We Call it Kindergarten Readiness...They Call it FUN!

Tell your child you want to work on kindergarten readiness skills and she's not likely to jump up and clap. But turn it into a game and it's a whole different story.

In this game, your child picks a card from the "challenge box" and attempts to do what's on it. If she completes her task, she gets to keep the card and move on to the next challenge. If not, she puts the card in the discard pile and moves on to another task. When time's up, ask your child to help you count her cards. Write down her score and see if she can beat it the next time you play! As she plays this game, she'll be developing her fine motor and comprehension skills as well as her ability to follow directions.

What You Need:

• 30 index cards
• Markers
• Small box
• Large space for playing
• Timer

What You Do:

Write one kid-appropriate challenge on each of the index cards. If your child is close to entering kindergarten, you can use your district's kindergarten readiness checklist as inspiration. This list is usually a mix of fine motor (small muscle) skills, gross motor (big muscle) skills, writing, counting, and listening. 

Here are some suggestions for your cards:

• Walk backwards, toe to heel for 20 steps.
• Copy a circle.
• Throw a ball so it lands in a circle of chalk drawn on the driveway.
• Hop ten feet.
• Skip across the room.
• Drop and catch a bounced ball 15 times in a row.
• Balance on one foot for ten seconds.
• Cut a piece of paper in half.
• Write your full name.
• Count to 20.
• Tiptoe across the room and back in 30 seconds.
• Find something square.
• Find something round.
• Find a triangle in the room.
• Find something blue.

Put the cards in a box and invite your child to play. Set the timer for 10 minutes. See how many tasks she can complete before the timer rings!

When she's done she'll be more prepared for kindergarten and she'll have had a blast in the process!

No Nagging Clean Up Strategy -- This is GENIUS!!

Check out this strategy one clever mom came up with to get her kids to do their chores. 

This could easily be adapted to homework, reading time or just about anything your kids resist doing!

Getting Ready for Kindergarten

 Kindergarten today is different in many ways than when you attended school. Many children come to Kindergarten with previous preschool or day care experience. Even though your child won’t begin school until the fall, there are many things you can do now to prepare him/her for kindergarten.

Here are some ideas:

• Make sure your child knows as many alphabet letters as possible, both upper and lower case. Practice them in random order.
• Help your child learn the sound for each of the letters.
• Read with your child on a regular basis. Point out the title, author, front cover, back cover, capital letters.
• Help your child to learn the difference between a letter, a word, and a sentence. Use books, newspapers, and magazines to find letters, words, and sentences. Count the words on a page- the words in the title, etc.
• Be sure your child can write his/her name using a capital letter to start and all lower case for the rest, using a continuous movement.
• Help your child learn his shapes and colors.
• Let your child use scissors and practice cutting both on plain paper and on lines.
• Write to your child. Encourage your child to write back even if what they write is just one letter. Let them try to sound out words themselves. Try not to spell everything for them.
• Please work with your child on self help skills: Help him/her learn to use tissues alone and to practice good hygiene. Work on tying shoes, buckling a belt, buttoning/snapping clothes and zipping a coat.
• Talk about what is more, less, or the same. Use vocabulary such as smaller, larger, longer, shorter, etc.
• Introduce your child to the difference between letters and numbers.
• Help your child learn to recognize numerals at least to 10.

Hidden Talent Tip #7

Busy like an ant and agile like a deer!

Some children are so active and agile that they always like to be on the go, active and energetic come what may! They always like action, thrill and excitement! They want to be in the center of action! These are the so called bodily-kinesthetic learners who learn by indulging in action, excitement and physical activity. Action and motion suits them the best while learning. These children have immense hidden talent and skill for sports, music and dancing.

How to boost and nurture them - Physical learners best learn when you give them enough opportunities for physical activities. Make sure that you reserve some time everyday to allow them to become physical and active. Rotate time to allow them to study and pay in between two sessions of studies. Let them play music while learning through movements and physical activities. Some children are very good using their hands while doing some work like painting and drawing. See that you give them enough time everyday to learn while painting and drawing.

10 Best Math Apps for Kids

These fun apps will reinforce basic arithmetic concepts and spark a love for learning math.

<<click here to see a list of both paid and free math apps>>

3 Genius Apps for Summer Reading

Summer is here and while there are many phrases to describe what happens to student learning over the months your children are out of school, you can prevent the summer brain drain and summer slide by making reading fun, interactive, and involving technology that will serve as a huge motivator. According to the National Summer Learning Association, “all young people experience learning losses when they do not engage in educational activities during the summer.” To prevent this, do a little bit each day to make the tasks manageable and fun. Here are three ways to incorporate technology to reinforce the reading that is being done at home throughout the summer months.

Reading Rainbow app - Designed for children 3-9 years of age. Delivers a library of hundreds of curated books and all new videos presented in a world of adventure and discovery.

Kindle Free Time - Appeals to toddlers and early elementary ages thanks to a wealth of content that is easy to navigate through this subscription based service that is available to Kindle owners through a monthly fee.

Scholastic’s Storia app - Provides an easy to navigate experience where reading content can grow along with children. Storia allows parents to purchase age appropriate eBooks through the ability to shop by age. Parents can assign eBooks to each child’s shelf to ensure the content is just right for them. Get 5 FREE eBooks with app download.

Hidden Talent Tip #6

Leading from the front

Have you seen some children taking charge of a situation and leading others while doing a classroom task? Alternatively, some children are born leaders and they make some of the best class leaders. They can excel in drama and play while their ability to help others is unsurpassed. Such children are more likely to be natural leader who can become the best mentors to those who find problems in life. They may become the best military leaders or turn out be record breakers in any type of sport events.

