• Skip to main content
  • Skip to header right navigation
  • Skip to site footer
  • About
  • Shop
  • Press
  • Media Kit
  • Contact
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Instagram
  • YouTube

teach mama logo

teach mama

helps families connect & build bridges between home & school, by amy mascott

  • early literacy
    • alphabet
    • beginning sounds
    • phonics
    • phonological awareness
    • read-aloud learning
    • rhyming
    • sight words
  • reading
    • books
    • comprehension
      • activating schema
      • connecting
      • inferring
      • predicting
      • questioning
      • retelling / summarizing
      • visualizing
    • concepts of print
    • environmental print
    • fluency
    • non-fiction
    • spelling
    • word building
    • word consciousness
    • vocabulary
  • writing
    • creative writing
    • grammar
    • informative writing
    • tripod grip
  • math
    • computation
    • counting
    • numbers
  • science
    • animals
    • plants
    • science experiments for kids
  • Activities
    • birthdays
    • cooking
      • new for us foods
    • crafts
    • foundations
      • colors
      • critical thinking
      • fine arts
      • listening
      • pretend play
      • sorting
      • speaking
    • holidays
      • new year’s
      • valentine’s day
      • president’s day
      • st. patrick’s day
      • april fool’s day
      • easter
      • mother’s day
      • teacher appreciation
      • father’s day
      • july 4th
      • halloween
      • thanksgiving
      • christmas
    • family life
      • family fun
      • giving back
      • lunchbox love notes
      • school
    • indoor activities
    • outdoor activities
  • digital literacy
    • computer time
    • iPad for learning
  • early literacy
    • alphabet
    • beginning sounds
    • phonics
    • phonological awareness
    • read-aloud learning
    • rhyming
    • sight words
  • reading
    • books
    • comprehension
      • activating schema
      • connecting
      • inferring
      • predicting
      • questioning
      • retelling / summarizing
      • visualizing
    • concepts of print
    • environmental print
    • fluency
    • non-fiction
    • spelling
    • word building
    • word consciousness
    • vocabulary
  • writing
    • creative writing
    • grammar
    • informative writing
    • tripod grip
  • math
    • computation
    • counting
    • numbers
  • science
    • animals
    • plants
    • science experiments for kids
  • Activities
    • birthdays
    • cooking
      • new for us foods
    • crafts
    • foundations
      • colors
      • critical thinking
      • fine arts
      • listening
      • pretend play
      • sorting
      • speaking
    • holidays
      • new year’s
      • valentine’s day
      • president’s day
      • st. patrick’s day
      • april fool’s day
      • easter
      • mother’s day
      • teacher appreciation
      • father’s day
      • july 4th
      • halloween
      • thanksgiving
      • christmas
    • family life
      • family fun
      • giving back
      • lunchbox love notes
      • school
    • indoor activities
    • outdoor activities
  • digital literacy
    • computer time
    • iPad for learning
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

independent learning, poetry and play: tabletop surprises

home / family life / family fun / indoor activities / independent learning, poetry and play: tabletop surprises
35 shares
  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Email
  • Print

post contains affiliate links

 

 

learn and play independently tabletop surprises
The greatest thing about tabletop surprises is that they afford my kids the opportunity for some seriously fun independent learning in cool and creative ways.

Because learning–especially in the summer–should be fun, right?

Right.

This week, we traveled a bit to hang with our familia in the Keystone State, so we only rocked our tabletop surprises four days this week.ย  And Friday? Our boy celebrated his big numero ocho cumpleanos. So we made our tabletop surprise especially for Owen.

We added a little bit of math, a little bit of reading, a little bit of critical thinking, and a whole lot of on-their-own-time kinda fun.

Here’s the skinny. . .

  • Independent Learning, Poetry, and Play– Tabletop Surprises:

tabletop surprises mealtime math madness

  • Mealtime Math Madness with Melissa & Doug Math Fact Placemats: This tabletop surprise moved from the work room table to our kitchen table–and it stayed there pretty much all week long.

