To reinforce what she has been learning, I came up with this simple learning activity with plastic eggs.

We have used plastic eggs for so many learning activities over the years.

My son loved making plastic egg submarines, and this simple contractions activity helped my daughter quickly learn those tricky words.

Plastic Egg Activity to Teach Contractions

Affiliate links have been provided below for your convenience. 

Materials Needed:

• Plastic Eggs
• Black Permanent Marker
• Strips of Paper

To set up the activity, use a black permanent marker to write the two words that form a contraction on each of the plastic eggs.  (You could also use masking tape on the eggs if you don’t want to write on them, but I have found hand sanitizer cleans the marker right off afterwards.)

Then cut strips of paper and write the matching contraction for each egg.

How to Teach Kids Contractions

We did several activities with our plastic eggs.

First, I had her read each plastic egg and then put the corresponding contraction inside the right egg.  This helped reinforce what each contraction stands for.

The next time we played, the contractions were already tucked inside the eggs.

Again I had her read each egg.  This time she guessed what the contraction would be aloud.  Then she opened the egg to see if she was correct.

Then, she wrote the contraction down on her paper.  This reinforced not only what the correct contractions were, but also helped her work on spelling them correctly.

Finally, I put all our eggs in a container.

When I called out a contraction, she had to choose the right egg.  When she opened it up she found the strip of paper to check and see if she had chosen the right egg.

There are so many fun plastic egg activities for kids.

Using the eggs in this activity to teach contractions helped my daughter better understand what each contraction stood for.

You might also like:

• Adorable Sheep and Lamb Crafts 
• 15 Fun Ways to Practice Sight Words at Home
• Using Legos to Teach Sentence Structure

Originally published on March 25, 2015.

The post Plastic Egg Learning Activity: Contractions first appeared on There's Just One Mommy.

Before you pack those colorful eggs away for next year, use them for some of these plastic egg activities.

Plastic Egg Activities

There are so many fun ways to use those colorful eggs!   Every year we use our plastic eggs to work on math and reading skills.

They are great for hands-on learning.

Below you will find activities for math, reading, and STEM.

Math Activities with Plastic Eggs

Easter Egg Math Hunt — Elementary kids will have fun with this scavenger hunt idea.  

Color Matching Easter Egg Activity:   Toddlers can work on colors with this simple plastic egg game.

Preschooler Plastic Eggs Activities:  Toddlers and preschoolers will love using those plastic eggs for sorting, patterns, and even a memory game.

Number Recognition:   Here is a super easy to set up idea to work on number skills with your toddler or preschooler.

Plastic Egg Counting:  Use those eggs to work on counting and one-to-one correspondence with this simple activity.

Patterning Activity:  There are lots of ways to use those leftover plastic eggs to work on patterning skills.

Plastic Egg Addition Game:  Help children understand how to set up and solve equations with this printable game.

DIY Nesting Math Eggs:  So much more fun than flashcards!  Your child will love solving the math problem and then opening the egg to check their answers with this plastic egg math activity.

Multiplication Eggs:   Older kids can use those eggs to work on math skills, like multiplication facts.

Reading Activities with Plastic Eggs

Easter Egg Alphabet Order Game :   This is a fun way for your preschooler to have fun working on ABC order.

Sight Word Sensory Bin :  Younger siblings will enjoy this easy to set up sensory bin, and early readers will have fun using it to work on sight word skills.

Easter Egg Phonics:  Work on CVC words and more with this phonics activity.

Sight Word Egg Hunt:  Create your very own sight word hunt like this one found.

Egg Scavenger Hunt to Make Words:  Make spelling practice more fun with this idea.

Plastic Egg Contractions :   This plastic egg activity  is such a great way to help early readers understand contractions.

Simple Name Game:  Help your toddler identify the letters of their name with this simple activity.

STEM Activities with Plastic Eggs  

Plastic Egg Submarines:   Work on making predictions and learn about what makes objects sink and float by making your very own submarines with this science activity. 

Egg Tower:  How tall of a tower can your child make?

Egg Maracas: Here’s a fun STEAM activity that is perfect for little ones.

This year, after all the egg hunts are finished, send the kids on one final hunt for those colorful eggs.  Then use them in a few of these plastic egg activities.

The post Fun Learning Activities with Plastic Eggs first appeared on There's Just One Mommy.

So today when I was cleaning up all the plastic eggs and thought about all the fun learning activities with plastic eggs there are, we got to have an impromptu math lesson.

Plastic Egg Math Activity

You can use any color or size egg for this activity.

I decided to pick out eggs in two different colors, yellow and orange.

Separate the eggs.

Then use a permanent marker to write numbers on half of each egg.  On the other half of the egg put the corresponding number of dots.  Don’t worry, rubbing alcohol will take off the permanent marker after you are finished.

Have your preschooler match the numbers up to the correct number of dots.

This plastic egg activity is a fun way to work on one-to-one correspondence and counting skills.

Snapping the eggs together is also a fun way to work on dexterity skills.

If your child is struggling with getting the eggs back together, have them try what my youngest preschooler did.  Just stack the halves on top of each other.

You will also enjoy:

• 20 Adorable Sheep Crafts for Kids
• ABC Activities for A-Z Using Vehicles 
• 15 Fun Ways to Practice Math Facts at Home

The post Preschool Plastic Egg Math Activity first appeared on There's Just One Mommy.