Letter a:A is for apple: resources master list

our own apple dominoes

our own apple see trace make

own our a is for apple magnet page

size sort from Confessions of a Homeschooler

letter matching file folder game from File Folder Heaven

Transportation Theme File Folder Game

Like most little boys B loves vechicles.  I decided to give the usual letters/numbers/shapes/colours games that I usually make for B a rest and try a thinking game where he had to categorise vechicles according to whether they travel on land sea or air.

I managed to find the file folder game at File Folder Farm.  B absolutely loved this game  and got 15 out of 16 correct on the first go!  It has been much requested and repeated.

Letter A: a is for apple: file folder game

This is a simple lowercase/uppercase letter a match-up game using apples as the theme.  I have to own up, although I intended to finish the one I started myself for B with this idea I found this one already to download and go for free over at preschoolheaven a while ago. I had totally forgotten about it until it surfaced from the thousands of files stored on my computer during an unrelated search.  When I tried to find the file online so this post can link to it all the site content has disappeared.  It is owned by the same person who runs filefolder heaven so maybe it had moved...  Anyway to give credit where it is due the cute graphics are by someone called Tricia Clarke.
Here it is in all of its glory - I still think it would be simple to make yourself if the original is lost for good.

I had intended to use it with B this afternoon but this is what a morning at Nursery School does to you!

File Folder Games: Master list

With the labels tab getting VERY long I am trying to organise things better by having some posts containing master lists of the resources available/linked to on this blog.  These can be accessed from the tabs above.
This list is the file folder games on the blog and will be updated periodically to include new additions.

Animal Match (cartoon style animals)
Apple letter A/a sort from File Folder Heaven
Dinosaur Colour Matching
Frog Colour Matching
Gingerbread man shapes
Magnifying Glass Matching Game
Number Train
Ship Shapes
Sun Alphabet Match
Transport Match

Letter S: s is for sun: Alphabet file Folder Game

Alphabet matching game to go with our "s is for sun" theme (although it could also be used for a weather theme).

The sun alphabet was downloaded free from Sparklebox.(click here to download) - the letters in the set are A4 sized but we scaled them to print out four to a page.

Having cut out the first set of letters A and R volunteered to glue them into the file folder. (we used two folders stuck together to make sure there was enough space)

The second set of lowercase letters was laminated to allow one to one matching.  B can pretty much do this on the pattern alone but it gives us a chance to name each of the letters as he finds the match.  The game can be taken to the next level by making it a lowercase to uppercase matching game using the complementary uppercase letters from here.

B was so keen to play this he grabbed each letter as I cut it from the laminate, all(!) we need now is to get him to realise that the letters have unique names.

Letter B: b is for BIG: Magnifying Glass Matching Game

B found one of our magnifying glasses this week and has been constantly wandering around with it glued to one eye.  I wanted something for our "big and little" theme so when I found this cute matching game via this post at Attached Mama that used a magnfying glass I knew it was the one for me.
The idea is pretty self explanatory - examine the little pictures with the magnifying glass and match to the bigger pictures.  There are basically three themes covered, animals, transport and fruit so you could separate them into themes and make three separate file folder games if you wanted to.
Needless to say B loved it!

File Folder Games: Number Train

Onward with the battle to get B to count!
I found a really colourful train to print out from here.
Next I loaded it into a paint program and set to work.
I wanted to print the first set of carriages with just the numerals 0-9 on them.  These were to be stuck in the file folder.
Then I printed an identical set to allow one-to-one corresponding matching of numerals. They were laminated for durability as usual.
Then we printed another set and stuck "cargo" in the carriages before laminating; you could use just dots to make it more basic but I figured my anti-number son might like something a little different.  BTW sequins are OK to go through a laminator. (I only discovered this thanks to a video by Shelley over at childcareland.com if you haven't found her site already head over there as there is lots of stuff for free as well as resources to buy)
We also printed a third set to use much later with the numbers in word form.

So much for the plan.
Here is the first version finished.

Although it will do for now I am not happy with the finished graphics.  First my printer ran out of yellow so the colours are not as good as the original graphic.  Also I printed out the graphic to fit an A4 page and it is pixelated. Finally it is a little boring really I want to add some rails and some scenery.  (Stand by for the revised version in the New Year if I get a chance!)
B loved helping to stick the trains together.  Then my number hating son put the pattern recognition skills he has learnt over the last few months to good use and before we could even play it once he noticed the patterns were numbers "No Counting!" and off he went!
Better luck next time I hope!

File Folder Games:Cartoon Animals

Inspired by the file folder games we downloaded yesterday from Preschool Printables R decided to make another one for B herself.  She set to work armed with her favourite silver gel pen and wrote out letters of the alphabet cutting them out as she went.  Then the pieces mysteriously disappeared.  Was it the terrible two year old or his paper munching brother who was responsible?  Some mysteries will remain unsolved forever. To salvage the situation we downloaded the animal flashcards from here and made an animal matching game instead.

B loved it just as much as the ones yesterday.

Shapes: ship shape file folder game

Free resource to download from Preschool Printables

Ship shape file folder game - match the shapes on the sails.  Could also be used as part of a transport/boat theme.

Shapes: ginger bread man file folder game

Free resource to download from Preschool Printables
Gingerbread man matching game - match the buttons; teaches circle, diamond,heart,oval,rectangle, square,star and triangle.  Of course this could also be used as a resource with the gingerbread man story or (at least here in Germany) as a Christmas themed resource as the shops are full to the brim with gingerbread themed stuff at the moment!

B found this one quite easy to match the shapes but didn't know the names so we are reinforcing the shape names and ignoring the colours when we use this.

Letter T is for Transport: Transport matching cards

Like the majority of little boys B is obsessed with cars, planes and trains.  Today we printed out some cute matching cards from activity village (you can find the pdf here) and laminated them to make them more durable.

We printed two copies of the page so we could play a couple of games.
First we laid out one copy of each picture on the sofa and B was handed the other cards to match the pairs. (This of course could be done as a file folder game)

Then R and I played Memory. We started with all cards the face down and the players take it in turns to turn over two cards - if they match you keep them if not turn them back; player with the most pairs at the end wins.
Finally the cards could be used for a transport themed game of snap.

File Folder Games:Frog Colour Matching game for download

Another great game for free from File Folder Fun.

Simply match the frogs and the bugs - two colours on each one so slightly more difficult than the dinosaur colour match.  Download the pdf's from this page which includes other colour matching games.

File Folder Games: Dinosaur colour matching game for download

I have to confess I hadn't really come across File Folder Games as a concept until I started reading homeschool blogs during the last year.  File Folder Games along with Lapbooks were often mentioned and I didn't know what they were.  What I discovered was that File Folder Games are home-made games that allow learning and reinforcement on any subject and any level; they can be for kids to work on alone or for multiple players; and there are thousands of examples on the net for you to to inspired by or even use directly due to the generosity of some great educators.  This game is one such.
This file folder game is free for download from File Folder Fun.  It is a simple one to one colour matching game that you could use on its own or as part of a dinosaur theme and is listed along with several others on this page.
B got this straight away.  As I passed him each dinosaur he put it straight on the different shaped one that matched in colour (I think the only one he hesitated over was the purple one which he initially matched with the pink).  Of course we talked about each colour as we put them into the game as well.