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Fun with Learning Resources Jumbo Pets: Fish Bowl Scoop & Sort
- Gabrielle Fischer Posted On Apr 5, 2021 | STEM
The Learning Resources® Jumbo Pets set has been such a staple in our play over the past year. The larger size of the animals, combined with their excellent quality and durability, has meant that we have enjoyed lots of creative adventures with the dog, cat, fish, rabbit, guinea pig, and bird. In this series of blogs, we share some fun and unusual ways to use your Jumbo Pets to keep the play creative and engaging. First up, we will be enjoying a novel fish scoop and sort!
The Set-Up
Sometimes setting up an activity with ‘real world’ props is the most magical way to open a whole world of creative play. I headed to the local pet store for this activity and invested in a $5 plastic fishbowl. I know that this will be a worthwhile investment, not only for this activity but for lots of water play throughout the summer. I also purchased a $2 mini fishnet from the pet store. I half-filled the fishbowl with water and added our two jumbo goldfish, as well as a selection of other smaller tropical fish. The final stage was to set up a sorting tray to the side of the bowl. For this, I used one of our Dollar Tree lunch trays, some small plastic bowls, and a giant bowl for those bigger fish. I also recommend having a small towel to hand!
Let’s Go Fishing!
As soon as my four and 7-year-olds saw this setup, they were so excited! There was something about seeing the fish in a real fishbowl that ignited their imagination. My seven-year-old played first, and he loved scooping up the large Learning Resources goldfishes and placing them in the bigger bowl on the tray. He then carefully scooped out all of the other fish and sorted them into the bowls on the sorting tray.
This was great for his fine and gross motor skills and helped him work on his sorting skills. That aspect was pretty easy for him, so I added a few questions, asking him to analyze the similarities and differences between the various types of fish. We also speculated which ones would be better as pets and which ones would usually be found in the ocean. He finished off by embracing the empty fishbowl by getting his whole hands in there for sensory exploration.
Next up, it was my four-year-old’s turn to play, and she was just as excited. She took a different approach and started with some water play. She chose to use the sorting bowls to scoop and pour the water. I never like to direct the play too much, so if my preschooler is happily scooping water and not fishing, that’s fine by me. She worked her fine and gross motor skills hard and was having a blast transferring the water.
After a while, she was ready to use the fishing net, and then there was no stopping her! She loved trying to scoop up as many fish as possible in one splash and swoop. She used the sorting tray in a different way to her big brother. Instead of sorting the fish by type and color, she sorted them by size. As soon as one bowl was full, she moved onto the next. She enjoyed trying to catch all of the fish and then carefully counted her findings.
Ways to Extend the Play
Both my kids happily played with this setup for a considerable amount of time, but there are ways to extend the setup to allow for more play in the future. You could add foam letters or numbers into the fishbowl for some fun literacy and numeracy work. You could add dice and turn it into a fishing game with a friend. Roll the dice to see how many fish you are allowed to collect, and the person with the most fish at the end is the winner. Or why not turn it into a habitat activity and provide your kids with some shells, pretend plants, and pebbles. Can they make a habitat for the fish to live in?
This was a great water-based sensory activitiy and criticial thinking game, with significant grouping and sorting opportunities for my preschooler and 2nd grader. Most of all, it was fun!
You can also print an adoption certificate for your not-so-furry friend!
Valentine's Pattern Block Activity
Valentine's Pattern Block Activity is a fun and engaging way to incorporate math and problem-solving skills into the holiday. These activity mats feature different Valentine's Day-themed pictures, such as hearts, flowers, and cupids. To complete the activity, students can use pattern blocks to create the pictures on the mats.
This activity is a great way to teach kids about shapes, counting, sorting, reasoning, symmetry, and even fractions. Students will use pattern blocks to create the pictures on the mat, which will help them understand and recognize different shapes and combine them to create a complete picture. Additionally, students will need to count the number of pattern blocks required for each image; this will help to improve their counting abilities.
The activity also includes reasoning, symmetry, and fractions. Students must use their problem-solving skills to determine which pattern blocks to use and where to place them to create the desired picture. They will also practice symmetry by matching the pattern blocks to create a symmetrical picture. And finally, with pattern blocks, students can explore fractions and how they relate to the different shapes.
Valentine's Pattern Block Activity is a great way to incorporate math and problem-solving skills into the holiday while keeping the activity fun and festive. These simple Valentine's pattern Block Mats are an awesome math challenge for kids. Just print them out and start building; it's that easy!
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Valentine's Day Mathlink Cube Activities
Mathlink Cubes are perfect for creating fun and engaging Valentine's Day themed math activities. Additionally, Mathlink Cubes can be used to create patterns and sequences, such as making a pattern of hearts and counting the number of cubes used. These activities will help students practice their math skills in a fun and festive way.
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Mathlink Cubes are great for kids for several reasons:
- Hands-on learning: Mathlink Cubes are a hands-on learning tool that children can physically manipulate and explore mathematical concepts. This can help to make math more engaging and interactive for students.
- Multi-use: Mathlink Cubes can be used for various mathematical concepts, including counting, addition, subtraction, measurement, geometry, and more. This makes them a versatile and valuable tool for teachers and parents to have in their toolkits.
- Develops fine motor skills: Using the Mathlink Cubes requires children to use their fine motor skills, which can help to improve dexterity and hand-eye coordination.
- Concrete to abstract: Mathlink Cubes provide a concrete representation of mathematical concepts, which can help children to understand and internalize these concepts. Then the children can apply what they learned in the tangible form to more abstract problems.
