Scroll below for your download!  When you’re done counting coins, take our 5 Day Challenge to set up STEM centers your students will love and to build a system for teaching STEM in your classroom!

Getting Ready

To prepare the puzzles, I printed them out and laminated them so that I could use them several times and not have any ripped pieces.

Then, I cut out the individual pieces. Each puzzle had 3 pieces so they were pretty simple to separate.

While counting mixed coins was my primary focus, I also included coin identification puzzles and coin value puzzles for penny, nickel, dime and quarter so I could easily differentiate for kids who were still learning coin basics.

Identifying Coins

Most of my kindergarten kids were not quite ready to count mixed coins, and that was ok!

Working with small groups of students at a time, we focused on the individual coins, their names and their values.

First, we completed the name coin puzzles. I read the name and my group searched for both the heads and the tails side of that coin. It was a wonderful way to help them recognize the coin no matter which way they saw it and was helpful for completing the coin counting puzzles later.

Once they had the names down, we searched by value. I read the value and they hunted for the coin that was worth that amount. For example, when I called out “10 cents”, they were quick to bring me both the head and tails side of the dime. “A dime is worth 10 cents!”

Note: If you are playing this version of the activity, be careful to be clear that you aren’t showing two separate coins but, rather two different sides of the same coin.

Coin Counting Puzzles

Since one of my small groups was ready for some extra challenge, I pulled out the mixed coin puzzles so that they could tackle counting up.

I placed the coin pieces of the puzzle in one pile, and we spread out all of the cent amounts in a line so that we could easily read them.

We took turns picking up a coin piece and helping each other count and add up the money shown.

We picked up 2 nickels and 1 penny and, starting with the largest valued coin first, we counted “5, 10, 11.” The kids eagerly looked for both ways 11 cents was shown. It was a great challenge because the puzzles teach both the cents and dollar symbols.

Finally, after a little hunting, we found them! 11¢ and $0.11.

We kept playing until we had counted and completed all of the coin puzzles.

Grab Your Set

Are you ready to have some fun with coins, too?! Click the blue button below to grab your set of the coin counting puzzles and then hop over and check out our 5 Day Challenge to set up STEM centers your students will love and to build a system for teaching STEM in your classroom!

The post Coin Counting Puzzles appeared first on The Stem Laboratory.

When you’re finished with your magnetic craft sticks, take our 5 Day Challenge to set up STEM centers your students will love and to build a system for teaching STEM in your classroom!

Snag This post contains Amazon affiliate links.

Getting Ready

To prep, I grabbed a pack of jumbo rainbow craft sticks and self-adhesive magnetic circles and stuck one circle on each end of the sticks.

Then, I grabbed a cookie sheet from our kitchen and invited Little Sister (age 3) over to join me.

Magnetic Craft Sticks

After giving her a few minutes of free play, I made a triangle with a couple of the craft sticks.

We talked about how the sides were straight and then counted the sticks and the corners. She thought it was pretty cool that there were three of each – just like her age!

Keeping the triangle on the table as an example, I challenged her to use the sticks to make her own.

Then, we repeated the same steps to make a square,

And even a few alphabet letters – including her favorite one: A.

After a few more minutes of building with these fun magnetic craft sticks, we switched gears again and started playing with patterns. We worked on ABC patterns like this one:

red – orange – yellow – red – orange – yellow …

And practiced AB, ABB and even AABB patterns.

Saying the colors in the pattern out loud helped her identify the sticks to add next because she could see AND hear it.

Our surprisingly simple DIY magnetic craft sticks were a major hit. The possibilities with these are truly endless.  I hope your kiddos love them, too!

Want More?

Make your classroom STEM ready and build a STEM system that works with our 5 Day Challenge!

The post DIY Magnetic Craft Sticks appeared first on The Stem Laboratory.

They are perfect for summer!  For more math fun, take our 5 Day Challenge to set up STEM centers your students will love and to build a system for teaching STEM in your classroom!

Getting Ready

To prepare the count and clip cards, I printed the download (below). Then, I laminated the pieces before cutting them out to make them sturdy so they could hold up against plenty of reuse.

I placed 12 clothespins in a basket – one clothespin for each card although you could reuse them if needed.  I placed the basket next to the cards so that we could grab, count and clip.

Count and Clip Cards

My kids absolutely love clip cards, so they are very familiar with how we use them. However, I still like to work through a few cards with them to be sure we are on the right track before letting them loose on their own.

