Don't Break the Ice Game Companion for Winter Clothing Vocabulary

We've been having so much fun using the Winter Clothing Vocabulary Cards from my Indoor Snowball Fight that I decided to make a companion activity that can target a bunch of goals based on the same theme.  My kids go BONKERS for Hasbro's classic Don't Break the Ice Game, so I made some materials to use while playing it.  And I was right...it is a HIT (no pun intended)!

Here's what you do:

Then, decide if you want to use these game cards...

...or these!

The players take turns turning over a card and tapping a matching ice block until it falls.  Play continues until all the ice breaks and everyone laughs!  And then play it again.  And again.  And AGAIN, if the kids get their way!!!

I've used this game this week with kids ages 2-12.  Did you catch that?  Two-year-olds were able to play this without smashing all the ice blocks in at once.  I think having the pictures on them really helped to slow it down.  Here are some of the goals I was able to target:

*  articulation:  CVC, CVCV words for my younger kids; /th/ for "this" and "the"  as in "This is the match; final /s/ in "ice", and the list goes on.

*  receptive vocabulary:  finding items based on attributes comes to mind immediately, but also matching pictures and identifying items by their names.

*  expressive vocabulary:  winter clothing words, adjectives such as warm, cozy, stretchy, itchy

*  third person singular verbs:  when using the attribute cards, I had my students respond using complete sentences that included third person singular verb.  For example, "A hat COVERS my ears."  "A snowman MELTS".

*  use of have/has:  "Boots have laces."  "Hot cocoa has steam."

*  following game rules and turn taking.

That's just a start.  Be creative and I'm sure you'll find many ways to use this with almost all of your kids.

Do you love it?  You can find it at my TpT store here.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Let's Have a Snowball Fight!

It all started with a bucket of snowballs...

I saw this online a couple of weeks ago and just had to get them!  It's a bucket of six, soft, fluffy snowballs whose sole purpose in life is to be thrown.  I mean, come on, who doesn't want that???

So of course I've found MULTIPLE ways to use them.

I've got several little preschoolers who struggle with following simple directions, so my first thought was to use this with them.  Here's what I did:

I made a set of cards for following simple directions that include snowmen throwing snowballs and Christmas vocabulary.  I also made matching vocabulary cards that were a little larger, which I taped to some cardboard blocks to use as targets.  I set up two blocks at a time at the edge of the table, and separated the cards into two stacks and placed them face down on the table.  Next, we turned over the top card of each pile and read the direction together.  In the example above, we said, "Throw a snowball at the elf."  I gave the child one snowball and she threw it at the corresponding block until she knocked it down.  Then we repeated the steps with the remaining cards and blocks.  This game was a big hit (pardon the pun!)!!!

I was thinking you could do this, too, even if you don't own a set of snowballs like these.  You could roll up white socks to make your own snowballs, or you could use Styrofoam balls that you can find at a craft store.   You could use tissue boxes instead of cardboard blocks.  And you could use these, too:

Just a little freebie for you to have a little fun with this last week before Christmas.

You can find it right here,  at my TpT store.

So of course, I couldn't just leave it at keeping this activity for Christmas.  I want to use it all winter long!  And I wanted it to be useful for a wider variety of preschoolers.  So, I made another set, this one for working on following directions that include size concepts, prepositions and winter vocabulary.

Now we have six choices for actions.  The basic set...

...and at the request of faithful reader, Maria, a second set for more complex directions.

We also have...

...two sizes of snowballs to throw ( I added a bucket of cotton balls to the mix)...

...twelve winter vocabulary words on object cards...

...and 12 vocabulary cards to be used as targets.  This is what it looks like when we play:

Of course, the target blocks are not really this close to the picture cards when we play.  I just had to move them together for the picture.  Sometimes I even move the target blocks to various places in the room for bigger throws.  It just depends on the age and ability of the child.

I also decided to add preposition cards to this set.  There are five different prepositions in all and 4 blank snowball cards for you to customize according to your needs.

When using the preposition cards, I remove the action cards from play, because in this version, the child does NOT throw a snowball.  The child puts the snowball in the correct location as described by the action and object cards.  Like this:

You can increase the level of difficulty by adding the size cards, or by adding a second object, and by combining cards in a variety of other ways.

Do you like this one, too?  Find it here.

Here's another idea for your toddlers:  

Sorting snowballs by size!  With a little bit of throwing them thrown in for fun.