I love The Kissing Hand book and activities for helping young children (and their parents) cope with separation anxiety. So I've been preparing printables and activities for preschoolers, kindergartners, and first graders to go along with the book.
You'll find lots of free raccoon printables in my Free Raccoon Printables and Montessori-Inspired Raccoon Activities {Kissing Hand Unit}. Here, I'm sharing some Montessori-inspired raccoon activities using free printables for preschoolers through first graders.
You'll find many activities for preschoolers through first graders throughout the year along with presentation ideas in my previous posts at PreK + K Sharing. You'll also find ideas for using free printables to create activity trays here: How to Use Printables to Create Montessori-Inspired Activities.
At Living Montessori Now, I have a post with resource links of Free Printables for Montessori Homeschools and Preschools.
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links at no cost to you.
Raccoon Dice Roll (Quantity Game)
Free Printable: Dice Roll (Quantity Game) from Kissing Hand Math and Literacy Stations by Kinderbabies at Teachers Pay Teachers For this activity, I used a large plastic tray from Montessori Services, a dice, and two glass gems for game pieces.
This is a fun way for young children to get used to playing by game rules and counting dots on dice. If you wish, you could have children get an extra turn if they land on a spot with Chester and go back 2 spaces if they land on a spot with a tree stump.
You could also make this a cooperative game by having one game piece that the children take turns moving until they reach the finish.
DIY Raccoon Cards and Counters
Free Printable: Raccoon Numbers (part of my subscriber freebie pack, so just sign up for my email to get the link and password … or check the bottom of your latest newsletter if you’re already a subscriber) For this activity, I used a a Multicraft tray, 55 popcorn kernels, and a Bambu large condiment cup to hold the pieces.
For our floor layouts, I always use a Montessori Services hemmed work rug. I like to lay out my numbers and counters in the traditional Montessori way of rows of two counters with a left-over counter centered below the bottom row. This gives a visual impression of odd and even.
For more about creating DIY numbers and counters and a link on how to present the lesson, check out my DIY Cards and Counters post.
Raccoon Addition Roll and Cover Game (or Number Recognition Game)
Free Printable: Raccoon Number Recognition or Addition Roll and Cover Games by Herding Kats in Kindergarten at Teachers Pay Teachers For this activity, I used a large plastic tray from Montessori Services, two dice, and enough glass gems to cover the numbers. I used ones that could be seen through so the numbers would still be visible.
In this printable, you'll find options for number recognition, addition with 2 dice, and addition with 3 dice.
Raccoon Name Recognition Puzzle
Free Printable: Blank Card from Raccoon Numbers (part of my subscriber freebie pack, so just sign up for my email to get the link and password … or check the bottom of your latest newsletter if you’re already a subscriber) For this activity, I used a Montessori Services basket, printable with name printed twice and bottom name cut into puzzle pieces (strips), and a small Bambu condiment cup to hold the puzzle pieces.
This just took a few minutes to prepare! It's a simple activity to help young children learn to recognize their name. This particular printable would only work best with a name of 5 letters or less.
For beginning letter sound activities using my subscriber freebie pack, check out my phonics ideas from previous months. Raccoon Rhyming Match-Up
Free Printable: Back to School Raccoon Rhyming Match-up by Herding Kats in Kindergarten at Teachers Pay Teachers I used small tabletop easels for this activity to make it very easy to prepare and display. I simply placed the easels with the cards on a Montessori Services medium-size tray. I use 1/4" color coding label dots to place one color dot on the back of each of the first set of cards and another color dot on the back of each of the second set of cards. That way the child will always have the correct rhyming cards to choose from.
Free Printable: Raccoon Digraph Sorting Activity by Nicole O’Connor – Firstie Favorites at Teachers Pay Teachers For this activity, I just used a Montessori Services basket to hold the cards. I used 3 cards for each to use only the simplest word cards. I wanted to isolate the concept, so I tried to have simple words that started with a specific phonogram.
More Free Raccoon Printables
Go to my post at Living Montessori Now for links to free raccoon printables (and Chester raccoon) printables from around the blogosphere: Free Raccoon Printables and Montessori-Inspired Raccoon Activities {Kissing Hand Unit}. And be sure to subscribe to my email list if you'd like to get an exclusive free printable each month (plus two more awesome freebies right away): Free Printables.
Helpful Post with Animal Classification
More Kissing Hand Posts at Living Montessori Now
I hope you have a great school year! :)
Deb Chitwood is a certified Montessori teacher with a master’s degree in Early Childhood Studies from Sheffield Hallam University in Sheffield, England. Deb taught in Montessori schools in Iowa and Arizona before becoming owner/director/teacher of her own Montessori school in South Dakota. Later, she homeschooled her two children through high school. Deb is now a Montessori writer who lives in San Diego with her husband of 41 years (and lives in the city where her kids, kids-in-law, and toddler granddaughter live). She blogs at Living Montessori Now.
No comments:
Post a Comment
We would love to hear from you! Please feel free to leave a comment below....