Don’t Eat Pete Game Template

Posted on April 10, 2020 by Squarehead Teachers

Don’t Eat Pete is one of my family’s favorite games. It’s also been a favorite in my classroom! Since so many people have been sheltering-in-place because of the coronavirus, my mom (and former teacher herself) had the genius idea to make Don’t Eat Pete kits to drop off to local families with kids. She made each family a game board (or included stickers so the kids could decorate it themselves) and also included candies to use to play the game. (Click here or here to read my posts on how to play.)

So, here’s the template and you can let your kids decorate their own board! Crayons, stickers, markers, glitter*, paint* or colored pencil, just let your kids get creative!

Click here to download the PDF: Don’t Eat Pete – game template

*If you use craft supplies like these, I suggest putting the board in a page protector sleeve if you’ll be playing with something edible.

Click here to check out my other Don’t Eat Pete boards to download.

Easy Die Cut “Don’t Eat Pete” Board

Posted on October 30, 2019 by Squarehead Teachers

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I’ve written about Don’t Eat Pete before (How to play, How to play/easy Valentine’s board and St. Patrick’s Day board), but I just love this game and it’s perfect for any holiday. Seriously, I played it at every single classroom party (as a kid since my mom was often the Room Mom and again as a teacher) because it just continues to be a kid favorite… the there’s hardly ANY prep involved!!

But if you’re that teacher who wants to make something once and never have to worry about it again, here’s a post for you. My mom made this style of Don’t Eat Pete board for each holiday and then all she ever had to do was buy the candy, cereal or snack she was going to use for the game.

Step 1 – choose 9 die cuts from your school’s Halloween collection. If your school doesn’t have die cuts and you don’t want to head down to the district office to do it, just wing it and cut some simple shapes yourself. Cut them out of colored construction paper (Be careful which construction paper pack you get! one I recently purchased from Amazon didn’t include purple! Here’s a small low-priced pack that has all the basic colors!)

Step 2 – Lay them out 3 across in 3 rows on big construction paper (here’s a low-priced pack) and place small strips of construction paper between them to form a grid. If you’re in a pinch, just draw in lines using a sharpie or other permanent marker (here are some awesome metallic ones that work great for writing on black!)

Step 3 – Write numbers on each shape. This just makes it easier to remember which one is “Pete” for that round. You can also silently remind your kids by holding up fingers.

Step 4 – Laminate the entire thing! Now enjoy!

Don’t Eat Pete Board – St. Patrick’s Day

Posted on March 1, 2019 by Squarehead Teachers

I’m pretty fond of this new Don’t Eat Pete board (updating my collection here!). I think it turned out nicely, so I wanted to share with you! Perfect for any St. Patrick’s Day party, this would work perfect with Lucky Charm cereal or rainbow Skittles for the treats!

Click here to download the PDF: Dont Eat Pete Board – St Patricks Day

Here’s how to play Don’t Eat Pete:

3 – 10 kids sit around the game board. The adult or moderator puts a small treat (M & M, chocolate chip, Cheerio, or whatever) on each number. The “guesser” leaves the area so they can’t see or hear what’s going on. Another person points to a number to choose “Pete”. The “guesser” comes back and starts taking the M & M’s (or whatever) off the board and gets to eat them. When the guesser touches “Pete”, everyone yells, “Don’t Eat Pete!!” and the guesser’s turn is over. The guesser eats the last one he got called out on to keep it sanitary!

Click here to see my other Don’t Eat Pete posts!

Don’t Eat Pete – Most-Requested Kid Game in My Classroom!

Posted on February 16, 2019 by Squarehead Teachers

This game has been a classic in my classroom, so it’s worth talking about again. I have used Don’t Eat Pete for holiday parties for years. I change the “game board” to fit the holiday with stickers or cutouts. It takes about 5 minutes to make. Get a colored piece of paper. Mentally divide the paper in 9 squares – 3 rows and 3 columns. Put a sticker or cutout in each “square”. Number the stickers or cutouts 1 to 9. Laminate it if you want it to last, or put it in a sheet protector. Now you are ready to play. 3 – 10 kids sit around the game board. The adult or moderator puts an M & M, chocolate chip, Cheerio, or whatever on each sticker. the “guesser” leaves the area. Another person points to a number. That number is “Pete”. The “guesser” comes back and starts taking the M & M’s (or Cheerios, or whatever) off the board and gets to eat them. When the guesser touches “Pete”, everyone yells, “Don’t Eat Pete” and the guesser’s turn is over. The guesser eats the last one he got called out on to keep it sanitary! My kids request this activity every party! My own kids at home have loved this too!

Here’s a photo of the Valentine’s Day one I have. As you can see, it doesn’t have to be crazy fancy or “Pinterest worthy” to be super fun.

Maybe I’ll try and make you some printable Don’t Eat Pete boards…

Giveaway! Roylco Straws & Connectors Set

Posted on December 9, 2014 by Squarehead Teachers

**This Giveaway has ended. Check back for more giveaway fun!**

As promised, I have a fun treat for you! Another giveaway! I’m pleased to partner with Roylco, creators of all things fun and educational for your classroom! So here’s the part you’re waiting for… what can you win!? Drum roll please!

