and Totschooling is a great blog that gathers fabulous resources for parents who work on educating their toddlers and preschoolers. Today, I am sharing a Math activity geared for three to five year olds. We had a lot of fun with it, and I hope you do too.

Easter Basket Matching – One to One Correlation Math Activity

Who doesn’t love to go Easter egg hunting? I know my children love to, so I thought I’d make a Math card game based on an Easter egg hunt. The game is based on the classic card game war, but with a slight twist.

Setup:

Print out the cards here: Easter Matching Game (Cardstock is best, it makes them easier to shuffle and easier for little hands to handle.)

Shuffle the cards and deal them all out.

Play:

The youngest player goes first. Everyone turns over their top card and the player examines the cards to see if there is a match. If there is a match, that player keeps the match and has another turn. Any cards that aren't part of a match are discarded. Continue until there is a round with no matches.

Move to the next player. They play the same as the first player, with everyone turning over their top card and the player examining them to see if there is a match. This player keeps all matches and discards any non-matching cards. This player keeps playing until there is a round with no matches.

When any player runs out of cards, shuffle the discard pile and re-deal the cards to the players.

Continue the game until every card has been matched.

This game is really helpful for little ones who are working on one-to-one correlation and also very helpful for number recognition. They also really like it because they can win. My preschooler considers the game a 'win' whenever she gets a match.

Deborah is the Mommy behind Mommy Crusader and Her Knights and Ladies. The name of her website was chosen because her children are always playing princess and knight, and sometimes being a mommy feels like a crusade. She has five children, 10 and under, and one awesome and supportive husband. With her bachelor’s degree in Interpersonal Communication, she writes about parenting tips and fun kid’s activities and crafts with a focus on preschool learning activities. Check her out at MommyCrusader.com.

Learning with Ladybugs (Love to Learn Linky #31)

Ladybugs and their lovely little spots are perfect for practicing counting and math skills. I created this Ladybug Counting Mat that is versatile and can be used with many different materials. Also, keep reading for more creative ladybug learning activities and printables from my fellow kid bloggers!

This post contains affiliate links.

To create your Ladybug Counting mat I recommend laminating the free printable. This will give you a durable, reusable mat that your child can use with many different materials, such as buttons, playdough, pom poms, stickers, or a combination of different things.

This activity also comes with number cards 1-20 that you can place in the top left corner of the mat and have your child create the correct amount of "spots" on the ladybug.

Click here to Download your Free Ladybug Counting Mat

Check out these other creative Ladybug Learning Activities:

Ladybug Math & Printables by The Measured Mom
Ladybug Printable Pack by Itsy Bitsy Fun
Ladybug Scissor Skills Printables by Itsy Bitsy Fun
Ladybug Life Cycle & Printable by Teaching Mama
Ladybug Do-a-Dot Printables by Gift of Curiosity
Ladybug Learning Pack by Look We're Learning
The Grouchy Ladybug craft with Free Printable by Buggy and Buddy
DIY Ladybug Counters & Math Game by Still Playing School
10 Little Ladybugs Counting Stick by School Time Snippets
Montessori Ladybug Activities & Printables by Living Montessori Now
DIY Magnetic Ladybug Counting Set by B-Inspired Mama


LOVE TO LEARN LINKY


Visit my co-hosts to see their posts and features!

The Cat in the Hat Printable Craft + More Dr. Seuss Inspired Activities from A Little Pinch of Perfect
How to Make Rainbows at Home from One Time Through
Light Up St. Patrick's Day Card from Left Brain Craft Brain

Now it's time for some more links! I hope you'll join me and a couple of friends for a brand new linky party!

Bloggers, link up your posts every Thursday and watch as we round them up and share them all over the place.

Almost anything goes, we're just hoping your activities teach kids (or us!) something. (science, art, cooking, behavior, crafting, parenting, etc...)

Love to Learn Linky Etiquette:

• Posts should be about educating our kids in any way - science, art, cooking, crafts, behavior, parenting, etc. Please keep them family friendly and please no Etsy shops or giveaways unless they are relevant to the topic.

• Upload your direct post link to the InLinkz widget. Link up to 3 posts.

• Like the hosts on Facebook: Totschooling, A Little Pinch of Perfect, Left Brain Craft Brain and One Time Through.

• Or follow the hosts on Pinterest: A Little Pinch of Perfect, Left Brain Craft Brain, Totschooling and One Time Through.

• Post our button on your site.

• By linking up, you agree to have your images shared with credit.

Link up and grab a button!

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An InLinkz Link-up

Goldfish Printables for Preschoolers

Goldfish crackers are a favorite snack at our house. Pair them with the classic Dr. Seuss children's book and these free printable activities, and you have some great learning opportunities. You'll never look at goldfish the same way again. This post contains affiliate links.

This Free Goldfish Printable pack includes the following activities:
-Color sorting
-Number recognition 1-20
-Counting 1-10
-Patterns
-Color word recognition

Note: These activities were designed to be used with rainbow colored Goldfish crackers.

