Leap Day Crafts

1-2-3 Come Do Some Leap Day Activities With Me  

2016 is a leap year, and it falls on a Monday.  With that in mind, I designed some quick, easy & fun activities that your kiddos can do on leap day and still practice standards.

leap day activities, leap day puzzles, leap day games, leap day crafts, leap day writing prompts, leap year activities, leap year craftsFirst up is a set of 60, Leap Day Number Puzzles, which sequence numbers from 1-10, count backwards from 10 to 1, as well as skip count by 2s, 3s, 5s & 10s.

There are over 60 in all. Some are vertical, while others are horizontal

Print, laminate & trim the full color options and use as an independent math center.  Use the black & white ones, so that students can color & cut up their own puzzle.

For an interesting “craftivity” have students glue their puzzle to a sheet of construction paper.

Remind them to leave a little bit of a gap between each numbered strip, to create an especially cool mosaic effect. Completed projects make a cute bulletin board.

leap day activities, leap day puzzles, leap day games, leap day crafts, leap day writing prompts, leap year activities, leap year craftsTo mix math with literacy, have students choose either the horizontal or vertical writing prompt puzzle.

Children complete the “If I could do anything on leap day I would...” writing prompt, then cut and glue their “poster prompt” to a sheet of construction paper, creating the mosaic picture mentioned above.

leap day activities, leap day puzzles, leap day games, leap day crafts, leap day writing prompts, leap year activities, leap year craftsBesides the full-size puzzles, I’ve also designed a set of “Happy Leap Day!” 4-on-a-page mini puzzles, as an inexpensive little surprise that you can give your students.

There are two picture options, plus one is horizontal, the other vertical.

Choose the number 1-10 puzzle for PK kiddos and use the skip counting by 10s to 100 for K-1st. 

leap day activities, leap day puzzles, leap day games, leap day crafts, leap day writing prompts, leap day bookmarks, leap year activities, leap year craftsPrint, trim, and put in a Snack Baggie, then attach one of 3 “Happy Leap Day” header options.

The “headers” can also double as a bookmark.  

leap day activities, leap day puzzles, leap day bookmarks, leap year bookmarks, leap day games, leap day crafts, leap day writing prompts, leap year activities, leap year craftsSpeaking of bookmarks, I've also designed some that are a super-fun math “craftivity”.

The Leap Year Bookmark Mathtivity, a “growing” packet. So that you can continue to use it each leap year, I’ve included center bookmarks through the year 2028, and will continue to up-date.

Run off the middle bookmark section on a variety of colors of construction paper.  There are full-color as well as black and white "color me" picture options for the top and/or bottom of the bookmarks as well.

Have students analyze the list of leap year dates that are listed in that middle section. Do they see a mathematical pattern?

Using that data, ask them to venture a guess as to when they think the next leap year will be.

I’ve included necessary background information for you to use, as well as an answer key through the year 2400, should you want to do more math extensions and data analysis.     

leap day activities, leap day puzzles, leap day bookmarks, leap year bookmarks, leap day games, leap day crafts, leap day writing prompts, leap year activities, lleap day centers, leap day games, leap year craftsI designed The "Leapin' To 29" money-math game specifically for leap day, but you can really use it any other time as well.

The object of the game is to be the first one to spin all of the coins needed in your column, that will add up to 29.  The strategy comes in with the column children choose.

Students can play with a partner or in small groups of 3-5.  For more math practice, and a fun data analysis activity, I've included 2 graphing options

Another game that you can play on leap day is "Leapin' Lizards!", which reinforces telling time to the hour & half hour with Lizzy Lizard.  As with the game above, this is also suitable anytime, but especially cute for leap day.

leap day activities, leap day puzzles, leap day bookmarks, leap year bookmarks, leap day games, leap day crafts, leap day writing prompts, leap year activities, lleap day centers, leap day games, leap year craftsThe packet includes a large and small set of 48-traceable time cards + a blank set to make additional times, or program with whatever.

I’ve also included covers and blank clocks if you’d like to make an Itty Bitty Time-Telling booklet.

Children can play as a math center activity with a partner, or you can use this as a whole-group game in small groups of 3-5. 
The cards are also suitable for Memory Match and “I Have; Who Has?” Games.

There’s a blank-clock worksheet that you can use for an individual or whole-group assessment. Simply fill in the template with whatever times you want to practice/evaluate.

