This activity has been reprinted with permission from the publisher from book (affiliate) 100 FUN & EASY LEARNING GAMES FOR KIDS

There’s something about seeing yourself and others that you know in the pictures that motivates kids more than even their favorite cartoon character. I think that is why even very active kids will sit down and do these puzzles with you. So, here’s how to make them.

DIY Family Photo Puzzles

All you need to make your puzzles are family photos, scrapbooking or construction paper, scissors, glue, and marker. You could have your older child make this for a younger child, or do it together.

I decided to make alphabet puzzles, but you could make word and even story puzzles by changing up what you write below the picture after gluing it to the construction paper. You’ll want to decide what you are going to do before you take or look for the pictures you are going to use. I decided to take special pictures just for my family photo puzzles. Also, it was a great chance to have my older daughter practice taking some pictures. My kids love to get behind the camera which is a learning activity in itself.

Next, you’ll glue your pictures to the paper so that only an inch or so is showing below the picture. Then write what you want below the picture and cut them up into strips vertically across the photo. You can vary the difficulty of your family photo puzzles by cutting more or less strips. I kept mine wide for my preschooler.

Now you can mix all of the puzzles together, depending on how many you have and how hard you want to make the activity. Have your children try and put them together and then read the words, or letters at the bottom of their completed family photo puzzles!

I think this makes a great busy bag activity and can’t wait to make more for my other kids. How about you? What kind of family photo puzzles will you make with your kids? If you like this activity, make sure you grab your copy of (affiliate) 100 Fun & Easy Learning Games for Kids!

Find out more about this fabulous new activity book!

The post DIY Alphabet Family Photo Puzzles first appeared on True Aim.

I made up this simple game using (affiliate) letter beads and pipecleaners to work on letter recognition and spelling CVC words in remedial therapy lessons and the kids loved it!

Letter Beads Spelling Game

This activity is suitable for kindergartners and up. Adjust word difficulty according to the child’s age.

A plastic cutlery tray was used to keep the beads and our Letterland letter and word cards. Using material we already had made this activity a frugal learning tool.

First we used the letter cards: the cards were moved from the back to the front. The letter in front had to be searched for quickly and placed on your pipe cleaner. The person with the correct letter bead on the pipecleaner first, kept it. At the end, the person with the most letters, won! Simple as that, but the competition part of this simple activity made it more challenging!

After searching for bead letters, we moved onto the word cards. Here we only used CVC cards, but for older kids one can use longer words.

We played in the same way, but now one has to find all the letters AND place them in the correct order onto the pipecleaner, making it a little more challenging. Now the child needs to find all the correct letters (letter recognition), use segmenting skills for breaking up the word to know which letters to look for, find all the letters and use blending skills to put the word together on the pipe cleaner again. Segmenting and blending skills are crucial skills needed for reading, writing and spelling.

Both of these activities work on letter recognition, fine motor skills and hand eye coordination too. The competition aspect just makes it more fun when playing more than two people, but one can play individully.

Use this setup for practicing sight words and alphabetical ordering too!

More fun letter learning activities you have to see:

15+ Preschool Letter Activities
Learning Word Families using Magnetic ABC’s
Fun with Words

Check out our Learn to Read Curriculum!

The post Letter Beads: Recognition and Spelling Game first appeared on True Aim.

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Valentine’s Day Alphabet Activities

Valentine Alphabet Bingo – Growing Book by Book

Bingo is one of the ways you can sneak learning into games. Here is a Valentine’s Day themed alphabet Bingo!

Teach Friendly Letters with Picture Books – Embark on the Journey

To put alphabet and writing skills to good use, write letters! Friends, grandparents, and cousins enjoy opening up this long-lost art.

Sight Word Heart Flowers – Dabbling Momma

For a creative spin on sight words, make these sight word heart flowers!

Valentine ABC Activity – Growing Book by Book

If you have some doilies hanging around, check out this Valentine alphabet activity.

Valentine Sensory Writing Tray – Pre-K Pages

Combine alphabet recognition with sensory play with these Valentine’s themed writing tray!

I Spy Valentine’s Day Printable – Stella 1 2 3

If you have a magnifying glass on hand, your kids will love this find-the-letter game!

Valentine’s Day Worksheets – Sight and Sound Reading

Color by letter worksheets are always fun!

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The post Valentine Alphabet Activities and Mom’s Library #174 first appeared on True Aim.

Instead of dusting off your old material, try these 5 fun methods for teaching phonics. You’ll have a blast while teaching your child to read!

Teaching Phonics with Magnetic Letters

Use magnetic refrigerator letters to introduce new sounds. You can leave the letters on the fridge to practice while you’re cooking, eating, or simply enjoying time together.

Magnetic letters are also a blast to practice spelling and sounding out new words. As your child’s ability increases, try leaving short messages to each other.

