Magnetic Center for Littles

You might have seen the magnetic center in my Classroom Decor Post. But, it actually hasn't been used at all until this week. The kids didn't even ask what it was until last week. It is hiding on the back wall by my kitchen and puppet stand. (Which may be why the kids didn't notice it, there were too many fun centers surrounding it!) All I did was screw the drip pan, which I got at a local Car Parts Store, and the Magnetic Letter Organizer directly to my cubby doors. It was so easy! There are multiple ways that your kiddos can use the magnetic center, but here are my three favorite.

Matching Sounds

Have a bunch of picture cards in your magnetic center. This is a great way to differentiate your centers. The picture is matching initial sounds. You can also match ending sounds, middle sounds, or my favorite when I was in kindergarten was, making cvc words. The possibilities are endless when matching sounds.

Names

This one is really popular right now in my PreK classroom. I have a piece of sentence strip cut in half. Each strip has a picture of a student and their name written on it. The kids practice spelling their friends names, and are linking their name with their picture. It is great for environmental print practice.

Letter Matching

The last idea for your magnetic center is letting matching. Again you can do this a couple ways to differentiate for your students. The way I have pictured is matching lowercase to uppercase. For your earlier learners you can have them match lower to lower or upper to uppercase letters. To make this more difficult you can have the students find the letters that come before and after in alphabetic order. I also have a storage solution to this easy center! I know that there are letters and pockets for the magnets, but sometimes the magnets don't find the right spot. I put a basket next to the center for the cards and somehow magnets make it into the basket. Usually, the next friends who go to the magnet center will put them where they belong.