Halloween Graphing Game

Here's a fun and educational way to use those Halloween foam shape stickers that you can get in the dollar aisles or at craft stores around Halloween time.

I used white construction paper to make a graph and placed a different Halloween sticker in each column. If you want the graph to be more durable I would suggest using tag board paper instead but for our needs the construction paper worked fine.

Next we used index cards cut up into small rectangles and placed one sticker on each card. I chose to put the stickers on cards as opposed to having my girls stick on the stickers to the graph so that we can use this activity/game multiple times.

I also made cards with the terms Most, Least, Same so the girls can use these comparative words once they complete the graph.

Before the girls started the graph I grouped the stickers cards together so that once they were done graphing they would each have a column that had the most, least and two that were the same.

Again, what's great about having the stickers on cards is that each time you play you can group them together differently so that the outcome is never the same, making it more challenging and keeping it interesting for the kids.

Now the fun part, graphing time!

Once they were done I asked them to count each category and write the corresponding number under each column. This is a great way to include writing and number skills into this activity!

Finally, I asked them to tell me which column had the most, least and which two were the same. They then placed the comparative word under the corresponding column.

There you have a Halloween graphing game using not only graphing skills but counting, number writing, and comparison words as well!  Now you can switch it up and do it over again and again!

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Sink or Float Experiment

Here's a fun little story extension from the book Who Sank the Boat by Pamela Allen.

The book has a simple little plot about animals that go for a ride in the row boat. As each animal hops in the boat the question is asked "Do you know who sank the boat?".

Great story to introduce the concept of what makes things sink and what makes things float.

After we read the story I made a simple graph- with the words sink on one side and float on the other.



Ahead of time I gathered several objects to test if they could sink or float. I told my daughter we were going to conduct an experiment and be scientists. We talked about those new words :experiment and scientists. My 3 year old pulled from the bag and I had her predict if she thought it was going to sink or float. (we also talked about the word predict).

She tested it out in the bucket of water and then placed the object in the corresponding column.





When she was done testing them all we compared and contrasted the columns. I asked "Which one has more?", "Which one has less?".



She loved it and after we were done wanted to find more objects to test!

Graphing Shapes

This is so simple and a huge hit with 3,4, and 5 year olds!! 

Materials needed- masking tape, household items shaped like a triangle, rectangle, square, and circle, paper and markers.

First make a circle, square, rectangle, and triangle sign ( I used 1 sheet of paper for each sign)
Gather household items shaped like a circle, triangle, square, and rectangle.

Place the masking tape on the floor in a graph like this:

I had Mallory pick out an item and then place it under the correct shape. 

She absolutely loved it!

The finished product!

After we were finished I had Mallory count each column and then I wrote the amount down on paper and placed it under the corresponding shape. We talked about which column had the MOST and which had the LEAST and the SAME.

In addition to shape identification this helps children count with understanding, make comparison of quantities, use comparitive words and it's a fun and easy way to introduce graphing!