I pretty much squealed with delight when the light table I ordered was delivered to the school! I'm sure the other teachers that were around thought I was crazy, but hey, I teach Kinder, so I'm allowed a little crazy, right!? I just knew how excited my kiddos would be to use this and the best part is that it was FREE!! Thanks to all my parents who ordered books from Scholastic, I had enough Bonus Points to get this light table for FREE!
I guess you would technically call this a light panel since it just sits on top of a table, but whatever you call it, it's fun!!
So why a light table? In a nutshell, it's just a fun way for students to explore, create and learn in a new way! On the light table, the students can not only explore light, color, and shapes, but they can also practice Language Arts and Math skills along with improving their fine motor skills. When light shines through and around an object, it makes the object more interesting (pretty!) and therefore, a lot more fun to interact with!
As soon as I ordered the light table, I began collecting items for the students to use on it. Here are the few things I've collected so far, but I will be adding more very soon!
The first items I purchased were these colored glass stones from the Dollar Tree and Hobby Lobby. On the larger stones, I wrote the letters of the alphabet. The students can put these in the alphabetical order, and spell words, or names with these.
I made these alphabet mats so they can match the letters.
I also bought the smaller pebbles.
The students have been using these to decorate these mandala pictures I printed from here.
They can also use them to form their names or other words.
I laminated pieces of colored tissue paper and then cut them into different shapes. I laminated them a second time to make them a little sturdier. The kiddos can layer these to create new colors and shapes.
Sometimes they even use the glass pebbles with shapes to create pictures, or cover the shapes with pebbles to see how many will fit. (They don't realize it, but they're learning about area of objects!)
Since I made the alphabet mats, I figured I should also make number mats to practice number formation and counting. The kiddos can cover the number with the stones and also put the stones in the ten frame. Then they can make their own on the other side of the mat.
The glass stones can also be used to cover these pattern cards. After covering the patterns with the stones, these cards could also be used as tracing cards. The students would just place a blank piece of paper on top, and trace the patterns with a pencil or crayon, or really any type of writing utensil, to work on fine motor skills! (The light helps the pattern to show through the paper for easy tracing.)
I also printed out these awesome x-rays I found here. I printed the x-rays onto old overhead projector sheets, and laminated them for durability. I printed the drawn pictures onto cardstock and laminated.
Here are the x-rays by themselves on the the light table...
...and here are the x-rays stacked on top of their corresponding picture.
I ordered these swizzle sticks from Amazon which the students can use to create different shapes. (They can also be found at party stores, but they were a few dollars cheaper on Amazon.)
My daughter enjoys using the light table to trace pictures.
(I couldn't find a link to this exact one anymore, but here is a similar one on Amazon. This is an affiliate link.)
So why a light table? In a nutshell, it's just a fun way for students to explore, create and learn in a new way! On the light table, the students can not only explore light, color, and shapes, but they can also practice Language Arts and Math skills along with improving their fine motor skills. When light shines through and around an object, it makes the object more interesting (pretty!) and therefore, a lot more fun to interact with!
As soon as I ordered the light table, I began collecting items for the students to use on it. Here are the few things I've collected so far, but I will be adding more very soon!
The first items I purchased were these colored glass stones from the Dollar Tree and Hobby Lobby. On the larger stones, I wrote the letters of the alphabet. The students can put these in the alphabetical order, and spell words, or names with these.
I also bought the smaller pebbles.
Sometimes they even use the glass pebbles with shapes to create pictures, or cover the shapes with pebbles to see how many will fit. (They don't realize it, but they're learning about area of objects!)
(Do you see the monster drinking the lemonade?!)
Since I made the alphabet mats, I figured I should also make number mats to practice number formation and counting. The kiddos can cover the number with the stones and also put the stones in the ten frame. Then they can make their own on the other side of the mat.
The glass stones can also be used to cover these pattern cards. After covering the patterns with the stones, these cards could also be used as tracing cards. The students would just place a blank piece of paper on top, and trace the patterns with a pencil or crayon, or really any type of writing utensil, to work on fine motor skills! (The light helps the pattern to show through the paper for easy tracing.)
I also printed out these awesome x-rays I found here. I printed the x-rays onto old overhead projector sheets, and laminated them for durability. I printed the drawn pictures onto cardstock and laminated.
Here are the x-rays by themselves on the the light table...
...and here are the x-rays stacked on top of their corresponding picture.
I ordered these swizzle sticks from Amazon which the students can use to create different shapes. (They can also be found at party stores, but they were a few dollars cheaper on Amazon.)
My daughter enjoys using the light table to trace pictures.
When I was trying to think of more items to collect for the light table, I was wishing I still had some old overhead manipulatives. I figured someone still had to have some, so I sent out an email to my campus and I was definitely not disappointed by the response! Check out all the goodies that showed up!
Here's a closer look at everything! We received Tangrams, attribute blocks, pattern blocks, number tiles, colored circles, colored square tiles, colored rods, fraction circles, fraction squares, colored teddy bears, ten frames, dominoes, and playing cards!
Thanks for checking out our new light table! Be sure to check back soon, I already have a few new items to add to our collection!
If you're interested in the activities I created, you can grab a set here from Teachers Pay Teachers!
Update: This file also now includes pages for making CVC words with the glass stones...
...and uppercase & lowercase letters of the alphabet!
If you like these activites, go ahead and PIN it so you can find them again later!