Leapin Nursery Rhymes, nursery rhyme posters, leap day activities, leap day puzzles, leap day bookmarks, leap year bookmarks, leap day games, leap day crafts, leap day writing prompts, leap year activities, lleap day centers, leap day games, leap year craftsYou can also use the lizard clock like a flashcard. As a whole group game, show a time and have children raise their hand to tell you what time you’ve displayed.  The clock also words as a one-on-one, manipulative assessment tool

Today's featured FREEBIE also has a leap year theme.  It's a set of 5 Mother Goose Nursery Rhyme Posters that have to do with leaping and jumping. 

As a quick, easy & fun way to get the "wiggles" out, read them to your kiddos and have them leap and jump when that happens in the rhyme. 

leap day activities, leap day puzzles, leap day bookmarks, leap year bookmarks, leap day games, leap day crafts, leap day writing prompts, leap year activities, leap day centers, leap day games, leap year craftsWell that's it for today.  Thanks for stopping by. We are having a flurry of winter weather right now, and it's snowing to beat the band outside my window.

So much for spring coming early! You just can't depend on those groundhog prognosticators!

"The trouble with weather forecasting is that it's right too often for us to ignore it and wrong too often for us to rely on it." ~Patrick Young

Leaping Through Letters And Numbers On Leap Day!

leap day activities, leap day lessons, leap day ideas, ideas for leap day, lessons for leap day, activities for leap day, leap year ideas, leap year activities, leap day booklet, leap day games, leap day songs, leap day crafts, leap day centers, leap day certificate, leap day slider, leap day games, leap day activities, leap day lessons, leap day ideas, ideas for leap day, lessons for leap day, activities for leap day, leap year ideas, leap year activities, leap day booklet, leap day games, leap day songs, leap day crafts, leap day centers, leap day certificate, leap day slider, leap day games, Although I made these sliders specifically for Leap Day (These are animals that are fairly good at leaping/hopping) they also fit in nicely with your other monthly themes.

I’ve designed a slider for all of my units and had my Y5’s make one every month to review a variety of report card standards.

They enjoyed making and collecting them.  Sliders were especially helpful for my ESL students and strugglers.

The Leapin' Animals have strips for skip counting by 2's, 3's, 5's, and 10's.  Students can also make an upper and lowercase "Letter Leaper" and younger students can count by 1's.

leap day activities, leap day lessons, leap day ideas, ideas for leap day, lessons for leap day, activities for leap day, leap year ideas, leap year activities, leap day booklet, leap day games, leap day songs, leap day crafts, leap day centers, leap day certificate, leap day slider, leap day games, Here’s How To Make A Leap Day Slider:

Run off the animal templates on construction paper.

leap day ideas, leap day lessons, leap day activities, leap year ideas, leap year lessons, leap year activities, leap year games, leap year songs, leap year certificates, leap year booklet, leap year sliders, animals that leap, leap year crafts, leap day crafts, leap day games, leap day crafts, Decide which letter or number strip you want to review and make copies.

Cut them on a paper cutter. Pre-cut slits with an Exacto knife.

Give children a choice of which animal they want to make.

Students cut out their Leap Day critter and add some colorful details with crayons or markers.

Give students glue dots and wiggle eyes to add a bit of pizzazz.

Children trace the letters and numbers with a highlighter, marker or crayon.

leap day activities, leap day lessons, leap day ideas, ideas for leap day, lessons for leap day, activities for leap day, leap year ideas, leap year activities, leap day booklet, leap day games, leap day songs, leap day crafts, leap day centers, leap day certificate, leap day slider, leap day games, Add a math extension to the process by having them choose 2 or 3 colors and trace in an ABAB or ABC pattern.

Demonstrate how to insert their strip into the slits.

I've made a template for some "Hoppy" Leap Day! sticker labels, if you want students to be able to add one to their creations.

When everyone is done assemble them on the carpet area and skip count together, start leaping from one number or letter to the next, sing the ABC song, spell words, names, etc.

leap day activities, leap day lessons, leap day ideas, ideas for leap day, lessons for leap day, activities for leap day, leap year ideas, leap year activities, leap day booklet, leap day games, leap day songs, leap day crafts, leap day centers, leap day certificate, leap day slider, leap day games, To help get the wiggles out, children can take out their strip and you can do the Leap Day Animal Pokey with them.  I've included the song in the packet.

Students can also use their Leap Day Pal for a spatial direction review.

The teacher tells students to put the kangaroo beside, under, above, behind etc.

Teachers can also review body parts with students by having children place their squirrel on their knee, hip, thigh, wrist etc.

Click on the link to view/download Leapin' Animal Sliders for Leap Day

I hope you have a “Hoppy” Day learning and leaping as you go!

Scroll down for more Leap Day Articles

Be sure and pop in tomorrow for some more fun teaching tips!