Click here to Download your FREE Goldfish Printables

Train Number Puzzle for Toddlers

When my first daughter was 2 years old, I created this train puzzle for her to practice counting and number recognition. At that time, she was not very interested in it, so I put it away and forgot about it. I found it again the other day and showed it to her (she's 3 and a half now), and to my surprise she loved it and has been playing with it every day!

As you can see this puzzle is pretty big. It consists of 11 pieces: the front of the train plus 10 train cars filled with animals and numbers 1-10. I laminated it and made sure to cut off the sharp corners.

Another way to use this puzzle is to hang it on the wall as an educational wall decoration.

Click here to download your FREE Number Train Puzzle

Check out more free printable puzzles here!

Conversation Heart Valentine's Day Printables

There are so many learning activities you can do with those little candy hearts that you see everywhere this time of year. I created some free printables specifically for use with these conversation hearts. This is a fun way for preschoolers to practice counting, patterns, color recognition, and letters while working on fine motor skills!

These conversation heart printables were so fun for my 3 year old that she didn't even try to eat the candy!

Here is what's included in this pack:

-Alphabet capital letters A-Z
-Color sorting hearts
-Patterns
-Counting 1-10
-Tree and flowers

Click here to download your Free Conversation Heart Printables!

Christmas Tree Learning Activities for Toddlers & PreK

Let's get into the Christmas spirit with some fun, hands-on Christmas Tree Learning activities! These FREE printable activities are designed for toddlers and preschoolers to practice math and literacy skills such as counting, number recognition, number quantity, shapes, alphabet recognition, letter cases, visual discrimination and more!

These Christmas Tree Learning activities are available for FREE to all email subscribers. Here is what's included:

Math Activities:

Number Tree Puzzle, including 1-10, 11-20 and 10-100 in both color and black & white.

Roll & Cover Game: Includes 2 difficulty levels. For an easier game, roll 1 die and cover the correct number (1-6) with a candy, pom pom or any other small object. For a more challenging game, use 2 dice, roll and add them up, then cover the correct number (2-12). Keep going until all numbers are covered.

Christmas Tree counting and matching 1-10 with pom poms. Includes both color and black & white, so can also be used for color matching. Printable comes in 2 halves that you tape together. 

Christmas ornament shape matching. Includes 10 shapes. Can be done as a cut & paste activity, or cut out the shapes for your child.

Literacy Activities:

Letter matching, both uppercase and lowercase included. This can be a cut and paste activity or the letter can be glued to bottle caps. Kids can match uppercase letters, lowercase letters, or uppercase and lowercase letters to each other.

Letter Case Sorting. Use the same letters from the previous activity and sort all the uppercase letters on one tree and all the lowercase letters on the other tree.

Visual Discrimination Activities:

Visual Discrimination matching. Print 2 copies of the sheet, leave one copy intact and cut the other one. Match the loose cards to the images on the sheet.

Memory Game. Use the same cards as above. Print 2 copies of the cards, cut them all out, put them face down, and play a classic memory game. Use only a few cards for an easier game.

These Christmas Tree Learning activities are FREE for all Totschooling subscribers!

After entering your email address, you will receive a confirmation email to complete your subscription. You will shortly receive a Welcome email that includes a link to this pack. If you have not received this email, please check your spam folder, or email me at totschooling@gmail.com. Thanks!

What can I expect as a Subscriber?:

-You will receive free printables that are not available for download on the website. This includes holiday and seasonal packs, as well as other themed activity packs.

-You will get access to a growing collection of Board Book Printable Activities.

-You will receive 2-3 emails per week with new posts, freebies, sales and additions to the site.

-You will receive a special subscriber discount for the Online Store.

-Your information will never be shared with anybody else.

Free Thanksgiving Math & Literacy Printable Pack for PreK

Get ready for Thanksgiving with this fun turkey themed math and literacy pack for preschoolers. This FREE printable pack is designed for preschoolers to practice math and literacy skills such as counting, number recognition, number quantity, shapes, alphabet recognition, letter sounds, letter cases and more!

This Thanksgiving themed Math & Literacy Pack features 23 hands-on activities, and it is available for FREE to all email subscribers. Here is what's included:

Literacy Activities:

-Alphabet matching

-Letter case matching

-Letter Sound Matching

-Sight Word Matching

-Tracing words

-Letter Sorting

-Word puzzle

Math Activities:

-Numbers 1-10 Puzzle

-Counting

-Cut & Paste the Correct Number

-Number Matching

-Quantity Matching

-Shape Matching

-Cut & Paste Missing Number

-Color by Number

This Thanksgiving Printable Pack is FREE for all Totschooling subscribers!

After entering your email address, you will receive a confirmation email to complete your subscription. You will shortly receive a Welcome email that includes a link to this pack. If you have not received this email, please check your spam folder, or email me at totschooling@gmail.com. Thanks!

What can I expect as a Subscriber?:

-You will receive free printables that are not available for download on the website. This includes holiday and seasonal packs, as well as other themed activity packs.

-You will get access to a growing collection of Board Book Printable Activities.

-You will receive 2-3 emails per week with new posts, freebies, sales and additions to the site.

-You will receive a special subscriber discount for the Online Store.

-Your information will never be shared with anybody else.