How to boost and nurture them - Put them in charge while you are taking them to a trail in the local trail. Be behind them to avoid danger happening to them. Enroll them to the local Scout or Guide association. Give them charge of some home projects like cleaning or arranging things in the house. Let them find their own options and chose an activity that best fits their abilities. See help and assistance from them if you want to solve some problems; this approach gives them the necessary confidence and will power to try out new leadership approaches. Let them be in charge of situation for some time everyday; this approach helps them learn how to be responsible and dutiful. Hear their views and opinions and ask why they want you to listen to them; this will help them explain their position in a clear and lucid manner.

Hidden Talent Tip #5

An inclination to solve puzzles and riddles

Some children are absolutely brilliant in solving any type of puzzles, riddles, Sudoku, jigsaws and incomplete mystery stories. They are not only quick in solving them, and they are also very quick and never use a trial and error approach; in other words, they are always on the right path while solving riddles and puzzles. Most children who are adept at this task are visual and spatial thinkers and they create images of most likely results and reproduce them to create a series of answers to the tasks at hand. They are also capable of creating a series of mini-images and later join them to create a whole picture.

How to boost and nurture them - Keep feeding them puzzles, Sudoku, riddles and mystery stories so that they will sharpen their analytical and deductive skills. Take children to a real-life maze so that they enter it and find their path out. A simple magnet will help them explore the nearby surrounding while a compass and map will raise their levels of curiosity while on a trekking trail.

Hidden Talent Tip #4

Day dreamers are capable of doing great things in life

Some children are day dreamers and they are always immersed in their own thoughts. They might even like to pretend play with objects and things. They may like to paint and draw their own pictures. They may even gaze at the bright blue sky and keep thinking and generating ideas. Such children are obviously creative and imaginative. Most of them are immersed in their fantasies and they may even try to imagine new things and scenarios. In addition they are very good in problem solving.

How to boost and nurture them - The first basic thing to do is to help them raise their imagination level; you can buy materials that help them to create their own world. Enroll them to an art and painting school. Let them learn music and playing musical instruments. You can even buy them great books that compel them to travel to a fantasy land.

Hidden Talent Tip #3

Playing and fiddling with objects and things in front of them

Exploring how things work and operate in a natural setting indicates that children who do it are hands-on learners. Some children are enamored by things that move and work by themselves like machines, cars, fire engines and cranes. They are most probably, visual and spatial learners who learn by observing how things work and how they are constructed.

How to boost and nurture them - You can buy them construction toys, car kits, helicopter assemblies, musical toys that move and dance, war tanks that actually make sounds and other similar toys that can be dissembled and later re-assembled. Give them things that can be of interest. Take them to play centers that offer them an opportunity to indulge in fruitful hands-on activities. Show them how water taps work, in what manner signal lights operate and anything that actually moves and acts. Please keep a close watch on children because moving and lose objects could be dangerous as they may swallow them that eventually leads to choking.

Hidden Talent Tip #2

Non-stop talking and chatting

Children, who could be rich in linguistic and grammatical skills, could be very good learners of languages. Some children are skilled in telling stories, constructing sentences very quickly and commit very few grammatical mistakes while they are talking. In addition, some children learn writing very early in their age. Verbal efficiency and capability could mean that your children are somewhat gifted and skilled in linguistic skills. Learning linguistic skills is a necessary tool to succeed in schools.

How to boost and nurture them - Ask your children to create some stories and tell them to you. If possible, ask them to visualize the scene of the story that he or she is reciting. You can even bring colorful and illustrated story books for them to read and understand. Ask children to speak in front of a voice recorder and instruct them to hear to their own voices. Reflecting on one's own though is the best possible way to develop linguistic skills. A good speaker could even be a very good listener. List the advantages listening to others' speaking and tell them that it can make them wiser and intelligent.

Identifying Hidden Talents in Children

Every child is unique and special with its own hidden talents and skills. Unlocking hidden potentials is a sure way to make children smarter and intelligent. However, parents should be able to identify to check, if their children have hidden potential before devising any strategy to nurture them. Some children have immense talents that everyone can see and appreciate while others might have hidden ones that if given a push can come open into the public. Here are some tips to identify your children's hidden talents and potentials:

Hidden Talent Tip #1

Sorting out objects and things

Some children have the habit of playing with objects and sorting them in a neat order. Sorting objects could be anything:

1. Sorting out colors and shades.
2. Dividing and segregating objects by their size and volume.
3. Lining up toys based on their size.
4. Pairing up socks and shoes by size and colors.

When you notice these activities, your children may possess an auditory-sequential ability while learning. He or she could also be a sequential and linear thinker. It could even be ability for organizing things and objects. Some children have the ability to pay attention to finest details. Pattern and ability to recognize shapes and sizes may also mean an enhanced ability for math and science learning. Children who excel in sorting out shapes and sizes also possess an ability to use their logical power to learn new meanings.

How to boost and nurture them - You can bring toys and play sets that allow your children to explore objects, things and patterns. Pattern recognition and matching could be nurtured by using building blocks, color charts, shape sorters etc. Ask your children to arrange cooking utensils, crockery and other sundry kitchen items.

Pin of the Week - American Candy Flag

Celebrate Independence Day by with your child by making a mosaic American flag out of red, white, and blue jelly beans. Kids will love gluing the candy to the cardboard base, and improve their fine motor skills in the process.

What You Need:
Red, white, and blue jelly beans
Rectangular piece of sturdy cardboard
White glue

Find it on Pinterest 

DIY Reading Camp

Everything you need to host 10 fun weeks of reading camp - a new theme each week! Created in cooperation with PBS KIDS®.

Check it out!

Take the Pledge to Read and WIN!

Cheap Summer Fun

Free (and almost-free) activities to keep kids active all summer long.