Halloween can be full of fun for kids but, with a few ideas, it can also be a time for learning. Math, science and literacy learning can be a fun part of your Halloween this year!
Halloween is in the air, and though we’ve just gotten around to decorating our house, we never do a lot of scary Halloween over here.
We always stick to the silly or tricky.
Halloween Learning Ideas for Your Little Monsters and Ghouls
But, like any holiday, I truly believe that there are opportunities for sneaking in a little bit of fun learning for your kiddos. And this candy-filled holiday is no exception!
It’s the very best of both worlds when your kids can have a whole lot of holiday fun plus some fun learning tucked in here and there!
Halloween is a perfect time to do some crazy fun stuff with your kids that maybe you wouldn’t do other times of the year. What other time of the year can you go to the grocery store dressed up as a space alien? Or flash your vampire teeth at people? Yes, I have done both!
Halloween Literacy Learning:
Halloween GHOST Bingo: Cute—not spooky—Halloween friends cover the boards and kids can practice learning the letters of “GHOST” while they use their eyes to match up the Halloween friends on cards to the ones on their boards.
Halloween Word Search: Perfect for emerging readers, word searches provide a super platform for really looking for letters. Add some Halloween words, and kids love playing detective!
Halloween Lunchbox Love Joke Notes: Bring some fun into lunchtime–or anytime–with fun, silly, and totally not-spooky Halloween Lunchbox Joke Notes.
Some of our favorite Halloween books:
Room on the Broom, by Julia Donaldson — the witch’s hat blows away, and while trying to find it, the witch picks up more and more friends, all who want to ride on her broom. We love the language in this book, and it’s super-silly.
Too Many Pumpkins, by Linda Arms White and illustrated by Megan Lloyd — a sweet story about lonely and cranky Rebecca Estelle who loathes pumpkins only to have her yard taken over by pumpkins one season. In an attempt to rid herself of these pesky gourds, she bakes tons of pumpkin goodies and draws her entire town to her house for a pumpkin party. Read it to chat about inferring like we did; read it and love the illustrations, characters, and story
Arthur’s Halloween, by Marc Brown — as a mom I love the lesson in this book, no never judge a book by its cover, but with a fun Halloween theme, Arthur and D.W. don’t let us down!
Zen Ghosts, by Jon J. Muth — the children in this story learn from their panda friend Stillwater on Halloween–and who doesn’t need a little zen on a spooky holiday?
halloween party estimate game 2024: a perfect quick game to help kids practice number sense and estimating, it’s as easy as can be to get kids psyched about counting and numbers when candy corn or spiders are involved! All you need is the game sheet, a jar and some candy corn or plastic spiders. You get the idea!
Cats, Hats, and Pumpkins Grid Games: Give your kiddos a chance to practice fine motor skills, counting, and practice that important literacy skill of left-right return sweep
Leafy Grid Games: Same kind of literacy and math prep but with Leafy Grid boards.
Candy Experiments: Use that leftover Halloween candy for some super-fun science experimenting!
Halloween Treat-Making: Cooking is science for kids, so get them in the kitchen and have them help you make these super cute witches’ fingers, eyeballs, boogers on a stick, and frozen ghosts.
Dinner in a Pumpkin: A perfect opportunity to show kids how crazy cool food can be, a fun Halloween tradition is dinner in a pumpkin!
That’s it! Just a few fun literacy, math, and science related Halloween learning opportunities for families and kids!
And if you need some Halloween class party help, check it out or feel free to leave links with your own favorite Halloween sites.
Help your kids gain math fluency with this engaging and simple game, Strike It Out! This easy-to-play math game is perfect for making addition and subtraction practice fun. Whether you’re at home, in the classroom, or on the go, Strike It Out provides a quick and educational activity that kids will love.
I’m always on the hunt for ways to make math more fun, especially since math is not my forte. So when my daughter came home with a “play game with someone” activity a few weeks ago, I was all for it.
“Mommy! I get to play a game for math tonight! Let’s start it right away!!”
Music. To. My. Ears.
And the more we played, the more I loved it. And the more we played, the more my son wanted in on the fun and even my husband wanted in on the fun. (And I’m betting if there were jewels or glitter somehow involved, I could rope my other child in as well.)
Quick and Easy Math Game – Strike It Out
This game is called ‘Strike It Out,’ but if you ask me, it’s far from a strikeout. Quick, easy, and a game to be played anywhere, even on the fly? Love it.
The premise is simple: players use the numbers on a number line to try to prevent their opponent from being able to make a move. Moves are made by creating addition or subtraction problems using the available numbers.
How to Play Strike It Out
Draw a Number Line: Start by drawing a number line from 0-20 like this:
Choose and Cross Out Numbers: The first player chooses a number on the number line and crosses it out. The same player then chooses a second number and crosses that out too. Finally, they circle the sum or difference of the two numbers and write down the calculation.
Continue Playing: The second player must start by crossing off the number that player one has just circled. They then choose another number to cross out and circle a third number, which is the sum or difference of the two crossed-off numbers. Player two also writes down the calculation.
Alternate Turns: Play continues in this way with each player starting with the number that has just been circled.
For example, player one could then have a turn which would leave the game looking like this:
Player two can take a turn that might look like this:
And so on.
Winning the Game: The winner is the player who stops their opponent from making a move.
Do YOU want this game to use with your children or students? SURE you do!
Get the Printable Version
If you want Strike It Out as a quick and easy printable (with full instructions and a few blank number lines to use!) it’s available here as a PDF. Throw your email in the box and the free download will appear in your inbox.
Nothing like a game like this to play while waiting in lines, at doctor’s offices, restaurants, or the like!
Want More Math Fun?
Check out these other posts for even more easy and fun math activities for kids!
Puzzles are a fun way to get our brains moving in clever and creative ways. They allow us to stretch our critical thinking skills and see relationships between the pieces of the puzzle. Your child will benefit but, to them, these puzzles will be just plain fun! Fun Math and Logic!
I use puzzle skills every day, and I’ll bet you do too, without thinking about it. I was about eight when my aunt taught me how to cut out and sew Barbie clothes. Putting all those tiny pieces together correctly was a puzzle for sure. Following a recipe is a puzzle. Some mornings, getting everyone out the door on time is a puzzle!
Having Fun With Math and Logic
Math is so much more than just number recognition and basic facts. Math is actually the study of numbers, equations, functions, and geometric shapes and their relationships. These kinds of thinking skills are also emphasized in structured learning programs like the Savvas CTE curriculum, which help children apply math concepts in real-world, problem-solving situations.
These four color puzzles are from Erich Friedman, a retired Professor of Mathematics.
Look up Erich if you find yourself in search of a new puzzle. Erich created every single one of these puzzles. They are amazing and incredible. Absolutely brilliant.
How to Play Color Puzzles
Print out the puzzles in color (because, after all, these aren’t the black and white puzzles!) and have red, green, blue and yellow colored pencils and a good eraser for each person. The object of the puzzle is to color the blocks so that no adjacent blocks are the same color.
Remind your kiddos to color those blocks lightly to make it easier to change colors when they realize they have two of the same color touching!
I love laminating! (I may have mentioned that a time or twelve) You might want consider laminating these puzzles and handing out dry erase markers in the four colors. It will make changing the colors in the blocks so much easier.
Throw your email in the box below, and the printable will arrive in your inbox as if by magic!
If you choose to share this printable, which we hope you do, please first link to Erich’s site, and then share this post. Thank you!
The Science Behind the Importance of Puzzles
For Children
A University of Chicago study found that children who play with puzzles between ages 2 and 4 later develop better spatial skills .
“The children who played with puzzles performed better than those who did not, on tasks that assessed their ability to rotate and translate shapes,” said psychologist Susan Levine, a leading expert on mathematics development in young children.
It’s no secret that puzzles are said to reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s. The Fischer Center for Alzheimers recently wrote about a study from the University of California, Berkeley with these findings:
Reading, writing, doing crossword puzzles and solving challenging puzzles may be linked to a lower risk of Alzheimer’s disease. Now a new study shows how mental stimulation may protect the brain. . . .
