It’s a good idea to link learning to physical activity. I was inspired this week by my son’s teacher, who was teaching them fractions by having them throw balls into various buckets marked 1/7, 1/3, 1/4, etc. They had to add them up and avoid making an improper fraction. I […]
Games
Great online game: Clockwords
Clockwords is an online word game I can’t stop playing. (Must. Stop. Playing… Have. Deadlines…) Here’s why it might be good for your child – in moderation, something I’m not particularly good at, so be forewarned. 1) LiteracyThe game is based on you (uh, your child, that is) coming up […]
Fishy literacy game
A do-it-yourself game that helps early readers connect capital letters with their lowercase equivalents. Thank you to guest blogger Dawn Little, for this post. Here is a fun letter match game to help your child recognize and match capital letters to lower case letters. 1. Gather your materials: One small […]
Plastic plate as whiteboard
Here’s another great idea from Lori Jamison’s workshop. A cheap, plastic plate can be used as a mini-whiteboard for kids. They’re durable, easy to store and inexpensive. And best of all, dry erase marker wipes right off! Kids can practise their writing on them, wipe off what they’ve done, and […]
Finger Puppet Book Bags
A little gem from the literacy conference. It’s a knitted book bag, with finger puppets that adhere with snaps to the bag. A knitted string lets the child hang it around her neck and take it anywhere. Each bag has a theme. For instance, the Ocean bag has a handpainted […]
Mysterious Benedict logic puzzles
If your child loves puzzles, click here. I’ve been raving about The Mysterious Benedict Society books.My son is loving them and frankly, so am I. They’re about four unusual children who are called upon by Mr. Benedict to solve a threatening, decidedly adult problem. The impending utter breakdown of society […]
PICTOCHAT Hide and Seek
My son and his friend invented a new game. And it just happens to have a literacy component. Even better, it uses the Nintendo DS (Gameboy), so for kids who are really into video games, this can be a good alternative. The game: PICTOCHAT Hide-and-Seek Each child takes his DS […]
Club Penguin
My son is hanging out in Club Penguin these days. And, um, so am I. Club Penguin is a virtual world for kids – each kid is a cartoon penguin. You take your penguin around the island, into various buildings, down ski hills, onto a pirate ship. (Still with me?) […]
A great "travelling" word game
Here’s another great word game. Our family recently travelled to Ottawa. Early one morning, we broke out a game we’d brought called Scrabble Apple. We really enjoyed it. What I like about it is that it’s portable, all of the pieces go back in the apple when you’re done, and […]
Great reading tool – Boggle Jr.
I e-mailed Hasbro and asked them to send me some word games and I’m really glad I did. (I have no affliation with Hasbro, by the way.) I tried Boggle Jr. with the six-year-old I’m working with, and it was really helpful. Boggle Jr. has a set of large dice […]
