1. Cariboo
2. Craftivities
3. Easy therapy planning with minimal prep work involved
4. Adapting a set of materials to use with a variety of kids
5. Hitting "print" and walking to a nearby printer to pick up all of my papers, versus flipping through a bulky spiral-bound book to make copies of each page I need, holding up a line of fellow teachers/therapists who also need to make copies ASAP, who are also silently cursing me and hoping that the only copier in the school doesn't break again before it's their turn.
If you love all of these things, too, (especially #5), then you're in luck. Today, I'm going to show you a variety of CUTE and SIMPLE themed craftivities that you can make throughout the year by printing my Cariboo language and Cariboo phonology cards on colored printer/construction paper!
Fall Craftivities:
1. School bus
Materials Needed: paper plate, yellow copy/construction paper for the bus, and black construction paper for the wheels
Take a paper plate and fold it in half, and glue the yellow target pictures onto the plate. I used the "back to school" cards from my original language set, which are great for targeting school supply vocabulary and object functions. I used 4 wheels per bus since I was using the front and back. I also cut off the top rounded part of the plate when I was done, to have a flat edge at the top.
2. Apple
Materials needed: paper plate, red (or green or yellow!) copy/construction paper, brown construction paper (stem), green construction paper (leaf)
Print any set of cards (two syllable words from my phonology set are featured in this one) on red, green, or yellow paper, and glue all around the plate! You can also have your kids color the plate with a crayon ahead of time so the empty spaces between the pictures are the same color as the pictures, too. Add the stem and leaf, and voila!
3. Farm
Materials needed: red construction paper for the barn, and red copy/construction paper for the pictures
Cut out the shape of a barn on red construction paper, and glue your pictures on! Featured here are the farm animal and initial /f/ sets of Cariboo cards. Using the farm animal set, you could target receptive/expressive vocabulary with animal names, identify animals by the sound they make, talk about what they like to eat, how they move (galloping, running, hopping, flying...), etc...!
4. Pumpkin
Materials needed: paper plate, orange copy/construction paper, brown construction paper (stem)
Print the desired set of cards on orange paper (featured here is the Halloween set) and glue all around. Again, you can have your students color the plate orange before gluing on the pictures.
5. Frankenstein
Materials needed: paper plate, white construction paper (eyes), black construction paper (hair, eyeballs, mouth, screws), green copy/construction paper
Print a set of cards on green paper (initial /f/ featured). Cut the paper plate in half, and glue the green pictures all around the half plate. Cut the hair from black construction paper and glue (I just drew "humps" for lack of a better term, across a sheet of black construction paper, and cut out several strips at a time, and just cut them down to size based on the length of the paper plate). Glue on a small black rectangle for the mouth, white and black circles for the eyeballs, and black screws on the side of the head.
I would suggest cutting all of the extra pieces (hair, eyes, mouth, screws) ahead of time, and cutting several at a time.
6. Fire Truck
Materials needed: paper plate, red copy/construction paper, black construction paper (wheels)
October is fire safety month! This would also be great for a transportation or community helpers unit. This one is made the same way as the school bus listed above, just with red paper. I used the fire safety Cariboo cards to make this one.
7. Owl
Owls just always remind me of Fall!
Materials: yellow and black construction paper, brown copy/construction paper
Optional: Having your students color the paper plate brown before gluing.
8. Pumpkin Pie
Materials needed: Paper plate, brown copy/construction paper, cotton ball
Optional: A real slice of pie because you'll probably be hungry after making so many, and you should probably just #treatyoself (Any Parks & Rec fans reading this?!) after all of your hard work.
Cut the paper plate into a triangle and glue on the brown pictures (/sp/ and /st/ cards featured). Top with a cotton ball in the middle of "whipped cream" and you have a super cute Thanksgiving craftivity! The Thanksgiving vocab cards would be perfect for this, too!
Winter/Spring Craftivities
1. Christmas Wreath
Materials needed: Paper plate, green and red copy/construction paper
You may have seen this craft previously posted on my Instagram page, but I love it! I took a paper plate, folded it in half, and cut out the middle circle. I printed the target pictures (in this instance, Christmas vocab cards) on green paper, and printed a black/white image of a bow onto red paper. Glue the green pictures all around the plate edges, and glue the red bow at the bottom when you're done!
2. Hot Cocoa Mug
Materials needed: blue construction paper, cotton balls
This one is great to use at any point in Winter! I cut out a large rectangle from blue construction paper as the base of the mug, and then cut out a skinny half circle for the handle to glue onto the side. Glue on the blue pictures (initial /t/ cards for 'backing' featured) that you printed either on blue construction paper or copy paper, and then glue the cotton balls at the top for the whipped cream.
3. Polar Bear
Materials needed: paper plate, black/white construction paper, white construction or copy paper for pictures
This is a cute craftivity to make during an arctic animals unit!
4. Valentine
Materials needed: pink construction/copy paper
Super simple! Just cut out a heart from pink construction paper and glue on the pink pictures of your choosing (Valentine's card set shown here)
5. Shamrock
Materials needed: green construction/copy paper
Again, super simple (drawing the shamrock to where the leaves came out evenly was the most challenging part- ha). Print your pictures on green paper (I used the St Patty's Day/"green things" set) and glue around the construction paper shamrock.
6. Tree
Materials needed: paper plate, green paper, brown construction paper
Optional: color the paper plate green before gluing pictures on.
This craftivity is great for Earth Day, a plants/flowers unit, or any time in the Spring! Cards featured: final /f/
7. Flower
Materials needed: paper plate, green construction paper, pink (or any color you want your flower to be) paper
I printed the "Spring" vocab set onto pink paper for this one, and glued the pictures all around the paper plate. I had cut out a strip of green construction paper for the stem, along with two green leaves, to glue onto the bottom of the paper plate, as well. Another great craftivity for Earth Day, a plant/flower unit, or any time throughout Spring and Summer!
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TIPS:
1- Use flimsier paper plates (ones with the ruffled/wavy lines around the edges) that fold easily-- not ones with the raised edges. This will make it easier to cut the plates when needed, and to stick pictures along the edges.
2- Prep the extra pieces ahead of time, and cut several at a time. Fold construction paper into at least halves (or use a few sheets at once) when cutting pieces with scissors or with your die cut machines at school/at the clinic. Cutting out multiples at once saves time in general, and cutting them ahead of time saves you time during your session.
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I love using craftivities in speech and incorporating the targets we worked on, because it lets the parents know what we worked on, so they can reinforce at home, too. My Pre-K kiddos always loved going back to their classroom to show their teachers, too, so that was yet another person to ask them about what they're practicing, and get that reinforcement/generalization. Win win!