“We report a direct association between cognitive activity and Pittsburgh compound B uptake, suggesting that lifestyle factors found in individuals with high cognitive engagement may prevent or slow deposition of beta-amyloid, perhaps influencing the onset and progression of Alzheimer’s disease,” the researchers write.
All that to say puzzles are fun and good for brain development and health at all ages! So get those puzzles out, friends. No matter how old your little ones are, puzzles are for everyone.
Dancing is a great way for your kids to burn off excess energy and have fun when the weather is awful and everyone is going just a little bit stir-crazy. Get them up and moving with these YouTube dances.
We don’t have a lot of “snow days” in Texas. And the amount of snow that causes school to be cancelled here I’m sure would make folks from the upper states laugh hysterically. But whether it’s a light dusting of snow, ice, tornado warnings, torrential rains or serious blizzards where you live when kids are confined indoors they need a constructive way to get their energy out!
Fun Indoor Moving and Grooving to Get Out the Wiggles
Not only does moving mid-day help increase concentration and focus (for everyone–not just kids!), but learning and practicing these dances will mean that our kids will be rockstars on the dance floor when it comes time for proms, weddings, Bar and Bat Mitzvahs, and Quinceaneras in the next few years.
Have FUN!
Here are some good ones. You’ll notice that some of them are more instructional than others. Some you just follow along the best you can. Remember the goal is to get moving and burn off all that pent up energy, not perfection.
The Sid Shuffle:
https://youtu.be/uMuJxd2Gpxo
Shake Your Sillies Out:
https://youtu.be/NwT5oX_mqS0
The Skeleton Dance (and more):
https://youtu.be/qeSSmNRBlgY
Ridiculously Fun Dance For Kids:
https://youtu.be/oejgTGo-BCc
Dino Stomp:
https://youtu.be/Imhi98dHa5w
Dancercise for Kids:
https://youtu.be/R4BNW_tveeo
Easy Kids Choreography- Hip Hop:
https://youtu.be/JWTyO8npkOQ
Mario Dance:
https://youtu.be/39L-M5nhx6Y
I’m a Gummy Bear:
https://youtu.be/6Q7-tzCCh3w
Awesome Rainbows:
https://youtu.be/tbPGvZDNoY0
The Wobble:
https://youtu.be/8vTIY0xHBUg
Macarena:
https://youtu.be/9k-iThSvhRU
Zumba Kids — I like to move it:
https://youtu.be/ymigWt5TOV8
Jump Up:
https://youtu.be/52pdktAMDe4
30+ minutes of Kidz Bop dances:
https://youtu.be/sHd2s_saYsQ
Go Bananas:
https://youtu.be/PKyuJhHQCfI
Baby Shark Dance Version:
https://youtu.be/aMGQtiQUdkA
Freeze Dance Party Game:
https://youtu.be/2UcZWXvgMZE
How to do the Floss:
https://youtu.be/0Kj3wWKjMSQ
And for when your kids are really up for a challenge. . .
Ariana Grande – 7 Rings (Dance Video)
https://youtu.be/t8zqUxZOKKg
Hip Hop Dance Choreography:
https://youtu.be/2d9mqLxYRyU
Hip Hop Dance to Justin Timberlake song:
https://youtu.be/9sxifR0Ltqk
HOW FUN are these? Hope your crew enjoys them as much as we did.
Talk about some serious fun–and listening and moving and dancing–right in your own living room.
Check out a few other posts that may help you develop strong and healthy habits for your family:
Wordless Riddles Lunchbox Notes are a great way to encourage self esteem and build confidence. They give a big mental hug and maybe a laugh to your kiddo while they are away from you at school. These notes also build on their literacy and deductive reasoning–plus they are just super fun!
I wanted a way to connect with my kiddos while they were at school in a way that wouldn’t be “showing up at the school to embarrass them in front of their friends” but would still let them know that I was thinking of them. Lunchbox notes are a great way to do just that.
That’s what they are–wordless riddles.
Okay, so they aren’t completely wordless, but even the non-readers will quickly understand the point of the riddle is to identify what it is. They’re a cross between the familiar “I Spy” and ” A Closer Look”. It won’t take long before your child will proudly be “reading” the notes for themselves and delighting in solving the riddles. You could give them a little head start by letting them know all the pictures are of common objects at home.
Why Lunchbox Notes are a BigDeal
Encouragement
Maybe for the first time your child is away from you for a large chunk of the day. Think about that from their perspective for a minute. Our kids do Important Work all day long, sometimes it can get a little stressful. Maybe they are feeling a little insecure and vulnerable. Add a personal message that tells them exactly what you’re thinking about for them and that lunchbox note will give them a warm, funny, encouraging bit of contact with home and you just when they need it! They will know you’re thinking about them. Can you imagine how important that is for their spirit?
Social Development
Lunchbox riddles also encourage a sneaky bit of social development as well. They won’t be able to help sharing these cool little riddles with their friends. Maybe they will even enlist their friends’ help on a few of the trickier ones. Before too long your child’s classmates may be looking forward to your notes as much as your kiddo!
Accomplishment
One mom put wordless riddles in her kiddo’s lunchbox and reported, “The first day I added them to lunchboxes (day two of school!), we chatted on the way home about the day, their friends, recess, and–of course–lunch.” No one could figure out the picture, so we talked through it as we walked, and together they got it! The following day, my son ran out of the building and the very first thing he said to me was Brady’s nose!! (their dog) It was Brady’s nose! It took a minute, but then it hit me–he figured it out, and he was psyched. Yay!”
Lunchbox Note Tips
I learned the hard way that a child’s lunchbox can be a pretty iffy environment for a little note. Something leaked and the only riddle was what that colorful mess in the bottom of the lunchbox was in the first place! So…protect it by putting it in a small baggie. Remember a smeared soggy note is a sad and discouraging thing. I also found that printing them out on card stock instead of regular copy paper made a huge difference too. I like the bright white paper because it really makes the colors pop.
You can write a longer note on the back without worrying about the ink bleeding through to the picture on the front. If you feel super crafty you could even cut them out with those scrapbooking scissors that cut fancy edges! These are the ones I use.
I especially like the ones that look like the perforations around postage stamps. If you don’t mind cutting paper with sewing scissors (for some folks it’s a mortal sin) then pinking shears are also a fun edge.
Helping your child learn how to summarize will greatly increase their ability to sift through details in order to recognize and communicate the main idea of a text, chapter or whole book. All of which are important for understanding and remembering complicated texts, picking out supporting points and later for note taking and even outlining.
As I was talking to a policeman after a minor fender bender, the person who hit me (a very nice lady) kept going on and on about her morning and everything she had been doing prior to the crash. I could practically feel the officer rolling his eyes as he kept repeating, “Just the facts ma’am.” The ability to give “just the facts” is an important life skill that your kids will find useful well beyond school.
Summarizing: the Art ofTelling What is MOST Important
Kids LOVE stories and love telling them in great detail. Perhaps that is why summarizing can be such a difficult concept for them to grasp. It goes against their love of story telling. Neil Gaiman compared summarizing to a map showing how to get to his house. A map with every blade of grass, every fire hydrant and neighbor ceases to be useful. But one with the major roads, the bus stop and a street address will have you knocking on his door in no time!
Sometimes kids will have a skill already but because it’s called something different they don’t connect it. Hashtags are a prime example of this. Kids understand a hashtag is the most relevant piece of information you want someone to remember. Because of that, if you can help them mentally connect hashtags to summarizing you may find the rest comes more easily.
What IS and what ISN’T a Summary
Put simply, a summary is telling in their own words the important parts of the author’s text in a logical order. What isn’t in a summary are their own personal feelings, thoughts or opinions. A summary just retells what the author had to say about the subject. The good news is that there are several ways summarizing is being taught today and easy fun ways to practice them at home.
