Patriotic Visual Discrimination and Patterning Kindergarten Lesson Plan — Photo Source: theotsbag.com

Heidi over at PediaStaff found this awesome activity on Pinterest and we thought it would make a fabulous addition to your holiday lesson plans! Originally designed by Kristin Clewell of the OTs Bag (a blog that is, unfortunately, no longer active), we love that this exercise forces kiddos to slow down and really focus, providing students with the opportunity to be intentional about following directions as well as rely on visual discrimination skills to help them arrange the ping pong balls the proper way. Other skills your kinders will strengthen - visual scanning (encourage your kiddos to work left to right as in reading), directionality, and patterning.

While the instructions are no longer accessible, the set-up for the activity seems pretty simple. Dip ping pong balls in craft paint, covering half of the ball with color and leaving the other half unpainted. Create a pattern key - simply drawing circles onto a piece of card stock and coloring in half of each circle in the pattern you'd like your kinders to follow. A recycled egg carton provides the perfect work space for the activity;

it keeps the balls contained helping to ensure that you won't have ping pong balls bouncing around the classroom
it secures each ball so that the proper pattern can be displayed (on a flat surface the balls would just roll)

We know your kiddos will have a blast with this exercise!

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