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JDaniel4s Mom

growing & learning with him

Printable Leaf Identification Chart and Cards Set

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Printable Leaf Identification Chart and Cards Set

It is fun to learn about the trees that grow in your area. This free printable leaf identification chart and cards set will help you identify what trees they are. Both can be taken with you as you visit parks or go for a walk. You could also use the leaf identification chart to identify leaves you have collected and brought home from an outing.

Leaf Identification Chart and Cards

Getting Ready

Printable Leaf Identification Chart

Before you can start identifying leaves with the Leaf Identification Chart and Cards, you will need to print them out.

Leaf Identification Cards

Then you might want to laminate or cover them with contact paper. It will help them last longer.

Finally, you will want to cut out the cards and punch a hole in the upper left-hand corner of them. You can then thread the cards onto a metal ring so they will be easy to carry.

Leaf Identification Outdoors

Your children can carry their leaf chart or cards around with you when you go on a walk or a hike. They can try to find as many leaves as they can on the chart.

Printable Leaf Identification Chart and Cards Set - Looking for the leaves on the cards.

Another way to use the chart or cards is to have them pick up leaves and look for them on the chart. They will have fun trying to figure out just what type of leaf they have found.

Printable Leaf Identification Chart and Cards Set - Looking for the leaves in the trees on the cards.

If your children find leaves that aren’t of the chart, they could bring them home in a bag. Then you could have them look through The Tree Book for Kids and Their Grown-Ups or Tree Finder: A Manual for Identification of Trees by their Leaves (Eastern US) (Nature Study Guides) or Tell Me, Tree: All About Trees for Kids. They are all wonderful leaf identification books.

Leaf Identification Indoors

Instead of having your children head outdoors, you could set up a leaf identification science center.  You could have the chart and cards along with a collection of leaves in a tub or box. Your children could go through the leaves and try to identify them using the chart or cards.

Here are some more leaf themed activities you will love: 

Looking for Fall Colored Leaves with Viewer

70 Pages of Leaf Printables

Falling Leaves Sensory Activity



Printable Leaf Identification Chart and Cards Set -Your students at school or children at home will have fun with these leaf identification printables.

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Halloween Peeps Candy Ghost Experiment

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Halloween Peeps Candy Ghost Experiment - Your children will be thrilled to see two of the ghosts disappear.

You may remember that JDaniel conducted a peeps experiment for the science fair last spring. It featured Peeps candy in a rabbit shape and featured four liquids. Those Peeps were coated with blue sugar. We decided to try the same experiment with ghost peeps and some of the same liquids.

The question we sought to answer was “Will uncoated Peeps candy react the same way the sugar-coated Peeps did?” You will be totally surprised with the results of this Peeps candy experiment. I know we were.

Peeps Candy Ghost Experiment

Getting Ready

Before you can start the Peeps candy experiment, you will need to gather a few supplies. Below you will find a list of the supplies you will need.

Supplies

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  • Peeps Candy Marshmallow Ghosts
  • Plastic Cups
  • Vinegar (We used apple cider vinegar.)
  • Olive Oil
  • Lemon Juice*
  • Large Plastic Pitcher or Storage Container

*You could use catsup or lime juice instead of the lemon juice if you like.

Printable

You don’t have to use this Halloween Ghost Peeps Candy Experiment Printable if you don’t want to. It is a fun way place for your children to record their predictions and experiment results.Peeps Candy Ghost Experiment Printable

Getting Started with the Peeps Candy Experiment

Halloween Peeps Candy Ghost Experiment - Getting Started with the Experiment

Step One

You will need to start by filling each of the cups 1/3 of the way up with one of the liquids.  Then you will need to place a candy ghost in each of the cups. Next, you will want to cover the cups with a large plastic pitcher or storage container to keep things from floating or falling into the cups. It will also create an air of mystery around the experiment.

Step Two

Halloween Peeps Candy Ghost Experiment Results

After twenty-four hours, you will need to remove the plastic container and observe what is in each of the cups. During the twenty-four hours, your children will be surprised to find that two of the ghosts have almost totally disappeared. They will notice that the two missing ghosts have left something behind. While their bodies have gone, they have left their eyes and mouth.

