Mr. Rooster's Pals...

        Walter Wellman says that hidden on Mr. Rooster are the names of many of his bird friends, each name containing five letters. Start with any letter and see if you can spell a word by using the letters connected with its direct paths. You can move in any direction but must not jump over any letters. Many of the letters must be used move than once. When you have all the words that can be made, all the letters will have been used. How many can you find? 

Find Mr. Rooster's friends...

A Pumpkin Shaped Crossword for October

 Teachers, parents and ministers may download and print this October, pumpkin puzzle for kids! 

Fall/Halloween fun crossword for kids.

• Color the pumpkin in the field and practice writing Pp
• Color the farmer harvesting pumpkins here

The Intelligent Chimpanzee

Chimpanzee drinking by stream.

        The chimpanzee  has  the  most  intelligent  face  of  all  the  ape  tribes,  using  its  lips to  show  hate,  pleasure,  or  rage.  It  is  not  able  to  stand  erect,  but  moves  along resting  its  hands  knuckles  down,  instead  of  on  the  palms.  It  has  been  proved that  the  chimpanzee  has  one  singular  habit  in  common  with  the  orangutan of  Sumatra,  namely,  that  of  building  a  sort  of  hammock-nest.  Only  the  female and  young  occupy  this  nest,  while  the  male  stations  himself  on  top.  Chimpanzees are  really  ground  apes,  preferring  rocky,  broken  country  to  the  forest. Their  food  consists  entirely  of  vegetable  matter,  and  it  is  impossible  to  raise any  crops  near  one  of  their  colonies.
       Many  travelers  have  claimed  that  the  chimpanzees  carry  clubs,  and  there seems  to  be  no  reason  to  doubt  it.  They  may  have  copied  the  natives  they have  seen,  for  their  imitative  ability  is  well  known,  but  as  it  has  been  proved that  they  cannot  stand  erect,  it  is  almost  impossible  for  them  to  use  clubs  to fight  with.  They  have  enormous  strength  in  the  arms,  but  greatest  in  the hands.  A  chimpanzee  is  able  easily  to'  snap  a  branch  that  would  be  far  beyond the  strength  of  a  couple  of  men.
       Another  curious  thing  about  these  apes  is  that  they  live  in  social  bands, and  at  sundown  may  be  heard  barking  and  yelling  before  they  settle  down  for the  night.  Though  a  chimpanzee  would  not  risk  a  fight  alone  with  a  panther or  other  large  animal,  yet  even  an  elephant  will  turn  aside  rather  than  face  an angry  crowd  of  these  apes.     Chimpanzees  seldom  travel  alone,  and  if  one  is attacked  it  raises  a  shrill  cry,  and  at  once  all  the  chimpanzees  near  by  flock  to
the  rescue.  When  a  band  of  these  apes  is  engaged  in  feeding,  they  set  a  sentinel to  guard,  who,  on  the  slightest  sign  of  an  alarm,  utters  a  loud  cry,  which is  said  to  resemble  a  human  being  in  agony.  It  is  promptly  answered  by loud  barks  and  yells,  which  are  increased  as  the  alarm  spreads.  They  flock  to battle,  for  they  are  very  ferocious,  or  else  decamp  rapidly.
       A  fine  specimen  of  a  chimpanzee,  better  known  now  as  the  late  lamented "Sally,"  lived  for  many  years  at  the  Zoo,  in  London,  where,  from  the  fact  that she  was  so  intensely  human,  being  able  to  do  almost  everything  but  talk,  it  was very  popular.

• How intelligent are chimpanzee? by JRE Fun Clips
• The making of chimp empire by Still Watching Netflix

We know so much more about Chimpanzees because of Jane Goodall:

• The Jane Goodall Institute official website
• First Look at Jane by National Geographic
• Study on Mammal and Camouflage includes intro to Jane Goodall

 

Connect the dots in numerical order to see ''who'' swings through the trees.

Backward Kiddy Kar Race

        This race is much funnier if there are only a few contestants. There should be only two teams, with two on a team, the first one on each team being provided with a kiddy kar. These first two riders are asked to turn their cars around so that they are facing away from the goal, and then sit on their cars with their backs to the goal. When the starting signal is given, they start racing to the goal, backwards. When they reach this goal they are to return to the starting point, going backwards of course, and give up their kiddy kars to the second members of their teams. These second victims run the race in the same inverted order.

• See what a Kiddy Kar or Kiddie-Kartoy looks like
  

Hobby Horse Race

        There are seldom more than two players on a team, that being sufficient ! The first one of each team is supplied with a hobby-horse. When the signal is given, these riders start riding their horses to the goal. If they ever reach it, they are to return and give their horses to the other member of their team. Experience proves that most second riders never get a chance to ride, for too many first riders fall by the wayside!

