Kinder Tribe: What Worked Well Wednesday

Happy Wednesday Everyone!

I am so excited to be hosting another addition of What Worked Well Wednesday.

I get so excited when I hear teachers talk about what is developmentally appropriate in Kindergarten. So many fabulous teachers are talking about how they are bringing play back into the classroom. They are focusing on hands on activities and saying bye-bye to worksheets.

I LOVE IT!!!

I know this is scary for some of you.

I know some of you feel there is NO TIME for fun in Kindergarten!

Common Core is intense. No Doubt.It can get stressful to balance an intense curriculum with play. This year, I tried to think about both of those when I created my fine motor centers. I think we can all agree that developing fine motor skills is a crucial piece of Kindergarten.

I made these dot letter cards to be used in a variety of ways. My students love using tweezers to place buttons on pom-poms on the dot cards. Another fun idea is to roll small play-dough balls and place them on the circles. I was surprised at how many kids could not do this seemingly simple skill. There is also a black and white version that is PERFECT for bingo dabbers. What kid doesn't love bingo dabbers? I love that they have beginning sound pictures on there. You may not be directly teaching the beginning sounds but they will start to make the association. When you ask them for a word that starts with d, they will hopefully day dog. You can find these HERE.

We all know the importance of number recognition and subitizing. These FREE number cards were a HIT! Again, we played with buttons, pom-poms, and play-dough. You can these HERE.

Clip-cards are another great fine motor activity. It may seem easy, but it takes some skill to squeeze and place. Teacher Tip- Don't buy them at the Dollar Store. They break much easier. They are only $1.50 at Wal-Mart and last longer. You can get these adorable Number Clip Cards FREE HERE. Be sure to let Kamp Kindergarten know how much you love them. The Beginning Sound cards come from my Beginning Sounds Mega Pack.

I LOVE these FREE Play-dough shape cards. Oh, my. I'm not sure what is trickier for Kinders- rolling balls or rolling snakes. Many kids are able to identify their shapes, so for an added challenge, I have them count the corners and write the number in the middle with a dry erase marker. You can get these FREE HERE from Life Over C's.

This little muffin tin is by far the class FAVORITE. Seriously. They ALL want it. I first saw the on Little Minds at Work. Yes, I know I could have made it, but I LOVE the little muffins. You can switch out the little circles to work on different skills. It has been a lot of fun to watch kids try to scoop up letters with the purple scooper. I added in the tweezers for a student who just couldn't scoop it. You get this on Amazon or, if you have enough points, snag it from Scholastic.

Looking for more ideas for What Worked Well for other teachers? Check out the websites below.

Do you want to share an idea that worked well for you? Link up below. Please only link up to your blog. Thanks!

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