Blog - Look! We're Learning!

10 Fun Printable Money Games for Kids to Play

February 17, 2020 by Selena Robinson Leave a Comment

When I was a child, one of my favorite learning toys was the pretend cash register.

I think we had one in my classroom around first grade.

I always felt like a grown-up when I pulled down the lever, the drawer came open, and I counted out play change for other kids.

Kids just love to play with money. And, since learning to count money is an important early math skill, I thought it would be cool to share some printable money games for kids to play!

These are awesome if you’re currently teaching coin counting, money values, and more to students.

You can prep them once and then set them up at math centers for students to work with during the unit. Or, you can let kids play them in small groups to reinforce money value skills.

If you’re homeschooling or working with your kids after school, these money games are also a fun way to review what they’ve already learned.

Read below to see the full list and why playing printable games about money is so helpful for early math students.

If you want to see more ways to learn math through play, don’t miss my list of outdoor math activities for early grades!

$These printable money games for kids are perfect for quick math lessons! Let students play them for a hands-on money activity!$

Why You Should Use Printable Money Games with Students

What’s the big deal about using printable money games anyway? Couldn’t kids just learn money values through flashcards and worksheets?

Sure.

In fact, if you’ve been reading my site for a while, you know that I’m a huge fan of printable flashcards and educational worksheets. They’re definitely useful in early education.

But, when kids play learning games, something special happens.

They end up practicing the very same skills they’ve learned, but without the pressure of feeling that they have to “get it right”. It’s just fun.

And, over time, they retain their knowledge better because they’re making real world application of the facts. It’s a win all around.

10 Fun Printable Money Games for Kids to Play

Now that we know printable money games are awesome for kids, here’s the list!

By the way, if I’ve missed any that you love, feel free to add some recommendations in the comments!

1. Dollars and Cents Printable Money Game – Look! We’re Learning!

2. Counting Coins Money Game – Fantastic Fun and Learning

3. The Money Game – Teach Beside Me

4. Coin Naming Game – The Measured Mom

5. Money Smarts Math Game – Left Brain Craft Brain

6. Caterpillar Counting Money Game – JDaniel4’s Mom

7. Plan a Party Budgeting Game – Look! We’re Learning!

8. Fill the Piggy Bank Money Game – The Kindergarten Connection

9. Counting Money Hundred Chart Game – The Measured Mom

10. Coin Sorting File Folder Game – From ABCs to ACTs

If you add these printable money games to your coin counting or money values unit, you and your students are sure to make math fun!

Try these other hands-on math learning activities!

$Make equal parts with this Donut Making Equal Shares Activity for early grades! Perfect for math centers!$

$Pick up this cupcake English and Spanish number word matching activity to build number recognition with early grades! Perfect for math centers!$

$Make learning about money fun with these printable money games for kids to play! Perfect for a quick math lesson!$

Feathered Friends! Printable Bird Identification Flashcards

February 13, 2020 by Selena Robinson 1 Comment

The air is getting warmer and we’ve started noticing flocks of birds flying in a “V” formation around our town. Even Piglet shouts “All those birds, Mama!” when she sees them.

They’re returning here after the winter. Soon we’ll be hearing them sing in the mornings again!

So I thought our next set of printable flashcards should be a set of bird identification flashcards!

These are so simple for a spring science activity. They’re also a wonderful fit for a fall unit, particularly if you’re studying migration.

Read on to see how to get your set. And, for more about our feathered friends, don’t miss our list of beautiful children’s books about birds!

Printable Bird Identification Flashcards

To use these printable bird identification flashcards, you’ll need the following: (This post contains affiliate links. For details, see our Disclosure Policy.)

Printer (with ink)
Printer paper
Scissors
Laminator (if you want the flashcards to last for a while)

In this set of flashcards, you’ll find identification cards for 12 different kinds of birds, including:

Sea Gull
Finch
Osprey
Toucan
Pigeon
Hoopoe
Cardinal
Owl
Hummingbird
Puffin
Pelican
And Quail!

Let the kids try guessing which animals match up with the species you see in your neighborhood!

How to Use Printable Bird Identification Flashcards

One of the simplest ways to use these bird species identification cards is to memorize birds by their pictures and then quiz students as a review.

