BANG! ( A fun flashcard game )

 As your children go off to school, you'll often find that there are certain skills that they'll need to master with accuracy and speed.  Whether it's letter sounds, sight words or math facts, if they are able to recognize the correct answer quickly, it's much easier to move on to the next challenge.  For some children, they seem to pick up the skills almost intuitively on their own.  For others, some extra practice will really help them be successful.  In many cases, simple flashcards will do the trick.

When I was a teacher, I often played this game "BANG!" with my students and they LOVED it.  Now, I'm using it with my youngest daughter as she starts kindergarten.  It's super simple to make and lots of fun to play.  You can play with two players or twenty, students, older siblings and adults.

Here's what you'll need ~  an empty container, some blank index cards, and some markers. 

I used a coffee can and some 3x5 index cards.

If you'd like, you can decorate your can with scrapbook paper, stickers, etc.  (I just mod-podged on a "BANG!" label I made up and some scrapbook paper.)

Next, make up your flashcards.  You can do letters, words, multiplication facts, anything that needs practicing.  

I wanted to practice sight words with my daughter, so I just cut my index cards in half and wrote words from the Dolch Word list.  ( If you're not familiar with the Dolch List, it's a list of 220 of the most commonly used words.  Because they occur so frequently and they're often difficult to "sound out", it's very beneficial to be able to recognize them on sight)

You'll also want to make up a few cards with the word "BANG!" on them. 

( NOTE:  You can also find printable flashcards for the Dolch words on the links I included above and print them onto card stock.  However, I found it's just as easy to write the words out by hand since I had to make the BANG! cards anyway. )

Next, just put your cards in your container and you're ready to play.  

HOW TO PLAY:

1.  Players take turns reaching into the container and pulling out a flashcard.  If they can read the word aloud correctly, they get to keep the card.  If the player is incorrect, the card goes back into the container.

2.  Continue taking turns, reading and collecting correctly answered cards.

3.  If you pull out a BANG! card, you must put your whole pile of cards back into the container!  

(It's a great way to keep the game exciting and level the playing field.  Even if Mom or an older sibling could correctly read all the words, all they have to do is pull out a bang card and they're back down to zero.)

4.  At the end of a specified length of time, whoever has the most cards is the winner!

** A few tips **

* I like to start with a small group of flashcards that the child knows fairly well, and just one or two BANG! cards, then gradually add more flashcards and more BANG! cards.  The length of time you play and ratio of BANG! cards to flashcards is up to you.

* Sometimes if it's just my daughter and me playing, I'll purposely pull out a card, hold it up and read it incorrectly.  She loves catching me making a mistake and it helps her to really pay attention even when it's not her turn.

* To practice phonics skills on words that can be "sounded out", check out these Word Family Spinners made from paper plates.

HAVE FUN!

Sharing our fun game at:

The Mommy Club 
It's Playtime 
Smilemonsters 
Sun Scholars 
Delicate Construction 
Tatertots and Jello
Be Different, Act Normal 
I heart Naptime 
 The Sunday Showcase
Running with Glitter 
Homemaker on a Dime 
Beneath the Rowan Tree 
Skip to My Lou 
Making the World Cuter 
Today's Creative Blog 
Bear Rabbit Bear 

Personalized Lunchboxes

 Aren't these personalized lunchboxes cute?  Thanks to some freezer paper stencils and a little bit of acrylic paint, I was able to turn some plain lunchbags into something special just for my kids.

Last year, I ordered the kids' lunchbox sets from EasyLunchboxes.com and it worked out great for us.  The prices were quite reasonable compared to others I'd seen and they held up really well.

I really liked the plastic Food Containers in the set I'd ordered ~ it was so easy to pack a variety of foods in their lunches and their sandwiches didn't get smushed.  I also really liked the  Insulated Cooler Bags that went with the containers.  The containers fit in it perfectly, with plenty of room for an ice pack, container of yogurt, water bottle, etc.  I could even fit three of the plastic containers packed with snacks in one bag when we went out somewhere for the day.

