Summer is a fantastic time to visit the library with your kids! Visiting the library introduces kids to a lifelong learning resource. It helps children view it as a valuable tool for learning, creativity, and exploration throughout their lives. Today, I have a fun Library Scavenger Hunt Free Printable to take along on your next visit to the library for your kids to do to learn about what is available at the library.

There are so many great benefits of the library for children.

1. It helps foster a love for reading.

Exposure to a wide variety of books helps children develop a love of reading from an early age. Story time sessions and reading aloud build excitement around books and stories.

2. It encourages language and literacy development.

Listening to stories, seeing printed words, and engaging in conversation at the library enhance vocabulary and comprehension. The library gives them access to age-appropriate books, supports phonemic awareness, and early literacy skills.

3. It builds routine and structure.

Regular library visits foster positive habits and routines that promote learning and exploration.

4. It helps support cognitive and social-emotional development.

Participating in group activities like story time or craft sessions builds social skills. Kids will learn to listen, take turns, and interact with peers in a shared space.

5. It gives access to diverse resources.

Libraries offer more than books: puzzles, games, educational toys, music, audiobooks, and digital resources enrich learning in multiple formats.

6. Libraries spark curiosity and imagination.

Exposure to new topics, cultures, and ideas through books and programs encourages curiosity and creative thinking. Often, libraries have areas to inspire imagination by playing with blocks, food, trains, etc.

7. It promotes parent-child bonding.

Shared experiences like reading together or exploring the children’s section strengthen the parent-child relationship.

8. Libraries are a free and inclusive educational environment.

Libraries are free, accessible to all, and offer inclusive programming for children with diverse needs and backgrounds. Our library has even started to print on our receipts how much money we have saved each visit by checking out the items from the library instead of purchasing them.

9. The library teaches responsibility and independence.

Borrowing books teaches children about responsibility, caring for, and returning items on time. Older children can learn how to navigate the library and make their own book selections.

10. Introduces a Lifelong Learning Resource

Early familiarity with the library helps children view it as a valuable tool for learning, creativity, and exploration throughout their lives.

To help get children familiar with the library and what they have to offer, I’ve created this fun Library Scavenger Hunt. They can find all of the items and cross off each box as they do.

How To Use the Library Scavenger Hunt

Before going into the library, review basic library rules with your kids:

• We use a quiet, indoor voice. 
• We use walking feet.
• We do not play games inside the library.
• If you remove a book from the shelf, put it on the reshelving cart.
• Be gentle with the books.

To Play

• Print out the library scavenger hunt sheets. You will want one per child. If the children are younger, you’ll want to do this as a family. If there are older kids, you can send them off to do it on their own.
• Each child will need a pencil so they can mark off each square that they find. 
• Head out to start exploring the library and find and marking off items as the children find them.
• After the items have been found, you may want to encourage the kids to check out one of the books that they found to learn more about it. They may discover a new type of book that they love this way. 

I’ve made the printable library scavenger hunt available in both color and black and white.

You can download the Library Scavenger Hunt Free Printable by clicking the green box below.

I hope you and your kids enjoy doing this fun Library Scavenger Hunt Free Printable together at your library during your next visit!

See you next time!

Jenette

The post Library Scavenger Hunt Free Printable appeared first on Primary Playground.

Summer is such a fun time to learn about sharks. There are so many great activities to go along with a shark or ocean unit. You know how much I love my read-alouds so today, I’m sharing with you The Best Shark Read-Alouds.

Sharks are always such a fun topic to learn about and explore. There are so many fun activities that can be done alongside all of the books below. They would also be a perfect addition to Shark Week that happens each July.

THIS ACTIVITY WORKS WELL WITH

this article (and most) on primary playground, does contain affiliate links that we do earn a commission off of.  clicking these links does not cost you any extra but helps our website to keep great articles and freebies like this coming your way.

The Best Shark Read-Alouds

Smiley Shark

This is a cute book in which Smiley Shark just wants to make friends but whenever he smiled at anyone they always swim away from him. He ends up saving the day in the end with his big toothy grin.

What If We Had A Pet Shark?

This is a simple and fun rhyming book. The author does a great job of grabbing your attention from the beginning because it is silly and so imaginative. It’s about a girl who ponders an animal, then finds an answer that rhymes with the type of animal.

