Foam Heart Tangram Puzzles

Try these homemade foam heart tangram puzzles for Valentine's Day.

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If you've been looking for a quick and easy Valentine's Day math activity for kids, then you might want to try making a set of these DIY heart tangram puzzles.

They're easily customizable as you can make them as simple or as difficult as you like. And you can make them in a wide variety of colors! Heck, you don't even have to make hearts. You could try other shapes as well. Since Valentine's Day quickly approaching though, hearts it is!

You can even turn this tangram activity into busy bags when you're done. But, first, let's find out how to make these little foam heart puzzles.

What You Need for These DIY Heart Tangram Puzzles

Making your own tangram puzzles for kids is pretty easy to do. You only need two things:

• Craft foam sheets - Feel free to use whatever colors you want. Try to pick different colors for each puzzle though. That way you can tell which pieces go with which puzzle. You could also just use large foam hearts too if you don't want to cut your own.

• Scissors - To cut the craft foam into hearts and then puzzle pieces.

To make these tangrams, I first cut out four large hearts using a different color for each heart. (Or, if you are using large foam hearts like these, then you can skip this step.)

Then I cut each heart into random pieces. Some are more basic, like the purple one pictured below, but others, like the yellow one, have more pieces and are trickier to put together. Just be sure to tailor the puzzles to your child's skills and age.

You can store these tangram puzzles in little zipper seal bags and keep them as busy bags or present them on a tray like I did for a quick math activity.

Playing with DIY Tangram Puzzles for Valentine's Day

The boys loved putting these puzzles together. The purple one was probably the easiest one to assemble out of the four that I made. It was really the only one that three year old K could handle independently.

Here are a few action shows of five year old J building the puzzles. He was quick to notice when pieces were pointing the wrong direction (you can see him testing the different pieces below) and would fix them right away until the hearts were properly formed.

J (unsurprisingly) excelled at putting these puzzles together, even the ones that were trickier. Honestly, I think he appreciated the challenge!

These DIY heart tangram puzzles are part a Valentine's series called Show Me the Love. Here are some other ideas from my co-hosts:

Conversation Heart Sensory Play for Baby from House of Burke

Melt My Heart Valentine's Day Art from Still Playing School

Christmas Tree Math & Fine Motor Activity

Looking for Christmas math activities or Christmas fine motor activities? Why not combine both with this simple Christmas tree math and fine motor activity!

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Even when my youngest K was a toddler, he loved playing with clothespins. So, if an activity has clothespins in it, he's interested.

Then there's my oldest who loves anything with math and numbers (hello, hypernumeracy!).

So, if you combine the two, you end up with an activity that's a guaranteed hit at my house!

But let's also combine it with Christmas because...you know...Christmas is coming up.

The result? A super engaging Christmas tree math and fine motor activity that makes for a great busy bag idea, quiet time activity, or math center for kids.

What You'll Need for this Christmas Tree Math & Fine Motor Activity

Here's what you'll need for this Christmas math activity tray:

• 10 foam Christmas tree shapes - You can find these at the dollar store and, as you can see, ours are glittery! Ideally, I'd use non-glittery trees for this activity so that the dot stickers adhere better. As an alternative, you could cut green foam into triangle shapes or use green cardstock instead.

• Dot stickers - You could just draw dots onto the tree instead, but the dot stickers make the tree look like it's covered in colorful lights or ornaments. Plus, you can get the kids to help put stickers onto the trees for some additional fine motor skills practice.

• 10 wooden clothespins - These will become the trunks of the Christmas trees.

• Permanent marker - To label the clothespins and/or possibly draw dots onto the Christmas tree shapes (if not using dot stickers).

Label the 10 clothespins with the numbers 1-10 using the permanent marker.

Add dot stickers to the foam Christmas trees, starting with one sticker on one tree, then two on another, then three on another, etc.

Alternatively, you can draw dots on the Christmas trees using a permanent marker. I wanted to reuse these tree shapes for other projects so I opted for something more temporary. Plus, the dot stickers look more like colorful Christmas lights or ornaments.