The only problem was that the lunch bags only came in plain colors.  The kids thought they were just too boring compared to the fancier lunchboxes covered with their favorite characters.  They used their plain ones last year, but kept asking for character ones as we were starting our school shopping this week.  I wasn't about to give up the convenience of the handy containers and bags, so it was freezer paper stencils to the rescue!!  (See some other stencil projects HERE and HERE)

Cute dolphin instead of just a plain blue lunch bag!

Here's what I did (you'll see my pictures will alternate between the two different lunchboxes I did, I was working on this project in bits and pieces and didn't take all the pictures I needed on the first try):

1.  I found a font and clip art that I liked on my computer.  (Because the lunch boxes aren't quite as stable to work with as fabric, you'll want letters and images that aren't really detailed). I enlarged it to the size I needed, cut a piece of freezer paper to 8.5" x 11"then printed it directly on the paper side of the freezer paper. 

2.  Using a pair of fine-tipped scissors and an exacto-knife, I cut out my stencil.  (Those of you with handy cutting machines can probably eliminate a couple steps here!)

 3.  With my iron on a medium heat, no steam, I ironed the stencil onto the lunchbox with the waxy side DOWN.  Make sure the edges are securely adhered.

I put a few books inside the lunch box so there would be a hard surface to work on.

Here I could just open up the top flap to iron the stencil on

 4. Using my acrylic paint, I painted in the stencil.  Don't put a lot of paint on your brush and paint from the paper in towards the center so the paint won't bleed under the stencil.

See how I'm painting from the outside in?

The stencil did pucker up in a few places

So I just held it down with a fingertip as I painted.

5.  Continue filling in your stencil, adding a second coat if necessary, until you have the coverage you desire.

6.  I'm never patient enough to wait for the paint to dry, so I just carefully pull off the stencil when I'm finished painting.

7.  And there you have it!  A name or image that's personalized for your child!

No more plain lunchboxes for us!  (Now that my youngest is starting kindergarten, I just ordered her a lunchbox of her own ~ she chose hot pink and a butterfly for the front!)

I was really pleased with how well they turned out and plan to do some more freezer paper stenciling on some pencil cases and binders!

Chalkboard Notebook

How cool is this chalkboard notebook?  The cover of a regular composition book is painted with chalkboard paint that you can make in ANY color.  Once dry, you can write messages with regular chalk, erase, and then write some more!

Now, wait till you see how easy it is!

Here's what I did to go from a plain notebook to a super cool chalkboard notebook:

1.  Gather your supplies:  Composition books, acrylic paint, unsanded tile grout, paintbrush, spray paint (not pictured ~ optional)

I found the tile grout near the tiles at Home Depot, it was less than $2

2.  Next, mix up your chalkboard paint.  I originally saw the idea HERE (thanks, Martha!).  Because I wasn't going to be covering a large area, I made a smaller batch.  I used 1/4 cup acrylic paint and 1 1/2 teaspoons grout powder.  ( I had a big bottle of acrylic paint, but the smaller 2 oz. bottles should equal 1/4 cup exactly)

Adding the grout powder

Mix it up.  It'll be about the consistency of pancake batter.

3.  Paint the cover of your notebook.  I did three coats, allowing it to dry in between.  I also switched the direction of my brush strokes on each layer, first going horizontally, then vertically, then horizontally again.

4.  NOTE:  If you will be doing a fairly light color of paint, you might want to give the cover a quick coat of spray paint first.  I was pretty pleased with the coverage of three coats of the pink, but you could still faintly see the design underneath.  You can either do 4 coats of the chalkboard paint, or "prime" it with a coat of spray paint.

The notebook on the right had a coat of white spray paint first.

5.  Allow the chalkboard paint to dry completely, then prepare the surface by rubbing it with a piece of chalk held sideways.  Cover the entire surface, then erase it ( I used an old sock!).

5.  Now you're ready to use your new notebook!  You can write new messages and then erase it over and over again.

I'm definitely going to be testing this out on other school supplies too.  It worked well on the composition books because they have a thicker cardboard cover and the surface isn't too glossy.  I did try it on a folder and it worked pretty well, although the paint did warp it a little.