Shark Lady: The True Story of How Eugenie Clark Became the Ocean’s Most Fearless Scientist

In this book, we get a glimpse into the world of a brave woman who defied society’s expectations of what she should be, what she should do, and what she should focus on.

She followed her passion and persevered toward her goals. It is because of her that we have learned more about the world of sharks and other ocean creatures. The illustrations are beautiful & the story is inspiring.

I’m A Shark

This is a silly book about everyone being afraid of the big awesome shark, but you find out that the shark is afraid of spiders. This is a fun and silly read-aloud for the kiddos.

There Was an Old Mermaid Who Swallowed a Shark! 

This is another silly adventure of the Old Lady Who Swallowed things. This time she swallowed a shark and other items in the ocean. There are some fun facts spread throughout the books as well.

I Am The Shark

This is a fun book that has a ton of different types of sharks arguing about which shark is the biggest, smallest, smartest, etc It’s a great book that shares a bunch of the different types of sharks and facts about them.

This shark craft with writing prompts would be a fun extension project with many of these shark books! They turn out so cute!

Clark The Shark

This book is filled with fun rhythm and rhyme. Clark the Shark is a bit overwhelming at school with his classmates. It’s a great book to help teach about impulse control

Nugget and Fang: Friends Forever―or Snack Time?

This is a funny story about a shark and a minnow that are best friends. The fish goes to school and learns all about sharks being mean and dangerous. The shark tries to surprise and do nice things for his friend but the fish is scared of him now. In the end, the shark saves the minnow and all of his classmates and they find that he really isn’t so scary.

I’m Getting A Shark!

A girl overhears her mom and dad talking about her getting a shark for her birthday. Throughout the book, she wonders what type of shark it will be. Her pet dog helps gives facts about the different sharks throughout the story. In the end, she ends up getting an adoption certificate to save a shark for her birthday.

Gilbert The Great

Almost every child knows what it’s like to move or to have a friend move away. Ever since Gilbert the Great White Shark was a tiny pup, Raymond the Remora stuck to him like glue. Then, one day, Gilbert wakes to find his friend has left town to live somewhere new. Nothing can console Gilbert. Then he meets disconsolate remora who has lost her shark. “I’d love to stick around with you,” she says. And that is the start of a beautiful new friendship.

Do you have any other fun shark books that you would add? I hope that you’ve found a few new ones to share with your little learners.

See you next time!

Jenette

The post The Best Shark Read-Alouds appeared first on Primary Playground.

Are you excited about the upcoming Summer Olympics?! I’m not much of a tv watcher, but when the Olympics are on that’s a different story! So to help celebrate, I made a Fre Summer Sports Word Search.

 I love watching all of the amazing athletes and learning about them and their road to get there. It’s always so inspiring!

Summer Sports Scavenger Hunt

To start off, I wanted to share a fun scavenger hunt for your kids! This one will be great to use over a course of the Olympics and a great to get your little learners talking about the different summer sports that are played.

Click here if you’d like to grab the printable version.

Videos To Teach

To help our little learners get familiar with the sports and vocabulary that are part of the Summer Olympics I have a couple of videos I like to use.

Kids vocabulary – Olympic Sports by English Singsing

This is a simple video that goes over a lot of the sports that are played during the games and their names. It’s a great vocabulary-building video.

Olympics song for Kids by BabyFirst

This is a fun song that goes over what the Olympics are and some of the sports that are played.

Summer Sports Bingo

To go along with learning some great summer sports vocabulary, I made a Summer Sports Bingo to play. Tons of fun to play either at home or in the classroom! Click here to check it out now.

Summer Sports Free Word Search

I made this Summer Sports word Search to go over some of the games that will be played. You could even send it home for the students to work on while watching the Opening Ceremonies and have them bring it back for a special treat.

You can download the Summer Sports Free Word Search by clicking the green box below.

Do you have any other fun activities to use during the Olympics?

Thanks for stopping by!

Jenette

The post Summer Sports Free Word Search appeared first on Primary Playground.

Are your little learners working on learning their sight words? They’ll have a fun time practicing with this Sunshine Sight Word Memory Game!

Sight words are those words that our students will see over and over in print. They are sometimes called high-frequency words, service words, or even snap words. Because you should know them in a snap!

This Sunshine Sight Word Memory Game uses Dolch Pre-primer words.

