ABC and 123: A Learning Collaborative: Color of the Month: Orange & GIVEAWAY from Me & Marie

Welcome! New to ABC and 123?
Please check out our FAQ in the left sidebar.

This giveaway is now closed, congratulations to comment #8, Diana, who said: I would love to see a doctor's office, or pet hospital pretend play pack.

Hi Everyone! We're pleased to annouce that this month's color post is sponsored by a great Etsy seller, Me & Marie!

Me & Marie specialize in Learning Packs, Pretend Play Props, File Folder Games and more! Their products are great timesavers for homeschoolers, classroom learning centers, daycare centers, preschool classrooms, and stay at home moms looking to work with their kids. The pretend play props would be great little gifts for birthdays or the holidays; they would be a nice addition to your child's creative play props and since they come in PDF form you'll never run out of their favorite part. Print out the set ahead of time, tie with ribbons, and wrap for a pretty presentation.

The creative force behind Me & Marie, is Ashley a former former teacher with an Early Childhood certificate, who is now staying at home caring for a beautiful little tot. So you know that she's got the experience to develop age appropriate learning aids for little ones. Plus the cute illustrations she's drawn with her computer are exclusive and so adorable!

We were sent two learning packs to review, The Color Orange and School Pretend Play Props.

Ashley promptly emailed us the PDFs and we were able to start playing and using them immediately. Just print out and assemble!

The Color Orange Learning Pack includes the following:
1. Instructions and Helpful Hints: Each Color Learning Pack includes simple instructions for assembling all the pieces to the Learning Pack and also includes helpful hints!

Well written and very helpful, the instruction page, identified the learning objective for each activity and gave suggestions and ideas for how to use or extend the activity.

2. Color Idea Sheet: The idea sheet gives helpful and fun ideas for you to do with your child at home, focusing on the target color.

I thought the suggestion to make orange ice cubes to add to your child's drink was a really fun one. What an unexpected treat to add to your child's meal, I can already imagine how big ER's eyes would get when she first noticed them!

3. Recipe and Song Sheet: Here you will find a color recipe designed for you and your child to do together. Also, included is a color song for singing!

The snack idea was very easy to make and simple to do. A good one for young learners, my daughter enjoyed mixing up the treat and turning it orange. The song follows the tune of popular favorite "The Wheels on the Bus" and you could extend it easily using the pictures Ashley included for the color orange.

4. Color Words: Each Color Learning Pack includes color word cards, designed to help your child recognize objects in the target color.

These were sized just right to fitinto a sentence strip pocket chart. A blank one would've been a nice addition so you can add more orange words to your collection.

5. Color Book: A book designed for your child to color him or herself.

ER really enjoyed this, she is just beginning to notice the lines on drawings so the larger pictures were nicely sized for developing motor skills.

6. Puzzles: These two-piece puzzles help your child recognize even more objects in the target color, in a fun and interactive way!

ER had fun with these, I reccommend printing on heavy cardstock and "laminating" each piece wit clear packing tape. To do that, just sandwich each half of each puzzle between clear packing tape. This will extend the usage a lot.

7. Flipbook: The flipbook is an easy to read and repeat book, all focusing on the target color.

A nice and simple predictable reader, even ER could read it to herself after a few tries.

8. Matching Game: Your child will practice one-on-one correspondence by matching objects of the target color.

ER is beyond matching simple pictures so we also talked about beginning sounds, a suggestion Ashely provided. That was very hard for her, so it's a nice way to differentiate the activitiy if you have more than one child at different learning levels.

9. Color Poster: The color poster is a place for you and your child to glue things you have found around the house in the target color, just like a color collage.

A nice little addition to the pack, it was great how it prompts you to look around your environment for orange things.

Overall I thought The Orange Color Learning Pack to be a great timesaver and collection of simple to implement activities. It was really great having all the work done for me and I liked the consistent use of the same clip art throughout the pack's activities. Directions were clearly written, with the reason behind the activities also provided. It is well aimed at early preschoolers and would be a good way for parents to begin working with their kids.

School Pretend Play Props

Do you remember the hours you spent as a child playing school. This pack is perfect for encouraging your child to follow in those same footsteps and to practice some important concepts as they play. Even after a full morning off at Kindergarten, Gavin enjoys playing school with Anne Hope when he gets home in the afternoon.

This Pretend Play Props-School pack includes:

* An idea Sheet with suggestions for playing and pretending.
* A door sign to add to your classroom center
* An attendance sheet where your little teacher can create a class list and take school lunch orders
* A rules poster with lines for your child to create their own school rules
* Nameplates that are ready to be cut apart and labeled with individual student names
* An alphabet poster teaching tool to print, hang and practice
* A pretend report card to be filled in with student grades and progress notes
* Four play worksheets to practice: writing names, writing numbers, writing the ABCs, and cutting.
* Rewards

The great things is that once you purchase the PDF download you will be able to print as many copies of each of these items as your mini maestr0s (teachers) need! Many of the sheets also include fun ways that get your child to practice handwriting, through the "playing" getting ready for class. Your child will have hours of fun teaching a class full of dolls or stuffed animal friends, and the props are a perfect way for them to look and feel like a real teacher!

Try Me & Marie with your child!

Ashley would love for one of our readers to try out one of her learning packs! Tell us which learning pack, priced at $5 or under, you like to try! Pick carefully, as that's the one you'll get emailed to you if you win!

Extra Entries:
Follow ABC & 123
Post our link button.
Share this giveaway on your blog, link to this post and Me & Marie. Then leave us a link to your post.
Follow us on Twitter, tweet about the giveaway, and leave us a link to your tweet.
Become our fan on Facebook.
Give Ashley a suggestion for a new learning pack that you'd like Me & Marie to develop.

Good Luck! Giveaway open until October 27, midnight EST to all our readers, worldwide.

Disclaimer: We were provided with the learning packs reviewed in this post. Thank you to Me & Marie for the review and giveaway products.

FEATURED CONTRIBUTORS:
And now onto the ORANGE activities sent to us by our readers, thank you for your submissions ladies!

Mommies Wise Little Bookworms' weekly Open Ended Art, posted on Wednesdays, recently featured orange and black. Check out all the great projects many bloggers linked to her post.
My Bilingual Boys, recently did a fun seasonal thematic activity that also taught her boys about mixing colors to make orange. We bet her sons had tons of fun shaking these up! What a great way to incorporate active learning!

Learning Objective:
Your child will learn that mixing red and yellow creates the color orange.

Materials:
~empty containers such as 2 liter pop bottles or milk jugs
~red and yellow paint
~black construction paper, scissors, and glue

Procedure:
1. Pull an empty container out of the recycle bin.
2. Add equal amounts of red and yellow paint.
3. Give container to child to shake until the paint mixes and changes to orange.
4. Cut out a Jack-o-lantern face.
5. Glue face on container.

Jedda at This Little Project, made a nice orange October breakfast of pumpkin shaped eggs in a nest with cantaloupe.

Do you have an ORANGE activity, not included in our post? Leave everyone a link to it, in the comments!