Five Useful Ways to Summarize
Who-What-When-Why-Where-How
This is the classic method for summarizing. So a very brief summary of The Lord of the Rings might go something like this… The Brotherhood of the Ring (who) battles (what) their way through Middle-earth (where) on a quest to defeat Sauron (why) by destroying the last ring in fiery Mount Doom (how). You may notice that “when” isn’t included in the summary.
That is because we only include relevant facts in a summary and in this particular case when is not really relevant. Now in a story like The Diary of Anne Frank the when is very important and definitely would be included.
Now that you get the idea, you can begin practicing with their favorite stories. Make a game of it by giving them a summary and having them try to figure out what story it is. Then reverse it and have them give the summary for you to guess.
Somebody Wanted-But-So-Then
This method is closely related to the previous WWWWWH method of summary. Using this method Mary Poppins could be summarized as: Mr. Banks (somebody) wants a happy life (wants) but his children and wife are unhappy (but) so when the magical nanny, Mary Poppins,(so) takes charge of them then everything changes (then).
This way doesn’t include time, because although there is a time frame it isn’t relevant since this story could be set in any time period. Of course that summary is from Mr. Banks’ point of view. How would the summary change if it were from Mary Poppins’ point of view?
Hashtags
As I mentioned before, hashtags can be used in summarizing because kids are already comfortable using them. Use one of the methods and write a hashtag chain for the important elements of the story. It’s fun to write these down (without proper nouns) and let other kids or parents guess what the story is. for example: #wizard? #gotoschool #makefriends #make enemies #defeatbadguy
Maybe your child is older and has come home with a homework assignment requiring them to summarize something new and perhaps a little difficult for them. What then? When the reading is in their instructional reading level (meaning it’s a little harder than what they would or could read for fun) it might take just a little extra effort. Try Close Reading.
Close Reading
This is another terrific and easy technique for a child to learn so they can master more advanced texts. It involves several steps but is really pretty simple.
First reading: teacher or parent shares with the student what they are looking for in the passage. For example, Why is Prometheus in trouble with the gods? Then the child highlights or marks the text on the first read through. Most schools frown on marking in their textbooks though so either make a copy or have them fill in one of the charts provided here directly from their reading
Chatting and charting: talk with them about what was read and have them add to the chart anything they may have missed.
Second reading: If the questions aren’t all answered then return to text to search for and answer text-dependent questions. This means the student isn’t coming up with their own answer. This is based solely on what the author has written.
Chatting and charting: talk about what was read on the second reading and what new information was gleaned. Add that to the chart and write the summary from the information on the chart.
Independence: as students practice this technique they can start doing it independently with increasing confidence.
Logical Order Card Sorting
Another fun activity you can use to reinforce the logical order part of summarizing is to write the elements on separate cards, shuffle them and have the child put them in order. They will quickly understand the importance of getting them in the right order if the story doesn’t make sense. Remember how kids love stories? Even a very young child will correct mom or dad if they mess up the order of their favorite bedtime story!
So…In “Summary”
Summarizing doesn’t always have to be about the printed word, but it is a retelling in logical order the bare facts of a story. A fun way to practice it is by creating a summary of any sitcom, movie or favorite cartoons they like. Let me tell you summarizing episodes of Sponge Bob Squarepants is a hoot!
Download these handy sheets to help your kids practice summarizing:
How to calm both your child’s “Mommy, Mommy, MOMMY” attention-seeking behaviors and your frazzled Mom nerves by actually noticing and interacting with your kids. The pay-off lasts long beyond that one moment.
A little boy, about four, stood at the top of the slide in the McDonald’s playground shouting “Watch ME, Mommy! Watch ME, Daddy!” over and over to his parents sitting with a younger child about fifteen feet away. They said ,”Uh huh”, but never looked over. My heart broke for him.
When their meals arrived he climbed off the slide, came over, pinched the younger child… and finally got his parents’ attention! With some small changes you can master the “art” of positive attention so it doesn’t have to be that way. Okay, not all the time anyway.
There’s an Art to “Noticing”Your Kids
What would the Mona Lisa have looked like if Picasso or Van Gogh had painted her? It would still show masterful brushwork, vibrant colors and evoke emotions for the viewers. It would still be “art” but can you image how different those three paintings would be?
Each child is a unique “work of art” and how you notice and appreciate that will differ from child to child. You may notice all the hard work and success one child has in sports while another may be working to be successful in an entirely different way. Each needs to be noticed in a way that authentically speaks to them.
Step Off the Path of Least Resistance
No matter where we are on the parenting spectrum, our kids love us and they want (and need) our positive attention. They need it for a lot of reasons. What we know about ourselves comes largely from other people and the first, most important ones are our parents.
Yet in my counseling practice I see over and over again, parents who don’t seem to realize they need to put real effort into parenting their children. Beyond feeding, clothing and housing them. Our words teach them their strengths and abilities.
We notice their gifts and show them how they can contribute positively by sharing those gifts with other people. Being active parents requires us to be intentional or proactive and not taking the path of least resistance so our kids learn these very important lessons. Okay! How do we do that?
Proactive versus Reactive Responses
Every time your child comes to you for attention and notice is a golden moment. I know you’ve had a long day at work and all you want is five minutes of peace and quiet. This won’t take half a minute. It will certainly be less stressful and take less time to be positively proactive (causing something to happen) than it will to be negatively reactive to the problems later.
Let’s say your little one is showing you an artistic masterpiece they’ve just colored. Instead of a bland, “That’s nice” (not enough information) or even “I like that. It’s so pretty” (not a bad start, but still conditional on you liking it) try “Wow, tell me about this picture.” (their interpretation matters)
“Look at all the colors you used!” (their decisions are noticed positively) “It’s fantastic how you used your imagination!” (building confidence in their own abilities) Can you see the difference?
Watch your child for things you can comment proactively on. When our daughter was about eight I commented on how a compliment she had given the checker at the grocery store had been so sweet. For the next year or so everywhere we went she was giving compliments to total strangers! It was amazing to see people’s faces light up at her kind words.
Make sure the words you say are true though! Kids can spot empty words and fakery a mile off. The quickest way to destroy their trust in you is to try to fake it … otherwise known as lying.
Put the emphasis on them. “You picked up your toys without be asked! Now we’ll have more time for stories tonight! (positive consequences). “You were so kind to help your little brother find his shoes.” (reinforcing good behavior without being heavy handed)
Practical Tips
Noticing Behaviors: The goal with noticing is to state an observation rather than making a judgmental or conditional comment. “Your clothes are all folded!” “You checked your little sister’s math problems.”
Start your sentence with the child’s name or the pronoun ‘you’. Look at you!, or Chris, I noticedhow you…
Describe what you see. You found her blanket and gave it to her. That was so helpful!
End your description with a ‘tag’. Tags describe attributes of your child or values you admire, like that took determination; you sure are organized; that was helpful; that was thoughtful.
If you practice these four steps regularly with your kiddos they won’t be starved for your attention because they will have a steady diet of of high quality meaningful attention from the people who mean the most to them. You! And perhaps you’ll even get those occasional five minutes of peace and quiet!
Equals 26 is a truly challenging but “easy” math game that will keep your child engaged as they try to solve the puzzle. Practicing addition skills has never been so much fun!
You know those activities that sound so simple and then aren’t? All you have to do is whack this ball and get it in that little hole way over there where that flag is… There is quite a bit of space between “simple” and “easy”, isn’t there?
A Simple, But Not Always Easy, Addition Math Game
Playing is Deceptively Simple
Using the numbers 1-12, place one number in each circle so that the numbers on each side of both triangles Equal 26
Something that simple should be easy, right? Easy, no not really. But definitely fun and challenging!
It took me, a language arts lady, a long, long time. Longer than I’d care to admit. But even then the puzzle part is fun! The engineer husband and grand kiddos, of course, got it solved a lot faster!
I’ve included two sizes you can download so you can print out several smaller ones to keep in a little envelope in your purse for those times when you really need your child to be quietly occupied. Doctor and dentist offices perhaps? And the larger one for playing it at home or in the classroom.
