The Chaos and the Clutter

Homeschooling

My Spring Feelings Mini Book for Kids

two printed pages, one that has been coloured in

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Use this mini book as a tool to help kids talk about their feelings. When children are able to write about and talk about their emotions, they are better able to process and manage them. printed pages with some coloured. Text reads "Spring My Feelings Mini Book"The pages in this Spring themed mini book contain some common seasonal happenings. They are simple enough, but that’s actually the beauty of them. When kids are given the opportunity to talk about how they feel about everyday things, they begin to develop a comfort in speaking about and writing about their emotions in general, which can lead to them sharing about deeper things in the future.

This also allows us to get some insight into our kids or students. While some may delight in splashing in puddles, those with certain sensory issues may feel scared at even the thought of it. Flying a kite may bring along with it happy memories for some students, while for others, it brings sadness as it may be something they have never been able to experience.

My Spring Feelings Mini Book for Kids:

Supplies needed:

  • My Spring Feelings mini book printable pages. (download here)
  • scissors
  • pencil or pen
  • markers, crayons, or pencil crayons
  • stapler and staples

Instructions:

  1. Download the My Spring Feelings mini book.
  2. Print the pages.
  3. Cut apart the booklet pages.
  4. Let your student decide how he or she feels about each seasonal activity and draw a corresponding face on the child on that page. Your student can use the Emotions Word Bank for ideas (for words to use and for faces to draw).
  5. When your student has completed the book, stack the pages together with the cover on top and staple on the left side to create a little book.

collage of photos of printed pages for kids to fill out and colourIt can be helpful for you to sit down and debrief with the child you’re working with after they fill out their book. This will give you a better understanding of their feelings and allow you to ask further clarifying questions to provide you even more insight.

It is also good practise for them in talking about their emotions in a healthy way with those they trust.

Download your free printable Spring mini book and get this activity started with your child or students. 

Check out these other helpful printable tools for helping kids with their emotions:

Pirate Emotions Playdough Mats

Winter My Feelings Mini Bookcolouring pages depicting winter scenes on a wood floor

Draw & Write Emotions

March Emotions Printables for Kids

collage of papers with shamrocks with emotion faces

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March is the time of year when winter starts to lift and spring is in the air. It may seem like that would be a welcome thing for everyone, but some kids may have mixed feelings about the change.

They may welcome spring or feel sad about losing their favourite season. They may have mixed feelings about spending more time outside. Or they may be excited about what is to come. a collage of printed pages with shamrocks

These March emotions printables can help children to both identify and talk about all those different feelings.

March Copywork Emotions Sentences:

Being able to identify and discuss emotions is an important skill to develop in childhood. Kids need to develop a solid understanding of emotions and learn how to effectively express their own.

These printing practise worksheets allow kids to practise their printing while also normalizing talking about emotions. They have a shamrock theme which is perfect for March.collage of printed pages for the month of March with shamrocks

Supplies needed:

  • March Emotions printables
  • pencil or pen OR
  • plastic sleeve AND dry erase marker

Download the printable pages. To make them reusable, laminate the pages or slip them into a plastic page protector. Students can use a dry erase marker to do the tracing and writing.a paper with sentences is in a plastic sleeve. Green dots scattered around.

If you want to just have them be single use, give the student a pencil, crayons, coloured pencils, or markers and the printed papers.

Instructions for the student:

  1. Read the sentence.
  2. Fill in the outline.
  3. Trace the dotted words.
  4. Write the sentence on the lines provided.
  5. Discuss the different emotions.

These worksheets can be the jumping off point for a discussion with the whole class or one-on-one talk about different emotions. They can be used by teachers, homeschoolers, parents, or therapists.

March Feelings Log:

Keeping a daily log of feelings helps kids to examine their emotions. It also allows them and their teacher or parents to recognize any patterns they see emerging when looking back through the log. This can provide important insight. 

By participating in this daily exercise, kids can normalize talking about their emotions. They may also lay the groundwork that helps get to the root of why they are feeling the way they are.

Doing this at the same time each day can develop a positive habit. 

It may be most helpful to do this in the morning to then be able to adjust activities or expectations based on how the student is feeling or it may be best to do after supper or before bed to reflect on and analyze the day.collage of papers with shamrocks with emotion faces

Teaching emotions is such a powerful lifelong tool to gift your kids with. 

I’ve created a Feelings Log for March that includes a writing prompt and drawing prompt about spending time in nature and going outside to play, and weekly tracking sheet of “Today I feel” along with sweet little shamrock faces to use to help them better express their emotions.

Supplies needed:

two printed papers partially coloured in with green crayons. Scissors nearby.Enter your email below to get your free March Emotions Printables bundle. You can use this with your child at home or print it off to use with your students in the classroom. 

Our other monthly emotions printables:

Ladybug Life Cycle Sensory Bin and Activities

small hands hold a plastic ladybug and leaves

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This adorable ladybug life cycle sensory bin is a great addition to an insect study, ladybug study, or preschool classroom. You can set it up for your child at home or students in the classroom and invite them to explore. dyed green rice, magnifying glass, and toy ladybugs. Text reads "Ladybug Life Cycle Sensory Bin"Whenever you can add a sensory activity into learning, it increases the amount of information children can retain. Sensory bins are a simple way to do this and as kids discover through their senses, they can ask questions which will increase their learning.

