Homeschooling My Kinetic Kids

March 28, 2021, is the full moon known as the "Worm Moon."  It's a celebration of springtime and the return of worms into the soil.  If you have kids who are still learning how to write letters and number, this sensory writing tray will be a great way to celebrate.  I absolutely love doing these themed writing trays, so click on the colored text below to see all I've created so far. Lots of Sensory Writing Tray Ideas HERE I made this writing practice tray in a 7x8 shallow black tray, which I've found to be a good size for kids.  The sensory material is plain flour mixed with cocoa powder or you could use dry cake mix.  Of course, dirt is an easy thing to use as well. After you print the letter cards (upper and lowercase included), your child can practice writing the letters on the cards or in the chocolate dirt.  If you laminate the cards, your kids can write on them over and over with dry erase markers.  Punch a hole in the corner and add a binder ri...

All this week, I've been doing a salmon and freshwater fish theme with science, sensory, literacy, and more!  Today, I'm adding to my collection with a fishy writing tray.  This easy to set up activity is especially good for reluctant or beginner writers.  It would make an fun literacy station in a classroom, too. Making Montessori-inspired salt trays for writing in many different themes is one of my favorite things.  I have trays (and FREE printables) for Mickey Mouse, watermelon, apple pie, monster trucks, and so many more.  They can be made for any theme, color, or occasion that you want.  Shoot me a message on Facebook or comment below if you have a theme you'd like to see! For this fish tray, I used blue dyed salt, which is really easy to make.  Just dump however much salt you want to use (I did about two tablespoons) into a zip top bag and add 1 drop of blue food coloring.  If you want, you can try to make a more green grey col...

It is officially Pumpkin Spice Latte season!  Even if you don't like the hot coffee drink, there are still plenty of other pumpkin spice products to chose from!  Everything from cereal flavors to snack mix and dog toys to kids' toys screams out the merits of pumpkin spice.  My personal favorite is pumpkin muffins.  I think I've made a batch every week! If you've been following this blog recently, you know that I'm loving sensory writing trays lately.  They're awesome for encouraging reluctant writers, they can be easily customized to any theme, and they're cheap!  It's just as easy to make one of them as it is to make an entire classroom set of them, so they're great for morning busy bins, homeschooling, or sensory play. > > > Click Here to Download < < < This printable is only for blog subscribers. Enter your email above to gain access to the password. This sensory writing tray starts with a base of ...

I absolutely love apples in autumn!  From the apple festival in first grade, which included apple tasting, to all the trips to the orchard in my childhood, to the first apple pie of the season, apples are the perfect way to start a new school year.  Every year, as the weather turns cooler, my thoughts turn to apples once again.  To see all the apple ideas and printables , click on the colored text. I talked about our cinnamon apple salt tray last week in my end of the week post, but I wanted to add a free printable (did you know I have nearly 300 FREE ones).  To make the scented salt, take about an ounce of salt in a ziplock bag and add some cinnamon or other spices.  Then, add a small amount on a shallow tray and allow your child to form letters or draw pictures in the salt. The sensory writing experience helps kids to remember the feel of the letters as they write them.  As well as being seasonal and fun, the spices add an additional sensory elem...

My kids really enjoy salt writing trays for practicing their letters.  The salt provides a very interesting texture for their fingers, and is easy to "erase" if they make a mistake.  Just shake the tray and move on with life.  Salt trays are especially helpful with special needs kids as the extra texture helps to solidify the letter shape in their brains. Today's free printable is watermelon themed cards for the salt tray.  The cards can also be used for a memory match game (and of course, they fit in an Altoid tin).  The set includes upper and lowercase letters and numbers.  Pair with the other watermelon printables from my blog for a sweet, summer learning unit. > > > Click Here to Download the Printable < < < Reminder- this printable is only available for newsletter subscribers! Sign up below to get access to the entire resource library! For my salt tray, I used a tiny amount of red food coloring to get t...

M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E!  Mickey Mouse!  Mickey Mouse!  If you haven't guessed it, this week is all about America's favorite mouse!  I've got lots of fun and educational ideas for you and your Disney loving kid.  Whether you're heading to Disney World to visit Galaxy Edge or staying home and watching Disney Channel, you'll find lots of portable and printable resources here. My kids really enjoyed using the Mickey head shaped trays for the sensory writing activity.  I used  red sequins  as the substrate, which were very beautiful but didn't give a very clear image.  Salt or sand works the best for making a clean letter, so that's what I recommend especially for new writers.  A sand art kit would give you lots of color choices for many themes (or they can be mixed for more fun), since you only need a teaspoon or so for the tray.  Kids can then shake the tray to erase their markings and start over.  Challenge kids to wri...

Is there any food more iconic to camping than s'mores?  The perfect combination of roasted marshmallows, melted chocolate, and crunch crackers just seems to make everything right in the world.  For today's camping theme learning activity, I have another s'more printable with a focus on literacy.  First, I'd like to share some fun s'more themed products I found while preparing this post. So Much Smore to Do book   <>   S is for Smore book 1, 2, 3, Make a Smore with Me   <>   Smore Caddy Electric Smore Maker   <>   Plush Smore   <>   Blanket Smore Duct Tape   <>   Smores and Checkers Game I Love You Smores Mug   <>   Smores Card Game Smore Ornament   <>   Smore Socks   <>   Nightlight Smore Playing Cards   <>   Microwave Smore Maker The literacy printable features cute and yummy color pen...

Do your kids love monster trucks?  Can they never have enough dirt?  Then, this is the activity for you!  All week long, I've been posting monster truck themed learning ideas , starting with math in an Altoid tin, letter tracing cards, and now letter identification practice with a matching game.  Scroll to the end of the post to see all my monster truck ideas. This might be one of the most boring matching games I've ever made (I think the upcoming camping one will be the cutest).  I couldn't figure out an interesting way to make the letters, so I just made them brown.  I have also included a monster truck themed background so you can print the cards two sided and make them a bit less see-through.  I recommend printing on cardstock and them laminating. > > > See all the Letter Matching Games < < < Kids can match the uppercase with the lowercase letters or match all uppercase with their exact clone (print 2 copies) for learning the ide...

When I was working on updating my old Montessori-inspired Salt Trays post from several years ago, I realized that I hadn't done a custom writing tray since my apple pie spiced one in 2015.  In the salt tray roundup post, I highlighted over 30 themed ideas.  I'm not claiming to have found every single idea and article in the world, but I was very surprised and pleased to not find a frog themed one in my hunt. If you've been following this blog for a while you'll know that frogs are our thing.  The original name of this blog was "In Our Pond" with a heavy emphasis on animals in the pond.  I even thought that our homeschool would be dominated by children sitting on lilypads for lessons (hahaha). Even though we've left the pond far behind, we still feel ourselves drawn back to the pond every spring/summer.  All winter long, Dragonfly (age 7) talks about wanting to find frogs, and we're talking this year about growing tadpoles if we can find some local....