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Returning to the classroom to begin a new school year is an exciting time for students and teachers! Creating a welcoming, engaging and safe classroom environment is the goal for all educators. Cricut helps teachers focus less on preparation and more on inspiration with easy to use machines to create classroom projects. I created a ‘Busy Bag” filled with educational activities, manipulatives and even a tool to respond to questions. These “busy bags” are made using the Cricut Maker, Cricut Joy, Cricut materials and can be personalized and recreated for each student in the classroom. These projects are an amazing addition to my Special Education classroom to use with my middle-school students, some who are non-verbal but they can definitely be used in any classroom setting.
WOODEN NAME PUZZLE
A wooden name puzzle is a great way to engage students in a personal way: it teaches them fine motor skills, and encourages them to use 3 of the 5 senses- touch, sight, and sound. Solving puzzles affects learning, memory, concentration and motivation too!
These name puzzles can be used to practice spelling their names and for letter recognition. To make these you will need: Cricut Maker, Cricut knife blade, Cricut Basswood, Cricut heavy chipboard, Strong Grip machine mat wood glue, a piece of sandpaper, binder clips.
First, you have to use Cricut Design Space to create your puzzle. Choose a rectangle shape (remember to make sure that you have enough wood for the size you want to create) for your puzzle base, then add text using a multi-layered font (like Nates ABCs)because you will need to un-group the name to make the actual puzzle pieces because they will be slightly smaller and will fit into the base easily.
Duplicate the name (the one you un-grouped) so that you have two sets of the name that you will glue together to create the puzzle pieces. Click “make It” in design space, select basswood as your material, insert the knife blade and double check the size of the material to ensure that everything will fit. I used pieces of tape on the edges of the basswood to make sure that it would not move while cutting.
Cutting the name puzzle with the knife blade can take a while (this one took about an hour to cut). After the name base and pieces are cut out, remove the pieces and place the chipboard on the strong grip mat and set it to cut out an additional rectangle which will be the backing of the puzzle.
Use a piece of sandpaper to gently sand the uneven pieces to make everything safe and smooth. I used small dabs of wood glue to attach the chipboard back to the basswood rectangle and the two sets of letters together to make thicker puzzle pieces. I used binder clip to clamp them together and let them dry overnight.
YES/NO COASTER
The next project in my “Busy Bag” is a Yes/No coaster that will bemused by students to answer questions.Answering yes/no questions is a very important skill, especially for children with limited verbal skills. If a student is able to answer yes/no questions, it expands how much they are able to tell the teacher, school staff and other students., To make these you will need: Cricut Maker, Cricut Easy Press, Cricut Infusible Ink in Bright Green, Cricut Infusible Ink in Cherry Cricut Easy Press Mat and Cricut Coaster Blanks round.
First, you need to create a design in Cricut Design Space. I chose to use the words YES and NO with a thumbs up/thumbs down image. Place Infusible Ink Transfer Sheet onto StandardGrip Mat, liner side down. Then select and size your design to fit on the coaster blank. remember to mirror your design! Select Infusible Ink Transfer Sheet from the list of materials: load mat and blade into the machine and press GO.
Remove design from mat and carefully trim away any unused area of the sheet. Gently roll cut design so that the cut lines separate and are more visible then carefully remove the negative pieces from inside and around your design, leaving the design on the liner. Trim clear liner so it does not extend beyond Cricut EasyPress heat plate.
Cover the Cricut EasyPress Mat with a piece of cardstock to protect it then place the design face-down on coaster, clear liner on top. Flip the coaster so that the bottom is facing up (top of coaster with attached design will rest against the piece of cardstock and mat). Cover the coaster with a piece of the butcher paper that came inside the package of Infusible Ink Transfer Sheets. Using Cricut EasyPress 2, press at 400°F (205°C) for 240 seconds using no added pressure. For original Cricut EasyPress settings, refer to Cricut Heat Transfer Guide. When the beep sounds, slowly lift press and try not to move the project stack, including butcher paper. CAUTION: Coaster will be very hot. Let cool completely before handling. Then slowly remove the butcher paper and liner.
FELT NUMBER MANIPULATIVES
The last item in my “Busy Bag” is a set of felt number manipulatives. The effective use of manipulatives can help students connect ideas and integrate their knowledge for a deeper understanding of mathematical concepts.These are great for tactile learners solve problems as they help make abstract ideas concrete. To make these felt numbers you will need Cricut Maker, Cricut Felt Sampler in Carousel, Fabric Grip Machine Mat, weeder, fabric glue .
Use Design Space to create a set of numbers, I used the DIN 1451 Com Eng Schrift font. Choose the size of your numbers, I made mine about 2″ in height. I also added five rectangles that would be used to create an addition, subtraction and equal sign.
I decided to create two sets of numbers for each manipulative set, so I copied the numbers in design space.Next, place a piece of felt on the fabric mat and load it into the machine. Choose felt in the materials menu, load the mat and press GO.
Us the weeding tool to carefully remove the numbers from the mat. You can create the addition sign by using a little fabric glue to attach two of the rectangles and I glued two more of the rectangles to a small piece of cardstock to create an equal sign.