Learning is Egg-citing!
Spring is especially sweet this year after a surreal winter in California. At this time of year, I love to break out my supply of plastic Easter eggs and get crackin’ on targeted skills with a twist of creativity. Everybody I know LOVES a good Easter Egg Hunt! This week alone, I’ve used them to practice word families, number recognition & ordering, editing sentences, multiplication facts, and contractions. Want to learn how? Read on!
Setting up your eggs is super easy. You’ll need: plastic eggs, paper (I usually cut up index cards), something to write with, treats, and an idea of what you’d like your child to practice.
Treats can be anything you’d like: Candy, coins, erasers, tiny toys, blueberries, or earn points to a big ending prize: lunch with mom/dad, a trip to a favorite store, movie night…you got this.
Uses:
Most often, I slip a paper & a treat into an egg. As I mentioned, this paper may have a number, word, math fact, or even a sentence on it. When the item is read/solved correctly, the treat is theirs!
Success Story: Last week, I had a student who dreads editing her writing. I lifted sentences from her draft, writing them on slips of paper, wrote the # of errors to be found, rolled them up, & slipped them in the eggs. There were a lot of errors (mostly typos) so I developed a plan. For every 5 edits, she earned a jelly bean. She LOVED this activity, her paper got edited, she didn’t get too many sweets, and we had a delightful time together!
Sometimes, the outside of the egg can be utilized. I do this for two activities: word families & contractions.
Word families: write a word ending on the right half of the egg. You could make -at, -an, -ed , -op, -ip, -ight, etc . Then, on the left half of the egg, go around the edge and write beginning letters for words that end with your chosen word family. Let’s use -at, for example. The letters b, c, f, h, m, p, r, and s could be written around the edge of the left half of the egg.
Your child will twist the egg, reading the words made when changing the beginning sound: bat, cat, fat, hat, mat, pat, rat, sat. Once completed, pop open the egg for the prize!
Contractions: I used this two ways. 1. I wrote two words on the outside of the egg, one on the left, the other on the right. The child said the contraction these two words made, popped it open & checked on the slip of paper inside. 2. I wrote contractions on the outside, placing the apostrophe & ending on the right half of the egg. The child read the contraction, said what two words it represented, cracked open the egg & checked for accuracy on the slip of paper inside, where a treat awaited!
After you’ve prepared your eggs, hide them around outside or inside & send your child out to find them with a collection basket/bag.
I hope you enjoy getting creative and making learning egg-citing for your child this spring!
With joy,
Amy