What: This Straws & Connectors set has a whopping 705 pieces (over triple what we played with) and retails for $60, available for purchase here. It’s recommended for ages 4-5+, which I think is appropriate.

How to Enter: Super easy! Here are the steps:

Hop on over to the Roylco Blog. (Click here)
Poke around and check out their craft ideas. (There’s so much fun stuff over there, I know!)
Come back here to this blog and write me a comment telling me what Roylco craft you liked. Scroll all the way down to the bottom of this page to type your comment. If you’re not a WordPress member, please leave me your email address so I can contact you if you win! That’s it!

This giveaway ends 1 week from now, at midnight (PST) on Tuesday, December 16, 2014. **This giveaway has ended. Check back for more giveaway fun!**

What I think about the Roylco Straws & Connectors set: Way fun!! We played with the 230-piece set. It was a great amount for two of us to use. When I opened the box, it looked like this:

It wasn’t hard to separate the connectors. Once we pulled them all apart, here’s what we had to play (and learn) with:

At first, we didn’t use the directions, but we soon peeked at them to see hot to make more complex connections. The directions were fairly simple, easy to read, and gave us some good inspiration. Here are some of the creations we came up with (notice they get cooler as we continued to play with them):

The straws are roughly 9 inches long. They’re not very hard to connect, but they’ve got enough squeeze between the straw and connector that they stay connected pretty well. This was our favorite creation: a 30 inch tall “castle” with corners and arches!

What can you learn: First of all, these are just plain fun. So no matter what kids learn, they’ll have a good time. Here are some ideas for incorporating learning into this activity:

Identifying vertices and edges in 3D shapes
Structural aspects of various shapes (Which shapes are strongest?)
Spacial intelligence (How many cubes made up this castle? How many cylinders?)
Volume! (What’s the volume of the cube? Of the castle?)
Recreating historical buildings out
Creating chemical compounds (H20, etc)
And the list goes on!

**This giveaway has ended. Check back for more giveaway fun!**

How to Post a Comment:

A few readers have told me they struggled with finding the place to write a comment. There are a few ways readers will get to this page, so here’s how to post a comment (depending on how you got to this post).

If there are multiple posts on this page (you’re on the Squarehead Teachers home page or a search results page):

If you clicked on this post (and it’s the only one on the page), then scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page:

The Fine Print: Participation is optional. Void where prohibited by law. No purchase is necessary to participate. Only one entry per person. Available to US and Canada participants only. There will be one winner. Winner will be randomly selected. I will email the winner between Wednesday, Dec. 17-Thursday, Dec. 18. The winner will have 24 hours to respond and provide me with shipping information so I can mail them their prize! If the winner does not respond within 24 hours, the winner forfeits the prize and another winner will randomly be selected (in which case the new winner will be notified and the same terms apply). The winner will be announced on this blog once eligibility has been confirmed. I cannot guarantee the winner will receive their prize before Christmas, but I’ll try my best! This giveaway is sponsored by Squarehead Teachers and Roylco, and is not affiliated with WordPress or any other sponsor. If you have additional questions, please contact me! Good luck!

Thanksgiving Game Board

Posted on November 2, 2014 by Squarehead Teachers

More game boards! I’ve decided you can’t ever have too many blank game boards in your classroom to use with review games (click here to read about some of my favorites). This one’s Thanksgiving themed, and would be perfect to use with math facts, spelling words, etc. They’re actually really simple to use: for example, hand 2 kids a game board (it’s best if you laminate them first) and a die. Kids can roll the die and earn that many spaces if they get a math fact right (just hand them a stack of flash cards) or if they correctly spell a word on their weekly spelling list. Enjoy!

Click here for the free printable PDF: Thanksgiving Game board 1

Fun Halloween Ideas

Posted on October 2, 2014 by Squarehead Teachers

It’s finally “Halloween season!” Bust out the spooky decor and let’s get scaring! Ok, fine… maybe you can’t do as much fun Halloween themed stuff as you could years ago, but here are some productive Halloween ideas for you. I found them on Pinterest. (Oooh! Follow me on Pinterest!)…

I think this paper chain ghost (source) could be a fun class craft… or adapted into a management tool!! It might work to build the ghost out of paper chains, and then tell the class if they can get rid of the ghost, they earn a prize (extra recess, no homework for a night, etc.). When the class does well, remove a paper loop and throw it away. The kids can see the ghost disappearing, so they can see their progress towards a prize. Or you could be really ambitious and do this in reverse, by earning paper chain links to build the ghost and earn the prize.

I’m musically challenged. It’s ironic, because my husband is very musically gifted (I guess opposites really do attract). Anyway, whenever I have a chance to bring a music activity that SOMEONE ELSE PLANNED into my classroom, I jump on it. Especially when it’s about a holiday (killing two birds with one stone)! Here’s a clever Halloween song and rhythm game. It’s not too difficult, and it involves some physical actions, so I’m all for it.

Click here for the directions and printable game cards.

Fall Game Board

Posted on September 4, 2014 by Squarehead Teachers

If you know me, you’ll probably know that I love to use games in my classroom! I think playing games is the best way to create a fun learning experience. I usually have some blank game boards (like these) handy in my classroom to use with one of my favorite review games. I decided to make some new ones for fall, since I didn’t have very many. So here’s my first one: I call it “Fall is fabulous!”