If you wanted, you could also make this activity self-checking. Simply write the correct numbers on the back of the foam Christmas trees. Then your child can clip the clothespin onto the tree and flip it over to check their work. Again, I wanted to be able to reuse these tree shapes for other projects so I didn't make ours self-checking.

Once everything is prepped and ready, simply add the clothespins and decorated foam Christmas trees to a tray, like so:

An Easy Christmas Math Activity that Works on Fine Motor Skills Too!

The goal of this Christmas tree counting activity is to count the dots on the tree and find the matching tree stump (aka wooden clothespin) and attach it to the base of the tree. For example, you can see the tree below has five stickers so the clothespin labeled with the 5 is then clipped onto it.

Your child will simply match all the clothespins to the correct tree until there are no trees and clothespins left. Just count, clip, and repeat!

Both of my boys enjoyed this little Christmas tree math and fine motor activity tray. Will you be giving it a try?

Popsicle Stick Sight Word Puzzles

Looking for sight word activities? Try these DIY popsicle stick sight word puzzles! They're a great way to practice and teach sight words.

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My oldest son J has been able to read since before he turned two.

I later learned there's a name for that - It's called hyperlexia!

But long before I knew what hyperlexia was, we would spend our days together playing with words and letters because that's what he loved to do.

These sight word puzzles are just one of the many activities and games that we would play after I discovered that he taught himself to read. Partly as a way to see what he could read and partly to encourage him to read even more.

So here's how to make popsicle stick sight word puzzles for your kids.

Popsicle Stick Sight Word Puzzles: What You'll Need

Here's what you'll need to make these sight word puzzles:

• Colored craft/popsicle sticks - You don't have to use colored ones if you don't want to, but, honestly, they're more fun, don't you think? You could also opt for the jumbo craft sticks like these if you want the puzzles to be a bit larger.

• Black permanent marker - To write the sight words on the popsicle sticks.

• A list of words - Could be sight words, weekly spelling words, or whatever else you want to practice spelling.

Before I made the puzzles, I googled common sight words and found this Dolch sight word list. And, after reading the list closely, I realized that J can read well over half of these words already. He was only 3 1/2 years old when I made these, but I discovered that he could read words listed at a Grade Three level?! Wow.

Anyway, I only had 72 sticks, so I stuck with the Pre-Primer Level words. But feel free to choose and use whatever words you'd like. You might opt for weekly spelling words instead of sight words, for instance.

How to Make this Sight Word Popsicle Stick Game

Once you decide which words you will be using, put two matching colored popsicle sticks together and write one word across the two sticks using black permanent marker.

Here's how the sight word puzzles will look when they're all made:

Use these Sight Word Puzzles to Teach & Practice Sight Words

I mixed up all of the puzzle sticks and left them on the floor in the living room for the boys. I also matched one sight word puzzle for J, illustrating what the objective of the activity was. Naturally, he caught on quickly.

J worked his way through the puzzles fairly easily, reading each one as he went. There were a couple of words he didn't recognize like "said" and "away" (he kept saying awake, so he was close!), so I helped him read those ones.

But what I found interesting was how J went about solving the puzzles.

When he picked up a random stick, he would try to guess the word based on the half of the word that he could see. He guessed correctly almost every single time! Then he would search for the other half, using the color of the stick as a guide. He also used a lot of "same/matching" and "different" vocabulary as he searched for the other half of the puzzle.

Anyway, I found it fascinating how he could guess the word, even though the part of the word he could see was so small. (Note: this isn't surprising based on the hyperlexia research, as I would later learn).

After he completed a majority of the puzzles, J used the sticks to create letters and numbers. You probably figured that would happen though if you have a hyperlexic child like I do. After all, it's such a hyperlexia thing to do!

As for my youngest K, he was curious about the colorful sticks as well. He carefully examined them, as you can see.

Are you going to try making your own set of popsicle stick sight word puzzles? As you can see, they were really easy to make!