Ladybug Life Cycle Sensory Bin:

Supplies needed:

toy leaves and ladybugs next to rocksInstructions:

  1. Dye the rice (read the full instructions here) and let it dry overnight.
  2. Pour the green rice into a plastic bin.
  3. Place the other items into the bin.
  4. Invite your child or students to play and discover.

collage of photos of a sensory bin of green rice and ladybug toysThis sensory bin contains small parts. Adult supervision should always be used when kids play.

Life Stages of a Ladybug:

  1. egg
  2. larva
  3. pupa
  4. adult ladybugtoys of the life stages of ladybugs sitting on dry green rice

Activities to Expand on Your Ladybug Study:

small hands hold a plastic ladybug and leavesKids will engage their visual, tactile, and proprioceptive sensory systems by playing in this sensory bin. You can also add something for the olfactory (smell) system by scenting the rice using essential oil.small hand holds a ladybug pupa in dyed green rice

Resources for Learning About Ladybugs:

Ladybug Life Cycle PackLadybug Life Cycle PackLadybug Life Cycle PackLadybug Life Cycle Reversible Hand PuppetLadybug Life Cycle Reversible Hand PuppetLadybug Life Cycle Reversible Hand PuppetLadybug Land with Live LarvaeLadybug Land with Live LarvaeLadybug Land with Live LarvaeThe Grouchy Ladybug by Eric CarleThe Grouchy Ladybug by Eric CarleThe Grouchy Ladybug by Eric CarleLife Story of a LadybugLife Story of a LadybugLife Story of a LadybugColor the Life Cycle of a Ladybug, Cricket, Butterfly, Honey Bee, and a FrogColor the Life Cycle of a Ladybug, Cricket, Butterfly, Honey Bee, and a FrogColor the Life Cycle of a Ladybug, Cricket, Butterfly, Honey Bee, and a FrogLadybugsLadybugsLadybugs

 

You might also want to check out our other life cycle sensory bins:

February Emotions Printables for Kids

printed pages with sentences and hearts

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February is a time for celebrating love. Not just romantic love, but friendship and family. Kids can however have mixed feelings about Valentine’s Day. They may feel jealous of those who receive more Valentine’s, indifferent, happy, or sad due to circumstances within their family or with friends.collage of printed pages of words and heart faces with emotions on them. Text reads "February Emotions printables"

These Valentine’s themed February emotions printables can help kids identify and talk about their feelings.

February Copywork Emotions Sentences:

I strongly believe that teaching emotions is more important than teaching academics. Children need to develop a firm understanding of emotions and learn how to effectively express their own. These February emotions printing practise worksheets allow kids to practise their printing while also normalizing talking about emotions.

These copywork pages allow students to explore emotion words and associate the images with the corresponding feeling. This expands their emotional vocabulary.printed pages with sentences and hearts

Supplies needed:

  • February Emotions printables
  • pencil or pen OR
  • plastic sleeve AND dry erase marker

Download the printable pages. If you want them to be reusable, laminate the pages or slip them into a plastic page protector. Students can then use a dry erase marker to complete the tracing and writing.

For one time use, give the student a pencil, crayons, coloured pencils, or markers and the printed papers.printed page with sentences and a heart in a plastic sleeve with a dry erase marker on top

Instructions for the student:

  1. Read the sentence.
  2. Fill in the outline.
  3. Trace the dotted words.
  4. Write the sentence on the lines provided.
  5. Discuss the different emotions.

These worksheets can be the jumping off point for a discussion with the whole class or one-on-one talk about different emotions. They can be used by teachers, homeschoolers, parents, or therapists.

February Feelings Log:

Keeping a daily log of feelings helps kids to look at their emotions. It can also allow them and their teacher or parents to recognize any patterns they see emerging when looking back through the log. This can provide a lot of insight. 

Doing this quick daily exercise is an easy way to help kids to talk about their emotions and get to the root of why they are feeling the way they are. Doing this at the same time each day can develop a positive habit. 

It may be most helpful to do this in the morning to then be able to adjust activities or expectations based on how the student is feeling or it may be best to do after supper or before bed to reflect on and analyze the day. printed pages with hearts that have faces with feeling expressions

Teaching emotions is such a powerful tool. It arms children with a skill they can use their whole life.

I’ve created a special Feelings Log for February. It includes a writing prompt and drawing prompt about Valentine’s Day, and weekly tracking sheet of “Today I feel” along with cute heart faces to use to help them better express their emotions.

Supplies needed:

scissors, crayons, square pieces of paper with coloured hearts on themEnter your email below to download the free February Emotions Printables. You can use this with your child at home or print it off to use with your students in the classroom. 