•  What is a hobby horse?
  

Hobby Horse Cup 

Nose Push Race

        If contestants in this race are expected to look respectable for the rest of the party, a sheet should be provided for the race-course. There are not more than three contestants, each one of them being provided with a peanut, and, we hope, a long and practical nose. Contestants are asked to kneel at one end of the sheet, put their peanuts on the sheet before them, and when the signal is given, to push the peanuts to the other end of the sheet and back, using their noses as the pushers, their hands being clasped behind them.
       The winner is not the only one who deserves a prize in this contest!

The Pea Pushing Race - A big nose helps!

Siamese Twins Race

        Children are paired off into couples, the two members of a team having their backs to each other, with their hands joined at the side. One of them is facing the goal. At the signal, all teams start racing to the goal and return, their method of locomotion being anything they choose. Usually they try to run, but they soon get over that foolishness, and finally discover that the best and safest means of getting there is to hop, both members of a team hopping at the same time. The relay plan may be used.
       There is no prize good enough for the winners of this race!

Relay Races

        In several cases a suggestion is made to the effect that the relay plan may be used. When this is used, all the children are divided into groups of equal size, members of a group standing in lines or columns or couples, as the case demands. When either the first runner or the first couple has run the course, the second contestants are touched off, and then the third and fourth, and so on until all members of a team have run the race. The team whose last runner or couple first finishes the required stunt, gets the prize as the winning team.
       Relay races are particularly good for large groups, for a great many children can take part in a race which requires comparatively little space.

Find the fox puzzle...

Find the fox before he eats the gingerbread boy.

The Gingerbread Boy
Puzzle-Find The Fox
by Helen Hudson

The little old woman, and little old man
Follow Gingerbread Boy as fast as they can,
But he quickly eludes them as onward he hurries;
And cat, dog and pig and a hen hen then worries.

But alas, for our boastful and bold little friend!
With wiley old fox he soon meets his end!
If with your sharp eyes you search over this sheet
Old Reynard himself you will very soon meet.

Heidi's Puzzle

Find the Goat Peter hidden in the mountain pasture.

 

Find the Goat Peter Puzzle
by Helen Hudson

Happy little Heidi
With her flowers fair
Revels in her freedom
And sweet mountain air.

Faithful goat-heard Peter
Now is watching near;
If you search this picture
You will see him - here.

More About Heidi:

• Heidi from "When I Read, I Dream" series
• Swiss Paper Dolls: Heidi and Peter

Find The Fish Puzzle

Puzzle - Find The Fish

Find The Fish
by Helen Hudson

A Joyful day it is for us,
Tommy and Richard and me,
For our friend Bill Jones is taking us
Where the biggest fish may be.

If it should be our luck to catch
The fish Bill tells about,
I really do not see quite how
We'd ever haul him out!

Find Columbia Puzzle

Puzzle - Find Columbia

Columbia
by Helen Hudson

We're very patriotic
As you can plainly see.
This birthday of our country
We celebrate with glee.

Columbia guides our footsteps
And, where her path may go,
We'll march along right valiantly
Though mighty be the foe!

Thirty Feet! How Many Do You Know?

       Just as a good shoemaker makes shoes to fit the feet, nature make feet to fit the needs of each individual animal. How many of these feet could you name? They are, from left to right, top to bottom: Horse, Elephant, Eagle, Ostrich, Camel; second row - Chimpanzee, Tiger, Duck, Water Shrew, Lizard, Tiger, Beetle; third row - Sloth, Bear, Locust, Flamingo, Duck-billed Platypus, Crab: fourth row- Peccary, Garden Spider, Giraffe, Frog, Armadillo, Ox; and fifth row- Kangaroo, Box Turtle, Squirrel, Iguana, Harvest Mouse, and Gecko.

Whose Eyes Are These?

       Teachers or parents may print out the animal eye chart to quiz their kids about whose eyes are these. Here are the answers:

1. Eye of Solitary Frog
2. "stalk eye" of Crab
3. Eye of the Toad
4. Whirligig Beetle Eyes
5. The Chameleon's Eye
6. Eyes of the Snail on Stalks
7. Cat's Eye
8. Moth's Eye
9. Eye of A Dog
10. Spider Eyes
11. Eagle's Eye
12. Grasshopper's Eye
13. Sheep's Eye
14. Eye of the Fly
15. The Cow's Eye

Numbers 4, 8, 12, and 14 are all compound eyes!

Take the Nature Check Animal Eye Quiz!

and visit them to play more animal games.

Working With Pattern Blocks

Above are traditional wooden versions of Pattern Blocks. There are educational, toy companies that now manufacture
Pattern Blocks in plastic. If you can not afford either of these, you may cut out your own templates from paper.

