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How to make a holiday scrapbook with children
Dive into a sea of memories and sunshine with our delightful collection of 100+ Summer Junk Journal Pages! These free printable PDFs are your ticket to
I’m a big believer in getting our photos off of our devices, printed, and accessible for ourselves and the people who matter most to us. That’s certainly the priority. But we’ve all been there with certain decisions that, after some time, can feel dated - whether in our home, wardrobe, or even our
Keep track of your kid's favorite things about each school year with this free printable School Memory Binder for grades Pre-School through Grade 12.
Games are a tried and true way to engage students. Whether teaching in-person or remotely via a live session like Zoom or Google Meets, teachers know that games, brain breaks, and icebreakers are an awesome way to get students actively involved in learning. With the ever-changing landscape of education, I thought it might be nice to compile some versatile activities that challenge students in really fun ways. Best part? These activities are very low prep and work in a variety of settings. These activities encourage students to listen, solve problems, be creative, and practice critical skills. They're designed to be easy to do with little to no prep. You can easily add one of these games to any lesson as a warm-up, closure, community building activity, or lesson extender. GAMES & ACTIVITIES ⭐How Many? Give students a category and then challenge students to see how many different things they can fit within that classification. At first students will respond with obvious ideas. However, as they brainstorm, their ideas will stretch and their creativity will grow. Students can jot their ideas down on scrap paper and earn points for each unique response when they share out. Here are some categories to get started: occupations, things that are slimy, things that roll, animal noises, articles of clothing ⭐Listen Carefully: Read a short passage out loud to students. Then, have them answer questions based on what they can remember. Make it especially fun by awarding points for every answer that students get right. You can change up this activity by reading two versions of the same story. Mix up some of the details in the second version for students to listen for. Give this activity a try with the passages in this set of FREE Brain Bursts. Add your information below and then check your inbox! ⮟⮟⮟⮟⮟⮟⮟⮟ ⭐Silly Silent Spelling: Practice spelling words in a super silly way. Explain to students that you are going to be giving them a practice spelling test (definitely NOT the real thing). Just like a typical practice test, they'll listen for the word and write it down. However, here's the catch: you're only going to silently mouth the words. Students will need to read your lips to figure out what word they will need to write down. Of course, figuring out a word from a silent cue is not easy. That's what makes this fun. Students will write down some wild guesses as they spell their way through this game. ⭐One Word: Pose a fun question to the class and have them all think of a one-word answer. Then, give every student a chance to share their responses as you call on each of them. Here are some questions to get started: --- If you were a type of dessert, what would you be? --- Where do you feel happiest? --- How would a soccer ball describe its day? --- Where is somewhere that you would like to visit? --- What would be the perfect gift for you? ⭐Mystery Item: This activity is quick and easy to play. To prepare, write 5 or 6 clues about an object. Make the clues gradually increase in their specificity. Then, read the clues to students as they jot down their guesses for the mystery item until you reveal the answer. ⭐Punchline: Start telling a joke to students, and then have them guess the punchline. Find a ton of jokes for kids here. ⭐Strike a Pose: Explain to students that they are going to pretend that they are in a photograph. They will need to imagine that the photo was taken at the height of the event. All they have to do is strike a pose after you give them a situation. For instance, you might say, "haunted house," and then students would freeze in a pose that shows them frightened or terrified. Here are a few situations to try: Dentist Office, Roller Coaster, Last Day of School, Scary Movie, Food Fight, Race ⭐Timed Writing Activities: Engage students with a creative writing prompt. Then, "amp up" the fun factor by adding a timed element. Challenge students to race the clock as they write as much as they can in a fixed time period. Find my favorite prompts here. ⭐And Then...: This is a listening game for the entire class. Students will need to listen to and add to a growing story. You'll start the story with an opener like, "At the zoo, I decided to open the lion's cage, and then..." Next, you'll call on a student to explain what happened next. That student will add one line and the phrase "and then" before selecting another student to add to the story. ⭐Listen and Draw: Students love this activity! To prepare, create a simple illustration filled with shapes and designs. Then, write out the directions for students. Have students complete the activity on a piece of paper. Read each direction to students and challenge them to replicate the illustration you instructed them to draw. (These are included in the exclusive freebie below.) ⭐Class Pet: Pretend that you have a new class pet. Explain to students that they will need to guess the type of animal. Students will need to ask questions and write their guesses on a piece of paper when they think they have figured out the new class pet. ⭐Add the Ending: Engage