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Advantages/Disadvantages and Adaptations of the Resource kit

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http://sugarspiceandglitter.com/magic-beans-counting/

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This year, the preschool children and I will be basing our mini unit studies off of classic fairy tales and folk tales. We've already done Cinderella and Puff the Magic Dragon, and today we are starting Jack and the Magic Beanstalk.

One of my favourite ways to embrace a child's interest or introduce a new unit study, is to swap out some of our classroom materials for themed variations.

Counters (used in our spindle box and alongside the sandpaper numbers) are one of the easiest materials for me to integrate into our work room, as they still serve the function of the original material while adding a bit of fun and whimsy to activities that may get stagnant or boring over time.

By making the simple swap of replacing the traditional spindles with these "magic beans," children who may have lost interest in a material will often experience a renewed interest. This is especially important with children who don't like repetitive activities and always want to move onto something new - although we might know that repeating an activity is how we gain familiarity and understanding (you don't learn how to count by counting once and then moving straight on to addition).

When swapping out any classroom material, I look at the original material and try to determine what it's functions and purposes are so that any swap will still achieve those same goals.

For the spindles, not only are they used as simple counting objects, they are perfect for children practicing that pre-writing "pincer grip" by grasping objects with their thumb and forefinger, and there is a specific number available (45) so that children can double check their work. (If they have 10 spindles in the 9 spot, they know that one of the other numbers is missing a spindle.)

This is a good principle to keep in mind as well if you are DIYing a learning material: what are the primary and secondary uses for this material?

The kids loved this simple magic bean counting invitation and it was a simple way to encourage the children who resist "simple" math activities to practice this basic skill.
Materials we used for our magic bean counting: Today, several of my fellow Montessori bloggers are sharing their own math activity posts - be sure to check them out!

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Magic Beans Counting ⋆ Sugar, Spice and Glitter

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This year, the preschool children and I will be basing our mini unit studies off of classic fairy tales and folk tales. We've already done Cinderella and Puff the Magic Dragon, and today we are starting Jack and the Magic Beanstalk.

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http://mominspiredlife.com/jack-and-the-beanstalk-alphabet-game/

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This site participates in the Amazon affiliate program which provides a way to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.
This Jack and the Beanstalk alphabet game is a super fun, fairy tale inspired activity! You can even use it to teach kids numbers, shapes and sight words.

My son absolutely loves Jack and the Beanstalk. It is probably his favorite fairy tale. He loved building a castle in the clouds when we did this Jack and the Beanstalk sensory activity. This time I decided to create a fun alphabet game to go with the story.
Supplies Needed: Affiliate links below.

1. I laid a long piece of green painters tape down the middle of my table with the sticky side facing up. Then I taped the ends down with clear tape and put a rolled up piece under the middle to keep it in place. You could also just use long strips of construction paper taped together and to the table....BUT, you will have to tape down each individual leaf to the stalk.

2. Fold 2 or 3 pieces of construction paper in half and then in half again. Draw about 3 leaves on the square facing up. Then cut the leaves out while cutting through all of the folded paper. This will give you a bunch of leaves for your stalk!

3. Stick the leaves to the painter's tape to make it look like a beanstalk. Or tape them to the paper.

4. Pick 6 letters you want to reinforce and alternate writing them on the leaves from bottom to top.

5. Take your foam cube and write each letter on one side of the cube with permanent marker.

6. Print out a picture of each child who will be playing the game on cardstock or photo paper. Quality isn't that important here. Cut their body out from the photo. I took a quick pic of my son pretending to balance on a leaf with my phone, emailed it to myself and then printed it. It was very quick.

Jack and the Beanstalk Alphabet Game

All players should place their picture at under the beanstalk. To play the game, each player will take turns rolling the game die and moving their picture to the next instance of that letter on the beanstalk. This continues until each player reaches the top of the beanstalk!

My son thought this was so fun! He got a real kick out of the fact that I printed his picture and he used it as a game piece. He loved how it looked like he was balancing on each leaf he landed on.

I think it would be neat to take a pic that looks like each player is climbing the beanstalk. Next time!

This was such a fun way to integrate letter learning and a classic fairy tale that kids adore!

Head over to my Alphabet Activities page for even more fun, hands-on letter learning ideas!

Here are some more fairy tale activities from the ECE Team!

Fairy Tales Short Vowel Activities: Little Red Riding Hood by Learning 2 Walk

Cast a Sound with a Fairy Tale Wand by Growing Book by Book

Mr. Lucky Straw, A Japanese Folk Tale-Book Extension Activities by Capri + 3

Cinderella inspired sorting activity by Rainy Day Mum

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This site participates in the Amazon affiliate program which provides a way to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon. This Jack and the Beanstalk alphabet game is a super fun, fairy tale inspired activity! You can even use it to teach kids numbers, shapes and sight words.