Since one set of the cards has pictures of the birds only, make the picture cards into a “Guess Who?” game!

These would also be wonderful for a spring or fall nature walk!

Use a hole puncher to put a hole in the top left corner of each card and place all of them on a ring.

Then take the flashcards with you as the kids try to see how many species they can spot in your area!

Scroll down to get your copy of our printable Bird Identification Flashcards!

Don’t miss these other spring learning ideas for kids!

Plus, get more ideas for spring learning on my Spring Activities for Kids Pinterest board!

To get your copy of our Printable Bird Identification Flashcards, click the image or the link below to visit our Store!

>>> Bird Identification Flashcards <<<

Prefer to shop on Teachers Pay Teachers? Get it from my TPT store below!

>>> Bird Identification Cards – Teachers Pay Teachers <<<

15 Fun Weather STEM Activities for Kids

February 11, 2020 by Selena Robinson Leave a Comment

STEM activities for kids are super popular these days.

And with good reason! If you can incorporate several subjects into a hands-on activity, it’s always a hit with students.

With spring rapidly approaching, it’s a great time to learn about weather with kids. And these fun weather STEM activities make this topic easy and fun!

These simple STEM experiments are perfect for small groups, weather units, science centers, after school, homeschooling, and more!

If you’re feeling intimidated by teaching STEM, using a familiar science concept like weather is a great way to get started.

Personally, once I started using STEM projects with students, I found that it wasn’t nearly as overwhelming as I thought it would be.

And, with a fun concept like weather, it’s easy to get kids excited about these hands-on science projects!

Read on to see the full list of fun weather activities for kids. And for more ways to work with STEM, don’t miss our list of easy STEM activities for early grades!

15 Fun Weather STEM Activities for Kids

1. Coffee Can Condensation – Look! We’re Learning!

2. Hands-On Weather Graphing Activity – Rainy Day Mum

3. International Weather Tracking Activity – Mama Smiles

4. Wind Science Experiment – Teach Me Mommy

5. Build a Wind Turbine – Frugal Fun for Boys and Girls

6. DIY Lightning Experiment – Learn Play Imagine

7. Rain Cloud Weather Experiment – Little Bins for Little Hands

8. Make a Tornado In a Bottle – Gift of Curiosity

9. Snowstorm In a Jar Experiment – B-Inspired Mama

10. DIY Pudding Cup Anemometer – Parenting Chaos

11. Make a DIY Thermometer – Lemon Lime Adventures

12. DIY Hurricane Experiment – Inspiration Laboratories

13. Shadow Towers STEM Challenge – No Time for Flashcards

14. Kite Flying Wind Activity – KC Edventures

15. Solar Heat STEM Activity – STEAM Powered Family

Did you enjoy these Weather STEM activities for kids? Take a look at these other science learning ideas!

Follow my It’s Science! Pinterest board for more ways to make learning science fun!

Free Mother Goose Rhyme Copywork Worksheets

February 10, 2020 by Selena Robinson 2 Comments

Remember going to nursery school? (That’s preschool for those of you born after 1990.)

You basically spent the day playing, singing songs, eating snacks, and listening to stories. It was the highlight of my four-year-old existence.

My nursery school was named “Shady Oaks”, which still makes me think of sitting under a giant oak tree and reading a storybook.

At nursery school, I heard Mother Goose rhymes almost everyday. And I still love them.

They’re wonderful resources for helping preschoolers learn to memorize basic poetry, get introduced to rhyming, and more.

My four-year-old uses Starfall all the time. And guess what they do to cover poetry? They use Mother Goose rhymes too! Some things never go out-of-date.

Since Mother Goose rhymes are so short, they’re also good copywork practice for young children who are learning to form letters.

And that’s why I put together this simple Mother Goose Rhyme Copywork pack, which is absolutely free!

Read on to get a copy for yourself!

And be sure to check out my list of 100 memorable picture books for preschoolers if you’re looking for some wonderful stories to share with your four-year-old.

Free Mother Goose Rhyme Copywork Worksheets

To use these Mother Goose rhyme copywork worksheets, you’ll need the following: (This post contains affiliate links. For more, see our Disclosure Policy.)