Halloween Peeps Candy Ghost Experiment- Two Ghosts Disappeared

When your children look at the ghost in the olive oil, they may notice it looks a little shiny. Next, have them touch the ghost. It will probably feel gooey and slimy.

If you like this Halloween experiment, here are some more you are going to love.

Fluffy Zombie Slime – Little Bins for Little Hands

Growing a Pumpkin in a Pumpkin-JDaniel4’s Mom

STEM Pumpkin Printable– JDaniel4’s Mom

Do Pumpkins Float?-JDaniel4’s Mom

Discovering a Pumpkin: STEM Investigation – Share it! Science

Halloween Fun:  Spider Science Activities for Kids – Growing With Science

Halloween Ghost Balloons – Mama Smiles

Halloween Science: Static Electricity Ghosts – The Homeschool Scientist

Bubbling Pumpkin Experiments – Preschool Powol Packets

Halloween Robot Spider Craft – Inspiration Laboratories

Happy Halloween Stained Glass Window – From Witty Hoots

Halloween Peeps Candy Ghost Experiment- Your children at school and at home with have fun exploring what happens when Peep ghosts send the night in various liquids. This STEM activity has free printable that goes with it.

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Apple Craft That Works on Fine Motor Skills

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While this apple craft could be simplified so that preschoolers could make it, it was designed for grade school age children. It invites them to work on a number of fine motors skills. They will work on cutting, hole punching, weaving and picking up small pieces to glue them on the plate. If you think any of these skills would be challenging for your kids you could prepare parts of this apple craft ahead of time for them.

Apple Craft

Craft Supplies

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Apple Craft Creating

Getting the Paper Plate Ready

The first thing you will need to do is cut out the center of the paper plate. If you think this may be challenging for your children you can cut it out for them.

Apple Craft That Works on Fine Motor Skills - Getting the Plate Ready

Next, a ring of punched holes will need to be created around the inside edge of the paper plate.  You can encourage your children to try to have the holes evenly spaced around the plate.

Weaving the Yarn

Then they will weave white yarn up and down through the holes in a random fashion. You will want to tape or glue down one end of the yarn to hold it in place on the back of the plate. When they have finished weaving, you will need to tape or glue the weaving end of the yarn to the back of the plate.

Apple Craft That Works on Fine Motor Skills - White Yarn Weaving in the Middle of the Plate

Adding the Red Tissue Paper Squares

Now that they weaving is done, it is time to glue on the red tissue square.  You may want to encourage your kids to glue the squares so they cover the outside and inside edges of the plate. Of course, they don’t have to if they don’t want to.

Apple Craft That Works on Fine Motor Skills - Adding Red Tissue

Adding the Final Touches

Stem

You can have stems pre-cut for your children from green felt for them or they can cut out a stem for their apple by themselves. Then they can glue it to the back of the apple craft.

Apple Craft That Works on Fine Motor Skills - Adding Seeds and a Stem

Seeds

Your children can cut out five tear drop seeds for their apples out of black construction paper. They will need to glue the seeds on top of the yarn in a star pattern.

Tips for Hanging Your Apple Craft

We hung our apple craft up in a window. The light streaming in from the outside really made the tissue paper glow. It also made the yarn weaving stand out.

Apple Craft That Works on Fine Motor Skills- Complete Craft Hanging in a Window

Another way to display your apple craft is to mount it on black construction paper. We like the way it looked on black paper too.

Other Apple Activities to Try with Your Kids

Jumping Apple Seeds STEM Activity

Apple Themed Regrouping Sheets

STEM Amazing Apple Weight Loss Exploration

Apple Craft That Works on Fine Motor Skills - Your children at home or students at school will work on cutting, hole punching, weaving and gluing while they put this apple craft together.

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Apple Experiment- Jumping Apple Seeds from Ten Red Apples

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Ten Red Apples is such a popular fall book I could not find any copies available at our public library. No wonder it was selected by the Virtual Book Club as the book of the week. Wait! You may be thinking what is the Virtual Book Club? It is a weekly book club created to share wonderful children’s books and activities based on them. While many of the activities are designed to do with younger children, there will always be a few that big kids can do.

Jumping Apple Seeds from Ten Red Apples Apple Experiment

Jumping Apple Seeds from Ten Red Apples Apple Experiment

Today I have a fun science experiment that is based on the book Ten Red Apples. It could totally be done with younger and older children. I will walk you through how to do the apple experiment with both age groups.

