This week’s post is filled with enough activities to keep your kiddos busy until Peter Cottontail comes hopping down the bunny trail!
I’ve included:
1–a recipe for BIRD’S NEST COOKIES that are kid-centered and good for you!
2–a craft project that uses recyclable materials to make your very own bird’s nests in the therapy room or at home
3–a fun and functional game to teach SPRING VOCABULARY (also available for FREE in my TpT store)
4- a really fun and funny language game that you can find by visiting my TPT store–Scrambled Eggs! {cat-EGG-ories, EGG-spressions and EGG-stremely funny crack ups!} Enjoy all the spring and Easter-themed goodies while you practice good speech and language!
I loved all the great patterns on these eggs and thought they would be perfect for creating matching games to learn some language concepts! Included in this packet are:
1- EGG-spressions (pgs 3-5) includes 12 egg-themed idioms and 12 matching definitions. Scramble up the cards, turn them face down and use them to play a matching game. Each player should get a copy of the basket to collect their eggs. Use the additional cards—cracked eggs, speckled eggs, chocolate rabbits (pgs 17-21) to earn additional points. The player with the most egg points at the end of the game is the winner.
2- Cat-EGG-ories: pgs 3-5—includes 16 categories and 16 matching answers. Cut the cards into two halves on the solid lines. Scramble up the halves. Students must match the correct top half to the correct bottom half. These cards are versatile. Use them to have players guess the category when only given a bottom half or conversely, guess words to fit in the category given on the top half. Collect cards in your basket. The player with the most matches wins. (additional egg cards (pgs 17-21) may be used to earn more eggs, however playing without these cards works just as well. Blank cards have been included for customizing your own categories.
3-EGG-stremely funny crack-ups: pgs 13-15—includes 12 joke cards and 12 answer cards. Play the same as a matching game. Scramble up the cards. Players need to find the correct answer to the jokes (all egg-themed) and then explain the joke in order to keep the pair. Add your eggs to the basket provided. Use the additional eggs/chocolate rabbit cards to collect more points.
(*Bonus Bunnies should be treated as extra “points” when collecting eggs to add to your basket)
* Make additional copies of the baskets for each player
A collectible speechsnacks recipe card for “Bird’s Nest Cookies” has been provided. The recipes are the inspiration behind the speech/language activities! Collect them all in a three-ring binder! This recipe is kid-centered and good for you! Enjoy!
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BIRD’S NEST CRAFT/RECYCLING PROJECT
To make your birds nest, you will need square containers……
…like the ones I used here—a styrofoam mushroom container and a clear plastic container from a guacamole kit—you will find these in the produce section of your supermarket.
You will also need plastic eggs and grass, a brown paper bag cut into long strips, and glue.
Cut your strips of the brown paper bag and start gluing them to the bottom of the container. Lay them in different directions, covering the entire bottom and sides of the container. Use a rubber band to hold the pieces in place while they dry.
Flip the container over. Glue and add the strips to the inside of the container.
Your container should start to resemble a bird’s nest. You can add green Easter grass to the inside of the container if you wish. Also, if pressed for time in the classroom, use the containers as is, and fill them with the grass.
Students will earn eggs by reaching into a bag that contains the following colored eggs:
BLUE=How many syllables are in your word?
PURPLE=Think of a word that rhymes with your word
YELLOW= Use your word in a sentence
ORANGE=What category does your word fit into? Name two other words in that category
GREEN=Guess my word–give three clues about the word
Download the FREEBIE Spring word list and Egg Color Chart to accompany this game here!!!!
Keep the chart in front of you as your play. Cut out each Spring word and place them randomly into the eggs. Put all eggs in a bag so players can’t see which one they are choosing.
Each student can collect their eggs in their own “nest”.
The winner will be the student who has tallied up the most points at the end of the game.
BIRD’S NEST COOKIES
Heat oven to 350 degrees and line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
In a mixing bowl, combine: 1 cup all-natural peanut butter , 1 cup ricemellow creme, 2 tablespoons honey, 1 teaspoon vanilla, 3 cups oats, 1/2 cup sliced almonds, 1/2 cup unsweetened dried coconut
Let the kids have fun measuring and pouring all the ingredients into the bowl and mixing with their hands!
LOVE this product I recently started using…it contains no fat, no refined sugar, no corn sweeteners, no cane sugar, no preservatives! It’s derived from brown rice syrup (it’s the healthy version of marshmallow fluff)….so use it to make rice crispy treats, on a sandwich with peanut butter or to top your hot chocolate!
Shape heaping tablespoons of the mixture into balls with your hands. Wet your hands slightly so that the mixture won’t get too sticky. Then press into the center to hollow out the middle and form a nest.
This step is also all about the kids! Rolling the dough is a great fine motor, kid-centered task!
Add your favorite preserves to the center of each cookie before baking for 10-12 minutes. You can also add other centers such as dried sweetened cranberries, dried apricots, raisins, or all-natural jelly beans(just be sure to add them AFTER the cookies have baked or they will burn or melt!)
Let the kids help decide what to add to the centers—give them some new, healthy options to explore—make them part of the process and they might just surprise you with their willingness to taste something new!!
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