        Pattern Blocks are one of the mathematical manipulatives developed in the 1960s by an Education Development Center as part of their Elementary Science Study project. They allow children to see how shapes can be decomposed into other shapes, and introduce children to ideas of tilings.

The Pattern Blocks includes multiple copies of six shapes in the following colors:

• Equilateral triangles are green. In geometry, an equilateral triangle is a triangle in which all three sides are equal. In the familiar Euclidean geometry, equilateral triangles are also equiangular; that is, all three internal angles are also congruent to each other and are each 60°. They are regular polygons, and can therefore also be referred to as regular triangles.
• Rhombus tiles that can be matched with two of the green triangles are blue. In Euclidean geometry, a rhombus(◊) (plural rhombi or rhombuses) is a simple (non-self-intersecting) quadrilateral whose four sides all have the same length. Another name is equilateral quadrilateral, since equilateral means that all of its sides are equal in length. The rhombus is often called a diamond, after the diamonds suit in playing cards which resembles the projection of an octahedral diamond, or a lozenge, though the former sometimes refers specifically to a rhombus with a 60° angle (see Polyiamond), and the latter sometimes refers specifically to a rhombus with a 45° angle. Every rhombus is a parallelogram and a kite. A rhombus with right angles is a square.
• Trapezoid that can be matched with three of the green triangles are red. In Euclidean geometry, a convex quadrilateral with at least one pair of parallel sides is referred to as a trapezoid (/ˈtræpəzɔɪd/) in American and Canadian English but as a trapezium (/trəˈpiːziəm/) in English outside North America. The parallel sides are called the bases of the trapezoid and the other two sides are called the legs or the lateral sides (if they are not parallel; otherwise there are two pairs of bases).
• Hexagon that can be matched with six of the green triangles are yellow. In geometry, a hexagon (from Greek ἕξ hex, "six" and γωνία, gonía, "corner, angle") is a six sided polygon or 6-gon. The total of the internal angles of any hexagon is 720°
• Squares with the same side-length as the green triangle are orange. In geometry, a square is a regular quadrilateral, which means that it has four equal sides and four equal angles (90-degree angles, or (100-gradian angles or right angles). It can also be defined as a rectangle in which two adjacent sides have equal length.
• Narrow rhombus with a 30° angle and the same side-length as the green triangle are white or beige.

       My patterns come with both questions and activities so that classroom teachers or homeschooling parents may use either a lap top or a desk-top computer center for creating interactive learning experiences for students reading this blog in specific:

1. Set up a learning center using a computer, laptop or tablet with access to https://thriftyscissors.blogspot.com pages only. The content must not be transferred to an alternative web location.
2. Provide a couple of sets of Pattern Blocks for each work space and paper with writing tools as well. 
3. Pick and choose the questions or actions that you want your students to answer or manipulate according to their age/abilities.
4. To enlarge the images, simple click on the image and you will be able to see a larger version on a dark background.

       If your students can not yet read, simply have them configure the same design in front of themselves with Pattern Blocks on a table or desk. Students can do this activity by themselves or in a group at a large table. This activity helps develop Pre-Math Skills: problem solving, patterning, estimation, sense of space, representation (symbolism) and number sense.

• Back to the Crafty Math Index Page

Manipulate More Shapes Using Pattern Block Games:

• Manipulate pattern blocks in order to form larger, simple shapes. (level one) and check your answers here.
• Manipulate pattern blocks to make geometric puzzles. (level two) and check your answers here.
  

Repeat Patterns Using Pattern Blocks:

• Repeating Patterns: Set One
• Repeating Patterns: Set Two
• Repeating Patterns: Set Three
  

Try My Figurative Designs For Pattern Blocks: Plus questions and activities...

1. two kissing fish
2. flower garden
3. a super hero shield
4. a scarecrow
5. the court jester 
6. a simple Christmas tree
7. a Christmas tree with a star
8. a red bird pull toy
9. hot air balloon
10. a red stocking with a green patch
11. a Christmas wreath
12. St. Nickolas
13. baby Jesus in a manger
14. poinsettia in a planter
15. a praying angel
16. a soccer ball
17. a cluster of grapes
18. a water lily
19. a big fish
20. a trapped trapezoid
21. a flowering triangle

       The photographs located here are the copyrighted property of kathy grimm. Do not upload them onto your personal blogs or webpages for this reason. Give a link to the collection only, if you are referencing the collection.
       Also, do not alter the photographs in any way. Altering photos from this web journal will get you into a heap of trouble with the law. These photos are not included here for the purpose of creating a new collection or a duplicate one on an alternative web site. Copyrighted works must be altered in such a way as to render them "unrecognizable content" in order for the material to be reproduced without censure. In other words, you must make your own unique content from the very beginning, in order to keep copyright law.
       Educators, parents, and social workers from any country may use the photographs for hard copy within the context of a classroom environment only. The photographs should never be reproduced for sale. I have not authorized any person to charge money for profits from these photographs. They are intended for children to learn from freely but not for republishing on third party websites or printing out to sell for monetary gain!
 