students as they practice writing and storytelling skills with this activity. First, students will listen to the beginning of a story that you read to them. Then, they'll take over the writing and complete the story. The story starters are a fun way to motivate students to write. ⭐Alien, Tiger, and Cat: Here's an improvisational theatre game that works in the classroom. Explain to students that they can be one of three things: an alien, a cat, or a tiger. If they choose to be an alien, they need to hold their pointer fingers next to their head (like antennae) and say "bleeb, bleeb." To be a cat, they need to rub their wrist along their face (like a cat cleaning itself) and say "meow." Finally, to be a tiger they need to push their hand forward with a claw stance and roar. On your cue, every student will choose and act like an animal. The goal is to get everyone to choose the same animal (which is nearly impossible, but fun to try). ⭐Rapid Recall: Create a list of random words. Then, read the list of words to students. As you read the words, you might have students put their hands on their heads so that you know for sure that they aren't taking notes. Once you've read the words to students once or twice, wait about a minute before letting students write down every word that they remember. (Find ready-made lists in this complete resource.) ⭐Finish the Fact: Share the beginning of a fact with students. Then, challenge them to complete the fact. Have them share their guesses before revealing the complete fact. Find a collection of random facts here. Want a free set of virtual classroom activities designed to be NO PREP and NO COPIES? Just add your name and email below. ⮟⮟⮟⮟⮟⮟⮟⮟ BONUS: Here's one more idea: ⭐Paper Airplanes: Help students practice following directions by challenging them to fold a paper airplane by following your directions. To get started, choose a paper airplane design to have students fold. Then, have students take out a piece of paper. They'll need to listen carefully to each of your directions to make their paper airplane. Wishing you tons of fun in your (virtual) classroom, Mary Beth P.S. Find a TON of ready-made activities HERE.
Printable Tetris puzzles and shapes to keep young minds thinking! There many fun paper games and activities these free PDFs can be used for.
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy. Start your Smash Book journey! Learn to craft a vibrant photo journal with
Bingo! Hier verrate ich dir, wie du aus dem bunten Kinderkunst-Sammelsurium zauberhafte Bilderbücher binden kannst.
Grab this free printable cat matching memory game for your animal loving kids! Makes a great learning activity too.
The last 2 weeks of school, we've been working on our last part of our memory books. I posted about them before, you can read about them {HERE} and HERE Don't they look so beautiful all finished?! I love how they turn out! Some years I bind them with a comb, and other years, I just staple them together. It all depends on the time and volunteers. haha! I really love making these memory books each year. You can totally see the change that they make from August to May. I'm always SO amazed! So these are the last set of pages that we've been working on... I took their pictures and printed them at Walgreens and they glued them on their self portrait page. They finished thieir "Favorites" page... I also took their measurement with a piece of yarn and they put it in their coin envelope. I think next year I am going to take a picture of the school so they can glue it on there... I never give them a picture of me for this page - I love to see their drawings of me! AND, there is a file in the download of editable pages! All the pages that you can glue pictures down on are editable so that you can add the pictures on the pages digitally and then print them with the picture already on them! I also like to add text boxes and type in the students' names under the class picture. You can do whatever works best for you! I do this for our "Class Picture" page. I add in a big "good" picture of us all and type in all the names. Then I add in some goofy pictures for fun - one of the beginning of the year and one from the end. We also have an "autograph" day with our grade level, (I'll post about that later) and that is added to the end of the book... and the a note from the teacher is on the last cover page. I've had some requests from friends in other grades, so I have a PreK, Kindergarten, and 2nd grade edition too! These are just the end of the year pages - here's what is all included! And now there is a vertical version!! I have added 3rd grade to the list of grades in my store. Check them out in my TpT store {HERE}.
Creating a school memory box for your child is a super easy way to keep all of their papers and projects organized and in one place! Grab the free printables to make your own keepsake box or binder!
Get your photos off your phone with these cool DIYs.
The best crafts keep kids occupied while helping them develop fine motor skills. Check out our 8 terrific (and cheap) tissue paper crafts that do just that!
Practice 2D shapes with this cactus-themed matching game! Simply download, print, & laminate the shape matching game, & you're ready for some hands-on learning.
You don't have to break the bank to create a school memory box! We'll explain exactly what a keepsake box is and show you practical and affordable ways to capture and preserve your child's priceless memories.
Printable Tetris puzzles and shapes to keep young minds thinking! There many fun paper games and activities these free PDFs can be used for.
Plan to host a party celebrating your graduate this past year. Here are a few ideas that will help make planning easy for graduation day!