Apple Experiment

Jumping Apple Seeds from Ten Red Apples Apple Experiment for Kids of All Ages - Supplies

Supplies

  • White Vinegar
  • Plastic Cup
  • 10 Apple Seeds from Red Apples per Child (They don’t have to be from red apples.)
  • 1/4 tsp. of Baking Soda
  • Measuring spoons
  • Safety glasses or goggles (Optional)

Procedure for Young Kids

  • The first thing you will need to do is decide if you want your children to wear safety glasses. (The mixture you create will bubble up.)
  • You will also need to decide if your children will need to do the experiment or watch you do it.
  • Next, you to fill the cup about 1/3 of the way up with vinegar or watch you pour it. You can add more, but the more vinegar you have in the cup the more likely it is to overflow.Jumping Apple Seeds from Ten Red Apples Apple Experiment for Kids of All Ages - Overflowing
  • Next, you will need to count out ten apple seeds and place them in the cup. You could use fewer seeds, but ten seeds will let them see a lot of jumping. Jumping Apple Seeds from Ten Red Apples Apple Experiment for Kids of All Ages - Ten Seeds
  • Finally, you will add 1/4 of a tsp. of baking soda. Adding the baking soda will start the chemical reaction and your seeds will start jumping.Jumping Apple Seeds from Ten Red Apples Apple Experiment for Kids of All Ages - Jumping Seeds

Procedure for Older Children
Jumping Apple Seeds from Ten Red Apples Apple Experiment for Kids of All Ages - Adding Baking Soda

Older children will follow the same steps. You can have them do all of them on their own. Yes, they can even do the measurements.

Scientifically What is Happening

This is what makes the Bubbles

The baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) is a base while the vinegar (acetic acid) is an acid. When they react together they form carbonic acid which is very unstable, it instantly breaks apart into water and carbon dioxide, which creates all the fizzing bubbles as it escapes the solution.

After the Bubbles Form

Bubbles will gather under the apple seeds until there’s enough fizz to raise the seeds to the surface. When the bubbles pop it causes the apple seeds to fall.

Our Findings

We found that some of our seeds didn’t fall right away. Some of the seeds floated up to the surface, fell, and rose again.

More Fun Science Experiments

Apple Weight Loss Activity with Printable

Apple Taste Test with Printable

Keeping Apples from Browning

Apple Themed Activities for the Other Virtual Book Club Members

Apple Tree Alphabet Letter Match – Still Playing School
Apple Piece Names – Preschool Powol Packets
Sea of Knowledge – Apple Addition within 5 Dough Strips
Fingerprint Apple Counting Activity – Messy Little Monster 
Apple Math: Counting & Fractions Teach Beside Me
Apple picking sticky wall – views from a Step-stool
Baked Apples – Witty Hoots
Caramel Apple Pops-The Moments at Home
Apple Stack Game and Snack- Toddler Approved
Apple Themed STEM Activities- The Educator’s Spin on It
Glitter Stamped Apple Craft – My Bored Toddler
Apple Tree Tracing Page
Apple Farm Song with Movement – My Storytime Corner
Ten Red Apples – Number Word Activity – Growing Book by Book 

 

Jumping Apple Seeds from Ten Red Apples Apple Experiment for Kids of All Ages - Kids at home or students at school will love watching the chemical reaction in this STEM experiment.

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Pumpkin Counting Cards and Sensory Bottle Activity

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Pumpkin Counting Activity Cards and Sensory Bottle - This activity invites your children at home and students at school to estimate how many pumpkins are in a sensory bottle.

 

This pumpkin counting activity will be such fun for your children to explore. Your children will use a set of pumpkin counting cards and a sensory bottle to make educated guesses. While counting is usually precise and exact, this activity focuses more on estimating.

Pumpkin Counting Cards Activity

Pumpkin Counting Cards

Getting Ready for the Activity

Before you get started, you will need to print out the Sensory Bottom Counting Cards. The cards have an orange border and pumpkin on them, but you could just print them out in black and white if you like.