I’ve always been a fan of mealtime learning, placemat parties, and using the many hours spent at the breakfast table for newspaper reading, sneaky learning, personal discovery, and more.

learning fun placemats tabletop surprise

learning fun placemats tabletop surprise

So when I found this sweet line of fun, wipe-off placemats from Melissa & Doug, I wanted to dance.ย ย  Really. Like running man al kinda dance.

We have tried the Alphabet & Numbers set, the Advanced Skills set, the Basic Skills set, and the Math Skills set. We haven’t tried the Fun Skills set (my poor, poor kids).

What I love about these sets is that though the problems are not mixed randomly, my hope is that kids will see patterns in the answers that will help them down the road. I don’t know. I can hope though.

learning fun placemats tabletop surprise

Love the wipe off crayons that are super easy to write with and bright enough to see. Love that there’s one mat each for addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division and the answers are on the back of each. So if the kids aren’t up for writing, then at least they can eat and stare at the answers. Maybe the answers will sear into their brains if they look at them long enough. . .

โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”-

tabletop surprises day poems

  • Poems–Memorizing & Reciting:ย  I love poems for so many reasons, but for kids, poems can be a super way of working on reading skills.

Check out how we rocked some serious poetry this week: Reading, Reciting, and Memorizing Poems

Fluency, memorization, and recitation are three big open doors when it comes to poetry, not to mention the creativity, writing skills, language play, critical thinking, and comprehension strategies you can practice.

 

โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”-

tabletop surprises day shopping

  • Back-t0-School Shopping & Lists: Our family totally digs Back-to-School shopping, and it’s a tradition to kinda ‘do it up’ every year.

We’ve had the kids use their own school supply shopping lists from day one, and each year I do a little something to support Maddy, Owen, and Cora in their reading and management of their personal lists.

This year, I put them to work even before we arrived at the store.

back to school price shopping tabletop surprise

back to school price shopping tabletop surprise

 

I printed out supply lists from the school website, and I let them go.

Owen in particular had a great time trying to figure out the best places to buy Skylanders most inexpensively, and once he figured that out, he spent a few minutes plowing through his list.

The challenge was having them incorporate the coupons I had on the table–that involved some serious math practice.

Though this tabletop surprise required more support than I had anticipated, it was worth it. Now we have our back-to-school shopping plan outline for the weekend.

โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”-

tabletop surprises day free electronics

  • Free Electronics:ย  Really, for Owen’s birthday, all he wanted was a free day for electronics.

So that’s what we gave him.

Free reign of the Wii, the Nintendo DS, the LeapFrog LeapPad, the LeapFrog GS, the iPad, and the iPad mini, and my boy was in hog heaven. The best gift I could have given him, he said.

No Game Time Tickets. No timers. Nothin’.

I had to do a lot of deep breathing to ease my anxiety over my kids’ brain cells being zapped by the second, but surprisingly, they didn’t spend all day on electronics. tabletop surprises buttonJust a whole lot of it. ย  Gulp.

โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”-

 

Stay on top of the Tabletop Surprises by checking out the past few weeks if youโ€™ve missed them:

  • Tabletop Surprises Week One
  • Tabletop Surprises Week Two
  • Tabletop Surprises Week Three
  • Tabletop Surprises Week Four

Or check out some fun ideas from a our Smart Summer Challenge a few summers back.

 

fyi: affiliate links included in this post

You May Also Like...

  • how to make poetry ROCK for kids (start now -- it's national poetry month!)
    how to make poetry ROCK for kids (start now -- it's national poetry month!)
  • make this summer rock: Smart Summer Challenge 2018!
    make this summer rock: Smart Summer Challenge 2018!
  • how to prepare your child for kindergarten -- summertime prep
    how to prepare your child for kindergarten -- summertime prep

About amy mascott

teacher, mother, dreamer. lover of literacy, fun learning, good food, and three crazy-cool kids. finder of four-leaf clovers | dc metro ยท http://about.me/amymascott
tweet with me: @teachmama

Previous Post: « 3 reasons all kids must see disney's planes 3 reasons all kids must see Disney’s Planes
Next Post: learning during read-alouds: improving fluency help kids improve fluency »

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Sidebar

our books & freebies

setting the stage for rock-star readers
raise a reader
amy mascott profile blog
subscribe teachmama

join the coolest club around:

Find Us On Social Media

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Instagram
  • YouTube

Helpful Links

  • About
  • Contact
  • Press
  • Media Kit
  • Disclaimer
  • Terms of Use
  • Privacy Policy

Follow Us On Instagram

View
Open
Aaawwwhhhhh live this little Welcome Pack from @univofmaryland @umddining โ€” countdown is on! 