- Fun and engaging: Mathlink Cubes come in different colors, making math activities fun and engaging for children. The fun and colorful aspect of the cubes makes children more excited to learn and practice math.
- Differentiation: Mathlink Cubes can be used to provide different levels of challenge for students, making it easy for teachers to differentiate instruction and provide support for students who need it.
Overall, Mathlink Cubes are an excellent tool for kids to learn and practice math in a fun and interactive way.
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Mid-Summer Minicamp for Five-Year-Olds
Your soon-to-be-Kindergartener was built for summer! There’s so much to do, see, and explore, both inside and outdoors. If you’re looking for some fresh, fun ideas to help keep your rising Kindergartner engaged and learning for the rest of the summer, have we got the activities for you! Read on for three days’ worth of developmental, educational, and social-emotional activities – plus some bonus activities, just for fun. And don’t miss our summer minicamp activity ideas for three- and four-year-olds
Minicamp Day One:
Developmental Activity – Fine Motor Freezer Fun
Kick off your first day of camp with some fine motor fun! Threading is an age-appropriate challenge for four-year-olds, resulting in a colorful creation they can wear or display. Set out some pipe cleaners and pony beads and thread a bracelet, create a beaded pattern for your preschooler to follow, or stick some spaghetti sticks into a ball of molding dough and thread penne noodles to make Stegosaurus. Find more threading ideas here.
Educational Activity – Learning You Can Count On
Download this free, printable worksheet, grab some counters, and practice numbers and counting with your kiddo! Count the letters in their name (writing it out on a sheet of paper might help), their age, the number of siblings they have, and more!
Social Emotional Learning Activity – Paint a Rock
You may have seen the pretty, painted rocks people are leaving around neighborhoods across the country as a symbol of kindness. You can do the same! Take a walk and find some medium-sized rocks with nice flat or rounded surfaces. Clean them off and pop them in the oven at 350 for 15 minutes – you can use the time to talk about things that make your kids happy as inspiration for what they might draw. Let the rocks cool just a bit, then use crayons to draw their ideas! When the rocks are dry, use a Sharpie to write caring messages like “Kindness”, “Love”, or “Joy”. Then place them in your neighbors’ gardens to brighten up their days! Find other kindness activities here.
✨ Bonus Activity – Cool Down with a DIY Snowstorm ✨
End your first day of minicamp with another cool-down activity – making a snowstorm in a bottle! Gather a glass or see-through plastic jar, vegetable oil, white paint, glitter, and an Alka-Seltzer tab, and follow these instructions to make it snow inside!
Minicamp Day Two:
Developmental Activity – Get a Grip
Using the proper pencil grip is the key to legible writing. Help your kiddo practice this summer by providing a sheet of properly formed capital letters to trace using a variety of differently sized crayons, markers, and pencils. Around age five, kids should be able to manipulate a writing utensil with three fingers rather than move their wrists or arms. Learn more about proper pencil grasps here.
Educational Activity – Go on a Math Scavenger Hunt
Brush up on those math skills with a scavenger hunt around the house! Print this list of things to look for and set off to find everyday math items, including number words, items of certain sizes and shapes, pairs of things, and more!
Social Emotional Learning Activity – Create a Gratitude Wall
Playing school is a wonderful way to build your child’s creativity and imagination. It also allows your soon-to-be-scholar to mentally prepare for going to school and build the confidence they’ll need to thrive there. Set up some school-ish materials, like a chalkboard or easel, books, paper and crayons, and stickers, and follow your little one’s lead. Will they read to their stuffed animals? Teach you letters and numbers? Draw a picture?
✨ Bonus Activity – Build a Fort ✨
Nothing is nicer after a day of summer minicamp than a delicious popsicle! Follow our favorite recipe for fruit and veggie pops, working together to squeeze the lime, drop the ingredients into the blender, stir the elements, and insert the popsicle handles. Talk about the foods as you work with them – what color are they? What is their texture like? What letter does that food start with? How might it taste?
Minicamp Day Three:
Developmental Activity – Brew a Batch of Slime
Stretchy, sticky, and squishy, you probably know that slime is awesome. But did you know that slime also helps builds fine motor skills? Measuring, pouring, mixing, stirring, squeezing, smashing, rolling, and twisting are all great ways to strengthen hand muscles and build fine motor skills! Start your last day of minicamp off with some slime, using our favorite recipe.
Educational Activity – Print Letters in Playdough
Practice letter identification, letter sounds, and word building with this simple stamp-and-learn activity! Set out some molding dough (or make your own – another fun minicamp activity!), tools like plastic rolling pins, cutters, kid-safe scissors, and letter blocks or magnets. Then show your child how to flatten the dough and stamp a letter into it. Say the letter name as they stamp, make its sound, and say a word that starts with that letter. See if your child can find the letters in their name and stamp them all in a row.
Social Emotional Learning Activity – Have Fun with Physics
The forces of physics are all around us, and summer is a great time to see them in action. Floating in the pool, rolling a ball, and dropping an ice cream cone (oh NO!) are perfect examples of buoyancy, motion, and gravity. These simple activities will demonstrate some of the most fundamental properties of physics in a fun way – and you can follow up your lesson by making a simple machine (instructions included).
✨ Bonus Activity – Job Talk ✨
Print this free career worksheet, cut out the word cards and images, and match them up! Talk about each job, the responsibilities of each job, the qualities each requires, and which one interests your child the most (and the least).
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