Wilbur - A Favorite Learning Tool

Remember Wilbur of "Charlotte's Web" fame? 
Wilbur is a most versatile format and a favorite of young children.
Turn an old bleach bottle into a "funtastic" learning tool! 

Draw eyes and a mouth with permanent markers.
Add pink felt ears and a pipe cleaner tail.
Use egg carton sections for feet.
Decorate sides as desired.
Cut a slit about 1/4 inch wide across his head, just behind his ears.

These were the old instructions for making Wilbur and I have made many this way. But, like everything else, he got an update.  

This is the original very first Wilbur after his many face-lifts. This guy is around 30 years old. Looks pretty good for his age I think. The permanent marker needs a new paint job every few years to keep it bright. The tail has been replaced a few times and the ears have had to be reattached. 

The biggest improvement is his feet. There has been much trial and error with these. Egg cartons just glued like in the first picture was the start. Different glues were tried. Later, stones were added to give extra weight and help with balance. The stones are important, be sure to add some to each egg carton section. Finally,one day I just grabbed the good old duct tape and covered it all. Finally, a good solid base that has held up for a couple years. The next improvement will be to look for a color different than the yellow and make it more to my liking. But the key is that he now works, is stable, and has held up for some time. 

Here is Wilbur in action:  

With a stack of skill cards placed in the slot, Wilbur is ready to teach. For these cards, Charlotte counted the items and stated the number.

To view the answer, the child removes the bottle cap and peers inside.

Charlotte removed the cap and looked inside to see the answer revealed. If she is correct, she simply takes the card out and another is already in place. NOTE: Children enjoy removing the cap, so I suggest they put it back on before they change the card.

Here is what she saw when she looked inside. 

The cards should measure about 5 inches by 8 inches. 

Put the "skill" at the top edge of the card. 

The correct answer should be at the bottom center of the card.

Here are a few examples of the many possible skills that can be put on cards. 

Douglas was beginning to read and we made these card for him to recognize his name and the names of those most important to him.

Beginning letter sounds

Beginning blends and diagraphs

Fill in the missing vowel

Read the number words

Addition

Multiplication

States and Capitals - notice this set was written by one of the children. Having them make the cards is just another step for them to be learning the skill.

Questions to review a unit on bees.

Wilbur is enjoyed by ALL ages and I guarantee when you put him out with some cards, EVERYONE will have to remove the cap and take a look.

Hope Wilbur is loved at your house as much as he is at ours. 

The Alligator Game - Greater or Less Than

To compare decimals, fractions & percent

However...it would be great for any skill that requires comparing of numbers...

I used a blue file folder, added a picture of an alligator, and white circle stickers as a path. On the path spaces I wrote the signs for greater than, less than, and equals.

WHY AN ALLIGATOR? Our math book should a cute little bird with its open mouth. The greater than or less than sign was the birds mouth.

The open end of the greater than or less than sign is always towards the larger number. However, the year I made this I had a large percent of boys in my class and when I mentioned an alligator's open mouth, I got their attention...LOL...so the alligator on our gameboard!

To play, a player will draw a card, decide the relationship of the first number to the second and move to the next space with the appropriate symbol.

The cards have things like: .4 ___ .04, .71 _____.8, etc...for
decimal practice.

Another set of cards I made had: 3/4 ____ 3/12, 4/6
___2/3, etc. for fractions.

This board could be used for so many other math skills as well. For example:

1 week ______ 8 days

17 ounces _____ 1 pound

3.75 ____ 3 3/4

1.5 ____ 150%

IV ______ X

5 + 4 ______ 3 + 6

59 - 17 _____ 47 - 5

Or even for other classes:

Population of Texas _____Population of Wisconsin

Length of robin ______ length of gold finch

Revolutionary War ______ Civil War (The children had the open end to the later date.) This is a great way to help them get events in order without having to necessarily remember exact dates. So they would read their card as "Revolutionary War was earlier or before (rather than later than or after) the Civil War.