THIS ACTIVITY WORKS WELL WITH

Getting Ready

To get the game ready to play, you’ll first want to download and print the game. You can download it near the bottom of the post by clicking the large green button. After printing, I glued each page onto a piece of yellow cardstock. The cardstock is optional, but this will help the game be more durable and will last longer. You can also laminate them to help last even longer. Last, cut out each of the sight word cards and you’re ready to play.

To Play

To play the memory game, start by choosing which words you want the students to review. Maybe they’re just starting to learn a few words so you start with 6 words. Place all 6 of those word cards plus their matches face down randomly./mixed up.

Have the student choose a card to turn over, and then read the card. If they can read the sight word, have can choose another card to flip over to see if they have a match. If they don’t read the word correctly, review the word with them and have them turn it back over and it’s the next player’s turn.

If they do get a match, have them set the cards in front of them and they get to go again. Continue this until all of the cards have been turned over and matched. The player with the most matches at the end is the winner.

To store the game away for next time, we use clear photo 4×6 boxes. It keeps everything nice and in one spot ready to just grab and play for next time.

You can download the memory game by clicking the green box below.

Are you looking for another fun way to review sight words with your little learners? We have our color-by-code sight word sets. They’re a favorite for the kids! Check out our ocean-themed set here.

And we have a free one for your students o try out here.

What are some other ways you like to practice sight words with your students?

Thanks for stopping by!

Jenette

The post Sunshine Sight Word Memory Game appeared first on Primary Playground.

Need a fun way to practice counting and using ten frames? I am sharing two fun activities with you today to help build these skills with this Free Printable Ten Frame Practice.

These resources work well with these activities.

The Setup

For these two activities, you’ll just need the Free Printable Ten Frame Practice download available at the bottom of this post, and you will also need some type of manipulative, pom pom, or some play-doh to use as counters. Play-doh is always a fun option as they can roll it into balls and use them to count. Below we used glass beads that we found at DollarTree.

To play

To play the first game, you will only need the larger empty ten-frame card and the bubble numbers. You will also need some type of manipulative, pom pom, or some play-doh.

Have the student choose one of the bubble numbers and then they will fill in the ten frames with the appropriate number of bubbles. This is a great way for the kids to work on counting, one-to-one correspondence, and even decomposing numbers.

The second game for the students to play is a matching game. You will need each of the smaller ten frame cards and the bubble numbers for this game.

Have the students layout each of the ten frame cards. They can then match the correct number bubble to the matching ten frames.

You can download the Free Printable Ten Frame Practice activities by clicking the green box below.

What other ways do you like to have your students practice ten frames?

See you next time!

Jenette

The post Free Printable Ten Frame Practice appeared first on Primary Playground.

This article (and most) on primary playground, does contain affiliate links that we do earn a commission off of.  clicking these links does not cost you any extra but helps our website to keep great articles and freebies like this coming your way.

Are you ready for summer? How about a vacation? We’re going to have our beach fun today as we read, There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Shell! by Lucille Colandro.

In this fun rhyming book of the classic song, the old lady swallows a bunch of beach items and ultimately builds a sandcastle in the end! So to go with our story today, we’ll be building our very own sandcastle snack!

These resources work well with the blog post.

Snack idea

Each student will need:

2 graham crackers

1 pretzel stick

1 small rectangle of cheese.- I took an 8oz bar of cheese and sliced it into pieces.

This snack is very open-ended and allows your student to create their own sandcastle. They can break their graham crackers into as many or as few pieces as they’d like and build a castle of their own. I love seeing how everyone’s creations turn out differently!

free printable

I made a free printable to go along with the book for your little learners to work on too. They will get to color each of the items that the old lady swallowed in the book. This is a great sequencing and retelling activity. You can have them color in the items as you read the story or see if they can retell you the order of the book as they color while enjoying their snack.

You can download the free printable from my TeachersPayTeachers store by clicking the green box below.

If you’re looking for some other books to read for summer, you might also like our literacy snack idea to go along with Blueberries For Sal. You can check that out here.

What are some of your other favorite picture books to celebrate summer?

See you next time!

Jenette

The post Literacy Snack Idea Sandcastle appeared first on Primary Playground.

It’s always nice to send your students off at the end of the school year with something small to celebrate the end of the school year. Books are always a favorite option for me. Add in a Have A Beary Good Summer Snack Bag and a Summer Reading Bingo and you’ve got yourself an inexpensive gift.

this article (and most) on primary playground, does contain affiliate links that we do earn a commission off of.  clicking these links does not cost you any extra but helps our website to keep great articles and freebies like this coming your way.