Preparing the Sensory Bottle

Preparing the Pumpkin Counting Cards Sensory Bottle

Supplies

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Putting the Sensory Bottle Together

You will find that you want to add the pumpkins to the jar before adding the mineral oil. When you add the oil first and then add the pumpkins, you risk having the oil overflow. Adding the pumpkins will displace some of the oil and force it upward in your bottle.

Once you have added your pumpkins, you need to screw on the lid very tightly. If you are concerned that the lid will come off, you could place duct or clear packing tape around it to seal it to the bottle.

Preparing the Pumpkin Counting Cards Sensory Bottle Completed

Counting Cards Activities

If you have counted the pumpkins as you add them to the jar, you will know exactly how many pumpkins there are in each color. If your children helped you put them together, they may too. It is totally okay if they don’t.

Counting with Young Children

You will need to read the questions on each of the counting cards to your children. They will then need to look for the answer in the sensory bottle. It may be hard to see the pumpkins in the middle of the bottle. If your children miss one or two pumpkins, that is totally okay. You can tell them that they are estimating the answer.

Preparing the Pumpkin Counting Cards Sensory Bottle Laying on Its Side

Counting with Older Children

Older children will probably be able to read the questions on the cards for themselves. Then they can look for the answer to each card in the bottle. They may want to use a chopstick to point to each pumpkin as the count.

Counting Alternative

If your children are easily frustrated or need to be precise, you could tell them the number of pumpkins they need to look for in the jar. Then they can try to find each of them and count them.

If you like this sensory bottle activity, here are some more you will love.

Five Ways to Use Sensory Bottles to Learn

Using Sensory Bottles to Explore Shapes

 


 

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Two Digit Addition Pumpkin Worksheets

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Two Digit Addition Pumpkin Worksheets

This week I am sharing with you 5 days of pumpkin pages for learning. Yesterday I shared with you a set of count, color and graph sheets that featured pumpkins and other fall themed objects. Today I have a set of two digit addition sheets. Some of them focus on addition without regrouping and other work on addition with regrouping.

Addition Pumpkin Worksheets

Before you get started you will to download and print out the Two Digit Pumpkin Addition With and Without Regrouping worksheets. You may notice that they have the same format as the apple themed two digit addition pages I shared with you last month.

Pumpkin Worksheets that Focus on Two Digit Addition

Exploring the Pumpkin Worksheets

Your children will have fun completing these addition worksheets. Each of the pumpkin worksheets invites them to do several different things.

Two Digit Addition Pumpkin Worksheets

First Activity on Each Pumpkin Worksheet- Find the Sums

The first thing your children are asked to do is find the sum of each of the addition facts on the page. The pages are not filled with an overwhelming number of problems. There are only twenty on each of the worksheets.

Pumpkin Worksheets that Focus on Two Digit Addition

Second Activity on Each Pumpkin Worksheet

Each of the pumpkin worksheets will ask your children to identify a particular aspect of each sum. Some of the worksheets will ask your children to identify whether the sum is an even or odd number. Some of the worksheets will ask them to decide if the sum is greater than or less than 50.  A color key on each of the pumpkin worksheets will help them show their understanding of each of these concepts.

If you like this set of pumpkin printables, here are some more you will enjoy sharing with your children.

Halloween Candy Learning Challenge Cards- Let’s Build It

Candy Learning Challenge Cards- Let’s Sort It

Halloween Tens Frames Printables

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5 Days of Pumpkin Pages for Learning

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5 Days of Pumpkin Sheet for LearningEach month I join with 3 Dinosaurs and Royal Baloo to share 5 days of learning printables. This month we will all be sharing pumpkin pages that you can do with your kids at home or your students at school.

Below you will find the area where I will add the printables we each share each day. By the end of this week, you will have 15 different free sets of pumpkin pages. Some of the concepts we will be focusing on will great to work on with preschoolers. Other pumpkin pages will be more appropriate to use with grade-schoolers.

I will be sharing printable worksheets for each of those groups. My printables are going to explore graphing, counting, and sight words for preschoolers. You will also find a STEM and two-digit addition pages for grade-schoolers.

Here are some pumpkin pages I have shared in the past that you can use today. Tomorrow I will begin to share this year’s pumpkin pages.