Printer (with ink)
Printer paper
Pencils
Laminator (optional)
Dry erase markers (optional)

This product includes the lyrics to three classic Mother Goose rhymes:

Hey, Diddle, Diddle
Hickory Dickory Dock
and Humpty Dumpty

Each page has illustrations that go along with the stories, so they’re good storytelling exercises, especially for pre-readers.

After reading each set of lyrics, see if your child can retell the story to you using the pictures as prompts.

The pack includes one page featuring traceable lyrics to each story and one page of blank lines so that kids can rewrite the lyrics on their own.

There are six trace and write pages in all.

These would be fantastic for literacy centers!

Simply laminate the pages and use them with dry erase markers for small groups!

Scroll down to get your free Mother Goose Rhyme Copywork worksheets!

Stop by to check out these other ELA ideas for kids!

And follow my Learning for Little Ones Pinterest board for more early education ideas!

To get your copy of our Free Mother Goose Rhyme Copywork, click the image or the link below to download it free from my Teachers Pay Teachers store!

>>>Mother Goose Copywork – Teachers Pay Teachers <<<

This post is part of the Mother Goose Unit Study roundup! Stop over to read more Mother Goose learning ideas from my fellow bloggers!

Little Boy Blue: Free Printables & Activities by Faith and Good Works

Mother Goose Word Search by Schooling a Monkey

Mother Goose Anthologies for Children by The Jenny Evolution

Shape Sort! Shape Sorting Activity Mats for Kids

February 6, 2020 by Selena Robinson Leave a Comment

Shapes are all around us. We often learn about them as individual items, but we really see them everywhere we go!

When my kids were small, they loved spotting shapes as we went about the day.

They found shapes on streetlights, traffic signs, buildings, and especially their favorite foods.

To help early learners recognize shapes all around them, I’m sharing these fun shape sorting activity mats for preschoolers!

These are so cute for morning tubs and early math centers! Kids will love challenging themselves to find all the shape objects.

Read on to see how to get your set! And, for more fun with shapes, don’t miss our Apple Seek and Find Shapes Worksheets!

Shape Sort! Shape Sorting Activity Mats

To use these printable shape sorting activity mats, you’ll need the following: (This post contains affiliate links. For details, see our Disclosure Policy.)

This product includes mats and shape cards for:

Circle
Square
Triangle
and Oval

Each shape mat has six spaces to place the six objects that have the specified shape.

The cards are also color coded, so it’s easy – even for little ones – to match them up.

If a student is unsure which shape goes where, ask them to lay the shape card directly on the shape shown on the mat.

Then they can trace around the shape with their finger to see which shape it resembles the most.

This can be used as a one-time cut and paste activity for students, but it really works wonderfully as a reusable lesson.

Just laminate the mats and cards and then add hook and loop sticky dots for a quick go-to whenever you want to reinforce shape recognition.

These are also fantastic for busy bags!

Scroll down to get your Printable Shape Sorting Activity Mats!

Take a look at these other early learning activities for students!

$Add these hot cocoa playdough 1-10 counting cards to winter math centers for easy counting practice! Great for morning tubs too!$

And don’t miss more ways to teach for early ages on my Learning for Little Ones Pinterest board!

To get your copy of these Shape Sort! Shape Sorting Activity Mats, click the image or the link below to visit my Teachers Pay Teachers store!

>>> Shape Sorting Activity Mats – Teachers Pay Teachers <<<

$Share these fun preschool shape sorting mats with early learners! Great for morning tubs and math centers too!$

Los Colores! Printable Spanish Color Words Book

February 4, 2020 by Selena Robinson Leave a Comment

Are you teaching Spanish to early learners?

There are so many fun ways to reinforce basic Spanish vocabulary practice with young students. You can play memory games, listen to Spanish vocabulary songs, or you can use printable activities.

If you’re looking for a simple printable for Spanish color words vocabulary, look no further!

This little printable Spanish tracing color words book is an easy and fun way to practice vocabulary and handwriting at once!

This would make a fantastic literacy center activity for ESL students too!

Read on to see how to get your copy. And, for more fun learning Spanish words for colors, don’t miss our Spanish Color by Word Lesson!

