SMMART READING and MATH:

Turkey Shooters

Gobble, Gobble.  These little Turkey Shooters are fun and easy to make with your kiddos.  Roll up a half-piece of construction paper into a tube.  Make sure the diameter is just large enough to fit a cranberry.  Cut 5 or 6 slits down one end of the tube.  Place a pencil at the tip of one of the "feathers" you just cut and roll the feather over the pencil to curl it.  Curl all of the feathers.  Glue on a pair of googlie eyes and a waddle that you cut from a red piece of construction paper. 

Write a list of festive Thanksgiving words:  Turkey, Pumpkin, Stuffing, Thanks, Pilgrim...  With a permanent marker, write each letter of the words on a separate cranberry.  You don't have to write letters for each word, since some words share letters.  Place the cranberry letters in a bowl.

Have your child hold the beak tip of his Turkey Shooter.  He can put a paperclip on the beak tip to hold it closed if that is easier.  Let your child find the letters of a word on the list from the bowl and place the letters in the correct order into the Turkey Shooter.  When all of the letters are in place, your child can release the beak tip and watch the letters roll out.  If he is skilled enough the letters will stay in order, but many times they roll out quickly and get a little out of order.  Have your child refer to the list to place the cranberry letters in the correct order.  Double spelling practice.

SMMART MATH:  This would be a fun way to practice addition.  3+3=   Place three cranberries into the Turkey Shooter and then three more.  Release the beak tip and then your child can count up the 6 cranberries that roll out.

SMMART READING:

The Mummy (Un)Roll

Oh my bats and black cats!  Kids LOVE being rolled up in toilet paper like a mummy!  Love it!

The only prep you need to do is grab a few rolls of toilet paper, and grab some little plastic spiders. You're going to spell out a spooky word on the belly of each spider.  Write ONE letter on each spider's belly with a permanent marker. (The orange plastic spiders might work better for this so you can see the letters...you could also use any little halloween trinket that is light weight.)

Have one child start rolling up another child in toilet paper.  Periodically you will place a spider in the toilet paper streamer as the child is rolling up her mummy, until all of the spiders are gone.

Now, on the countdown-"3 Bats, 2 Lizards, and 1 witch's eyeball...GO!"  Your child starts to unroll the mummy as fast as she can.  She may just rip all the toilet paper off as fast as she can.  The spiders will drop to the floor.  Both the unroller and the mummy now work as a team to gather up the spiders and try to figure out what the SPOOKY WORD is scrambled on the bottom of all those spider bellys.

This makes for a great relay game if you have two or more mummies and unrollers!  If you are playing wtih smaller children who are only familiar with their ABCs and not yet reading, then you can write all the letters of the alphabet on the bottom of the spider bellys.  After unrolling your mummy, help your child put the spiders into alphabetical order.   This game adapted from (http://familyfun.go.com/halloween/halloween-games/) 

Spider Spelling!

SMMART VIDEO

So much to learn, but I am learning how to add video to my site. Thought I'd share a SMMART Art oldie from (December 2008)