It reminded me and the kids of another triangle math game and the sudoku that lots of folks play. I love that this game can be printed out and played on the spur of the moment for one child. But you can also laminate it so it can be played over and over in a classroom setting or at home.
Want to try it yourself? Download it here:
What do you think? Can you solve Equals 26: a tricky math puzzle?
Looking for more super-fun, sneaky math activities? Check out the following math-happy posts:
Celebrate Fall with fun easy math grid games for two or more players that promotes math manipulation, strategy, reading and plant identification…plus possibly getting to eat the game pieces! Included are versions for Pre-K through Kindergarten, First through Second Grade and Third through Fourth Grade.
Fall is a tricky thing in Texas. Some years we have a glorious fall with all the colors, swirling leaves and cool crisp weather. And then there are the years we go straight from late brutally hot summer to winter in less than a week…
NO fall. That’s okay. Just turn down the AC, heat up some apple cider and play a few Easy Fun Fall Leaves Math Grid games.
The Easy Fun Fall Leaves Math Grid Game
Here’s What You Need:
Printed Grids
Laminated if you’re using edible markers for Beginner, Simple or Advanced version.
Game Markers
Edible markers can be cheerios, berries, apple chunks, ginger snaps, popcorn etc. Non-edible markers could be the ones included in the download or flattened marbles, pennies, buttons, etc.
One 1-6 die
Numerals or dots. For the Advanced version, you’ll need two dice.
One die with a different color on each side
Simple and Advanced versions of the game. If you don’t have one of these you can make one by putting paper tape on each side of a regular die and coloring in the appropriate colors. The Beginner version only needs the numbered die.
Start with the Super Easy Beginner Game for Pre-K and Kindergarten
This version of the game is perfect for young kiddos learning to move from left to right, counting out loud and placing markers accurately on the grid. Additionally they begin to be aware of the distinct leaf shapes and tree names.
The player rolls the die and places markers on the grid starting from the upper left hand side moving across to the right and down the chart (the same pattern used in reading).
The first player to fill up their grid wins and the markers (if edible) are eaten. There is no set number of rounds, so play until the little ones lose interest or until all the “markers” are eaten.
Keeping score is completely optional.
Step Up to the Simple Fall Leaf Grid Game for First and Second Grade
Each person gets a grid sheet and access to a whole lot of markers (about 30 for the simple version and 60 for the advanced) We put our markers in a big bowl for everyone to draw from when it’s their turn.
The first player rolls the numbered and colored dice.
Each side on the colored die coordinates with a leaf and tells the player in which column to put the marker.
The number die tells them which number to cover.
If the number they roll is already covered they can’t do anything, and play passes to the next player.
If the player rolls blue, they get to pick who has to remove a piece from their grid.
If you’re using edible markers this means that player eats one of his markers!
The first person to cover all the spaces under one leaf wins that round.
You can set how many rounds will be played beforehand or you can just play until all the markers are gone!
Or Play the Advanced Fall Leaf Grid Game for Third and Fourth Grade
This version of the game is for kids who have graduated to multiplication and division. Use the longer chart (two pages numbered 0 – 12) for this one. In addition to the longer chart, you’ll notice there is also a zero included in each column.
The players now roll three dice; the two numbered ones and the colored one.
The color die still indicates which column is played.
But now the two numbers are used to create a number sentence with the answer being the number covered by a marker.
Any math function may be used. Players will quickly realize that where 6×6=36 won’t work on the chart, 6÷6 =1, 6-6=0 or 6+6=12 will.
This leafy indoor/outdoor alphabet hunt lets kids get into the spirit of Fall with matching letters and colors. Add spelling to the hunt for older kids and the whole family can play!
It’s finally FALL! I hope you are blessed to be living somewhere ablaze with fall color, but if not you can still enjoy a bit of it and add in a dash of learning for your kiddos with this simple and versatile game of hunting for and matching letters.
Use the silk leaves or DIY print your own printed leaves on fall color cardstock
Write capital (uppercase) letters on one set of leaves and then the little (lower case) letters on another batch so that there is an A to go with an a and so forth.
You can also write letters on each of the clothespins if you want another level of matching.
Put the clothespins on a yarn clothesline your child can easily reach. Whether you put the letters in order or not is up to you and your child’s familiarity with the alphabet and alphabetical order. If the ABC’s being in the wrong order would upset your early learner then by all means don’t do it! The goal of the game is to pair up the upper and lower case letters and clip them on the clothesline with the matching clothespin.
Then hide the leaves throughout your house or yard like an Easter egg hunt where some are trickier than others to find.
Some Different Ways to Play
Shout “Go” and then stand back and enjoy the following frantic scramble to find the leaves and pair them up on the clothesline of course, is always fun.
Put the clothespins in not alphabetical order and have the child rearrange them into correct order as they pin the leaves.
Hunt for upper then lower case letters separately.
Give a “fall” word (Leaf, cold, you get the idea) and have them find the letters starting it.
For older kids, you can add a word hunt activity that will have them combing the house or yard to find the letters. Be sure to choose words that don’t repeat letters!
If you’re comfortable with your kids combing through your yard for the leaves you could even try that. In a yard full of fall leaves it would certainly add a “needle in a haystack” level of difficulty to the game that might be more challenging and a whole lot of fun.
Make this Game Super Versatile
Personally I think laminating machines are just the best! They can add so much versatility, not to mention durability, to your activities. So if you have one of these little treasures, use our printable fall leaves (download below) to laminate. (This one gets good reviews… mine is too old for reviews!)
Then if you want your child to practice matching something other than their ABC’s you just use your trusty dry erase marker and you’re set. What about matching numerals to the word? (One – 1) Or Numeral/word to amount of objects (5/Five – *****)?
If foreign language is an option, perhaps matching words in the target language to English (cat – gato) In math your child could match common math abbreviations to the word. (km -kilometer or lb -pound) The possibilities are practically endless. And the best part? When you’re done you just wipe them off and they’re ready for the next time you need them!
Lessons Learned the Hard Way
When you’ve printed out the Fall Leaves and colored them to your liking, you may think you’ll save time by laminating the whole page intact … please resist this urge. CUT THEM OUT before laminating them! That way the laminating film seals all the way around the leaf. Otherwise the edges will be open. The film will peal off, the paper will tear, moisture can get in to ruin them. Take it from me, it will just be nasty.
Happy Leafy Letter Hunting!
You can buy silk leaves for this activity or you can grab the download below to DIY your own Leafy Fall Alphabet Hunt!
With a small amount of planning you can give your kids an easy fun way to focus on what they need or want and not be overwhelmed by all the choices available when you make your trip the library.
Kids can be a little exuberant when it comes to picking out books at the library. All of them look so amazing! Publishers spend quite a lot of money making sure they do so it should come as no surprise when our kiddos collect a stack of books taller than themselves to check out. I know that’s how libraries and bookstores effect my family.
Plan Ahead
Talk About Books and Topics Ahead of Time
What they are interested today is a great place to start. Little Mermaid came out when our daughter was five, we researched oceanography. My dad talked about his WWII experiences with our boys, we researched WWII.
We were going to Colonial Williamsburg so we read all kinds of things about the American Revolution. Each kiddo had their own fields of personal interest too so those books were often in our checkout pile.
Make a Note of Interests
You can use the Library Plan cards to make note of topics for future library trips. At first (and with younger kids) you’ll need to help them fill out their cards, but eventually they can do this step on their own. What if they don’t have a clue at all? That’s totally fine. There are categories and suggestions on each card.
Check Out the Online Catalog Before You Go
At one point we lived in a fairly small town, but it had three college libraries, the main library and a couple of branches. The online catalog was certainly helpful in telling us if any of the libraries had the book we were looking for, but also where it was.
Using the online catalog also allows you to go armed with the book’s call letters and author. Having those really reduces the search time and is especially appreciated if you end up needing a librarian’s assistance.
Know Your Child’s Approximate Reading Level
This is really for no other reason than to know whether your child will be able to read the book independently or need your assistance. Independent or recreational reading level is slightly below their instructional reading level. So if your child picks a book you perceive as being too easy for them that’s likely the reason.