More Pattern Block Templates, Mats, and Designs:

• Jessica's Patterns - printable designs
• Colorful Snowflake Designs
• Playing and Learning with Pattern Blocks

Research more about the history of Pattern Blocks:

• Three Labs by Henri Picciotto
  About the Importance of Math Manipulatives 

Where to purchase Pattern Blocks:

• Amazon sells sets (250) of wooden Pattern Blocks
• Lakeshore learning sells plastic Pattern Blocks
• Melissa & Doug have a cute set of pattern blocks that come inside a wooden puzzle set

DIY Apple Card Games for Early Learners

Alphabet Apple Cards made from die cuts.

The alphabet apple cards, just right, are made from die cut apples and precut alphabet letters.

Alphabet Apple Card Questions:

• Spell out simple sight words like: GO, MY, ME, AT, TO, BE, NO, YES
• Put the alphabet cards in order and recite the letters out loud.
• Find a specific letter or remove a specific letter.
• Identify the vowel letters?
• Which letter is at the beginning of your name?
• Pick out a letter and make it's sound. 
• How many letters are in the alphabet? Count them to find out.

The Seriation Apple Cards: are cut from red construction paper and shaded with crayons or colored pencils. Young students can line these apples up, starting with the smallest apple and ending with the largest, or vice versa. 

• For wild animal seriation designs click here

Homemade Seriation Apple Cards.

The Whole & Half Apple Card Set: For this next apple card set, cut four of each design: four cut apples of yellow, lime green, dark green and bright red and then four uncut apples of yellow, lime green, dark green and bright red. There should be thirty-two cards altogether.

Questions for this card game:

• Match the pairs, each pair should share the same color and include one cut half apple and one whole apple
• Display four apples, three alike and one different. Which apple doesn't belong?
• Display five or six cards and ask the child to identify specific colors, specific cut halves, or whole apples.
• Spread out all the cards face up and ask the child to make a book, four matching cards exactly alike.
• Spread all the cards face down in the pattern of a grid and have the children take turns turning two cards face up. If the two cards each player turns face up match they can take the matching pair and put it into their own personal stack. If the two cards do not match, the player must return them face down to the grid. The player with the most pairs by the end of the game wins. Players must turn cards over until none are left in the grid.

Pictures of the Whole & Half Apple Card set. Far left, Match the pairs., Next, count the red apples.,
Center, make a book., Far Right, Which apple doesn't belong.

More Apple Games: 

• Free Apple Number Puzzles
• Apple Number Match Up Activity
• Even More Apple Themed Activities

Five Dots Drawing Game

      All children who like drawing seem to enjoy this game. Take a piece of paper and make five dots on it, wherever you like--scattered about far apart, close together (but not too close), or even in a straight line. The other player's task is to fit in a drawing of a person with one of these dots at his head, two hat his hands, and two at his feet, as in the examples below.

Examples of "Five Dots" Drawing Game.

A jack-o-lantern maze

Find your way in and out of this spooky Jack-O-Latern maze!

A Jack-O-Lantern Dot-To-Dot

Feelings Faces Game for Halloween

      My little Jack-O-Lanterns are full of all kinds of emotions! Teachers will need to print two copies each of every sheet attached to the post below in order to play this Halloween matching game with their class.

      For younger students turn the cards face up on a carpet or table so that all of the emotions can be seen. Now ask each player taking a turn to match up one Jack-O-Lantern with it's twin and then talk about "how" the Jack-O-Lanterns are feeling. Ask the student about the incidents that make him or her feel angry, disappointed, frightened, sad, happy, excited or anxious etc...

      If your students are a bit older, in 1rst or 2nd grade, turn the cards face down during the game so that your students must also identify the matching abstract shapes of the pumpkins. 

      Let your students identify the feelings of the pumpkins on their own. Younger children will give general descriptions of their faces, older students may be more specific about the expressions. What is important about the game is that a students is able to actually match the identical facial features and shapes.

Teach young learners about emotions with these fun little free Jack-O-Lantern faces by Grimm.

Crying Jack-O-Lanterns shown crying. Print out the patterns twice to make this feelings face game by Kathy Grimm.

      Learn more about how to use facial expressions in order to develop social emotional skills watch the video below by Childswork Childsplay. You can purchase their game, "The Understanding Faces Game," here.