Today I’m sharing with you how to put together the Have A Beary Good Summer Snack Bags.

Supplies you’ll need

Download and print the Have A Beary Good Summer Snack Bag Topper at the bottom of this post

scissors

stapler

snack bags

Teddy Grahams individual bags or boxes depending on how many you’ll be making – I was able to make 7 bags from one box of the Teddy Grahams

To Assemble

If you’re using the individual bags of Teddy Grahams, you’ll just print off the toppers, but them out and staple them on.

If you are using boxes of Teddy Grahams, you’ll want to fill the snack bags with the Teddy Grahams. Again, I was able to get 7 bags from each box. Download, print and cut out the bag toppers and simply staple them onto the bags.

Such an easy but meaningful special treat to wish your students a happy summer!

You can download the Have A Beary Good Summer Snack Bag Topper by clicking the green box below.

What are some of your favorite end of the year gift for your students?

See you next time!

Jenette

The post Have A Beary Good Summer Snack Bag Topper appeared first on Primary Playground.

I don’t know about you, but I’m always looking for more screen-free ideas. I made a whole list of ideas and turned them into a Screen-Free Bingo sheet to make it more fun!

These resources work well with this article.

Bingo cards are my jam and this one is packed full of fun ideas to keep the kids busy and learning. It has everything from working on a puzzle to building a fort. This is perfect to use during distance learning or over summer break.

The kids won’t realize it but these activities work on math and literacy skills, fine and gross motor skills, life skills, using their imagination and so much more.

This would make a great addition to your send home end of the year packets with your kiddos. I’m sure your parents will love having additional screen-free ideas to do with their kids.

You can download the Screen-Free Bingo by clicking the green box below.

Do you have any other fun screen-free ideas? We may even be able to come up with a second version!

If you’re looking for more ways to motivate kids to keep learning, we also have our Summer Reading Bingo here and our Math Bingo here.

See you next time!

Jenette

The post Screen-Free Bingo appeared first on Primary Playground.

With all of the fun we’ve been having with the scavenger hunts, I wanted to make a couple of special Picture Scavenger Hunts to share with our youngest friends so they can still play along.

These resources work well with this article.

I made these with our 2-3 year little learners in mind. There is one to play indoors and one to play outdoors during a walk. They are perfect to do alongside their siblings when they do their scavenger hunts. The pictures will easily let them visually see what they are searching for.

I’ve received a lot of great feedback on these picture scavenger hunts too from teachers and parents. They have been extremely helpful for little learners that cannot read yet, ESL kiddos, and have worked fantastic with autistic children as well! 

You can download the Scavenger Hunts for free by clicking the green box below.

I hope they enjoy the scavenger hunts!

See you next time!

Jenette

The post Picture Scavenger Hunts appeared first on Primary Playground.

If you’ve been around a while, you know that I love making games to help kids learn. I have a reading bingo and a summer reading bingo that I’ve shared before. So it was time for a Free Printable Math Bingo!

These resources work well with this article.

This Free Printable Math Bingo is full of fun math activities to keep your kids thinking. From making patterns to counting things around the house to playing math memory with a deck of cards.

This would make a great addition to a summer review packet to give your kids or even as part of an end of the year gift. Print out the bingo card, grab decks of cards, and a few packs of dice from the Dollar Store to make an inexpensive educational gift to give to your students.

You could even tell them that if they complete all of the items on the board over the summer and bring it back to you, you’ll give them a prize.

Click the big green box below to download the math bingo.

If your students like this math bingo, they may also like this screen-free bingo too! You can hop over and grab that one here for free.

I hope this helps those little ones learn to love math by making it fun!

See you next time!

jenette

The post Free Printable Math Bingo appeared first on Primary Playground.

this article (and most) on primary playground, does contain affiliate links that we do earn a commission off of.  clicking these links does not cost you any extra but helps our website to keep great articles and freebies like this coming your way.

I bet you had a lemonade stand at some point when you were a kid. I know I sure did! For this week’s Literacy Snack Lemonade Stand Read-Aloud, we’re reading, Caterina and the Lemonade Stand.

