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Have a lot of loose buttons lying around the house? Put them to use! Leftover buttons make for great tactile math games and art projects to do with your kindergartner. Children are attracted to the bright colors and shapes of buttons, so they're perfect for teaching your child important concepts like sorting, counting, and patterning. Here are four ways to turn those loose buttons into an easy and positive learning experience. 

Classify objects into given categories (in this case it could be by object or by color); count the numbers of objects in each category and sort the categories by count.

Children classify and sort objects found outdoors into a chart/graph on the sidewalk. This chart or graph can be written with sidewalk chalk. The categories can be predetermined by the teacher, or the students can come up with the categories.

This site doesn't provide specific activities; however, I would design earth science activities to assist kids in researching this park, and the surround area.  We would discuss how and why the area has these deposits, the history of the area, and how to go about finding diamonds and other cool rocks.   Extension activity:  Order bags of dirt from Crater of Diamonds park and have the kids sift through to find and identify various rocks and minerals.   Standards: 3.2.1:  Examine the physical properties of rock samples and sort them into categories based on size using simple tools such as sieves. 3.2.2:  Observe the detailed characteristics of rocks and minerals.  Identify rocks as being composed of different combinations of minerals. 3.2.3:  Classify and identify minerals by their physical properties of hardness, color, luster, and streak.  

Simple activity for sorting, accompanied by an entire unit worth of lessons to use. To differentiate try to get these students with the teacher or teacher assistant and ask them questions about the objects to get their minds thinking about the objects as patterns.

Great for having lower grade level student recognize money and values. Start by putting all the coins in front of your student, and ask him/her to sort all pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters, and the half dollar into their own groups. Talk about value as you go.

There's nothing like a treasure hunt to get kids excited. The good news is that all that pirate booty can be used to boost their math skills. Here's how to work the numbers as they sort their loot.

K.MD.3 Classify objects into given categories; count the numbers of objects in each category and sort the categories by count. Sticky Note: This could also be applied by using different shapes...much like the attribute blocks that they would have to make patterns of by knowing the attributes of the shapes.

Leaf Investigators: Backyard Science - purpose to explore and learn This activity uses categorization skills to sort the leaves by shape, color and size.   Materials: Leaves, small bag for leaves, and magnifying glasses (optional)

K.1.1. Use all senses as appropriate to observe, sort and describe objects according to their composition and physical properties, such as size, color and shape. Explain these choices to others and generate questions about the objects. Sticky Note: I choose a kindergarten standard for this because it could be easily manipulated to fit this standard. They could be grouping these based on how high they bounce. It could also be used with higher grade levels with math and doing measuring, graphs and data (range, mean, median, mode, etc).

VERY cool Earth Science/Space crossover project.  Students can send in a rock from their area, and NASA will use a special tool (like the one on the Mars Exploration Rovers) to tell you what it's made of.  Students could compare rocks on Earth to the rocks found on Mars.   Class can view and print various rock pictures from this website and create their own rock book, differentiating by ability.  (could be categorized by color, composition, geographic location, etc.)  It can be expanded as needed.  Kindergarten example would be to create a journal entitled "My Rock Collection."  They would find pictures of rocks that are blue, red, yellow, green, purple, etc and categorize them.  

Cards used for sorting by color, type of clothing, pattern. Also, can be used to create patterns. Different cards with animals, toys, and shapes available as well.

This is an engaging way for students to learn about the planets and solar system. Instead of a bedroom planetarium, this can be a classroom planetarium. They can all be involved in making the solar system pieces. There will be discussion in the classroom while showcasing our planetarium.

Students explore the differences and similarities between rocks and minerals by investigating samples of these earth materials, performing a series of tests similar to geologists' field tests, and reading about rocks and minerals and how they are used.