Be Aware of the Age/Reading level of Your Kids’ Choices
Early (easy) Readers for 4-6 year olds. These may include wordless or low word count picture books.
First Chapter Books and some Graphic Novels for 6-9 year olds.
Middle Age Novels and Graphic Novels for 8-12 year olds
Tween Novels and Graphic Novels for 10-14 year olds
Young Adult Novel and Graphic Novels for 12-18ish year olds
The purpose of this list isn’t to tell your child they can’t (or must) read a book based on their age, but rather to give you some idea of what would be most helpful, readable and age appropriate for them. The graphic novel that would be acceptable and interesting to a 16 year old would most likely be totally beyond to wildly inappropriate for an eight year old.
When You Are at the Library
When the book is located you can tuck the card in like a bookmark. If a different title is substituted make the change on the card first. Then after checkout mom or dad collects the cards. I know many libraries print out a list of the checked out books these days, but some don’t.
Keeping the Library Plan cards will give you a record of what your child read and when. But most importantly, when it comes time to round up all the books to turn them in you will know what you’re looking for!
Setting Book Limits
You may want to set a limit for the number of books each child is allowed to check out. We never did this. The down side of that, of course, comes when it’s time to return the books. If your family has checked out 80+ books on oceanography chances are pretty good you won’t be able to round them all up to turn them in on time. The library fines can become epic. Ask me how I know.
Book Reports
Encourage (or even require) your kids to talk about what they are reading. This can be done informally, like at dinner or while they are helping in the kitchen or while you’re catching rays in the back yard. But maybe your kids would occasionally like to make a bigger deal out of reporting by doing something extra.
Some ideas for that might include making a model, writing a poem, drawing a picture, or doing a play or puppet play and sharing it with the family. Make even the reporting FUN. Reporting also helps children learn and practice the important skill of summarizing. The back of the card would be a great place to summarize the book.
Record for Reference
If you keep your child’s cards in a file of some sort (repurposed box, on a d-ring etc) they or you can refer back to it to remember the books they liked when they were 7 or for remembering where they read something or what books they liked so much they might enjoy owning a copy.
As a mom of now adult children, I really enjoy finding examples of their childhood writing with all the misspellings, backward letters and random capitalization.
You can grab your own free printable download of the library plan by entering your email in the box below. Happy reading!
Nothing lifts our spirits quite as much as feeling loved. These little lunchbox love notes will give encouragement and put a smile on your child’s (or your spouse’s?) face. Get the free download and pack one in their next lunch.
Your kiddo does Important work at school. Recognizing and praising that work is important to help foster a growth mindset, but also just to let them know you appreciate it and them! They may be having trying day and your little note lets them know you are in their corner thinking about them. What a boost!
If a tiny note at lunch that says, Good job! puts a smile on their face or reminds them of how proud we are, then these little love notes will have done their job!
Lunchbox Love Notes
These are very simple notes, and each has a picture to go along with it. They are easy enough for even an early reader to read. There are several varieties on the same page so they are easy to print on one sheet and cut apart.
Instructions and Supplies
It couldn’t be simpler. Just print these cuties on some white card stock and cut them apart. We’ve used this bright white brand for years and I love how the colors pop! on it. Then I like to jazz them up a little by cutting them apart with deckle edge scissors. I especially like the one that makes them look like the perforations around postage stamps. I have a bucket full of them but these are some of my favorites.
You want to be organized and have all your kids’ school stuff under control. You want to not have chaos as you’re trying to get everyone out the door in the morning with everything they need for the day. These two little tricks will help you get a more organized school year.
Start with an Organized School Year
We’ve done private school and homeschool with our three kids and nothing derails the whole day quite like spending 30 minutes to an hour (or more) looking for some critical piece of “school.” I never aimed for organizational perfection, but these two tricks kept me fairly sane and, most of the time, the kids well-equipped for their school day.
There are probably a half a zillion ways to be disorganized and about that many plans for getting organized. But they are all BIG reorganization plans where everything changes. I aimed small.
Make Small Changes
I love to organize… but I hate, loath and despise maintaining it. That’s because I thought I had to change everything all at once. What was really needed instead was to make small changes that could turn into HABITS. And folks, habits are the key to becoming “organized”.
Let’s start with corralling all the papers and stuff that comes home with the kids. Some teachers send home notebooks that need your signature, some send individual papers. There are homework assignments, books, projects, sports equipment, dirty lunchboxes, dirty gym clothes etc. So the first small step is to have a place for it all. This could be a bench, table, hooks on the wall or even a big box or tub by the door.
The habit is to put the stuff there, take it from there to work on and return it straight there when finished so everyone knows where their stuff is in the morning. Papers, notebooks, permission slips and the like get signed and immediately put there ready to go in the morning. Clean gym and sports clothes don’t go anywhere but back there. It’s the same with anything they are going to need after school (if they don’t come home first). It’s not a big habit, but man-oh-man will it make your life and theirs a lot easier!
Take Fewer Steps
The fewer steps you have to take to help your kids with homework, answer questions, provide “encouragement” to stay on task, exhort them to academic greatness, and things of that nature the better it is for everyone. The habit is to have them do homework in the same place that is close to you every evening.
Where that is, of course, will depend on what works best for your family. Some kids do homework at a kitchen counter, some at the kitchen or dining room table, others have a desk or table in a nearby room. Whatever works and allows you to be involved as needed. What you don’t want is to be dashing hither and yon from one child to the next while fixing dinner or getting ready for the evening activities. What a waste of your energy and time!
Keep everyone within a few steps of where you do the bulk of your evening activities and save all that time and energy for better things. Unfortunately in this day and age, it’s also beneficial to be close enough to be able to monitor what your kiddos may be seeing online as they work. I know it’s awful, but there it is and there’s no sense sticking our heads in the sand like an ostrich in denial, is there?
The BIG Payoff
Let’s face it, mornings can be chaotic! But by establishing these two little tricks turned habits you can be assured your kids will leave the house with what they need for the day with the least amount of hassle and drama possible. Now whether or not they’ve had breakfast or their shoes and socks match… well that’s a post (and habits) for another day. And now that you know to aim small to establish big habits I have no doubt you’ll soon have that organized as well.
What’s Next?
Just setting this up isn’t going to somehow magically make you organized though. Studies show it takes about thirty days for something to become a habit. So for thirty days your job is to intentionally practice the small changes with your family every. single. day. Talk about how much better the mornings are now. Do a little something to reward yourselves for taking steps to organize.
Go to a movie, play board games, get a super duper deluxe pizza delivered. The point is that you are acknowledging and rewarding the change. In video games when you do something right you get a reward and a little dopamine hit for your brain (Oh my, how our brains love dopamine!). That’s one of the reasons we get so addicted to those kinds of games.
Our brains are telling us to give them more of it so we continue to play. In essence, that is what you’re doing by creating new habits and rewarding yourself and your family for them.
No matter how much we’d like to protect our children from sadness, tragedy and grief, whether it is from the death of a loved one, a terror attack or a natural disaster, all we can realistically do is help them navigate their way through it.
When Tragedy Strikes
The worst has happened and things seem irrevocably different. You may start to notice changes in yourself and your child. Grief, fear, sadness and anxiety leak out in many different ways. It’s the mind’s (and heart’s) way of saying. “Pay Attention to me, I need help!” Do not expect to ignore them and have them simply go away because they won’t. Instead deal with them head on.
How Sadness, Tragedy and Grief May Present
Remember this is a list of symptoms, not problems, your child may be having. In fact, you might be experiencing some of these as well. In some ways dealing with them is similar to treating an infection, once the root cause is properly addressed the symptoms will lessen. Unlike an infection though, grief doesn’t go away altogether, but it can be turned into a more positive than negative thing.
