Teri's felt pieces-I made Bark George and my next is a big project The Loveables in the Kingdom of Self-esteem. I'm making over 21 pieces and I'm going to make this as a jungle circle with flowers and vines that end the story with a circle of animals. You will need Adobe Reader to view this file. If you don't have it, you can download it for free here . Click on the above button to see some wonderful ideas of "Tasking Trays", sent in by Jeanie deMullet. You will need Adobe Reader to view this file. If you don't have it, you can download it for free here . For information on purchasing this sign, please visit the Step 2 website We provide the outline of an uppercase or lowercase letter, or numeral. The child writes that symbol over and over again with lots of colors until it looks like a rainbow. Child is provided with a small container of hand lotion and a laminated sheet of letters. They use the lotion to "write" over all the letters with their finger, thus getting a feel for the letter without having to use a writing utensil. Magnetic letters-Found these at the dollar store. Get a couple of metal trays. (not shown) but we did find the silver, metal serving trays also at the dollar store. The square ones are the best. Have 2-4 trays so that many kids can share the letters. The children practice their letters on their on tray. Give them cards with words on them and have the child find the letters to match the words. Cost depending on how many trays you need and filling the plastic shoe box with letters. Shoe box and letters about $6.00 and trays a dollar each extra. Helper chart- colored, laminated board found at an office supply store. Each job duty is a pocket and the children's pictures can be removed from the pockets and rotated around. Cost to make- about $5.00 (board and printing of pictures off computer (ink/photo paper)) Attendance board- laminated board found at a office supply store. The children's pictures attach with velcro so they can be removed and added to either Present or absent. Cost to make- about $5.00 with board and printing of the photos off computer. Large colored/glass rocks. I found these decorative rocks at the dollar store. Get a plastic shoe box and fill the box with these rocks. About 6 bags is enough. Place a couple of plastic cups in the container and get one of those Carpet samples. Even found those at the dollar store. The kids love to sit and sort these rocks out. Fill the cups and even stack them. Cost: Colored rocks are a Dollar a bag, we used 6 bags for our box. Carpets were a dollar each (all found at the dollar store) and just a couple of small cups from the cupboard. NOTE: Not to be used around small children and these glass rocks can break so use responsibly with children who will not throw them or place in their mouth. School box. For children getting ready for Kindergarten we made up plastic shoe boxes with a variety of materials for them to use at home. All items could be found at the dollar store. flash cards, alphabet, numbers, colors, shapes, counting chips (poker chips) scissors, colored pencils, felt pens, crayons, stencils, scribble pad for practicing writing and their name. cost per box depending on how many items you buy. $5.00 or higher Poker chips. Recently found packs of poker chips at the dollar store. Came in about 4 different colors. Fill up a plastic shoe box. About 4-5 packs worked to fill box. Children can use these for: Counting, sorting, sequencing, stacking etc. Cost: About $5.00 Discovery bottles. Save your water bottles and peel the labels. Each bottle would have different items in them. A lot of these items found around the house or the dollar store. A package of small bugs, frogs, lizards. Small decorative rocks. These are very small, spongy cutouts that kids glue with, beads, plastic flowers. etc. Some bottles you can fill with water, some you can put colored water in, the idea is so the kids can turn the bottles, and see things floating in there. Glue the caps on tightly so they can't be removed. Other bottles can be just items like the sponge things, or ribbons, and odds and ends and no water, or you can put sand in one bottle (half full) or dirt, or bird seed, Fill one bottle 3/4 full and ad a cup of oil so they see how oil and water separate. The idea is to make several of these discovery bottles. Then place them standing up in a larger container so they stand. These discovery bottles are great for all ages including special needs kids. And you can find lots of items at the dollar store. Cost: Depending on what you buy. $3.00 and up Plastic shoe box Will hold about 4 jumbo calculators. Can be found at the dollar store. They have big numbers on them. Got them for a $1.00 each at the dollar store. The kids can key in the numbers and it helps them learn numbers. I give them flash cards with numbers, single numbers, number + number, longer numbers 231 or 356 etc. and they key it in. Felt Storage Ideas Another view of Felt Storage Ideas Makes great Paint Cups! Paint Cup lids in action! Phonics Phones Bug House Containers Hair bands Packing Tape Charts Painting Science bug boxes PVC Pocket Chart Mickey Paint Chips Matching Game Here is the marble game my boys made last week...they rolled the marbles and the first one to get 100 points won...great game for practicing math skills! Sensory Table made from PVC pipe. Click here for instructions. Attendance Board: Velcro with their pictures... top Reads Here and Bottom reads Home Going away gift for client: she is moving and this has pictures from the day she started to current Family Collage board Child Care College board: Pictures from when I opened to this past March :-) I love using the paint stirring sticks as puppet handles but don't always have enough or a place to store tons of them and who wants to use a stick for one time only anyway. I was putting together the flannelboard pieces for "5 Little Monkeys" this morning and decided to use the second half of the Velcro dots on the paint sticks. I will only need one set of characters to be used as puppets or flannelboard characters. I will only have to store the characters and use the sticks for the next story. This is a pocket type shoe holder that we use for our message center. I put receipts in the pockets,lost and found items, notes to parents, news letters etc. Parents put notes to each other, invitations, thank you notes. It came with 3 hooks that fit over the top of the door, so no holes were drilled in the wood work. Put child's name on a pocket. This hangs on the hall closet by the front door where parents see it. I can take it down on weekends to hide away. Activitiy With Juice Lids