Los Colores! Spanish Color Words Book for Kids

To use this printable Spanish color words book for kids, you’ll need the following: (This post contains affiliate links. For details, see our Disclosure Policy.)

Printer (with ink)
Printer Paper
Scissors
Pencils
Laminator (optional)
Dry erase markers (optional)

This product includes printable tracing pages for nine different colors in Spanish.

A title page for the book is also included.

To assemble the book, simply cut apart each of the pages. Stack them together, add staples along the side, and you’re done!

If you’re working with small groups, you can rotate this lesson so that you don’t have to assemble so many books at one time.

Or if you want to reuse the activity, turn it into a literacy center lesson!

Laminate the pages, place them on a ring, and let students practice tracing and writing the color words with dry erase markers.

Scroll down to get your Tracing Spanish Color Words Book!

Stop by to check out these other ways to teach Spanish in the classroom!

And see more ways to learn foreign languages on my Foreign Languages for Kids Pinterest board!

To get your copy of Los Colores! Tracing Spanish Color Words Book for Kids, click the image or the link below to visit my Teachers Pay Teachers store!

>>> Tracing Spanish Color Words Book – Teachers Pay Teachers <<<

Share A Donut! Making Equal Shares Activity for Early Grades

February 3, 2020 by Selena Robinson Leave a Comment

When I was in school…ahem…several years ago…we learned about equal parts when we got to fractions.

There wasn’t an introductory lesson about it in early grades.

So I think it’s good that students get to learn about making equal shares in first and second grade – before they get to the concept of fractions. It makes the concept much clearer later on.

I wanted to make a hands on math activity that would help first and second graders to learn this geometry concept – this Share A Donut! Making Equal Shares Activity!

I feel pretty confident that I’m not the only donut lover on Earth, so I thought this would be a fun math center activity for early grades!

Read on to see how to get your copy. And, for more fun with donuts, take a look at our Donut Colors! Sentence Writing Activity!

$Make equal parts with this Donut Making Equal Shares Activity for early grades! Perfect for math centers!$

Share A Donut! Making Equal Shares Activity

To use this making equal shares activity, you’ll need the following: (This post contains affiliate links. For details, see our Disclosure Policy.)

This product includes:

Two pages of unlabeled color donut pieces
Two pages of labeled color donut pieces
Eight line art fill in the blank donut cards
A full answer key
And a set of instructions!

You can use this as a one-time cut and paste lesson.

Just print the pages, let students cut out the parts, and then glue them into the donut cards to fill in the donut with the correct number of equal shares.

Be sure to have students label the number of shares and use the unlabeled donut pieces to name each part as a fraction (if you like).

You can also make this into a reusable math center!

Laminate the pages and cut out the donut shares. Then add hook and loop sticky dots to the back of the donut parts and the donut cards.

Students can use them over and over again!

Scroll down to get this Donut Making Equal Shares Activity!

Don’t miss these other hands-on math ideas for early grades!

$Pick up this cupcake English and Spanish number word matching activity to build number recognition with early grades! Perfect for math centers!$

$Pick up these pumpkin pie fraction clip cards to help students practice fraction skills during fall! So fun for fall morning tubs and math centers!$

And see more ways to teach math on my Math Mania! Pinterest board!

To get your copy of this Share A Donut! Making Equal Shares Activity, click the image or the link below to grab it from my Teachers Pay Teachers store!

>>> Share A Donut! Making Equal Shares Math Center – Teachers Pay Teachers <<<

$Help students learn how to divide circles evenly with this hands on Donut Making Equal Shares Activity! Great for early grade math centers!$

History Maker Matches! Black History Figure Puzzles

January 30, 2020 by Selena Robinson Leave a Comment

Black History Month only comes around once a year, but we like to learn about it all year long!

With all of the important accomplishments African-Americans have made to U.S. history, it’s hard to fit it all into one month.

So we don’t even try.

Instead, we talk about notable African-Americans as often as possible. And there are new people to learn about all the time!

If you’re ready to introduce your students to African-Americans who’ve made history, these black history figure puzzles are a perfect way to get started!

These history puzzles are so fun for elementary students who are getting to know about the important achievements of black Americans!