Blaming, BullyingPhysical Complaints such as stomach aches, headaches, lethargy
Academic Problems, Poor Concentration, Behavioral Problemsat school
Withdrawal
Jumpinessor Heightened Startle Response
Risky Behaviors
Helpful Actions to Take
Communicate
This is the foundation on which everything is built when dealing with any sort of emotion. Open, honest, calm communication. Listen to understand your child and make sure they understand what you say to them. Rephrase
Active Listening
Good communication requires active listening. Your child needs to be really be heard as they process their emotions. Listen to understand and don’t be thinking about you are going to say next. When your child finishes speaking, restate what they said and let them confirm that you understand!
Parents should seek out other adults to help process the majority of their own grief fully so as not to burden their child with both theirs and their parents’. It is important for children to see their parents working through tough emotions so they know it can be done.
Acknowledge Their Feelings
When bad things happen our emotions can be all over the place at first. That’s to be expected. “I hear you, I understand how you’re feeling, I can see how that would be frightening (sad, heavy etc)” tells your child their feelings matter to you and you are there to help.
Answer Questions Honestly
Give age appropriate information. A kindergartener doesn’t need to know as much as a 14 year old about terrorism for example. While you’ll need to be careful about what you share with younger children, be sure that what you do tell them is true. Nothing breaks trust as thoroughly as a lie even if you think it will protect them.
Limit News Coverage
With our 24 hour news cycle your child may be exposed to far too much information that can have a re-traumatizing effect on them so consider limiting their viewing time. “Little pitchers have big ears” is a saying for a reason so be conscious of what you are saying even when you think they aren’t listening.
Create a Safe Environment
When a tragedy occurs, regardless of whether it’s the death of a loved one, a natural disaster, or a school shooting, we all wonder how it will affect us personally. Children, because they are so dependent on others for their care, are apt to feel this much strongly. You can give them realistic reassurance that they will continue to be cared for in the aftermath of the tragedy. Be as specific as possible so they know you aren’t just blowing off their concerns. Giving extra reassurances (hugs, cuddles, sitting close or in your lap) can be a comfort to both you and your child during these times
Maintain a Routine
Even in the aftermath of a tragedy life does go on. So as much as is possible try to maintain your previous routine or, at least, some kind of routine that takes into account new realities. For example if the tornado destroyed the dance studio you aren’t going to be able to keep dance lessons on the schedule… for a while.
Schedule Fun Activities
Fun activities are even more important during bad times. We need the mental break from whatever is going on and to remember even when things are difficult there is still joy and fun in the world. Fun also floods our brains with stress relieving endorphins .
Faith
In times of tragedy it is difficult to understand the why of it all. Some people find a lot of comfort and answers in their faith. Each religion has its own funeral customs. Prayers for those who have passed seems to be universal. Giving flowers and food to the grieving is also common. Each handles the funeral itself differently as well. It will be up to you and your family to decide if attending such ceremonies would be beneficial to provide the beginnings of closure.
Be sensitive to the impressions and preconceptions young children may have. When my mother passed away we told our youngest, who was three at the time, that Grandma had gone to live with Jesus. In his mind, our church was Jesus’ house so every Sunday he was looking for Grandma!
Memorializing
This can be something as simple as giving and receiving a keepsake honoring a loved one. Other ideas for memorializing include a framed photograph, planting a tree or perhaps creating a piece of art in their honor. Your family might also consider donating to relief efforts if that is appropriate. This is a great time to let your children be involved in coming up with how you and they will remember.
Everyone Copes Differently
Some of these ideas will work better for your family than others. Each member of your family will cope differently. One person may need to talk more than another one who needs more alone time. One person may really be helped by painting or journalling while another needs to spend more time in a faith-based activity. Let each person cope in the way that helps them the most.
Give it Time
Unfortunately there is no expiration date on grief. Working through it just takes time. Allow time to do its work. Some days will be going along well and then grief may sneak up on you and knock you down again. Knowing that’s the way it works mean you can plan ahead for those times. Some folks use those times to listen to music, write poetry, visit with others, journal their thoughts and feelings, paint or go for walks.
Be easy on yourself and your children. I often remind people that when the 23rd Psalm says “Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death…” it doesn’t mention how long the trip is, but clearly we aren’t meant to set up housekeeping there. Keep moving forward!
Help your kids not only understand math better but actually LOVE math. Give them the foundation to be super successful in STEM classes and beyond to the real world outside of school.
I am the only child “language arts” offspring of two math teachers… so math frustrations were high for all of us. Me because I didn’t understand and them because they didn’t know why I didn’t understand. That all ended in college when I took a “Math for Educators” class. Suddenly it all made sense. At least more sense. Let’s do that for your kids!
Making Math Come Alive
A recent survey showed a whopping 93% of the people said they had very negative responses to math. How can this be? Kids who loved counting their moves on a board game and were very aware of who got the bigger piece of the cookie now are uncomfortable with math?
Could it be that math for them is no longer connected to the real world? Now, for them, it’s just isolated math facts, formulas and memorization. Here are some fun ways to help your kids reconnect with and love math.
Finding the Math in What Your Child Already Loves
Our daughter has always been a planner so, when she was eight, we would make up long word problems for her around a royal banquet theme. We set the number of guests and then she would tell us how many tables, cutlery and pieces of china and stemware the queen would need to have brought from the royal storeroom! (Division and multiplication)
Does your child like to cook? Lots of math there! How about a sports fan? Statistics, ratios, averages! You have a musician? Great! Rhythm and music theory are full of math relationships. And when that musician starts getting paid, then money is also part of the “equation”.
Math in the Kitchen
I’m a big fan of kids doing math in the kitchen. Double, triple or half that cookie recipe. Count the biscuits as they cut them. Cut things in half or quarter. Do we cut the pizza into sixths or eighths? There are 17 guests for the birthday party… how do we divide the cake?
Measure ingredients. Make shopping lists with a budget. Figure the cost for a special dinner or party. Math can have some yummy rewards!
Math in the Shop or Craft Room.
There is so much math to be found here! Estimating the supplies needed, the time it will take, reading (or creating) patterns, measuring, use of shapes, categorizing, 3 dimensional thinking and planning. What is the thing that will motivate your child here?
One of our sons was intrigued with RC cars and planes and the other with creating stuff with electronic guts. You may soon find the math actually gets ahead of you. That’s all right. Seek outside help from those with the same interest and reinforce a growth mindset. You don’t have to know everything.
Math as We Travel
I miss the days of traveling with real paper maps. I do love my GPS, but paper maps had the mileage between points, in incredibly tiny print, so you could add the miles to your next stop, subtract from the whole trip length, deal with scale.
I remember how shocked I was to find out how quickly we got places once we left Texas. Why…in other states people could drive across multiple states in one day! GPS figures all that out for you, but you can still play mileage marker games with your kiddos.
Speed and distance calculations can be a fun part of your trip. How many miles to Disney? How long will that take? What if you were in a covered wagon only able to go 30 miles a day?
Math in the Marketplace
If you have a budding entrepreneur this is the perfect place to practice budgeting, saving, interest, how money is fungible, profit and assets vs debits. They can learn all that while they are selling services (like lawn mowing), lemonade, fresh eggs, or perhaps something they’ve made.
Remember counting money and making change (an important skill endangered by technology) teach and reinforce skip counting.
Math in Our Imagination
Just like the royal banquet I mentioned earlier, a child’s imagination is a great place to think about math. How fast would a spaceship need to go to get to Centauri in # of years, how how many fuzzblatts tall is your alien planet’s capitol building? How many fuzzblatts are in a blingle?
Can you convert fuzzblatts and blingles into Imperial measurements? Or metric? What happens if in your imagination the people have 7 fingers on each hand? What do the extra number look like? What does 10 mean then? (A fun way to introduce base number systems)
Math as a Game
There are roughly a zillion games on the market, plus the ones we invent, that help kids with math skills either directly or indirectly. Even games like Candy Land can up leveled up with the addition of a set of blank dice. For example, if each side has a multiple of 10 written on it you can have the kids count by 2’s, 5’s or 10’s to make their move.
Or put simple equations on each side and move according to the answer. How about the number words? You’re going to want to get a set or two because they because they have so many educational uses!
