THIS LITTLE CLASS OF MINE
  • Home
  • Contact Me
  • Lesson Plans

Favorite Mindware Art Centers

8/19/2013

2 Comments

 
Picture
Mindware has been sending me catalogs forever. My classroom had a few products for 'brainy kids' when I aquired it, but over the years, I have added to my collection of free-choice activities. 

Last year, I asked my PTO to buy several new products from Mindware, around $150 worth of new things.
 The games I requested were a great investment, and will last many years. I am in the process of setting up art centers, at the end of last year I piloted it with one class and WOW! it changed my life. The additional games will help to keep the centers interesting and give a wide variety of options to students. Students were able to select an activity (after we completed one group project). These products are along side of traditional activities including play dough, crazy scissors, markers+coloring sheet, magazines+scissors, puzzles, bingo dobbers, beading and wire for necklaces, stencils, stamps, scrap paper with punches, and games like Connect 4 and Guess Who?. 

Pic Wits! WOW! What a fun game! Students have a caption and then have to find a picture that best matches it. One person judges the photos and selects one, it is just like Apples to Apples, except with a picture! This would be fun to play with the whole class and a document camera. 

Pattern Play is a colorful, math-building puzzle block set. One of my autistic students who is almost completely non-verbal has incredible success using the pattern cards to re-create the puzzles on the wooden board. REALLY GREAT for students with special needs. 

Block Buddies is a small set of colorful blocks with puzzle cards for students to re-create various images using the blocks. Since I have another big set of blocks in my room, this one gets a little lost among the other activities. I really like the puzzle cards and I plan to challenge my students to use this one more often this year. 

BlickBlock is a hit among the boys with its architecture-themed building cards. Students in my room have even put together their own 'marble' run with these blocks. Sometimes I forget how stimulating BLOCKS are to students...even older kids love to construct things with the block, not just kindergarten!

LED Rainbow Projector is a big hit whenever we paint watercolor rainbows. Be sure to buy batteries! I love this little lamp and the kids love it too! I don't let them play with it, but sometimes I pull it out as an 'extra' little something to WOW them at the beginning or the end of a lesson. 

Picture
The Zoob Challenge set is a favorite for boys. It allows them to build things. Its a big investment initially, but the pieces last for years!

Picture
The Straws and Connectors set is a wonderful activity for a group or individual students who love to build things. I allowed my older students to use my step ladder to make a tower all the way to the ceiling. Other groups stretched it all the way across the room. This was a great investment, I wish I would've gotten the biggest set possible though because the little connectors BREAK easily. Within the first week about a dozen of them had broken, it is frustrating because I have no way to replace those parts. 
Picture
Picture
The Imaginets are awesome for fine motor building. Great for younger students! I have a metal cabinet in my room. I hung the laminated cards on a hook and the kids can move the pieces around the cabinet.  The little magnet board is cool too, and I might move them back the board so that they can utilize them while seated. 
Picture
The Mosaic MagnaPictures are awesome for 3rd and 4th grade. Students enjoyed working in groups to put together a 'color-by-number' design. I have both sets: Pictures and Patterns. My only gripe is that the baggies rip open...making it hard to keep all the little pieces secure. I need to find a good way to store the little mosaic pieces....not sure if individual zip locks would be good or if I should throw all the pieces into one big bag...
2 Comments
    PictureWelcome!

    Mrs. Mitchell

    Art teacher from Missouri. 

    Instagram
    Add to Flipboard Magazine.

    Archives

    March 2021
    April 2020
    November 2019
    July 2019
    April 2019
    January 2019
    October 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    January 2018
    September 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    March 2016
    December 2015
    October 2015
    August 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013

    Categories

    All
    1st Day Of School
    1st Grade
    3d
    Abstract Art
    Alcohol Ink Tiles
    Alpacas
    Animal Art
    Animation
    Architecture
    Art Centers
    Art For Kids Hub
    Art History
    Art Hub For Kids
    Art Room
    Art Show
    Art Teacher Conference
    Bell Ringer
    Birds
    Blending
    Bunnies
    Cardboard
    Chalk Pastels
    Chalk Stencil
    Charcoal
    Choice Based
    Christmas
    Chuck Close
    Classroom
    Clay
    Club Day
    Collage
    Color Diffusing Paper
    Colored Pencil
    Colored Pencils
    Construction Paper Crayons
    Contest Art
    Creatures
    Crystal Bridges
    Design
    Dice Games
    Document Camera
    Dot Day
    Drawing
    Early Finishers
    Easter
    Emojis
    Fall
    Field Trip
    Food Art
    Foxes
    Green Screen
    Grid Drawing
    Group Challenge
    Halloween
    Haunted Houses
    Hearts
    Hermit Crab
    High School
    Human Form
    Ice Breaker
    Inspirational Posters
    Ipads
    Jim Dine
    Justand
    Killer Whales
    Kindergarten
    Landscape
    Lesson Plans
    Lettering
    Llamas
    Magazines
    Mandala
    Maori
    Markers
    Masks
    Matisse
    Metal
    Model Magic
    Mona Lisa
    Monster Trucks
    Mother's Day
    Mother's Day Card
    Mummies
    Mural
    Newspaper
    New Zealand
    Notan
    Observational Drawing
    Ocean Art
    Oil Pastel
    Oil Pastels
    Optical Illusions
    Origami
    Owls
    Painting
    Paper Weaving
    Pd
    Pencil Topper
    Perspective
    Pete The Cat
    Picasso
    Polar Bears
    Pop Art
    Portraits
    Printmaking
    Product Review
    Professional Development
    Quiver
    Reflection
    Reflective Teaching
    Room Tour
    Rooster
    Sea Horse
    Seals
    Sea Turtle
    Self Portrait
    Shading
    Shaving Cream Prints
    Shoes
    Sketchbooks
    Sloth
    Solar Eclipse
    Spinners
    Spring Conference
    Star Wars
    Statue Of Liberty
    Step-by-step
    Step By Step Drawing
    Step-by-step Drawing
    Still Life
    Stop Motion
    Story Board
    Sub Plans
    Summer School
    Symmetry
    Tab
    Teacher Appreciation Cards
    Technology
    Tempera Paint
    Tiny Food
    Tissue Paper
    Trees
    Tumbling Blocks
    Valentine's Day
    Warm Ups
    Watercolor
    Wax Resist
    Word Art
    Yellow Submarine
    Zentangle

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.