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http://rainydaymum.co.uk/count-climb-jack-and-the-beanstalk/

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Combining classic stories and activities is a great way to develop literacy and other skills at the same time. In this Jack and the Beanstalk Maths Activity for toddlers and preschoolers, we get hands-on bringing the classic story to life and work on some numeracy and literacy skills. Stories are fabulous tools to use in learning because children naturally love stories and with a story, everything is just more fun!

Jack's Beanstalk Maths Activity Skills

We worked on various skills with this fun activity:

Number recognition

Fine motor skills

Counting up to 10

Counting backward, from 10 to 1

Skip counting in 2's

Recalling(memory) and retelling(language) the story

We have included affiliate links to products and resources we recommend for this activity and extending it further.
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What you need for this count and climb Jack and the beanstalk activity

More Book Based Hands-on Learning for Toddlers and Preschoolers

Come and join us each week as we share book based activities for toddlers and preschoolers every Monday as part of the Virtual Book Club for Kids. This weekly themed-FREE book and activity series is hosted across multiple sites providing you with a selection of hands-on activities, crafts, and recipes for your little one based on a classic, popular and fun children's storybooks.

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Jack and the Beanstalk Books

There are many different versions of the story that you could read aloud with your children before starting this activity we have selected our 4 favourites below and provided affiliate links to them on Amazon - if you purchase any of them we may earn a small commission based on the sale.

For the youngest children, we recommend this Jack and the Beanstalk board book which provides a lovely introduction to the tale as well as comes with an audio version so that you can play it in the car or at bedtime for your little ones.

Both of my children love the illustrations of Nick Sharratt and also his funny way of retelling and making up stories. In this Lift the flap Jack and the Beanstalk which is ideal for sharing with toddlers and preschoolers there also is a CD to listen aloud to together.

We have a collection of the Ladybird First Favourite Tales as they were a great introduction to the classic fairy tales and in a condensed and simplified language ideal for reading together, they were also some of the first books that my daughter started to read independently outside of the school reading scheme. This version of Jack and the Beanstalk and the other fairy tales would make a perfect addition to your bookshelf for your baby through to school age reading together and then independently.

A classic keepsake this Jack and the Beanstalk by Steven Kellogg is the one that follows the original story the best and has beautiful classic illustrations inside.

Setting up the Count and Climb Jack and the Beanstalk Activity

First, cut ten leaves from your craft foam or cardboard.

You can add more (up to 20) for your older child. Add the leaves to the craft sticks.

Then make slits in the cardboard roll for the craft sticks to fit in. Number these slots to correspond with your leave sticks.

For the giant's castle: cut the cardboard in the shape of a castle and add the windows and doors with a marker. Glue this onto the top of the cardboard roll together with the cotton wool for "clouds".

More Fairy Tale Inspired Activities for Kids

Time to play!

Let your child add the beanstalk leaves, here he will need to use his number recognition skills, counting skills and fine motor skills.

Climb and count up the beanstalk! We used our Duplo man as Jack and as he climbed up and up, my son(3.5 years old) did the counting.

Older kids can let "Jack" jump up the leaves in 2's etc. to work on skip counting.

When coming down from the castle, your child can count backward until Jack reaches the ground. My son made an ax with leftover cardboard and at the end, he "chopped" off the leaves(pulling out the sticks) so the giant can't get down!

We played this over and over(and over) again. Later he played all by himself and made up his own stories too. Thus making this simple toy great for imaginative play too!

A fun counting(and playing) activity to go along with the story Jack and the Beanstalk! I am sure your child will love it just as much.

Nadia is a South African mommy of two and a therapist at an elementary remedial school.

She blogs over at Teach me Mommy about easy and playful activities with the aim to teach.

You can follow along on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram.

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Count and Climb with Jack and the Beanstalk

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Combining classic stories and activities is a great way to develop literacy and other skills at the same time. In this Jack and the Beanstalk Maths Activity for toddlers and preschoolers, we get hands-on bringing the classic story to life and work on some numeracy and literacy skills.

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http://www.mychalkface.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=316

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jack and the beanstalk board game (numeracy

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pse) credit voucher traditional tales visits/role play contemporary tales festivals special projects nursery rhymes ourselves faith stories famous people and events where in the world... growth and change maths vocabulary flashcards water french - francais history with 100 objects ks1 downloadable

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Jack and the Beanstalk Board Game (Numeracy, PSE) - £0.10 : mychalkface, for fun downloadable Early Years/Foundation Learning Resources

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mychalkface Jack and the Beanstalk Board Game (Numeracy, PSE) - A Jack and the Beanstalk board game; Jack is chased down the beanstalk by the giant!! 4 counters, 20 simple steps. All you need is a die! A fun way to reinforce number recognition and counting, and children learn how to co-operate and take turns.Choosing this resource?

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