Math-Based Games our Family and Friends Have Enjoyed
Make your own garden stepping stones with just a few supplies from your local hardware store. Great for Mother’s Day or Father’s Day gifts or your own garden décor. We’ve all seen those super cute garden stepping stones in magazines and at our local gardening stores. The prices aren’t so cute though. Here’s how you and your kids can make your own at a fraction of the cost.
PHOTO
When I was a little girl I LOVED making and decorating mud pies to serve at tea parties. I was so proud of my creations, but they didn’t last long. They always dissolved in the first rain. These creations, however, will be beautifying your garden for years to come.
Making Garden Stepping Stones
You and your children can make wonderful unique stepping stones to decorate your garden or walkway with easily obtainable supplies, some you may already have around the house.
Supplies
old metal cake pans: I picked mine up from the Dollar Store, but you can usually find them for pennies at garage sales. Remember you won’t be using these for food.
a gallon bucket or pail for mixing the cement in
a small disposable tub (about the size a whipped cream container)
Be sure to put on the latex gloves while working with the cement and mortar. They are alkaline and will irritate the skin.
Spray pans with WD40 exactly as you would grease a pan to make a cake
Mix acrylic paint in a small amount of water. The color needs to be stronger than you really want the finished product to be because you will be mixing it into the white mortar.
In the gallon bucket mix equal portions of white Portland cement and white sand. Add enough water to make the mixture hold together.
In the small tub combine the white mortar mix with small amounts of the colored water until you have a slurry with cake batter consistency. You can add more paint if needed.
Pack the cement mixture into the cake pans leaving about an inch at the top. Tap the pan firmly to help settle the cement and minimize bubbles. Pour the mortar mix on top of the cement and spread it around with the paintbrush to get even coverage.
Use marbles, rocks, tiles and shells pushed into the mortar to decorate. Use the carving items to add words or details.
Set aside to let dry.
When completely dry turn your stepping stone out of the pan and get ready to decorate the garden!
FAQ
Do I have to use white cement and sand? All I can find is gray. Gray will work fine, but the paint you choose will need to be more intense hues and you will have shades or dusty tones of the color. If you want lighter colors, you could always order online!
What do I do if my child gets the cement or mortar on their skin? Wash it off with soap and lots of water.
Techniques every parent can use to get their kids to actually talk about things that matter no matter whether they are three or thirteen!
Maybe for the first time your child is away from you for 8-9 hours every school day experiencing all sorts of new things, but when you ask them about it they give monosyllabic answers. Frustrating, worrisome and unhelpful. Part of the problem is the “what and how” of your questions. And to be fair to your kids, part of it may be they are worn out or are looking forward to their fun after school activities and want to put school behind them.
As a mom and a counselor I have spent a lot of time coaxing information out of less than cooperative kids. Here are some of the best ways to help kids open up.
Helping Kids Really Talk to You
Often with young children it isn’t so much that they don’t want to talk to you as it is that they don’t really know how. They may not have the words to tell you big things. It’s up to you to help them with this by using quality questions, reflecting, deep listening, being aware of body language and building on their trust in you.
Quality Questions
I’ve heard lots of people advise against closed or yes/no questions. There is nothing wrong using them, but you need to follow up with an open-ended why, what or how question. Who, when, and where questions are closed. You: Did you have fun in P.E. today? Child: Yeah. You: What made it fun?
There is no guarantee your child won’t answer even good open-ended questions with a non-answer, but keep going because, eventually, they will realize you are willing to keep asking questions!
Reflecting
This is exactly what it sounds like, you reflecting their answers back to them in slightly different words. Why is this important? It shows that you are listening to them, you are waiting for the next thing, you aren’t judging them or rushing in to solve things. Child: I hate math! You: Wow, you’re not liking math? Child: Fractions are stupid! You: Fractions are hard to understand?
Ask them to correct anything you get wrong and then restate the corrected reflection.
Reflecting allows your child to take the next step without you leading them. This is the beginning of learning how to think about and communicate things that happen in their life away from you.
Deep Listening
As parents who have been used to solving their problems, this one can be a little challenging. Listening is just that, listening. Not solving. Listening means paying attention to what they are saying, the words they use, their tone of voice and body language.
Body Language
An interesting fact about body language is that it crosses all languages and cultures. And while we learn to not say things or even lie with our mouths our bodies never learn to lie. You are unconsciously already reading body language. If I were a betting woman, I’d bet you know when your child is hiding something, is uncomfortable, sad or angry, happy or proud without them saying a word. You’re going to use this same skill when you’re listening deeply to your child. Are they nodding when saying no or vice versa? Are they making eye contact? Are they fidgeting, blushing, nervous? Sometimes these little signals may mean you need to talk privately with your child. They may feel uncomfortable sharing in front of siblings or other people. You give their issues importance when you say something like, “This seems important, can we talk about it at home over hot chocolate?” Pairing a potentially stressful conversation with something they can look forward to helps.
Privacy and Confidentiality
Some things can be a bit sensitive for your child and need some privacy. Remember especially in early years your child will be dealing with lots of things for the first time. Be sensitive to this need and handle their concerns with care.
You may think what your child shares is “kid stuff”, but if you tell others without their permission, you can be assured they will be hesitant to share in the future when the stakes may be a lot higher. Tell them you will keep their confidence and only share it if you have to and never behind their backs. (Some things, like abuse, have to be reported by law so that they and others aren’t hurt further).
Create a Solution Together
When they feel you understand what they are telling you, ask what they want to do about it and how they would like for you to help. Work with them to create a possible solution. I always talk about this possible solution as a kind of experiment, “Let’s try this and see if that improves things. If it doesn’t, don’t worry we’ll try something else.” This lets your child know you will be staying with him or her until there is a resolution and that together y’all are a problem-solving dynamic duo!
Trust
I can’t stress how important trust is. When your child shares with you they are trusting you to be the best parent you can be. They are trusting you to hold as sacred the things they are dealing with. Thank them for trusting you enough to share these things with you. You will be amazed at what this one simple thing does for your child’s heart, self esteem, their relationship with you and their ability to deal with life’s tough lessons.
Geocaching wraps learning cardinal directions, following clues, and map reading in all the excitement of an old-fashioned treasure hunt. Players, known as Cachers, try to locate hidden containers, called geocaches, using a smartphone or GPS. They can then share their experiences online with other Cachers.
Skills to Help Make Geocaching More Fun
Our family was first introduced to geocaching when our two Boy Scouts came rushing home with a geocaching merit badge book. Reading a little about it and picking up the lingo certainly adds to the enjoyment of the sport. It is a great way to practice map reading, cardinal directions, following directions, observation, logical thinking and problem-solving. We love that non-Cachers are called Muggles!
Entry-Level Geocaching Books to Help You Along The Way
Way back when, before phones had all the bells and whistles they do today you were looking at a hefty price tag for a handheld GPS to turn over to kids. Today there are several free or inexpensive apps available that make the entry cost much more reasonable. The two we looked at are Cachly and Geocaching. Cachly has some really helpful map features. Both provide important local geocache information that you will want to know about in advance like what the terrain is and how difficult it is to get to the cache. Each has some other pretty cool features so you’ll have to evaluate what is important for how you expect to geocache.
We visited the website: geocaching.com, played around, watched the two-minute video, read about the caches close to us, and registered on the site. It’s all free unless you want to upgrade to a premium membership.
Outdoor Gear
You can certainly spend a LOT of money here, but you can also in many cases use what you already have. While a pair of deluxe hiking boots might be really great, you don’t have to have them to get started. Some things you will need are:
Sturdy closed-toe shoes
Wide-brimmed hat
Sunscreen
Bug spray
Sunglasses
Pen for signing the log inside the cache
Appropriate clothing for the season and location
I’d also advise some sort of sturdy walking stick for turning over logs and rocks and such without having to reach into places you can’t see.
Binoculars can also be helpful.
Backpack with water and some energy snacks.