Teaching Feelings with Five Little Pumpkin Printable Puppets

Creative Writing Prompts- Pumpkin Poems

Printable Worksheet – Pumpkin Teeth

5 Days of Pumpkin Pages

Monday

Place Value Clip Cards

ABC Pumpkin Spin and Trace Pages

Count, Color and Graph Pumpkin Sheets

 

Tuesday

Pumpkin Number Counting Books

Pumpkin Beginning Reader Mats

Two Digit Addition Pumpkin Pages

 

Wednesday

Awesome Pumpkin Sight Word Printables

Pumpkin Shape Sorting

Diagraph and Graphing Fun with Pumpkins

 

Thursday

Pumpkin Themed Greater Than Less Than Clip Cards

Pumpkin Addition Clip Cards for Fun Math Practice

STEM Pumpkin Printable Activity

 

Friday

Fun Hands-On Pumpkin CVC Rhyming Clip Cards

Pumpkin Easy Reader Book for Sight Word Reading

Pumpkin Counting Cards and Sensory Bottle Activity

 

You will find more pumpkin-themed learning activities and printables on my Early Learning board on Pinterest.

5 Days of Pumpkin Sheets for Learning- I will be sharing graphing, counting, reading comprehension, STEM and two-digit addition. They are all free to download.

 

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Learning the Computer Keyboard Layout – Fill in the Missing Letters

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Learning the Computer Keyboard Layout - Fill in the Missing Letters Printable Set

I teach in a computer lab at a local elementary school. During the first week of school, I go over the class rules and do an offline activity with my students in grade K-5. By the second week of school, all the children have their technology use permission slip in and we work on the computers. This year the students in the lower grades are learning the computer keyboard layout with a set of fun fill in the missing letter sheets I have created.

They are a fun way to figure out where the letters are on the keyboard. The computer keyboard layout is tricky. Children notice right away that the letter placement look really random.

Why is the keyboard layout arranged this way?

I have heard a couple of different versions of why Christopher Scholes designed the keyboard lay out the way that he did. The first is that he made the most used keys hard to reach slow typist down. Back in the day, it kept the keys from jamming on a typewriter. According to the Smithsonian , they were arranged to make translating Morse code easier for telegraph offices.

Exploring the Keyboard Layout

The first thing you will need to do is to download the Fill in the Missing Keys on the Keyboard Pages. It includes eight pages of printables. There are pages for younger children that have only a few letters missing. There are also pages for older children that have whole rows missing. You will find a keyboard layout in this set that should work for all your children.

Keyboard Layout for Younger Children

Learning the Computer Keyboard Layout - Fill in the missing letters all over the keyboard.

This is the keyboard layout I am using with my children in the younger grades. It has several missing letters on each of the rows.  We are looking at a giant keyboard display I have on the board to find what goes in the spaces that are missing letters.

One of the Keyboard Layouts for Older Kids

Learning the Computer Keyboard Layout - Fill in the Missing Letters Worksheets for Older Kids

The keyboard layout printable pages for older kids have more keys missing. They still have the symbols filled in and some or all of the keys with words on them.

Watch for more computer themed printables to come out in the coming weeks!

Learning the Computer Keyboard Layout - Fill in the Missing Letters Worksheets : This set includes computer keyboard layout pages for young children through 5 grade. Your children at home or students at school will have fun exploring them.

How did you learn to type? How old were you when learned to type?

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3 Types of Rocks Modeled With Crayons

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During Geology week a few weeks ago, I shared with you how to make igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic rock cookie and candy recipes to create with your kids. My son and I also created 3 types of rocks modeled with crayons that week. Since the other activities involved explorations that were edible, I set this activity aside to share with your late.

This week I am sharing STEM science experiments that use school supplies. Now seems to be the better time to share this 3 types of rocks activity with you.

Creating 3 Types of Rocks Activity

Let me warn you they hardest or rather the most tedious part of this activity is creating the crayon shavings.  It takes a little time to get enough for this experiment. I worked on creating them while watching television one night.

Creating 3 Types of Rocks with Crayon Shavings

Supplies

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Creating the Sedimentary Rock

3 Types of Rocks Modeled With Crayons - Scooping Crayon Shavings

Of the 3 types of rocks, this is the easiest to put together. Your children will need to scoop several different colors of crayon shavings into a foil baking cup or cupcake liner.Then they will need to fold the liner in half. Next, they will need to hold it between their hands or sit on it.