Our theme this week was "Our Five Senses" and we focused on the letter B and the shape circle. We read this week: Ferdinand by Munro Leaf Paddington by Mark Brown Paddington and the Busy Bee Carnival by Mark Brown The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle Stellaluna by Janelle Cannon Our question of the week was "What is something that you are really good at?" For our theme of the week, we talked a lot about our senses, what they help us do and why we need them. We made texture collages: This week is full of some of my favorite activities from the year, these texture collages being one of them. I love how each one is different, and the kids are so proud of the texture choices that they make. AND they look amazing on the wall. We tasted sweet, salty and sour things, and the kids had to vote on their favorite taste. (They think it's awesome when they get to eat things as part of a project.) We tested their sense of smells with this project where I asked them to describe the things that they were smelling. I used perfume, shampoo, chocolate syrup, pickle juice, toothpaste and (the most tricky) water. Out on our schools nature trail we talked about the different sounds that we could hear. We did this at various points of our walk, close to the school, by the parking lot and deeper in the woods. Lastly we did another activity with the sense of touch. I set up my table with different texture objects. I used flour, rice, oatmeal, sand and a scrubbing sponge. As the students felt each thing, I asked them to describe what they were feeling. It was hard to get them away from just telling them what the items were and to use describing words, but we got there in the end. For our shape of the week, the kids practiced drawing circles with this cool worksheet of circles and another with squares and circles. We also worked on recognizing circles out of other shapes. We talked a lot about things that are circles. We sang the song "This is a circle, this is a circle. How can you tell? How can you tell? It goes round and round, No end can be found, It's a circle, it's a circle." -Found Here For our letter activities, we used our handwriting sheet for the letter B, the sheet that helps work on letter recognition, both were mentioned in the "All About Me" post. The students also wrote in their journals for the letter B. We turned B's into Bees! After we read Ferdinand we all made our own bees. This was a great way for the kids to practice their cutting skills. I love how each child's bee is different. Another project that we did (another one of my favorites all year) is the Boat Builder activity. I love it because I give the students the materials and the end result is something completely their own. Each child got a piece of white paper, a square of brown paper, a skinny black rectangle, scissors, a glue stick and crayons with the instruction of make me a boat however you want to. (They love when I say that). If I get "I don't know how..." or " I can't do it.." We go back a few steps and talk about boats.. what do they look like, where do we find them, what do they do, and then the creative juices start flowing. Here's the end results! Love it! For our Alphabet wall we made butterflies with coffee filters and water color paint. After the children painted their coffee filters and they dried I used small pipe cleaners to turn them into butterflies! And with the B addition, our wall now looks like... Our list for words beginning with B's was very impressive. Here it is! As a side note, teachers always need to be flexible, and as such, it was in the best interest of the flow of the classroom to switch two centers, the library and dramatic play center. And I'm always telling the kids to make sure that they turn off the water faucet after getting a drink or washing their hands. I tell them to "Save the water for the fishes, so I painted a mural for above the sink to remind them. Up next week: The letter C, Triangles and "Our Feelings".
Wondering how to make a narcissist miserable? These 12 things they hate will do the trick. Learn what they are in the article.
Standard templates make photo books easy, but do they really tell your story your way? Here's how to make your books as unique as you are.
Memory wheels are a great end of school year activity for upper elementary and middle school students. Learn about memory wheel templates.
During my years as a homeschool mom, I’ve found that I’m not alone in always looking for a more efficient way to walk through our days, plan ahead, and keep moving without getting bogged down and distracted. One of the most effective ways I’ve found to stay on track with younger students is the addi
Memorization is an important part of a complete education, especially at the grammar stage, where our children are committing to memory the foundational aspects of each content area. Here’s the best memory system we’ve ever found to help facilitate memory work in our homeschool and some FREEBIE verse cards to add to your line-up if you want to give it a try.
Trying to figure out what to do with your child's artwork? These are the coolest ways to store, display, and save your little one's masterpieces!
Fun and educational printable pirate worksheets for kids! Great for summer or ocean themes. Use with preschool, pre k, and kindergarten children.
I wonder what it is about men’s shirts that inspires such creativity in women? Whatever the reasons there are amasing tutorials on how to refashion men’s shirts. Skirts, dresses, tops, …
Why slow processing speed prevents my child from learning in the classroom.
I want to share my step-by step guide to making a beautiful pin board. Hang it over your desk, in the hallway, in the kitchen or wherever you need it! It is easy to make and relatively inexpensive. A perfect and pretty way to get organized.Find our guide here!
Organize school papers the easy way with a school memory binder. Keep favorite artwork, school work, photos, and report cards in one tidy place.
These printable travel journals for kids come in easy to download PDF format and are free to print and use for your family vacations!
Keep all your child's keepsakes in one place! Make in minutes, cherish forever!
