I Love Scavenger Hunts + Freebies!

I just had someone ask me why I duplicate so many products with different themes.  This is a great question!!

I actually have two specific reasons.  First, has to do with the Alphabet Scavenger Hunts.  I have tons of these games, with exactly the same recording sheets and format, but with different themes.  I have so many, because I use them with my preschool-aged daughter.  I have been teaching her upper and lowercase letters for the past year.  I have actually used all the differentiated recording sheets with her, as she grows.  Since she is just beginning to learn her letters, she needs tons of practice and absolutely LOVES the scavenger hunts.  I make new ones all the time, so she doesn't get bored with the activity.  So far, she still loves playing the scavenger hunts and has learned all her letters.  We use the letters to play memory, build her name,  and she puts all the letters in order on the floor to make an alphabet "road".  The alphabet road is shown below.  She hops, walks slowly, and runs down the "alphabet road".  We play music and when the music stops, she identifies the letter in the space where she stopped.

The other reason that I make many of the same games/centers with different themes is that I work with and have worked with many struggling students, both in special and regular education.  These students need a lot of practice learning the same skills.  Many of the students that I work with, and have worked with, perform better when they become comfortable with an activity in a particular format.  I like to make the same games with different themes to provide them with the same format, but change the pictures to keep them from becoming bored.  They feel like they have a "new" game, but with the stability of a similar format. 

I have three new scavenger hunt games that are for the coming months.  There is a "Presidential Scavenger Hunt" for President's day.  Students can use clipboards and search the room for upper or lowercase letters.

I love giving the kids "focus wands" to find the letters.  I included FREE focus wands for each of the scavenger hunts at the end of this post.

There is also a "St. Patrick's Day Scavenger Hunt".  I choose specific letters to use for a memory game.  We play memory and match upper and lowercase letters.

My daughter's favorite set, so far, is the "Bumblebee Scavenger Hunt".  Sometimes we build the "alphabet road" with uppercase letters and then match the lowercase letters. 

A very sweet preschooler came up with "driving down the alphabet road".  We put the lowercase letters in a pile and draw a card.  The student will identify the lowercase letter and "drive" their car to the matching uppercase letter.  This game can be differentiated.  You can print two sets of uppercase letters and students will "drive" to the matching letter.

We use the scavenger hunt cards to learn to spell names,

and to spell sight words.

Now, for your freebie!  Here are the "focus wands" for bees, St. Patrick's day, and for President's day.  You can use these wands for anything.  You don't need my scavenger hunts to use them :)  Students just seem to love holding wands and it really helps to focus their attention.  Click on the picture to get your FREE "focus wands"!

Have a wonderful week!