No-Prep "Fishing" Activity for PreK & Kinder | Synergize Learning

Alyssa Talamo • July 5, 2023

Same activity -- with even less prep!

We love our original “Car Junkyard” craftivity, but then we thought — how can we make this even easier?? We know that busy parents and teachers don’t always have time for intensive preparation, so we’ve created this super-easy “no prep” version! The best part? You'll get the same level of engagement! Check out the 3-item shopping list and all the different ways to play ways to play. It's perfect for a rainy day or independent literacy center. 

Endless Ways to Play! 

The concept for the game is quite simple: place a bunch of paper-clipped post-its or index cards on the floor or table, and explain the rules of play depending on the desired learning target. The child must then use the magnet to grab and move the correct cars. We love how the game can be adapted in numerous ways -- we've categorized our suggestions as Sorting, Matching, Ordering and Searching. The first three are great independent activities, while the last is perfect for parent-facilitated (or sibling-facilitated!) learning.

Shopping List

  • Sorting

    For each of these learning targets, your little should sort the mixed starting pile of cars into two separate piles.

    • Uppercase vs. Lowercase Letters
    • Letters vs. Words vs. Numbers (any combination - pick two, or all three!)

  • Matching

    For this game, students should be pulling cars from the mixed pile to create matched pairs. 

    • Uppercase & Lowercase of the same letter
    • Numbers & Number Words - for example, one car would have "2" and another would have "two" that would get pulled as a pair
    • Numbers & Quantities - in this case, one car might have "2" and the other would have two squares/circles.

     If you're using the dry erase laminated version, you can also just have your learner draw the correct quantity on any number or number word car. Similarly, they can pull an uppercase letter card and write the lowercase letter on it, or vice versa!

  • Ordering

    As the name suggests, the students should be moving cards from the mixed starting pile to a particular order.

    • Number Order 1-10 or 1-20
    • Ordering Numbers from least to greatest - for this variation, skip around with the numbers you have on the cars (ex: 5, 8, 9, 13, 21, 27)
    • Ordering Numbers from biggest to smallest
    • Alphabet Order (for kinder kiddos, we recommend this as a "memorizing the alphabet" style game with letters only, though alphabetizing words could be a differentiation option for gifted advanced learners!)

  • Searching

    For this style of play, the adult facilitator should verbalize a stimulus, and the student should find the corresponding car from the mixed assortment.

    • Letter Sounds - facilitator says a sound, and the child finds the letter that makes that sound
    • Letter Names - parent says a letter name, and the child finds the car with that letter
    • Numbers - as above, the facilitator can say a number and have the child find that number. For numbers 1-10, the facilitator can also hold up some fingers and have the child search for the number that represents that quantity.
    • Sight Words - the student finds the car with the word spoken by the facilitator