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.

Easter Egg Scavenger Hunt – Letters

Posted on April 8, 2020 by Squarehead Teachers

So many of us are stuck at home right now during the COVID-19 pandemic, that I thought I’d make an easy “stay at home activity” (even though you can definitely do this in a classroom too!). Print one copy of this page per kid. Then look for an item that starts with the letter on the egg (little ones may need help from an adult). Once you’ve found something that starts with that letter, color in the shape the letter is in (the rest of the egg can be colored at the end). For older kids, consider having them write down the item name on the back of the page or in the margins. You can also have kids cut out the egg and decorate if further if you want to make this activity more in-depth. Stay healthy, everyone and happy Easter!

Click here to download the PDF: Easter Egg Scavenger Hunt – Letters

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!

Halloween Classroom Attention Getters

Posted on October 16, 2019 by Squarehead Teachers

It’s Halloween time, so it’s time to change things up! No more “Get it? Got it! Good!” when you need to get your students’ attention! We’ve come up with a list of fun, Halloween attention getters for the classroom!

Teacher: “Who you gonna call?”
Students: “Ghostbusters!”

Teacher: “Monster!”
Students: “Mash!”

Teacher: “Knock, knock!”
Students: “Trick or Treat!!”

Teacher: “Skeleton!”
Students: “Bones!”

Teacher: “Scare me!”
Students: “Boo!”

Teacher: “Pumpkin, pumpkin shining bright!”
Students: “Halloween’s a scary night!”

Teacher: “It’s not Santa Claus!”
Students: “It’s the Great Pumpkin!”

Teacher: “Vegan Zombie!”
Students: “Graaaaaaiiiiinnnnss!” (like how zombies say “brains”)

Teacher: “If you’ve got it…”
Students: “…haunt it!”

Teacher: “Boil, boil…!”
Students: “Toil and trouble!”

Teacher: “I feel cold!”
Students: “Goosebumps!”

If you’ve taught your class any fun Halloween poems, you might consider using lines from those also. For example, if you taught your class the popular “Five little pumpkins” poem, you could use a line and have the students respond with the following line. If you’re not familiar with that poem, you’re missing out! Here it is:

Five little pumpkins sitting on a gate.
The first one said, “Oh, my, it’s getting late!”
The second one said, “There are witches in the air!”
The third one said, “But we don’t care!”
The fourth one said, “Let’s run and run and run!”
The fifth one said, “It’s Halloween fun!”
Then woooooo, went the wind
And out went the light
And the five little pumpkins
Rolled out of sight!

Click here for more fun Halloween stuff!

Halloween Coin Counting Practice

Posted on October 11, 2019 by Squarehead Teachers

Happy Halloween!! Do you have your costume figured out yet? I don’t, but I’m working on it! Anyway, use the excitement for Halloween to sneak in some coin counting practice. Enjoy another freebie!

Click here to download the free PDF: Coin Counting Practice – Halloween Costumes
Click here to download the free PDF: Coin Counting Practice – Halloween Costumes – Answer Key

Fall Fractions – Beginning Fractions Practice

Posted on September 16, 2019 by Squarehead Teachers

Want to add some fall fun to your math curriculum? Here’s a super self-explanatory beginning fractions worksheet for kids. Younger kids may need you to read the directions, but the basic idea is to color the numerator to depict the fraction. I’ve also uploaded an answer key. Happy fall!

Click here to download the PDFs:
Fall Fractions
Fall Fractions – Answer Key

Check out more of my fall freebies!

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.