How to Reuse Valentine's Day Cards

Wait, don't throw those Valentine's Day cards away just yet! Here are some simple ideas for reusing Valentine's Day cards for play and learning.

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I think one of the main reasons I don't like Valentine's Day is because you end up with a collection of pretty little Valentine's Day cards and do nothing with them. It seems like such a waste to buy them, only to recycle or throw them out the next day.

So instead of letting these Valentine's Day cards hit the recycling can, I decided to come up with a few different ways to reuse Valentine's Day cards for play and learning.

Plus, all of these ideas can be turned into busy bags for taking on the go!

Simple Ways to Reuse Valentine's Day Cards for Play & Learning

The kids will be able to work on fine motor skills with this list of ideas that I've come up with. The ideas are all extremely simple and require little prep on your part. And who doesn't love a low prep activity, am I right?

{Click here to read the full post on CBC Parents.}

DIY Puzzles for Kids Using Dust Jackets from Books

Wondering what to do with dust jackets from children's books? Try turning them into DIY puzzles for kids!

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I cannot resist buying books for my kids. Seriously, give me all the books.

But do you know what I don't love? Dust jackets on hardcover picture books! They just fall off. All. The. Time.

Seriously, within minutes of my kids opening new books, the dust jackets fall off. So I've learned to just pull the dust jackets off immediately. 

Now, I can't bring myself to recycle or throw out the dust jackets, though. Needless to say, I've ended up with a large collection of dust jackets over the years, determined to find something to do with them.

Thankfully, I've come up with a perfect solution. I turn them into DIY puzzles!

So, if you've been wondering what to do with dust jackets from children's books, then you're going to love these easy, peasy homemade puzzles made from dust covers.

A version of this post originally appeared on the CBC Parents website.

Homemade Dust Jacket Puzzles for Kids: What You'll Need

It's super easy to make your very own book cover puzzles for kids. To do so, you'll need:

• Dust jackets from your child's favorite books

• Scissors

• Laminator (optional) - In case you want to make the puzzles more indestructible. This is the laminator I have and love.

How to Make These DIY Puzzles for Kids

First, remove the dust jackets from your child's favorite books. Doing so will let you to make puzzles with your child's favorite book characters on them.

Then simply cut up the dust jacket cover into pieces of various shapes and sizes.

Optionally, you could laminate the pieces for durability. However, I find they're fairly durable on their own to begin with. Especially since the paper that dust jackets are printed on is usually quite thick or has a coating on it.

That's it! They're now ready to be reassembled over and over.

Some Final Notes on these DIY Book Cover Puzzles

Perhaps you have some old comic books that have covers that are falling off...you can make those into puzzles too! For example, we had a little Pokemon comic (I think it was from Free Comic Book Day or something) that had been ripped off. I turned that into a puzzle too because why not.

It's also worth noting that these puzzles make great busy bags to take while on the go. Think road trips, waiting at a restaurant, keeping kids busy on the airplane, etc. Simply store the pieces in a little zipper seal bag.

So, which book dust jacket are you going to cut up first for these DIY puzzles for kids?

Egg Carton Geoboard

I'm always a fan of using recycled materials for play. And this simple homemade egg carton geoboard is no exception. It's a great fine motor activity for kids and requires zero prep. So how can it possibly get any better than that?

This post contains affiliate links.

How to Make a Homemade Geoboard Using an Egg Carton

If you are like us and buy eggs by the dozens at a time, then you're likely hoarding a bunch of these large egg carton trays. Before you recycle or reuse them, try this simple activity.

For this activity, you will need:

• Large egg carton - Ours holds 3 dozen eggs.
• Rubber bands

Just like our muffin tin geoboard idea, this homemade geoboard requires zero prep and set up. Just simply grab the materials and let the kids start working on their fine motor skills.

This egg carton geoboard is trickier than traditional geoboard, or even our muffin tin geoboard, so I would suggest that this activity be for older kids. My boys were 4 and 6 at the time of photos. Four year old K liked to make shapes.