T-minus 8 days until our #1 hits campus!

#bts2022 #OldBay #marylandlife #universityofmaryland
View
Open
Super easy, homemade dog treats! 

Kids can helpโ€”they love the scraping into molds part!

Recipe below: 

ingredients 
1 egg
1 12.5 oz can chicken
1/4 cup chickpea (or tapioca) flour
1/4 cup whole wheat flour

instructions 
1. preheat oven to 350โ€ข

2. add all ingredients to blender and mix on high

3. pour into silicon molds

4. bake 10 min then switch trays to opposite oven racksโ€”our racks cannot fit two trays). bake for another 10-12 min or until treats pop easily out of molds. 

5. let cool on tray so they get a little more crispy. 

store in airtight container for up to a week!

#kidsinthekitchen #homemadedogtreats #pettreats #diydogtreats #dogtraining #familyfun
View
Open
Pop Up Shops for Musikfest!

New tees and tanksโ€”super cool and perfect for โ€˜festing!

@bethlum.shop is where itโ€™s at!
View
Open
happy saturday ๐Ÿš™
View
Open
Painted rocks are a lifesaver most days, arenโ€™t they?
View
Open
Hello, Teacher Wish List.

You are welcome here. In fact, we are incredibly glad that youโ€™ve made your way into our culture.

Youโ€™re like the Wedding Registry or Baby Registryโ€“but better. 

You are a dream because you are the list that gives and gives and gives. Youโ€™re not full of weird kitchen appliances or ugly China patterns or tiny baby Air Jordans. You are made of books, pens, pencils, journals, math manipulatives, bulletin board letters, lab goggles, staplers, and hole punchers.

You are helping to equip and educate the youth of the world and are taking a tiny bit of stress off of the shoulders of our educators. And we all know that our educatorsโ€“especially in the last few yearsโ€“have been stretched to the absolute max. They are tired, worn down, and stepped on. Theyโ€™re pushed and pulled every which way and are expected to do the job of 27 different people.

What an amazing thing you are, you little Classroom Wish List! Just a simple Amazon Wish List, you let us all feel like we are helping in a teeny way, and we thank you.

We hope you never, ever leave and that youโ€™re here to stay.

Sincerely,

Everyone

Want to help #ClearTheList ? 

Please visit: bit.ly/HELPclearthelist

#BTS2022 #HelpClearTheList #ISupportTeachers #TeachersRock #linkinbio
View
Open
TEACHERS! 

We appreciate you. 

We know that you have been spending your own money for AGES for your classroom and students, and we want to help. 

Hereโ€™s everything you need to know about creating your own Amazon Wish List: https://teachmama.com/help-teachers-clear-the-list/

Am I missing anything? Please let me know! 

#ClearTheList #CreateTeacherWishList #ClassroomWishList #AmazonWishList #BTS2022
View
Open
Friends, if you have an extra $5 or $10 that you could spare to help some amazing educators, we would be SO GRATEFUL.

Head on over to find out what I'm talking about and to learn how you can help.

And? If you're a teacher, add YOUR list to the mix so it gets more eyes (and more support!)

Check it out: https://teachmama.com/help-teachers-clear-the-list/

#ClearTheList #linkinbio #BTS2022 #ShareYourList #AmazonClearTheList
View
Open
nosotros votamos!

Find YOUR Gun Sense Candidates here: https://gunsensevoter.org/candidates/

#FirstTimeVoter #GunSenseVoter #AppleBallotVoter #yovotรฉ

Copyright © 2022 · teach mama media, llc · All Rights Reserved

  • 7
35 shares