It’s a fantastic book that shows that if you want something, maybe like a new scooter like Caterina, then you need to work hard to earn it. Caterina has her very own lemonade stand to earn money, but others are selling lemonade too. She needs to find a way to be creative and stand out so she’s not like all of the rest.

So for our snack to go along with the book, we’re of course having lemonade!

Snack Idea

You can go as easy as grabbing some SimplyLemonade from the grocery store to making a couple of cans of frozen lemonade to actually squeezing lemons and making lemonade from scratch. No judgment here, do what works best for you. The kids will enjoy getting to have lemonade no matter which way.

Free Printable

I made a printable for the kiddos to work on while they are enjoying their lemonade. They get to decorate a lemonade stand of their own and make their own creative type of lemonade.

You can download the Literacy Snack Lemonade Stand Read-Aloud free printable below from my TeachersPayTeachers store.

If you want to take it a little further, you may like our Cooking Class How To Make Lemonade.

This is a fun way to incorporate many different learning standards. In this pack, the students are learning writing, sequencing, retelling, life skills and much more. It’s a great hands-on activity to get the students excited to learn.

I hope your kids enjoy the story and their lemonade treat.

See you next time!

Jenette

The post Literacy Snack Lemonade Stand Read-Aloud appeared first on Primary Playground.

With everyone staying at home and e-learning happening everywhere, I thought it would be fun to make different scavenger hunts to share with you each day for the kiddos to do.

They are listed in the order that I am posting them on Facebook. So you can choose whichever one you’d like to do.

I’ve gotten sooo many requests to have them be printable as well, so I put them all together in this resource. It currently has over 122 scavenger hunts. As I continue to make more, I will be adding to this as well.

You can grab the printable scavenger hunts directly from Primary Playground here or from my TeachersPayTeachers store here.

St. Patrick’s Day Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later

Backyard Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

5 Senses Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

Spring Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

Rainbow Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

Book Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

Math Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

Inventor Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

Indoor Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

Nature Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

Letters Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

Black and White Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

Shapes Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

Rhyming Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

Neighborhood Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

Numbers Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

Easter Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

Rainy Day Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

Outdoor Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

Desert Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

Sight Word Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

Park Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

Earth Day Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

Community Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

Snow Day Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

Living and Non-Living Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

Urban Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

Gratitude Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

Autumn Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

Q & U Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

Apartment Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

Night Time Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

2D Shape Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

Mother’s Day Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

3D Shapes Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

Home Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

Colors Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

Garden Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

Sunshine Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

Transportation Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

Caribbean Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

Birthday Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

Bigger or Smaller Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

Digraphs Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

Blends Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

Patriotic Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

Father’s Day Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

Zoo Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

Double OO Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

Controlled R Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

Camping Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

Taller or Shorter Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

Animal Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

Fairy Tale Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

Lighter or Heavier Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

Beach Day Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

Canada Day Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

Nursery Rhyme Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

Farm Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

Insect Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

Back To School Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

Virtual Back To School Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

All About Me Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

The Night Before The First Day Of School Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

Computer Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

iPad Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

Chromebook Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

Google Classroom Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

Apple Orchard Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

Pirate Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

Fall Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

Pumpkin Patch Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

School Supply Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

Fire Safety Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

Halloween Decoration Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

Halloween Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

Creepy Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later

Halloween Candy Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

Thankful Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

Thanksgiving Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

Thanksgiving Day Parade Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

Christmas Lights Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

Christmas Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

Christmas Lights #2 Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

Christmas Eve Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

Chanukah Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

Winter Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

CVC Short A Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

CVC Short E Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

CVC Short I Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

CVC Short O Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin for later.

CVC Short U Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

Valentine’s Day Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

Weather Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin for later.

Opposite Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

Grocery Store Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

Pet Store Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

Mardi Gras Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

Purim Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

Passover Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

Cinco de Mayo Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

OI and OY Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

Double EE Words Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

End Of The School Year Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

Long A Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

Long E Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

Long I Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

Do you have any other scavenger hunts that you’d like to see? Let me know and I’ll see about adding it!

Long O Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

Long U Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

Summer Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

Wild West Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

Road Trip Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

New Year’s Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

100th Day Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

2’s Day Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

Food Pairs Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

Lunar New Year Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

Around The School Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

Kwanzaa Scavenger Hunt

Click here to pin it for later.

Thanks for stopping by!

Jenette

The post Scavenger Hunts appeared first on Primary Playground.

Kids love learning about space! Today I’m sharing a Free Printable Solar System Hat that you can use along with your space unit!

There are just so many fun things to learn about during a space unit. There’s just something amazing about the wonder of the moons, the planets, and everything that comes along space. Hats are also a favorite for the kiddos so I thought it would be a perfect way to help reinforce the planets.

