Mess Free Outdoor Painting

This is one of my favorite outdoor enrichment activities. I fill up a bucket with water and give the girls an assortment of paintbrushes and let them paint with water on the fence. This activity keeps them focused and happy for a long period of time. 

Word Family Easter Eggs

Phonics Flipchart

Lego Word Family Sorting

Fun Book Options For all Reading Levels

"Step into Reading" Series

"I Can Read" Series

"Passport To Reading" Series

Your child will only love reading if they are reading about topics that interest them. Leveled books provide readers of all levels with engaging and exciting books appropriate for every reading ability. Each level features a captivating assortment of fiction and nonfiction topics by award-winning authors and illustrators, colorfully illustrated and appealing to young readers. Try these book series and see an immediate improvement in your child's reading.

A Very Special Sand Table

Fill up a divided picture frame with either salt or sand and place it on a table outside. This is such a fun sensory resource for working on pre-writing and fine motor skills. The partitions allow several children to enjoy the creative process at the same time.

Build & Learn Shapes With Velcro Craft Sticks

By attaching round velcro stickers to popsicle sticks you have the tools to build shapes that can be assembled and disassembled very easily. 

Storylineonline.net

This engaging free website presented by the Screen Actor Guild Foundation hosts a variety of classic picture books including Stellaluna, Rainbow Fish, and Thank You Mr. Falker. These stories are read by well known actors such as Sean Astin, Annette Bening, James Earl Jones, Elijah Wood, and Betty White. In addition, there are fantastic activities to go with each story. This is a great way for your kids to listen to stories in addition to your daily reading routine.

Have Your Child Read To Their Younger Sibling or Cousin

Phonlogical Awareness: Rhyming Activities

Simple word plays with children's names and the names of those important to them are a great way to practice rhyming. For example: Silly Billy or Super Cooper. 

Erase a rhyme: Draw pictures of words that rhyme or write rhyming words on a mini dry erase board and let your child erase the rhyming words. 

Fun Ways To Learn Letters and Numbers

1) Pour salt, sugar, or sand into a cookie sheet and use this tactile approach to form letters and numbers.

2) Use shaving cream on a cookie sheet.

3) Write letters and numbers on the Aquadoodle Wall Mat or Travel Book.

4) Use colorful playful fonts on Microsoft Office Word Art.

5) Form letters using pipe cleaners.

6) Sculpt different color play dough into letters and numbers. 

7) Use Wiki Sticks to learn to write letters and numbers.

8) Dry Erase Boards are a fun and effective way to practice writing. 

9) Use different color chalk on the sidewalk to write letters and numbers when playing outside. 

Mapping The Olympics

The Olympic games are a great way to  introduce your kids to World Geography. www.creativefamilyfun has a wonderful idea to attach a map of the world to a cork board. You can print a world map from mapsofworld.com and use cia.gov or colourlovers.com to find all the flags of the world. To make the flags use pins, tiny pieces of paper (1 inch wide by 3/4 inch tall), and tape. This is such an enriching year long project for the whole family. 

Keeping A Journal

In order to get kids to start writing at an early age it's a great idea for them to keep an ongoing writing / art journal that they have access to regularly. This should be an activity that they look forward to doing.

Some Of My Favorite Journaling Supplies To Help Make This Activity Very Special Are:

1) A journal chosen by your child.

2) Writing pencils and erasers

3) Paints, gel pens, stamps, stickers, glue, and scissors.

4) Magazines and photos.

5) ABC Wordbook to help with the spelling of difficult words.

6) Whiteboard and marker for help with the spelling of difficult words.

Some Ideas To Inspire Journal Writing Are:

1) Write your child a letter and let them respond to it in writing and art.

2) Write the first line of the story and let them complete the story.

3) Write a question and let your child answer it in writing.

4) Draw part of a picture and let your child complete the picture and write about it.

5) Oodles Of Doodles sold at my store has so many great story starters.

Write A Letter To Your Favorite Frozen Character

Help your child write or type a letter to their favorite Frozen character. Show them how to structure the letter, ask questions and tell what their favorite parts of the movie are. Put it in the mail and send it to Disney.

Make Reading Time Fun

Read On The "Choo Choo Train"

Read Song Lyrics

Reading Picnic

Listen To Books On CD In The Car

Go "Camping" With Your Books

ABC Garden Hunt

Hide foam letters all around your yard and give each of your kids a basket to collect them. This is such a great way to teach letters, colors, as well as ABC order. 

Behavior Charts at Home

Behavior charts are a great way to get a handle on tricky behaviors and help them form positive behaviors. Below are two excellent websites that offer a wide variety of free printable charts:
www.freeprintablebehaviorcharts.com
www.chartjungle.com

Using these charts can only be effective if:

1) It is a fun and positive experience.

2) You use them consistently.

3) The chart is posted in a location that is easily visible and accessible.

4) Expectations are realistic and attainable.

5) You don't expect perfection.

6) You choose behaviors that are easy to track.

7) Easy point systems are chosen.

Print Song Lyrics For Your Kids To Practice Reading

Reading favorite song lyrics is a great way for kids to practice reading. Singing along to the Youtube video makes this experience even more fun. 

Touch and Write App

Touch and Write is an app that helps children practice writing in a fun way using 16 different writing textures. These include shaving cream, grape jelly, chocolate pudding, and many more. While writing the letters, you not only see these textures, but hear the actual sounds they make. Aside from the "pens", there are also a variety of "papers" to write on.

In addition, there is a guide to help younger children form shapes and letters which can easily be turned on/off in the middle of the activity.

There are also preset wordlists such as high frequency words, animal names, word families, as well as a "make your own" wordlist feature. Touch and Write is available in cursive and Hebrew too.

Math War

All you need to play this fun learning game is a deck of cards for each player, with the jacks, queens, kings, and jokers removed.

How to Play

1) Basic War: Each player turns one card face up. The player with the greatest number wins, placing his own and all captured cards into his "prisoner pile". When the players have fought their way through the entire deck, count the "prisoners". Whoever captures the most cards wins.

2) Addition War: Players turn up two cards for each round. The highest sum wins.

3) Advanced Addition War: Turn up three (or four) cards for each round and add them together. The highest sum wins.

4) Subtraction War: Players turn up two cards and subtract the smaller number from the larger. This time, the greatest difference wins.

5) Place Value War: Each player picks 2 cards and lays them side by side and reads the numbers. For example: 2 next to a 3 is 23. The player with the GREATER number wins.

6) Product War: Turn up two cards and multiply. The greatest product wins.