Meanwhile, six year old J was "making a word search." I think a fun extension of this activity would be to actually write letters on the egg carton's peaks and turn it into a real word search game.

Other Ideas You'll Love

Pool Noodles & Rubber Bands Fine Motor Activity

Lavender Water Fine Motor Sensory Bin

Muffin Tin Geoboard

Roll a Snowman Math Game

A simple build a snowman game that works on math concepts like counting, addition, and even subtraction.

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It's no secret that we like math around here. Like a lot. 

And just recently, my youngest, who is four years old, started writing his own math equations down on paper. 

Mostly simple addition questions like 1+ 5 and 2 + 2. Regardless, he's interested in math much like his older brother J.

So to further encourage his interest, I came up with this cute little snowman math game. It reinforces concepts of one-to-one correspondence, counting, and addition. 

It can easily turn into a busy bag for on-the-go math learning too. 

Furthermore, my son was able to work on fine motor skills by helping me make the "snow" for the snowman.

Roll a Snowman Math Game

This snowman math game is really simple to put together and I have included different suggestions for materials. I'm a big fan of using what you have on hand. 

There are also a lot of different ways to adapt this game so that you can work on different math skills such as addition and subtraction. Or maybe you can get creative and come up with some unique ideas of your own to try!

I'm sharing all the full details over on CBC Parents website.

{Click here to read the full details at CBC Parents.} 

Fine Motor Mix & Match Animals Busy Bag

We have loved busy bags at our house for years now, but I think this mix and match animals busy bag may be the cutest one that I've ever made. My boys have created many animal hybrids with this busy bag and the animals have sparked hours of creativity and imaginative play. But what I love, is that these mix and match animals are a great way to work on fine motor skills.

This post contains affiliate links.

To make these mix and match foam animals, I used:

• Wooden clothespins (five per four legged animal)
• Craft foam
• Permanent markers

To make these animals, I cut out a body for the animal using the craft foam. I then added details like eyes, nose, stripes, etc. with permanent markers. For each animal, I made four clothespin legs and one clothespin tail. I made three different animals: pig, giraffe, and zebra. You could easily make any creature you wanted, not necessarily just animals. Think dinosaurs for example. Here's the complete set:

When the animal's legs are clipped on, it can stand up on its own.

And you can even clip different legs onto different animals. How about that zebra pig? Or the zebra with giraffe legs and a pig tail? Cute, right?

Meanwhile, the kids are getting important fine motor practice in.

Other cool ways to play and learn with clothespins:

Art Gallery Small World on the Light Table

Days of the Week Busy Bag

Simple Fine Motor Match Counting Tray

DIY Road Signs for Car Play

Roman Numerals Fine Motor Math Tray

"What's three million in Roman numerals?" 

That's just one of the many questions about Roman numerals that I have been asked over the past few weeks. J is Roman numerals obsessed! Thankfully, I've been able to come up with some great little math activities for him to further explore his interest. The latest is this fine motor math tray that is great for Roman numerals recognition and counting practice.

This post contains affiliate links.

For this elementary math tray, you will need:

• Roman numerals flashcards - Try making your own with this washi tape Roman numerals craft.
• Wooden clothespins - Paperclips would work great too!

The main goal of this math tray is to count the correct number of clothespins and clip them onto the flashcard. This activity focuses on recognizing Roman numerals, fine motor skills, and counting.

Five year old J was a pro. After all, he did teach himself Roman numerals this summer. Yet, getting a good picture of him showing off his work was a challenge! J also helped three year old K clip and count as well. K is already mastering a few of the Roman numerals himself (how can he not when he's exposed to J's constant math questions??). This activity was a great way for them to work cooperatively as J was teaching K the Roman numerals that he didn't recognize.

This math tray would also make an excellent busy bag for kids! Just toss all the materials into a zipper seal bag and it's good to go!