THIS ACTIVITY WORKS WELL WITH

Getting ready

This Free Printable Solar System Hat project is super simple. You’ll need to download the Free Printable Solar System Hat at the bottom of the post for each child. I’ve included a front and back strip for the hat, but if your student’s heads are a bit too big, you can have them glue the hat onto a sentence strip to make it longer/bigger for them.

To Assemble

To make the color system hat, the students will color all of the planets along with the sun. They can then cut the planets and hat out. You can have them glue the planets on randomly, or help them place them in the order closest to the sun to the furthest.

last, help them staple the hat together so it fits their head and they’re ready to go! They are so proud to show them off and is a great conversation starter with other people around the school or to show their parents what they’ve been learning about!

You can download the Free Printable Solar System Hat below.

If you’re looking for more space-themed activities to go with your unit, we have a bunch of fun resources for you!

Space bingo is a fun game to play at the end of your unit and to review vocabulary words they have learned.

Space Color By Code CVC Words is a fun and engaging way to practice CVC words. They work great as morning work, small groups, individual work, centers, word work, and homework.

And these Space Counting Mats are a fun way to practice numbers. The students will help gather the correct number of stars. They can then practice writing the number.

These space ten frame task cards are great to help students with number recognition, basic addition, and counting on.

Space Resources

Learning about the moon landing too? This has another hat included for that and a fun easy reader!

Space Activities is jam-packed with a ton of resources to cover your whole space unit from math, literacy, and science activities there is a ton to choose from.

Crafts are always a favorite too! These rockets look adorable having in the hallway for everyone to see!

Add a fun space addition to your literacy centers with these spaceship real and nonsense word sort.

And these crack the code math pages are full of jokes all about space! You can download a free one here!

What are some of your favorite ways to teach your kiddos about space?

I hope you students enjoy making and wearing their hats!

See you next time!

Jenette

The post Free Printable Solar System Hat appeared first on Primary Playground.

The weather is warm, so why not bring the learning outdoors with this math water balloon toss! There are so many fun possibilities and different levels that this could be used for.

THIS ACTIVITY WORKS WELL WITH

This article (and most) on Primary Playground, does contain affiliate links that we do earn a commission off of.  Clicking these links does not cost you any extra but helps our website to keep great articles and freebies like this coming your way.

Supplies you’ll need

Sidewalk chalk

water balloons  or  sponges and a bucket of water to  put them in

Little learner games

For our little learners, have them practice writing their numbers one through ten with chalk and draw a circle around the number.  Next, using either water balloons or wet sponges, call out a number and have them toss the balloon on the number.

If you’re kiddos know their numbers have them move to numbers all the way to 100 using the same concept.

Working on building 10?  Help them draw ten frames in the sidewalk and have them help fill them in. Call out a number and have them toss the sponge or balloon on it.

Big kids

How about practicing addition or subtraction facts? Write a bunch of problems and circle them. Have them choose a problem, read it out loud, and say the answer then through the water balloon to show they completed it.

You can do the same thing with multiplication as well to get the older kids playing!

I hope your kiddos have fun getting outside playing in the water but getting some fun math practice in at the same time!

If you like these math water balloon toss ideas, you may want to check out our sight word water balloon toss and our letters and sounds water balloon toss.

The post Math Water Balloon Toss appeared first on Primary Playground.

A couple of weeks ago I shared a fun sight word balloon toss game that we did to practice our sight words this summer. We had my nephew over the other day that is going into kindergarten this fall so we switched up the game and did this letters and sounds balloon toss.

THIS ACTIVITY WORKS WELL WITH

My kids learned their letter sounds when they were 2 with the help of the Letter Factory.  My nephew has been obsessed with it too and we love to sing the song together to practice our letter sounds.

We’re taking our letters and sounds practice outside today and using water balloons. I drew a bunch of letters on the ground with chalk and made a circle around each one to make it more like a target. You can have the kids write the letters too for practice.

Next, you’ll want to fill up the water balloons. Have the kids choose a letter, say the name and the sound that it makes, and then toss the water balloon at it.

Have them keep going until they’ve identified each letter and sound. Move to another area and play the game all over again! Water balloons make practicing letters and sounds so much fun!

I hope you kids have as much as mine did with this letters and sounds balloon toss!

What other ways do you like to practice letters and sounds outside?