Teaching Phonics through ‘Memory’

Create two cards of every word or phonics sound your child is learning. Mix up the cards and lay them face down on the table. See who can make the most matches and win the game!

Remember to have your child practice the sounds or read the words every time they’re turned over. Memory makes a fun and easy method to teach phonics and drill new words.

Create Your Own Phonics Books

Each time you teach a new phonics rule, create a new page for your book. Write the phoneme in large letters in the middle of the page. Let your child color and decorate the phoneme!

Next add pictures of words that have the new sound in them. Cut the pictures out of magazines. Draw the pictures on the paper. Remember to write the word underneath each picture.

Bake Sugar Cookies Together

Baking sugar cookies together is always lots of fun. One option for combining phonics with baking is to cut the sugar cookies into the shapes of the phonemes or letters your child is learning. Bake them, ice them, then have fun practicing phonics while you eat!

A second option is to create heart shaped cookies and bake them as is. Once the cookies have cooled, write the phonemes or words on the cookies with icing. Practice reading as you eat the cookies.

Reading Corner

Don’t forget to set up a special reading corner, one full of books your child can read. Put the phonics books you’ve created in the corner. Add easy phonetic readers that use phonemes and letters already learned.

Make it super comfortable with pillows and blankets. The goal is for reading to be a special event, one your child looks forward to everyday.

Using these 5 enjoyable techniques,  you’ll create special memories and create a love of learning. You and your child will love learning phonics together.

What is your favorite fun phonics activity?

The post 5 Fun Tips for Teaching Phonics first appeared on True Aim.

Welcome to Mom’s Library!

Filled with parenting tips, activities for young children, crafts, devotionals, recipes, and more!

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Check out last week’s Mom’s Library for more learning ideas.

This Week’s Featured Posts…

My ABC Art Book

This free printable combines art and literacy! A 2 for 1, my favorite!

Mining for Letters

A search and find game that goes along with a book!

Alphabet Farm

It’s called vowel farm, but you could have your children pick out any letters that they are learning.

5 Games for Literacy with Mega Bloks

The Reading Road

A simple game to practice blending letter sounds.

Learning the Alphabet with Pinterest

If you’re not on Pinterest yet, here’s one idea that you can take advantage of for free!

Fine Motor Alphabet Game

Really cute idea that helps with concentration too!

Alphabet Play Dough Mats

I’ve seen these, but haven’t tried them yet!

E is for Elephant

Are you doing crafts and books for each letter of the alphabet? Here’s a cute one for the letter E.

Zooming Moving Alphabets!

These look so fun! Go check out how to use these free alphabet printables.

All Lined Up – Pre-Reading Activity

Match these activities up with our Phonics Reading eBook Set!

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The post Preschool Literacy Activities and Mom’s Library #110 first appeared on True Aim.

Welcome to Mom’s Library!

Filled with parenting tips, activities for young children, craft, devotionals, recipes, and more!

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Follow the Mom’s Library Pinterest Board to see all of our featured posts.
Make sure you check out last week’s Mom’s Library for 20 Activities for Toddlers!

This Week’s Giveaway!

$50 iTunes or Google Play Giveaway!

The makers of iTooch a comprehensive app that matches school curriculum is giving you the chance to win free apps!  To read more about this amazing app, please go to iGame Mom’s Review.

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This Week’s Featured Posts…

Textured Alphabet Craft

A great way for children to see, feel, and learn their letters!  

Alphabet Playdate Party Activities

5 fun alphabet activity ideas, like this alphabet bingo snack game!  

Letter L Lego Activities

This is a great way to combine play with learning and can be used for all the letters in the alphabet!  

Letter G Activities

From ghosts to globes these activities cover LOTS of fun crafts.  

Letter E Activities

There are lots of fine motor practice ideas in this post like emotion drawing that is perfect for preschool.  

Gel Writing

Practice writing the alphabet with this mess free sensory method.  

Free Letter Books

These awesome books contain 6 songs or rhymes for preschoolers!  

Free Letter K Pack

Put some of these in sheet protectors and your children can do them again and again!  

Free Letter A Worksheet

Practice letter recognition with this simple worksheet.  

Alphabet Bean Bag Toss

This game is a little competitive, and a LOT of fun!  

Free Printable Alphabet Activity Pack

Includes 4 printable activities!  

Letter O Activities

My favorite is the Octopus color matching craft!  

Alphabet Sensory Play

This activity looks really fun, and not too messy  

Run Away Alphabet Letters Game

Teach children their letter sounds in minutes!  

Letter F is for Firetruck

Activities to help kids remember the “F” sound and fire safety.  

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The post 15+ Preschool Alphabet Activities and Mom’s Library #66 first appeared on True Aim.