A Thrifty Thursday Money Saving Tip!

Teachers are some of the most thrifty people I know!  We are constantly on the search for a sale or a bargain. :)  Today I'm going to share a money saving tip that will come in handy any time you are preparing flash card style resources.

I first stumbled across these little gems when I was making my word wall - I needed 26 binder rings or key rings to hang each group of cards on hooks on the wall.  After baulking at the cost of them in craft and dollar stores (where they were around $5 for a small pack, meaning I'd need to buy lots of packs), I ended up at my local hardware store in the curtain section!  Here's where I found these babies:

They're made for attaching a shower curtain to the rod, and each pack of ten cost only a few dollars!

They're super simple to use, just punch a hole in the corner of each card, pop them on the ring and push the opening together.  Much easier than trying to thread all the cards onto a metal key ring!

I used them to keep my Pattern Block Cards together, but of course you could use them for sight word, alphabet or phonics flash cards - or even to store posters on a hanging rail.

Hopefully this easy tip will save you a few dollars!  

Valentine's Day Inspiration - with a freebie!

Looking for some easy peasy ways to celebrate all things Valentine's Day with your little learners? You've come to the right place!  Today I'm going to share a few simple ideas that I've made with my little ones this weekend, as well as some links to a few other great activities.  I've just uploaded a new freebie to my store too, so keep reading to the end to grab the link. :)
First up is a super cute footprint craft that I made with Little Miss Two today.  We painted her feet red and printed them onto some pink paper. I made up a template for her to glue the heart onto, but you could easily use this idea for Valentine's Day cards made by older children - and of course it doesn't have to be for Daddy. :)

Taking a little more time (and patience!) was this gorgeous collage craft.  It only took Miss Six about 10 minutes to glue the paper pieces down to the template.  I'd cut the paper for her, but this would also be great as a paper tearing activity.

I've also got plans to make these super cute and simple 'Love Bug' headbands on Valentine's Day.

Hopefully we'll also have time to make these cute Valentine's Day leis, made from wool, paper hearts and pieces of pink straw.

During the week we'll work on these gorgeous cupcakes - a freebie from Mel at From the Pond!  I love that these are so simple but really give kidlets a chance to share about things that are important to them.

This simple name puzzle would be perfect for kidlets who are still working on recognising the letters in their name and spelling it correctly.  I made mine with clipart, printed and laminated it, but for a whole class I'd just use a marker and pink paper before chopping the names up.

I love this counting activity that's perfect as a DIY! Just write numbers on paper hearts and provide kidlets with pom poms (or anything cheap'n'cheerful!) for them to count with.

Last (but not least!) is a number puzzle freebie that I've just uploaded to my TpT store.  Click on either of the images to download 'Broken Heart Number Match' - numerals and number words from 0-10. :)

Happy Valentine's Day!