Because we like to travel this sometimes means our oldest, who is in Kindergarten this year, misses school time. I know he’s gaining invaluable experience when we travel but mommy guilt always kicks into high gear about missing valuable classroom learning time. We try to do learning activities with him on the road but sometimes the day slips by and before we know it we’ve tucked him in forgetting about his “homework” for another day.
What isn’t hard to find time for on the road is snacking. Kids are always hungry especially when traveling, so I decided to combine the two and make learning fun and easy with these alphabet print out cards during our travels, as they are a twist on flash cards for our boys. That way the learning is linked to something we can’t forget to do – snack!
I choose to take Goldfish crackers with us EVERYWHERE as they are simple to pack, travel well and my kids LOVE them. With a variety of flavors, we love the new pretzel kind, and even colors I put my creative hat on and came up with alphabet “Fish Cards” for them to play with. Keeping in mind Kindergarten is all about focusing on letters, numbers, colors, counting and basic math skills the the Fish Cards are a perfect addition to our carry on bags for a quick learning break while also creating wonderful memories with my family.
With these cards the boys can build letters, count the number of fish needed for each letter, learn subtraction as they eat their fish and I can ask them to do it in different colors when we have a rainbow pack of Goldfish around. The Fish Cards are the perfect size for traveling and I laminated them they are durable and can be used over and over again at home or on the road.
Since Easter is coming up fast I decided to give the boys a new set of Alphabet for toddlers Printable as part of a non-chocolate Easter basket gift this year. These were so easy to make and I’m excited to see them in action in the near future. Even if you are not traveling these cards are a great way to sneak in some learning while playing with your child.
Instructions for making your own Alphabet letter cards printable:
Supplies: Cardstock, Sharpie or printer, Scissors, Laminate, metal clip or twine and a hole punch.
Directions:
1- Simply print off the alphabet and numbers on whatever paper you choose, however thicker paper like cardstock works better so they won’t curl when laminated and stay nice and flat. You can print on to white cardstock and have your child colour the letters before you laminate them. If you want to use up scraps of scrapbook cardstock you can write on block letters with a sharpie
2 – Cut out your fish cards to the desired size. Try to keep them uniform for easy stacking.
3 – Laminate your cards. You can do this yourself with sheets you can buy or you can take it to our local office supply store, it cost less than $5/alphabet. Whenever I am making learning materials I always use my Scotch Personal Laminator as it is cost effective and keeps the materials lasting longer. I have used mine for over 8 years making teaching and tutoring materials.
4 – Once I had them all laminated I simply cut them out into nice size squares. You can hole punch the corner to put some string through to keep them all together or you could also use a metal clip making it easier to flip the cards.
5 – Get playing, have fun, and make some smiles!!! Game ideas include:
- Alphabet – Build letters out of fish on the Fish Cards
- Alphabet – Ask your child to identify a certain letter and then build it with fish
- Counting – Count the number of fish it takes for each letter
- Addition – As you add fish to each card discuss the number of fish on the card. Practice addition by adding the number of fish between multiple cards.
- Subtraction – As the fish are eaten, discuss how many are left
- Spelling – Spell out short words using the cards and fish
Because I’m using my fish cards for travel I wanted to keep them small but you can make them any size you choose the bigger the better for smaller hands.
I’m hoping in the future we will be able to use them to start spelling out simple words as well. Travel + learning + Goldfish snacks = SMILES & FUN!
Disclosure: This post was brought to you by Goldfish Crackers. All opinions are strictly my own.
I want to share with my grandkids because they love goldfish.
My niece because they love them when they sleep over!
With my 2 princesses! I’ve been looking for princess Goldfish everywhere and no such luck finding them. I know my 2 girls would love them!
I would share them with my grandchildren. They love them.
My kids go through these before I can even blink my eyes!! lol
Awesome! I love goldfish crackers!
I want to share with my girls ~ ages 9 ad 10. They sure do love the goldfish!
With my son Cameron because he is a Goldfish eating machine!
With my daughter, Hannah, because she loves eating Goldfish!
I want to share my Goldfish smiles with my daughters because we love Goldfish crackers and can have lots of fun with them!
I’d share them with my sister!
I would share with my son! He loves goldfish!
I’d share it with my awesome niece.!
I’d love to share with my nephew!
I want to share them with my son! Goldfish are his favorite
I would share them with my son because I love him
My students. They always seem to come to me for a snack.
