Mom Project: Big Movers Matching File Folder

My son is currently obsessed with trucks and we read this truck book several times a day. He loves the names of the trucks and I have been really impressed with the hard words that he's easily picked up... so I thought I'd make a little matching activity for him. If any of you have truck/transportation lovers and want a copy of the pdf file, feel free to comment and include your email address and I'll send it along.


Materials Needed: white cardstock (7 pieces), colored cardstock for the backround (2 pieces), glue, tape, scissors or a paper cutter, and a file folder. I will also be laminating these.

Directions:
I started off by creating some printables about trucks and other transportation vehicles my son likes. These ones all have the names of the vehicles on them.

I also made some headers/tab labels. Once I was done, I cut everything up.


Next I cut the colored cardstock so that it was 8X11 and glued it on to the file folder. I also glued a tab on the edge of the folder.


After that, I glued on the vehicle pictures that didn't have any names on them.


After that was done, I tried out the two activities.

First activity: Match the pictures with the vehicle names to the correct pictures. This one should be semi easy for older kids and harder for younger kids working on visual discrimination... especially since a lot of the vehicles look similar. If this is easy for older kids, you can cover up the pictures on the cards and have them just match the names of the vehicles to the correct pictures (once they know the names).



Second activity: Match the vehicle parts to the correct whole vehicle pictures. This activity is more like a puzzle because the card only has a portion of the image... and the child has to match the part of the truck/vehicle to the whole truck/vehicle. Some are easy and some are harder.


While we do this activity, we spend a lot of time talking about the names of the vehicles (so you might want to keep the other cards handy to remind you of the names... my son knew them before I did!). We also talk about what the vehicles do/carry... so you might have to do some research so you can give your child a simple explanation. For example, a skid steer? I had no clue what it did.




I finished up the file folder by adding a title to the front. When my son saw me printing these pages out earlier he was chomping at the bit to get started... so I'm excited to do this again with him tomorrow now that all the pieces are all cut out and glued (it isn't as much fun until it becomes completely "his"... which means bent and loved :)).


Don't you think I deserve my Mom Project Reward now? I do!

Heart-shaped chocolate cakes with blue peppermint icing. Mmm!

Mom Project Reward Recipe:

- Make Duncan Hines Devils Food box mix (as directed with eggs, oil, etc.)... and then add a small box of instant chocolate pudding mix. Mix up and put in cupcake tins or a cake pan.

- Whip up some peppermint icing:
1 box powdered sugar
1 stick butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla
1-2 tsp peppermint flavoring
3 tbsp canned milk (evaporated tastes best)
2 drops food coloring (I used blue today)

Mix the all the ingredients together and add the milk as needed to make creamy consistency. I use a Kitchen Aid or Cuisinart for the mixing. Add the food coloring just until the color desired is achieved. Spread on top of cooled cakes. Enjoy!!