Here are some other fun ways to learn Roman numerals:

Roman Numerals Clock Activity

Roman Numerals Math Craft

Learning Roman Numerals with LEGO

LEGO Stamped Roman Numerals

Roman Numerals on the Light Table

Pool Noodle & Rubber Band Fine Motor Activity for Kids

A simple rubber band fine motor activity for kids using pool noodles.

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We still have lots of pool noodles (or poodle noodles as my kids like to call them!) kicking around from our trampoline safety hack. Some are leftover cut up pieces. One of our pool noodles was still full and intact though. I didn't want to just throw them out. I figured they could be used for something.

I thought it might be fun to use the leftover chunks for a little fine motor practice perhaps. 

And I know my kids love a good rubber band activity... 

So I figured that we could combine rubber bands and pool noodles into one simple activity.

The end result is this super simple pool noodle and rubber band fine motor activity that's great for kids of all ages. So go grab some pool noodles and elastics and give this idea a try.

What You'll Need for this Pool Noodle & Rubber Band Fine Motor Activity

This fine motor play idea was inspired by this rubber band and cans fine motor activity from Hands On As We Grow. It also reminds me a lot of the hockey puck rubber band wrap activity that I remember doing as a kid. Anyway, much like you could probably guess from the title of this activity, you'll need:

• Pool noodles - We used cut up chunks of pool noodles initially for this activity. They were the leftover scraps from when we did this pool noodle trampoline safety hack. However, my youngest found it easier to work with full size pool noodles for this activity, as you'll see below.

• Rubber bands, assorted sizes - Just make sure that the bands are big enough to fit around the width of the pool noodle. So don't use any mini elastics here.

I mean it wouldn't be a pool noodle and rubber band activity without pool noodles and rubber bands, right?! 

I set out the pool noodle chunks and a variety of rubber bands on our activity mat (ahem: an old shower curtain) and invited the kids to come play.

This Activity is a Great Fine Motor Skills Challenge!

The objective is simple. Simply stretch the rubber bands onto the pool noodles. However, it requires a lot of hand strength and finger strength. It also requires a lot of patience and practice.

The small pool noodle blocks likely made the activity a bit more challenging since the pool noodles were apt to falling over while adding the rubber bands. So my boys had to figure out ways to keep the pool noodle steady while they put the rubber bands on. 

My oldest son managed fine with the cut up pieces of pool noodle. My three year old, on the other hand, found it easier to do this activity using longer pool noodles. He quickly figured out a strategy to keep the pool noodle steady. He simply held one end of the pool noodle between his legs and feet while he added the rubber bands.

Try this Colorful Fine Motor Practice Variation

As a fun variation, you could turn this rubber band fine motor play idea into a color matching activity. 

You would need pool noodles and rubber bands that are similar in colors. Then your child would have to put pink elastics onto pink pool noodles, blue rubber bands onto blue noodles, and so on.

Take this Super Easy Rubber Band Activity on the Go Too!

Did you use cut up pool noodles for this rubber bands fine motor activity? Then why not turn it into a busy bag to take on the go.

Simply put one or two cut up pool noodles, along with the elastics, into a zipper seal bag. Then it's ready to go. 

You can use this busy bag activity to keep kids busy during road trips, while waiting for appointments, or even when you need a bit of quiet time at home. 

Other Simple Fine Motor Activities Your Kids Will Love

This activity is part of a weekly series that offers great activity ideas that promote fine motor skills. Here are some other simple play ideas your kids might enjoy:

Paperclip Counting 1-20 with Free Printable from Powerful Mothering

Back to School Pencil Frame Craft from Stir the Wonder

Fine Motor School Bus Activity from Craftulate

Fine Motor Bead Art from P is for Preschooler

School Bus Themed Find & Clip the Letter from School Time Snippets

Back to School Sensory Maze from Lalymom

Crayon and Play Dough Color Sort from House of Burke

Fine Motor Math with Bread Ties from Still Playing School

I hope you decide to give this pool noodle and rubber band fine motor activity a try. It's a really simple hand strengthening activity!