3 Types of Rocks Modeled With Crayons - Scooping Crayon Shavings - Sedimentary Rock

The heat from their bodies will start to melt the shavings into each other. Then set the liner aside for a few minutes to cool. Sedimentary rock is formed when tiny particles are layered and then compressed.

Creating the Metamorphic Rocks

Metamorphic rocks are created when rocks are exposed to heat or pressure. This exploration uses hot that has come to boil. Children will need to have supervision while they create metamorphic rocks with the crayon shavings.

Your children will scoop a variety of different colors of shavings into a foil baking cup. Then they will set the cup into a bowl or cup filled with hot water.

3 Types of Rocks Modeled With Crayons - Scooping Crayon Shavings - Melting Shavings

They will need to leave the cup in the water for only about 15 seconds or until the shavings start to melt. Then lift the cup from the cup or bowl and set it on a flat surface. (You may need to this for your children if you are worried about them touching the water.)

3 Types of Rocks Modeled With Crayons - Scooping Crayon Shavings - Metamorphic Rock

If you want to you can have them fold the liner in half and compress the shavings to add pressure. We left ours as they melted.

Creating Igneous Rocks

Igneous rocks are formed when molten lava or magma hardened. This exploration also uses hot water that has come to a boil. Children will need to have supervision while they create igneous rocks with the crayon shavings.

Your children can scoop a variety of different shaving colors into the foil cups. Then they will place them in the hot water that has been poured into a cup or bowl.

They will leave the liner in the bowl for a full minute. Then the cup or liner can be removed.

3 Types of Rocks Modeled With Crayons - Scooping Crayon Shavings - Igneous Rock Before the Swirl

Your children can then stir the mixture with a popsicle stick to make sure it is blended. Then set it aside to harden.3 Types of Rocks Modeled With Crayons - Scooping Crayon Shavings - Igneous Rock

Your children are going to love making 3 kinds of rocks with crayons!

3 Types of Rocks Modeled With Crayons

 

 

Apple Themed Addition with Regrouping and Without Worksheets

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Apple Themed Addition with Regrouping and Without Worksheets

 

This week you have had a variety of apple themed printables shared with you. The week started with reading comprehension pages for preschoolers. Then there were two apple STEM activities shared. The first focused on taste testing apples. It included editable recording pages for preschooler and grade schoolers. The second STEM activity focuses on measuring the weight of an apple. It was called Amazing Apple Weight Loss. Today I have a set of nine worksheets that focus on addition with regrouping and without.

Addition with Regrouping and Without Worksheets

After you download this set of Two Digit Apple Addition With and Without Regrouping worksheets, you will notice they also explore some other concepts. Let me walk you through a few sample of the worksheets so I can show them to you.

Even and Odd Numbers

Apple Themed Addition with Regrouping and Without Worksheets - There are some pages in the set that work on even and odd numbers too.

 

Some of the addition with regrouping and without worksheets ask your children find the sums that are even and odd. Once your children have solved each problem, they are to color the even numbered answers red and the odd numbered answers green.

Greater Than, Less Than and Equal To

Apple Themed Addition with Regrouping and Without Worksheets - There are some pages in the set that work on greater than and less than.

 

Your children will also be given the opportunity to work with greater than, less than and equal to. After they have found the sums each of the problems, they will need to color it correctly. If they find a sum less than 50, they will color that apple red. When children find a sum that equals 50, they will color that apple yellow. Finally, if they find a sum that is more than 50 they will color that apple green.

The Answer is on the Tree

Apple Themed Addition with Regrouping and Without Worksheets - There are some page also have the answers hanging trees at the bottom of the page.

 

There are a few worksheets that have the answers to the math problems right on the page. The answers are hanging on the trees at the bottom of the page. If your children can’t find their answer on one of the apples, they may need to check their work.

If you like these math worksheets, you will find more on my Early Learning- Math Pinterest board.

Apple Themed Addition with Regrouping and Without Worksheets- There are nine worksheets in this set. The pages also give students at school or children home the chance to work on even and odd numbers. Greater than and less than is also explored. They would be great to work on as part of an apple unit or a study of Johnny Appleseed..

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