4real ladies were asking about pics of the folder games so am uploading a few in case you haven't seen them in person. Our favorites are the Carson Dellosa line, not for the great art (it isn't) but for the variety of skills addressed and the age range covered by the series. Another mom reviewed the Evan-Moor books quite favorably. And there are some printable games free online. Free File games preschool printables free games from Mormon Chic yet more games Most of us prefer the books to the freebies in this case.
Some wondered about the prep time involved for the teacher. That depends. If you personally are doing all the coloring, laminating and cutting then yes, its time consuming - at least initially. There are short cuts though. One is printing directly onto colored cardstock vs coloring by hand. The other is to enlist an older child who could use the fine motor practice. If you choose the latter the game is not going to look as glitzy as the ones on the books' covers but they enjoy them just the same.
The earliest games include things that go together, visual discrimination (matching pictures/patterns), shape work, basic counting (to ten), beginning letter sounds. At the next levels they progress to single digit addition/subtraction, beginning phonics work (consonant and vowel sounds, capital and lowercase letters, etc), time telling to the hour and half, and so on. The highest levels include games for parts of speech (noun, verb, etc), multi-place value addition and subtraction, fractions, contractions, ending punctuation, and the like.
What I like about these games is that they cover the same skills found in basal workbooks but they are nonconsumable and don't depend upon writing ability. Kids can progress based on their academics and not on their fine-motor finesse. This was huge for some of ours!
Basic construction: copy the game pieces onto cardstock (white or colored), tape half into an opened file folder as directed. Laminate or cover the matching pieces with clear packing tape and cut them out. Affix a small ziplock baggie to the back of the folder to store the loose pieces. That's it! You can store them in magazine holders upright on a shelf you can file them in a file cabinet. You can hole punch the folded file folder and store in a larg 3 ring binder as well. You can also use poster board cut in half and folded if you wish for more vibrant colors than those which most file folders come in. They may not fit into the mag holder or cabinet however.
Now, take my word on this one, under no circumstances allow the children to play with the games when not supervised. You will be pulling your hair out when you open it next and find some of the pieces have gone AWOL. Been there, done that. : /
Thank you so much Kim! Looks like fun! Now if I could only find some of those books at a bargain price!
Posted by: Louise | August 01, 2006 at 01:13 AM
Thanks Kim. It looks doable to me now that you've explained it. I think the main reason I haven't tried these yet is because I didn't want to go somewhere to laminate the pieces. We have clear packing tape right here at home!
Posted by: Cheryl | August 01, 2006 at 04:03 AM
Thanks Kim for the photos. I love seeing the games other people have come up with.
Posted by: Account Deleted | August 04, 2006 at 04:40 AM
You can get free printable games at www.filefolderfarm.com
Posted by: Nia | June 04, 2011 at 04:57 PM