In order to learn the alphabet, children need to be able to recognize the shapes of all the letters. This requires them to attend to the physical characteristics of each letter, including whether the letter has straight or curvy lines. In this week's installment of my 101 Ways to Teach the Alphabet Series, I am sharing three sorting ... Continue Reading
70+ (mostly) free Halloween printables
Long-time readers will know that I love creating educational printables to share here at Gift of Curiosity. Over time, I have created a number of Halloween printables. I also love to see the creative Halloween printables being shared by other bloggers. Luckily for you, today I have compiled a list of over 70 (mostly) ... Continue Reading
Milk cap letter matching activity {101 Ways to Teach the Alphabet}
Do your kids drink milk? If so, don't throw out the little white caps on the carton! Instead, use them to teach uppercase and lowercase letters using with this milk cap letter matching activity. In this week's installment of my 101 Ways to Teach the Alphabet Series I am sharing a free printable Uppercase and Lowercase Letter ... Continue Reading
Halloween science: Flying tea bag ghosts
Last October I taught a STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, and math) class for a fun group of homeschoolers ranging in age from kindergarten through eighth grade. One of the classes was focused on Halloween science, and during that class the kids made their own flying tea bag ghosts. This activity was a HUGE hit! So ... Continue Reading
Halloween play dough mats for fine motor play {free printable}
Play dough is great for developing kids' fine motor skills as well as for sensory play. It is also a great open-ended toy for stimulating creative and imaginative play. For all these reasons and more, I think your kids are really going to enjoy my new Halloween Play Dough Mats! Note: For more Halloween printables, ... Continue Reading
Identifying letters by touch {101 Ways to Teach the Alphabet}
Montessori education often features activities focused on developed the stereognostic sense. The stereognostic sense is the ability to identify objects based on touch alone, without the benefit of seeing them. In this week's installment of my 101 Ways to Teach the Alphabet Series, I am sharing an activity that uses ... Continue Reading
Hands-on activity showing how leaves change colors in the fall
You may have experienced a tree turning from green to yellow during the fall. But did you know that the yellow colors that suddenly appear were actually in the leaf the entire time? It's true! The green chlorophyll we see most of the year masks the yellow color, which can only be seen in the fall when the chlorophyll breaks down. In this post ... Continue Reading
Sorting animals that live on land, air, and water {Montessori printable}
When my kids were a few years younger, we did a number of Montessori-inspired geography lessons that began with an introduction to land, air, and water. If you are introducing land, air, and water - or if your kids are learning about animals that live in on the land, in the air, and in the water - I'm happy to announce that I have ... Continue Reading
Dot Letter Activity Pages {101 Ways to Teach the Alphabet}
In this week's installment of my 101 Ways to Teach the Alphabet Series I am sharing a set of printable Dot Letter Activity Pages you can use to help your child with letter recognition and one-to-one correspondence. There are so many ways to use my Dot Letter Activity Pages. In this post I'm sharing three of my favorite ideas that are ... Continue Reading
The egg drop challenge and other STEAM activities that teach scientific thinking
As a homeschool parent and science teacher, I value teaching kids to think like scientists. To me, thinking scientifically involves: looking at things with a curious and open mind asking questions wondering how and why things work experimenting with new ideas attempting to understand their world viewing failure as an opportunity ... Continue Reading