Take a Hike
If you think about the things you would take on a hike you’ll be on the right track. Because some caches have little trinkets inside to trade (the little caches don’t have room for them) you should take something to put in to replace what you take out so the next cacher also has something fun to find.
Learn as You Go!
I know I’m just barely scratching the surface here, but for the recreational geocacher, especially for the family with young children, the main point is to get out there exploring and enjoy it! Geocaching is a big outdoor treasure hunt. It’s like a secret club where you go from being a Muggle to being a Geocacher where you look at the world as the adventure it really is. In geocaching you aren’t guaranteed a “find”, but even if you don’t find the cache of all caches this time, you’ll have so much fun you won’t really mind because there’s always next time!
Maybe your kids have just finished playing around with prisms or maybe they’ve spotted a rainbow after a spring shower and now you’re looking for a fun way to get all your kids involved in a bit of color theory without actually using the word “theory”. It’s a beautiful day and everything is in full bloom. It’s time for a Backyard Rainbow Hunt!
Backyard Rainbow Hunt
This activity will earn big smiles from all the kids. The rules are super simple: one petal of each flower or leaf to show the color, look for as many rainbow colors as they could find, bonus points if they find more than one thing of each color and bring them all back to the table as fast as they can when the timer goes off. Set a timer for ten to fifteen minutes. You may need to walk around with them to help reach leaves and blossoms too high for them to safely reach.
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Prepare beforehand by drawing a rainbow arch on a poster board. Get your kids to write ROY G BIV on the appropriate stripe and color each stripe to match.
Our Friend Roy G Biv
You are sure to have at least one child who is confused about indigo. That’s great because it means they are thinking about it and are curious. Some things for them to notice as they are gathering their bits of the rainbow are how many different variations of a color there are in your yard? Is grass the same color green as the cedar tree or the palm leaf? How about blue? Are they able to find a true crayon blue flower? Maybe not. I live in Texas where bluebonnets bloom in the Spring. Even though you’d think with that name they would be BLUE, really they are a slightly purplish-blue. And what about pink? What? There’s no pink stripe on the rainbow!? That’s because pink is a mix of red and white. So put those pink petals on the red stripe! But back to that troublesome indigo color. If you want to make indigo with a paint set you’d mix two drops of blue with one drop of red. If you want to make violet you’d mix equal parts blue and red. Try and see what you get. Which one is bluer and which is redder? Did you know what we call certain colors has changed over the centuries? Way back in Sir Isaac Newton’s day (the guy who in 1666 came up with the color wheel when he was studying prisms) what they called “blue” would today likely be called aqua and the confusing indigo color would probably be called blue today Some people actually want to remove indigo from the color wheel because it’s so confusing! What do you think about that? What would happen to our friend Roy G. Biv?
Remember not everything has to be “natural” during some seasons certain colors may be really difficult to find so a small toy, glove or piece of paper may fill in for these colors.
When the timer rings everyone races back with all parts of the rainbow they collected and dumps them on the poster. They can be organized first by color, but what then? Maybe they will want to organize the items in each stripe by size or by who collected them. This is the time to talk about all the shades and tints of the same color. A shade is the dark version of the color that you get by adding black or brown to it. A tint is the light version of the color you get from adding white, pink for example is red plus white.
Overall, in the quick fifteen minutes or so it will take to search for colors and organize them, they will all be able to create a pretty darn beautiful rainbow–just from things in their backyard.
They get to practice all their great sorting, grouping and organizing skills and have a blast doing it! This fun little activity reinforces all that plus encouraging them to stop and look around at their own regular everyday world and playground with a different set of eyes–scientist eyes, artist eyes, detective eyes.
They will really enjoy it.
And with a little bit of learning disguised as a game–and very little prep and clean-up–the parents will surely enjoy it, too.
With so many families moving toward self-sufficiency, organic food and homesteading interest in raising chickens is skyrocketing. Here are five reasons you need a flock in your backyard.
We didn’t get our first flock until we were grandparents when we moved to our farm, Glad Tidings. We’ve enjoyed them with our grandkids, but I wish we had gotten them sooner when our kids were still home. This is what we learned about chickens that you should know.
Five Things to Expect from Having Backyard Chickens
1. They Are Easy!
Chickens are so easy and can be very laid back.
Seriously. We put their organic feed in the feed bowl and refill it every few days. Do the same thing with their water. Every week or so, when needed, we cleaned out the laying boxes and put fresh hay or wood shavings in them. The old hay or shavings go directly into the compost tumbler. Done.
They do not bite, and their pecks are so gentle. (Rooster pecks are NOT gentle in my experience because it’s his job to protect his ladies. Roosters also have spurs! For people living in a subdivision, this probably won’t be a problem as most HOAs don’t allow roosters.)
If you handle your chickens from the time they are chicks they will follow you around and even sit in your lap!
2. Eggs!
Gathering eggs is so much fun and if your flock includes “Easter eggers” (hybrid chickens that are a cross between brown egg layers and blue egg layers) you’ll have the added fun of gathering super colorful eggs in shades of blue, green, tan, pink, yellow and brown. There’s something really special about going into the backyard, instead of the grocery store, and gathering your breakfast.
3. Chickens are Hilarious!
Who knew? Chickens love swings made from tree branches, apples smeared with peanut butter and coated in birdseed hanging from a rope, taking dirt baths, hunting for bugs and chasing after food scraps you throw to them. We have a friend who mounted a colorful child’s xylophone on the wall of the coop and enjoys chicken concerts as they peck out tasty tunes! They will also eat cat food and dog food if they can get to it! The Engineer and I love sitting on the back porch listening to their sweet soft burbling conversations as they roam around doing their thing. We had no idea chickens were so melodious. (I’m of an age that I have to confess I keep looking for their Foghorn Leghorn arms which seem to be missing… whippersnappers may have to Google it!)
4. You and Your Kids Will Learn A Lot About Chickens.
Most people these days don’t know the things your kids will.
There’s one rooster to a flock and he’s the BOSS. Being the boss means he tells the hens where the food is, but he’s the last to eat. He’s always watchful and protects his hens and he keeps the hens from fighting with each other.
Some hens really like sitting on the nest. Others just lay eggs and walk away.
Orange yolks taste better than yellow ones. The more bugs they eat the more orange the yolks are!
Chickens get up with the sun and when evening comes they go back to the coop.
If you don’t wash the gathered eggs you don’t have to refrigerate them right away. They can sit out on the counter for about two weeks. If you wash them though (and some of them will need it) they will have to be kept in the refrigerator.
Your kids will know where eggs come from. I know it sounds silly, but a lot of people are pretty confused about this. Personally, I think it’s because eggs are found in the dairy case in the grocery store. I’ve had more than a few people express sympathy that I can’t eat eggs when they find out I’m allergic to dairy!
5. Your Kids Will Love Being the Local Chicken Experts.
They will be able to demonstrate how to hold a chicken, show off their chicken setup, talk about chicken breeds and egg production, if they’re the kind that love random information about things they will soon be walking encyclopedias of chicken facts. You may even find that instead of a lemonade stand your kids start selling free-range organic eggs to your neighbors!
FAQ
Are chickens messy? Well… chickens are indiscriminate poopers so yes there will be poop in places you won’t want it, but on the other hand, they are omnivores that are able to turn food scraps into wonderful fertilizer and eggs so it’s a tradeoff. And in their constant search for yummy bugs they will probably scratch around in your flowerbeds disturbing the mulch. If your backyard is pristine and this worries you, you might consider a chicken yard around the coop. It would make them less “free range” but it would save your flowerbeds.
Do I have to build a coop? No, farm supply stores often have them in stock. The folks at RentACoop also have a great setup for backyard-size flocks. Check them out here.
Where do I get the chickens? In the spring you’ll often see signs at feed stores advertising that the chicks are in or you can check with locals about chick, pullets or fully grown hens.
When do chickens start laying eggs? When they are 18-22 weeks old. Of course for a little more money you can buy pullets (chickens less than a year old) and get a jump start on egg production.
Are brown eggs different from white eggs? No. Different chicken breeds lay different colors shells, but what’s inside is the same.
