May is “Get Caught Reading” month – a challenge to everyone to do some reading (or listening)! There’s so much research that shows encouraging kids to read, and reading aloud to kids, helps to increase vocabulary, comprehension skills and overall achievement at school. But, I often get this question from parents, “What should my child read?”. My answer – anything they enjoy!
Here are a number of options:
We’ve all heard about the research on kids and tv – too much is bad, SpongeBob is worse. But let’s face it, kids are going to watch tv. So, what should you choose? Remember, as parents we have the opportunity to help form some of the habits our kids develop. Here are a few suggestions for great kids television that they’ll enjoy and you’ll feel good about letting them watch. And in addition to watching a show, we also include some ideas on fun follow-up activities to do with the kids.
Lately, some of the most common questions in our house are “Mom, do you know where this country is?” or “I heard about this place on the news/in school, where is it?”
My response “Let’s find it on the map.”
It’s so important for kids to understand (and appreciate!) geography these days! The world has become a much smaller place now that social media has taken a front seat in our lives. It seems to be a daily discussion at our house — a current event, the coming of the Olympics, a great photo in …
As parents, we all know how important it is to teach our children various life skills. Learning about money, healthy behaviors and other everyday tasks are just as important as all the math & reading skills the kids learn at school. But how should we go about teaching life skills to our kids ? There …
Welcome to Discover & Explore – a weekly themed linky where we love to share fun kids activities and awesome ways for families to connect and learn! The linky is hosted by Edventures with Kids and Fantastic Fun & Learning.
Even though we celebrate Earth Day on April 22nd this year, it’s really an everyday activity. There are so many easy ways to introduce kids to environmental ideas and adopt eco-friendly behaviors at home, at school and in your community.
Have you ever gone kite flying with the kids?
We’re having some fun with maps this summer! I love using maps as a learning tool with the kids. Maps help teach geography, directions, reading skills and so much more. Previously, I shared Why Every Home Needs a Map – 7 Fun Ways to Introduce Kids to Geography. Today I want to expand on one …
We always love to find easy science experiments that we can do at home! And when I mean easy, I’m talking the quick set-up with very few items type of science 🙂 Those types of experiments seem to be plentiful when you’re studying botany/nature (like our How does a Leaf Breathe? experiment) or physics (see …
I’m sure you’ve read at least a few of the research articles highlighting how beneficial music is in a child’s life. Music has been shown to boost memory, enhance learning and help kids to focus on a task.
It entices them to dance, sing along and relax — allowing them to practice large motor skills, enhance their verbal development and enjoy the world.
My kids always ask for music! While they’re doing their chores, they play the radio. Both have requested to play instruments way before we thought they would be ready (but given their interest and the fact that we found the right music teacher, they have really enjoyed it).
And I can’t tell you the number of musical rhymes and memorization tips we’ve used to help them with their school work (I don’t think anyone in the world can say the ABC’s without singing it 🙂