Welcome to Porter Library’s Kinder Club Kit blog. Each season, Mrs. K. and Ms. Jamie will put together a Kinder Club Kit containing a variety of early literacy activities that will help your child get ready to make the big leap into kindergarten.
Today’s kit highlights colors, shapes and sorting!
Colors
Colors are everywhere! Look around the room. What colors do you see? Right now, in the Youth Services Department, I see a blue dolphin, yellow rainboots and my red shirt! Look at the clothes you are wearing today. Are you wearing red? Green? Take a few minutes to listen to The Kiboomers’ Color Song. Do you remember any of the yellow items? How about green?
Look at the squares below. How many colors can you name? What is your favorite color? Learning colors is super fun and can be done anywhere – inside, outside, or even upside down! Practice identifying colors this week by going on a color hunt. Can you find something that matches each of the colors below?
In your Kinder Club Kit you’ll find a few activities to help your child strengthen their color identification skills. The first activity is the Honey Bee Color Matching Game courtesy of Simple Fun for Kids. This is a fun activity that can be played multiple ways. You can play it by leaving a set of cards face up and then finding the match from your left-over cards OR you can turn it into a game of Memory by turning all the cards face down and taking turns to find the matches. If you decide to play Memory with your cards, be sure to take a few minutes to color the blank side of your cards so that you can’t see through them.
The second activity in your kit that highlights the concept of colors is the Traffic Light Color Matching Craft courtesy of No Time for Flashcards. This simple craft incorporates not only color identification, but also fine motor skills. Use your pointer finger and thumb, also known as your pincher grasp, to tear your construction paper into tiny pieces (great for building those fingers muscles that help you hold your scissors and tie your shoe laces) and then glue your scraps of paper to the correct color on your traffic light. Do you know the rules for each color on a traffic light? Listen to The Kimboomers’ Green Says GO to learn about the colors on traffic lights.
Shapes
Recognizing shapes is one of the first steps in building math skills. Knowing the different names and features of each shape helps with many other school skills such as size comparison, patterns and problem solving. Listen to Pinkfong’s Shapes Are All Around and see what shapes you can recognize.
Now that you’ve danced your way through learning your shapes, look at the image above. How many shapes do you recognize? Count the sides on the orange square. How many did you count? How about the light blue diamond? Now, count the sides of the dark blue circle. You are right! A circle has no sides!
When learning shapes, it is helpful to think about things you see every day at home, at school or even outside! For example, a tire is the same shape as a circle. A slice of pizza could be shaped like a triangle or square. Can you find the stop sign shape in the image above? Excellent!
In your Kinder Club Kit there were a few activities to reinforce your child’s knowledge of shapes. The first activity encourages your child to create a shape ice cream cone. As you work together to build your ice cream cone, name the shapes and count the sides. You can even name the colors and talk about which flavor of ice cream is your favorite!
Your next activity is a shape crown! What shape name is written on your crown? After you complete the activities on your crown, have your grown-up fit your crown around your head and secure it with tape or a staple.
Sorting
Sorting is a basic math skill. When we sort items, we put them into groups. There are many ways to sort items. We can sort by color, shape, size or texture. By sorting, you understand that things are alike and different and that they can be organized into separate groups. It is important to practice sorting for math concepts as well as everyday household tasks such as putting away groceries or doing laundry.
Look at the image above. Use your finger to draw a circle around all the blue objects. Next, tap all the round items. Which items fit into both categories (blue and round)? Are you ready for a challenge? See if you can put the shapes in the bottom row in order from smallest to largest? Fantastic job sorting and following directions!
In your Kinder Club Kit, find the sorting mat and plastic snack bag filled with assorted items. Can you sort your items by color like the sample shown below? Next, try sorting your items by shape and size. Can you think of any other ways to sort your items?
Looking for more sorting activities? Look no further than around the house. Listed below are a variety of materials found around the house that can be used to practice sorting.
- Groceries – sort by location (pantry, refrigerator, freezer)
- M&M’s – sort by color
- Deck of playing cards – sort by color, suit (shape), number vs. face card
- Crayons – sort by color or length
- Clothing – sort by color, texture, size
Thanks for visiting the Kinder Club Kit blog today! Our next kit will be available to pick up on November 18. Registration begins November 11 @ westlakelibrary.org/events or call the Youth Services Department @ 440-250-5471.
