Letter Matching (Pk & K)2) Using a permanent marker, write an uppercase letter on the top half of the egg and its corresponding lower case letter on the bottom half of the egg.
3) Disconnect the eggs and mix them up using a Ziploc bag (this will be your storage for the eggs as well).
4) Dump out the eggs and have your child match up the uppercase letters with their corresponding lowercase letters by putting the eggs back together.
Twist on Phonics (K & 1st)
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| Each egg should be able to twist freely to each letter, creating a new phonics word |
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2) Using a permanent marker, write the ending phonic sound on the top half of the egg. For example, you could make an egg for each of the following sounds: an, at, it, ig, et, en, ox, op, ug, ut.
3) On the bottom half of the egg, write single letters or double letters to spell a word corresponding to your phonic sound. For example, for the "an" sound you could write letters m, p, f, and c. This would give you the words man, pan, fan, and can on this egg.
4) Give you child an egg and let him twist the egg to create new words and have fun while learning phonics. You can do this as a free activity using all the eggs, or you can use specific eggs during specific studies, ie. ig and it eggs on short i day.
5) This can also be a good review for 1st graders to just practice speed reading without having to sound out the letters.
Compound Word Mix-Up (2nd - 5th)
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2) Using a permanent marker, write the first word of the compound word on the top half of the egg. Then write the second word of the compound word on the bottom half of the egg. For example, you might write "pea" on the top and "nut" on the bottom, creating the word "peanut" on the egg.
3) You can make as many or as little eggs as you'd like. The neat thing about this activity is kids are learning new compound words all the way through 12th grade so this is something you can do for several years. I put 2nd-5th grade because I assume older children may not find this as amusing as younger ones. (Note: I will be posting another blog all about compound words for 2nd grade which will include a large word list. Keep an eye out for it!)
4) Disconnect the eggs and mix them up using a Ziploc bag (this will be your storage for the eggs as well).
5) Dump out the eggs and have your child match up first word with its corresponding second word to create compound words and putting the eggs back together.
Other uses for plastic eggs (I am planning to do these but didn't get to it last night):
- Capitals Game (2nd): Top half of the egg has the state capital (Lincoln), bottom half has the state (Nebraska).
- Multiplication Mix-up (2nd-5th): Top half of the egg has the problem (3x5), bottom half of the egg has the solution (15).
- Addition/Subtraction Matching (K-2nd): Top half of the egg has the problem (10-8), bottom half of the egg has the solution (2).
- Twist on Blends (1st & 2nd): Bottom half of the egg has the blend (TH), top half of the egg has several endings (ink, at, is).
- Twist on Long Vowel Practice (1st & 2nd): Top half of the egg has a long vowel ending (ike), bottom half of the egg has several beginning letters (b, h, str, l).
- Twist on Rhyming (PK-1st): Top half of the egg has an ending sound (ook), bottom half of the egg has several beginning letters (b, l, h, sh).
There's just so many neat ways to use plastic eggs in your classroom and the great news is they are cheap!! I bought 100 eggs for about $5 at Wal-Mart. I'm planning to go back after Easter and stock up on some more (they do break easily but are also easy to replace)!
Have fun with it!
Bye for now,
Kristina