Read on to see how to get your set. And, for more ways to teach students about black history, don’t miss our We Got Jazz Thematic Unit!

History Maker Matches! Black History Figure Puzzles

To use these black history figure puzzles, you’ll need the following: (This post contains affiliate links. For details, see our Disclosure Policy.)

Printer (with ink)
Printer Paper
Laminator (recommended for durability)
Scissors

This product includes:

31 color black history figure two-piece puzzles
31 line art black history figure two-piece puzzles

All you have to do is cut each puzzle apart and you’re good to go!

The left puzzle piece gives each person’s name.

While the right puzzle piece has a picture and brief description of how the person impacted American history.

As students learn about each person, they can test their knowledge by completing the puzzles.

Need to save on ink? Use the line art version instead!

The line art puzzles look great on colorful Astrobright paper!

Scroll down to get your copy of these black history puzzles!

Don’t miss these other ideas for teaching black history!

And see more history learning ideas on my Living History for Kids Pinterest board!

To get your copy of History Maker Matches! Black History Puzzles, click the image or the link below to visit my Teachers Pay Teachers store!

>>> History Maker Matches! – Teachers Pay Teachers <<<

Robot Number Tracing Worksheets for Kids

January 28, 2020 by Selena Robinson Leave a Comment

Math centers are my new obsession. They’re so awesome.

Kids get to gather around the center in small groups and work with math activities that are actually fun. It’s great for taking math off the page.

The key to a simple math center, though, is finding a simple interactive resource you can use again and again.

Which is where these simple robot number tracing worksheets come in handy!

These are good for a one-time practice lesson, but with just a few minutes of prep, you can easily make them reusable.

Perfect for math centers!

Read on to see how to get your set! And, for more fun with math centers, don’t miss my English and Spanish Cupcake Number Word Activity!

$These printable robot themed number tracing worksheets are great for penmanship practice! Or laminate them to use at math centers!$

Robot Numbers! Number Tracing Worksheets for Kids

To use these number tracing worksheets, you’ll need the following: (This post contains affiliate links. For details, see our Disclosure Policy.)

Printer (with ink)
Printer Paper (I used Astrobright paper)
Laminator (optional)
Dry erase crayons or Dry erase markers (optional)

This product includes ten robot-themed number tracing printables.

Each has the selected number shown on the robot with nine tracing numerals for students to the right.

I like to use colorful Astrobright paper and then laminate these.

$Robot Number Tracing Worksheets for Math Centers$

Then, you can simply let kids use dry erase crayons or dry erase markers to practice tracing each numeral.

When they’re done, just wipe them off and they’re ready to go for the next group!

These are also fantastic for morning tubs.

Just print them, place them on a ring and include dry erase crayons in the tub.

Scroll down to get your copy of these Robot Number Tracing Worksheets!

Stop by to see these other hands-on math activities for early grade students!

$Practice counting, recognizing inequalities, and more with this Yeti-themed Math Practice Lesson for early grades!$

$Pick up this cupcake English and Spanish number word matching activity to build number recognition with early grades! Perfect for math centers!$

See more ways to make math fun on my Math Mania! Pinterest board!

To get your copy of these Robot Numbers! Number Tracing Worksheets, click the image or the link below to visit my Teachers Pay Teachers store!

>>> Robot Number Tracing Worksheets – Teachers Pay Teachers <<<

$These robot-themed number tracing worksheets are so fun for early math centers! Laminate them and use them again and again!$

Snowball Smiles! Emotions Board Game for Kids

January 27, 2020 by Selena Robinson Leave a Comment

Learning to talk about feelings is a critical vocabulary skill for early grade learners.

Actually, it’s a critical vocabulary skill for children of all ages.

It can be difficult for students to express exactly what they feel without fear of being criticized, particularly in groups.

And that’s why this Snowball Smiles! emotions board game is such a great social skills tool!

Instead of putting students on the spot, you can use this resource to help them find words for their feelings and learn how to use them in a fun and comfortable environment.

Plus, it’s just a fun game to play!

Read on to see how to get your copy of this feelings game.

And, for more practicing using emotional vocabulary with kids, pick up a set of our Spanish Feelings Flashcards too!