I would like to share it with my kids because they love Goldfish
I would share them with my son,because he loves Goldfish crackers,,as well as myself,,your never tooo old for Goldfish! 🙂
I’d share them with my cousins, they love GoldFish
I want to share smiles with my daughter because she shares smiles with me
Great snacks for the whole family
I want to share with my daughter. She loves goldfish!
My niece and nephew love theirgoldfish
I would share my goldfish smiles with my kids.
With my grand-children. They love Goldfish snacks.
my daughter I would share with. she loves her goldfish and so do I
I would share this with my niece because she loves Goldfish.
I would share my goldfish with my nephew Parker, he is obsessed with ‘fishies’ right now!
i would share with my 5 year old son. He loves goldfish, and he loves to smile 🙂
I would share them with my coworkers because we all love to snack on these and it would put smiles on their faces!
My kids and nieces and nephews 😀
I would like to share them with my kids because they make me smile.
I would share them with my son and husband! We love the pizza goldfish best!
I would love to share with my 5 year old. He adores these!
I would share with my granddaughter Sofia! She LOVES Goldfish.
I want to share with my nieces and nephews.
My daughter, she loves them!
id share them with my son because we both love goldfish
my 6 year old son riley would love this
I would share my goldfish and smiles with my kids as they love em!
i would share them with my kids because they love goldfish!
Je les partagerai avec ma petite nièce de 4 ans.
I would love to share these with my little grandson who loves his goldfish snacks.
I’d like to share with my nearly 3 year old son, Callum. Because he loves goldfish, and he’s a lovely, sweet little boy.
I want to share them with my boys because they loves goldfish!
My daughters. They love to make crafts and have snacks. So I’d make the fish craft with them.
I would share my Goldfish Smiles with my mom because she always shares with me.
I like to share my goldfish smiles with my kids and so we can play counting games. Always good to add a little learning to activities.
My Son! He loves naming them, and making dinosaurs out of them!
My girls.
with the little and big ones here. thanks
OK – need to add more before hitting the send button…
share with the little and big ones here because everyone shares here. thanks
Love to share them with my Haidyn she’s not my granddaughter but as close as one.
I’d share them with my kids because them make me smile so much!
My daughter – they’re her favourite road trip snack!
My hubby, we love our snacks
My godson for sure! ty
I want to share with my kids because they LOVE Goldfish!
I would share them with my son! 🙂 Thanks so much.
With children in my daycare because they love goldfish
I would share them with Sophie because she loves goldfish.
I would share them with my little guys because they love Goldfish Crackers!
Love those fishie crackers.
my daughter 🙂
My niece and nephew because i love them so much!
I’d share it with my kids because they love goldfish and I love that they’re full of things that I want to feed my kids.
Besos, Sarah
Journeys of The Zoo
I want to share with my grandkids. They love them!
My daughter. I cant remember the last time we had a trip to the grocery store without needing to pick up another bag or two of goldfish for her.
Our household loves Goldfish brand snacks!
i would like to share goldfish smiles with my kids because we like to have fun
with my family.
I like it when my family smiles. I will share with them
My strange son doesnt like salty snacks so I would be sharing them with my daughter! She would love them.
I want to share my Goldfish smiles with my younger sister because she loves Golfish crackers and I’d love to make her smile 🙂
I would share with my niece Chloe <3
With my kids because they love them!
My children love these in their lunches
I would share the goldfish smiles with all 5 of my kids!
Grandsons love goldfish
I’d share these with my husband, because these little guys really do make him smile! Haha.
I’d share with my little cousins because that’s one of their favorite snacks when they’re with me!
I would share them with my granddaughter. She loves them.
I would share them with my son. He loves eating them and watching movies 🙂
I would share with my nieces and nephews, they love goldfish crackers
I like to share with my kids because they make us all happy
My son:) He loves goldfish!~
share with my kids
i’d share it with my coworkers since we get hungry easily
My friends 🙂
I want to share them with my kids because we all love Goldfish
My daughter, she is loves Goldfish crackers!
I will share them with Emily
My daughter loves Goldfish. She tells me that the kids in her class always steal eachother’s goldfish crackers! I enjoy them too 🙂
I want to share my Goldfish smiles with my three children because I love them all so much.
I had no idea that Goldfish came in pretzel flavor!!!! I have to find them somewhere!
My girl loves using her Goldfish to count and make smiley faces!
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