Phone Home

At the first of the year, we work on learning phone numbers. This is getting tricky with cell phones. My parents have had the same phone number since I was in 3rd grade. I still always "phone home" when I talk to them. Now, some kids don't even have a home phone. But, it is important for kids to know how to reach at least 1 parent.

I thought I would share some activities that really helped them learn phone numbers. Plus, they were fun!
Phone number punch: Write the phone number big on a long piece of paper (we used large construction paper cut in half). Cut out small rectangles of a different color. Punch out the corresponding number of holes in the small rectangle and tape under the number. After this, they read their phone numbers back and practiced dialing them.
Phone Number Puzzle and Dots: This 2 part activity was a crowd pleaser. First, they put together their phone number puzzles that were pre-made. Then, they glued down the puzzle onto a large sheet of white paper. Next, using Bingo dot markers, they made that many dots under the number.

We also practiced answering the phone. I would pretend to call a number and the person I was calling (they had to recognize their phone number) would answer the phone. While we aimed for polite answering, I got a lot of silly responses as well as knock-knock jokes for some reason.

Oh, did I mention that these activities also support simple number recognition, problem solving and fine motor skills?

I need to work with Phoebe on learning our phone number. The question is, which number should she try to remember? Home? My cell? Eric's cell?