ANSWER KEY: To make it so children could play without a parent/teacher, provide an answer key. However, I preferred to just write the correct answer on the reverse of the question card. The question cards were in the pile, face up. After a child gave the response, the card could be turned over to verify the answer. This saves from lost answer keys, and is a much easier way of checking. 

There is a cute little song on YouTube that can be used when introducing Greater Than/Less Than. Check out the Number Eating Alligator Song.

Find the Answer - Addition & Subtraction Facts

"Find the Answer" is one of the children's favorite games to play. It is easy to make, fast to play, and fun for all ages.

To Make:

Make a collection of ANSWER CARDS that children will be required to find. These can be made using index cards, slips of paper, or any other supply you may have on hand. On each write the answer to a question you wish to drill, review, or test the child(ren) on. The child will read each answer card as (s)he hides it around the room - trying to remember where he placed each card.

QUESTION CARDS can be made using the same type of supplies as above, or the parent/teacher may verbally state a question.

You will want to keep the number of card pairs small for young children. Older children can handle more pairs. I still limit the number of pairs we play with at one time to about 10 even with the older boys.

Here Diana is reading one of her QUESTION CARDS. We are drilling math facts.

She takes a closer look. That might help.



After hunting around the room, she shows the correct ANSWER CARD she found.

The child will go around looking at each card they hid attempting to find the ANSWER CARD that they need. 

Diana shows the QUESTION and ANSWER CARDS together.

Wesley shares the cards that he has put together.

 Diana and Wesley played at the same time. I gave them each cards to hide and I had a set of QUESTION CARDS for each of them.

Wesley found the 6 he needed hidden in the bottom of the Charlotte's activity seat.

 Diana searched and searched for one of the ANSWER CARDS but could not find it. When the children are hiding their ANSWER CARDS it can be a big help for me to watch where they are hiding them so I can give suggestions of places to look. This can be important. Some time ago we were playing Find the Answer - States & Capitals. One ANSWER CARD could not be found while we played. Several days later, one of the children found it hidden between a couple books on a shelf.

Diana asks for help finding a card she needs.



The children bring their ANSWER CARDS up and match them to a Question Card

Think of all the possibilities for this game! We have used it for phonics, math, states & capitals, clocks & time, and words to read... so far.





Addition & Subtraction Equations - Education Cubes

Diana has recently been introduced to subtraction on paper. So the minus sign is rather new to her. I noticed that she was treating all problems as though they were addition. So I made an education cube with 3 plus signs and 3 minus signs.  The children took turn tossing the cube and shouting out PLUS or MINUS.

After a few minutes of this we changed to ADD or SUBTRACT. When I let them shout, they think it is a GREAT game! This rule depends on whether or not the baby is napping OR the noise level I can tolerate at the moment.

Then we added two number cubes. I kept the numbers low for Diana's benefit for now. (We have used larger numbers with Wesley, and much larger numbers with the older boys.)

Diana and Wesley took turns tossing the three cubes, lining them up and giving the correct solution to the equation.

Diana would get very excited when it was an equation she KNEW the answer to. For other, harder ones, she would do some counting to get the solution. By the time we finished playing she had memorized several more facts.

 

At times, Wesley offered some assistance.....

Be sure to check out some of the other games we play with these education cubes.

Math War Cards - Game 1

I found some math cards at Goodwill. They were in like new condition and selling for only 49 cents. So I purchased them. I knew the boys would love playing with the colorful cards which have addition and subtraction facts.

For the first game, we played the way the directions intended. Wesley and Charles played. Wesley, 4, is just learning his addition and subtraction facts, so he needed a slow paced game which would allow him all the time he needed to figure out the answers. He even kept a package of counters handy in case he needed some help. Charles, 6, knows most of the facts fairly quickly, so he would not be an even match for Wesley.

The cards were shuffled and then dealt out evenly between the two players (more players could play). The players place their decks on the table in front of them. Each turns over their top card and states the addition or subtraction problem and then states the answer. The player with the largest answer collects both cards. In case of a tie, each player places out another card, giving the new answer. The player that has the largest new answer wins all four cards.

Wesley has to think for a minute to find the solution to his math card.  Sometimes he used counters to help him for the answer.

  Charles.