Jenette

The post Letters and Sounds Balloon Toss appeared first on Primary Playground.

School is out for the summer, but we want to prevent that dreaded summer slide right?  To help with that, I came up with a fun game, sight word water balloon toss.  The kids can play outside and can also practice their reading in a fun way.

THIS ACTIVITY WORKS WELL WITH

Supplies

A pack of water balloons and a tub to put them in when filled Another great option would be to use sponges or make sponge balls. (There are a ton of great tutorials for them on Pinterest.)

Sidewalk chalk

To Play

To play the sight word water balloon toss game, first, write the sight words that you want the kids to practice on the sidewalk with chalk. I let my kids choose the words and we practiced spelling them together. They chose to draw circles around each word so it was more like a “target”.

Next, fill up your water balloons. When you’re ready to play, have each kid take a water balloon and choose a sight word they want to aim for.

Have them read the sight word aloud and then they can try to toss the water balloon on the word.

If you have multiple kids playing, have them take turns until all of the sight words are read aloud and splattered. If you have water balloons left, move to another area and play all over again!

If you’re looking for more water fun, we practice our math in this blog post you can check out here.

Having water fun and still learning makes it a perfect summer activity!

I’ve teamed up with a few other educational bloggers to give us some more fun summer activities to help keep us learning. Hop over to You’ve Got This Math for a fun outdoor math activity!

See you next time!

Jenette

The post Sight Word Water Balloon Toss appeared first on Primary Playground.

I don’t know about you but I am ready for summer! For this week’s literacy snack idea, we’re talking blueberries which just means summer to me.

Each summer, we go up to Washington to visit my dad and step-mom for a week. Each year we spend an afternoon picking blueberries together and eating way too many as we go.

We come home and make a blueberry pie for dessert and then I take loads of blueberries back home on the plane with me and freeze them to use throughout the entire year. It’s fantastic memories for our family especially since it’s not something we can do in Arizona!

So onto our Literacy Snack Blueberries Read Aloud, this week we’ll be reading Blueberries For Sal, by Robert McCloskey. It’s about the adventures of a little girl and a baby bear while hunting for blueberries with their mothers one bright summer day. My favorite part is the kuplink, kuplank, kuplunk in the book which truly is the sound of picking blueberries.

So of course for this week’s snack, we’re having blueberries!

THIS ACTIVITY WORKS WELL WITH

Ingredients

a handful of blueberries for each student

Assemble

Since we’re not actually making/creating anything this week, we give the blueberries to the students and talk about them. We describe how they look, and how they taste. You’ll be surprised how many kids have never even tried a blueberry!

Free Printable

While the students enjoy their blueberries, I made a free printable for them to work on. The students will get to draw a picture of either Sal and her mother or Little Bear and her mother collecting the blueberries.

You can download the Literacy Snack Blueberries Read Aloud free printable from my teacherspayteachers store below.

If you’re looking for another fun summer read-aloud you might want to check out our Literacy Snack Lemonade Read Aloud. You can check that out here.

I hope your students enjoy this fun summer treat and reading this classic book.

See you next time!

Jenette

The post Literacy Snack Blueberries Read Aloud appeared first on Primary Playground.

There’s just nothing like doing some summer reading! I look forward to having a bit more time during the summer to sit back and relax with a book. I’m sharing this fun free printable summer reading bingo that you can share with your kiddos before they go off to summer break to help encourage them to keep reading over the summer.

THIS ACTIVITY WORKS WELL WITH

It has fun things for the kids to do while reading such as reading to a stuffed animal, reading while eating ice cream, or even reading while wearing sunglasses! Anything to help encourage those kiddos to keep reading through the summer!

This would be perfect to hand out alongside a summer review packet, or even to go along with a book you may have purchased from Scholastic to give to the students as an end-of-the-year gift.

If you work at the library this would be a fun addition to a summer reading program too. Have the kids fill out the bingo sheet and bring it back in for a small prize.

I’ve included both a color and a black and white option depending on how many you’ll be printing.

You can download the summer reading bingo from my teacherspayteachers store below.

If you’re looking for some additional activities to send home with your kiddos, I have some more great free bingo idea boards.

A general, any time of the year reading bingo here.

A math bingo here

And a screen-free bingo here

I hope you get to enjoy some summer reading of your own!

See you next time!

Jenette

The post Summer Reading Bingo appeared first on Primary Playground.