We took turns picking up a watermelon card and counting the number of seeds. Most of the seeds were in scatter formation (not in straight rows or lines) so it required careful concentration and counting.

After counting up the seeds in the watermelon, we clipped the correct number below. We kept playing until all of the seeds had been counted and each card had been clipped!

Grab Your Set

Ready to count some watermelon seed sets to 12?! Click the blue download button below to grab your copy and then take our 5 Day Challenge so you can build a successful STEM system in your classroom, along with STEM centers your kids will love!

The post Watermelon Seed Count and Clip Cards appeared first on The Stem Laboratory.

With so many iPad apps on the market for kids these days, it can be hard to know which ones are age-appropriate and purposeful, so I went on a hunt to gather together my favorite 20, teacher-approved suggestions.

When you’re done with the list, take our 5 Day Challenge where you can set up a STEM system that works for your classroom, as well as STEM centers your students will love!

This post contains iTunes affiliate links.

The list includes favorite math games, building apps, reading activities… loads of ideas that will keep kids entertained and learning at the same time!

Whether you’re looking for ways to incorporate iPads into your classroom or you need a quick way to entertain the kids on a long flight, these 20 teacher-approved iPad apps are sure to do the trick.

iPad Apps for Kids: Ages 3 to 5

Learn with Homer is one of those multi-purpose apps. It includes storybooks, learn to read games, drawing… but my favorite feature is its post office. Children can send and receive digital postcards from pre-approved family and friends. It’s a brilliant and easy way to encourage long distance communication with far away relatives.

I’m a big fan of the Words Their Way Spelling Program because of how nicely it identifies what kids already know and what skills they need to work on next. So I was thrilled when This Reading Mama developed an Alphabet Sounds Word Study app based on the series. It’s a perfect combo of motivating and developmentally-appropriate!

Another great iPad app for kids?  One of the most popular preschool apps on the market is ABC Mouse Early Learning Academy and there’s a good reason why. The engaging games take the guesswork out of teaching kids how to read – leading them through alphabet sounds, word families, sight words and more.

When kids are ready to learn about numbers, Kids Academy free apps are a great way to go. The preschool-friendly lessons include games, stories and songs that help kids grow a strong number concept.

And speaking of math, kiddos will love learning about shapes and counting with Preschool Math · Basic Skills School. It won a Parent’s Choice Award so you know it’s good!

PBS KIDS offers a free app giving you access to their most popular kid-appropriate shows including “Curious George” and “Wild Kratts.”

Work on writing alphabet letters with a playful round of Trace it, Try it – Thomas Wilson. The program practices letter names, letter sounds and (of course!) letter writing at once. It’s a three-in-one!

iPad Apps for Kids: Ages 5 to 8

Once kids tackle letter sounds, they’re ready to move on to reading short, three-letter words. This Reading Mama’s Short Vowel Word Study app is a motivating way to practice sounding and spelling CVC words. My kids could sit and play the games for hours if I’d let them!

Learn with Homer focuses on helping kids learn to read by providing entertaining storybooks, learn to read games and drawing activities. But what sets it apart is its digital post office where children can send and receive cards from pre-approved family and friends. It’s a genius way to get kids reading and writing!

Make building vocabulary a blast with Ellen Degeneres’ high energy game, Heads Up!

Practice reading sight words and writing alphabet letters with Ollie’s Handwriting & Phonics, a two-in-one app developed by a teacher.

Get kids excited about learning sight words by playing Sight Words Ninja! There’s an alphabet and number version, too!

Kids who love puzzles will go crazy for Free Flow – a pipe building game that challenges kids to connect matching dots with pipes to create a flow.

And speaking of building, Block Craft 3D gives young iPaders practice creating and growing cities. (My six year-old is obsessed with gaining villagers and adding to his virtual town!)

Sushi Monster makes math fact practice fun by having kids gobble plates of numbered sushi to make a target addition sum or multiplication product.

Work on memorizing multiplication facts as you play “Show Me” and “Peek” in the Multiplication Flashcard Quiz and Match Games App for 2nd graders and up.

For hours of entertainment on the go, play That’s Baloney! a kids’ quiz game filled with out of the box facts. Is the largest living spider a camel spider… or is that baloney?!

And finally, for those just-want-to-play kinda’ days, Despicable Me: Minion Rush and Crossy Road are guaranteed to be hits!

5 Day Challenge

Take our 5 Day Challenge where you can set up a STEM system that works for your classroom, as well as STEM centers your students will love!

The post 20 Teacher Approved iPad Apps for Kids appeared first on The Stem Laboratory.