Our other monthly emotions printables:

Colourful Celery Experiment

a boy looks at celery stalks in coloured water

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A few years ago, one of our daughters decided to do the celery experiment for her science fair project. This is such an easy project for kids to do. a girl smiles as she looks at a blue celery stalk in blue water. Other colours of celery are visible. Text reads "Colourful Celery Science Experiment"Kitchen science experiments are a great way for kids to learn. They are using materials that are familiar to them. This experiment uses celery, food colouring, and water which are all things that are familiar to most kids.

Hands on learning is so much more effective for retention. This particular experiment uses simple items that are cost effective and easy to find rather than expensive, hard-to-find materials. 

Kids are able to observe the changes happening and delight in the process.a boy looks at celery stalks in coloured water

Colourful Celery Experiment:

Supplies needed:

Instructions:

  1. Fill the plastic cups a little more than half full with water. 
  2. Add some drops of food colouring to each cup (one colour per cup) and stir.
  3. Cut the bottom ends off celery stalks.
  4. Place one freshly cut celery stalk in each cup. 
  5. Invite kids to make a hypothesis. What do they think will happen? Depending on their age, they can colour a picture or write out what they think will happen.
  6. Each child can watch what happens and write or colour their observations.

celery stalks in cups of coloured water and changing colour themselvesThe colour will climb up the celery stalk through the capillaries which shows how plants pull up the water and nutrients. This is a great visual explanation. The results are more noticeable if you leave the leafy part on the celery. a stalk of celery sits in a glass of blue water and its leaves have a blue tinge to themThis is such an easy science experiment to do and a great visual aid for kids learning about plants and osmosis!

For older kids:

If you’re doing this experiment with kids who are older or are capable of a deeper understanding,  you can expand the learning into how water moves from the roots in the soil to other parts of the plant or tree such as the leaves and stem. This takes place in the xylem which are vein-like tubes similar to the capillaries in the celery. 

Here are some links for further research on this:

For younger kids:

If you’re doing this with littles, you can get out a magnifying glass and take a closer look at the capillaries at the bottom of the celery. Note that they are hollow, kind of like little straws. Once the coloured water has risen in them, you’ll be able to see the colour at the entrance of the capillary. 

For her science fair presentation, our daughter showed pictures of the process, wrote out the process, and drew what happened. We put all of it on a tri-fold presentation board and she was able to answer the judges questions about what she had learned through this. 

4 cups with a different colour of water in each and one celery stalk in eachWhen I started homeschooling and began to incorporate hands-on science fun into our days, it made me wish that I had had the opportunity to do more of that kind of learning when I was in school. I know that many schools now recognize the importance of this and are doing experiments in the classrooms. Learning by doing is learning that lasts. 

Check out some of our other awesome science activities:

Melting Ice Experiment

Easy Earthquake Experiment

How Fold Mountains FormThis is a great hands-on science experiment to explain how fold mountains are formed.

Layers of the Earthhand holding half a ball with layers of colour and a book open to a page about the layers of the Earth

Lego Challenge for Kids

a pile of building blocks with some in a small bowl and printed instruction cards

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Lego offers so many learning opportunities. Playing with building blocks helps kids with math concepts, engineering, communication, as well as simpler things such as colours and shapes. Using Lego Challenge Cards is a great way to encourage this learning.building blocks scattered on the floor with a printed card. Text reads "LEGO Challenge Cards"Lego is something that I often incorporated in our homeschooling. Whether is was a tool for teaching how earthquakes work, practising letter recognition, including it in a sensory bottle, or just having the kids build and create with it while I read them their history lessons, it was a regular learning tool. We even occasionally had Lego shaped snacks!

My own kids’ enjoyment and learning thanks to creating with blocks is what led me to want to create this activity for other families to enjoy. These can be used as a boredom buster at home or to enhance skills in the classroom.

Lego Challenge Cards:

Supplies needed:

Directions:

  1. Download and print off the Lego Challenge Cards. 
  2. Cut them out.
  3. Kids can then follow the prompts on the cards to create things using the building blocks. collage of photos of building blocks and creations made with those blocks

I kept some of the cards open ended in order to inspire creativity. There are also ideas included to foster team work and communication and to encourage thinking outside the box.

Examples of some of the challenges:

  • Build a boat that floats.
  • Build your name in LEGO.
  • Build something blindfolded.
  • Build something in one minute.
  • Build something using 5 different sized LEGO.
  • Build a LEGO pizza.
  • Build a small tower and balance it on your head.
  • Build something by following the instructions of a partner.
  • Build something with just one hand.

There are a total of 24 challenge cards in this printable set. Each one is designed to keep kids engaged and thinking. green tower built of Lego with other coloured building blocks in the background

Learning Opportunities from using Lego Challenge Cards:

    • following instructions
    • reading comprehension
    • colours 
    • shapes
    • geometry
    • building
    • math
    • engineering concepts (balance, gravity, weight distribution)
    • fine motor
    • hand eye coordination
    • cooperation and communication (if playing with others)

a pile of building blocks with some in a small bowl and printed instruction cardsSign up to receive the complete set of LEGO Challenge Cards free and be entered in our 5 Secrets to Powerful Connection email series.

Check out some of our other LEGO themed activities:

LEGO Sensory Bottle

Earthquake Science Experiment

LEGO Letter Practise Activity