I made a few new ones to replace some that didn't work well for my children.
Key Match
Go to a home improvement store and politely ask the key guy if you can dig through his discard bin. Choose as many keys as you can that have differently shaped heads. Gently place the keys on a photocopier and made a copy. Now you have a key matching activity. (You might want to wash the keys. They'll be pretty dirty.)Lego Patterns
Make some towers out of basic lego bricks. Form a pattern with the colors. Then draw pattern cards leaving the bottom block blank with a question mark inside. Take your towers back apart and toss the individual bricks and pattern cards into a bag.
Dry Erase Tracing Cards
I printed some alphabet cards and some tracing activities and slid them into card protectors held together by rings (bought at Wal-mart). I stuck the set of dry erase tracing cards into a bag with some dry erase markers and a piece of felt for erasing.Cutting and Drawing
A pair of scissors, crayons, and some cutting and drawing activities from a book of reproducibles went into this new bag. They will just sort through the pile of activities until they find one they like and then go to it.Organization
I also made some lap trays lined with felt. Lots of the bags have multiple parts (beads, legos, keys, etc.) and they just open the bag and dump it into their tray. The felt keeps the small pieces from sliding around too much. This gives them some working/play space when they're buckled into their carseats. When they're done, they have to return all the parts to the bag before they can give it back.
The trays are also useful when feeding the kids in the car because they minimize crumbs and spills everywhere. I just pull out the felt during the meal and shake the crumbs out of the box and return the felt to the bottom after the meal.
If you like these activities, you may be interested in more.
Where did you get the trays you lined with felt? I like those so much better than the usual dollar store cookie sheets!
ReplyDeleteI got those at Target. They are in the storage section and are designed to fit into their ITSO storage system. Because they are translucent, I also use them on top of my homemade light boxes for messy activities. (http://testyyettrying.blogspot.com/2011/11/science-on-light-box-oil-and-colored.html)
DeleteMy mom was great at having activities for the car back when we were little (in the 70's) and I have carried on that tradition... mostly by having a storage tub full of fun (new) markers, crayons, coloring books, paper, etc that I have put away just for our trip and part of the fun of the tub is that they have no idea what is in it- this is sooooo wonderful to add to my travel fun! Thank you for sharing all of these!
ReplyDeletei love so many of these ideas! we take a 17 hour car trip to michigan every summer and this time i'm going to prepare some of these super fun ideas for my girls to do. i was wondering though, how long ago did you get the itso containers? do they still have them at target? also, how big are the zippered pouches that you put the activities in? where did you get those? thanks for all the ideas and thank you for sharing!!
ReplyDeleteThe zippered pouches appear to be the pencil pouches you can get at Target, Walmart, etc. If you want to pick some up in "bulk", check Amazon. type in pencil bag and you will see them
DeleteYou are absolutely amazing. Thank you for the ideas.
ReplyDeleteThese ideas are brilliant. Thank you so much for sharing.
ReplyDeleteThese are amazing! Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteto get the keys do you go somewhere like Lowes or home depot?
ReplyDeleteGreat ideas..... will be using a few in my K and 1st grade ESOL class.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the useful article. Learned and continued from the suggestions from the article very well
ReplyDeleteslotxoauto
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ReplyDeleteHi, there. I am Tom Neil and I wish to describe how life had been for my younger brother living with schizophrenia and how he had been permanently able to overcome this debilitating disease via a naturopathic, herbal method.
ReplyDeleteMaicon - my kid brother was twenty years old when he was brought to the emergency room by the campus police of the college from which he had been suspended several months ago. A professor had called and reported that he had walked into his classroom, accused him of taking his tuition money, and refused to leave.
Although he had much academic success as a teenager, his behavior had become increasingly odd during the past year. He quit seeing his friends and no longer seemed to care about his appearance or public pursuits. He began wearing the same clothes each day and rarely bathed. He stayed with several family members but rarely spoke to any of them. When he did talk to them, he said he had found clues that his college was just a front for an organized crime operation. He had been suspended from college because of missing many classes. My sister said that she had often seen him mumbling quietly to himself and at times he seemed to be talking to people who were not there. He would emerge from my room and ask my family to be quiet even when they were not making any noise.
My father and sister told the staff that Maicon's great-grandmother had had a serious illness and had lived for 30 years in a state hospital, which they believed was a mental hospital. Our mother left the family when Maicon was very young. She has been out of touch with us, and they thought she might have been treated for mental health problems.
Maicon agreed to sign himself into the psychiatric unit for treatment. The whole family except I had agreed to have Maicon transferred to a mental asylum. I knew inwardly there was still some plausible means by which my kid brother could overcome this condition. I knew botanical means of treatment will be more favorable than any other type of treatment, and as such, I had taken a keen interest in the research of naturopathic alternative measures suitable for the treatment of schizophrenia. I had pleaded for some little patience from the family in the delay of the transfer, I was looking forward to proving a point to the entire family, of a positive botanical remedy for this condition.
It was during my ceaseless search on the internet I had been fortunate enough to come across Dr. Utu Herbal Cure: an African herbalist and witch doctor whose professional works had majored on the eradication of certain viral conditions, especially schizophrenia, ( improving the memory capacity positively), via a traditional, naturopathic process and distinguished diet plan. It was by the administration of this herbal specialist that my brother had been able to improve his condition for better.
Before the naturopathic remedy - Maicon's story had reflected a common case, in which a high-functioning young adult goes through a major decline in day-to-day skills. Although family and friends may feel this is a loss of the person they knew, the illness can be treated and a good outcome is possible.
My brother Maicon is just like many other patients out there suffering from this disease. Although he was able to overcome this condition via a naturopathic herbal remedy administered by this African herbal physician and saved completely thus, rekindling the lost joy which had been experienced by the family members.
I wish to use this opportunity to reach across to anyone who may happen to be diagnosed with this disastrous condition to spread the hope of an everlasting herbal remedy that is capable of imposing a permanent end to this disease.
For more information concerning this naturopathic herbal remedy, feel free to contact this African herbal practitioner via email:
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