Sunday, November 11, 2012

Sneaking Education into a Night Out or a Night In

I love to sneak educational activities into everyday experiences wherever I can, including when I go out to dinner with my family.  For our latest trip to Friendly's, we kept my four and five year old happy, quiet, and entertained while waiting for their food by using a Highlights product found at Target.
I love Target! I am always there buying something.  A card, diapers, milk, school supplies, toys, board games, bedding, etc and then I get to reward myself for checking one more thing off my to-do list by buying a caffeinated beverage at Starbucks.  So the other day I was shopping at Target and was pleasantly surprised to find some neat educational products that I hadn't seen before in the aisles. I think their favorite was the flip notebook of Hidden Pictures that came with stickers by Highlights.


 
Another great product we found at Target was paint. My kids love to paint pictures. However, I think they have the most fun when they mix two colors together.
The primary colors are red, yellow and blue.
The secondary colors are green, orange and purple.
 
Mixing Equations
red + yellow = orange
yellow + blue = green
blue + red = purple
To further the fun, check out the science experiment at http://www.kidzone.ws/science/rainbow.htm.

Another great idea when eatting out with kids, is to use the seating arrangements of the restaurant as math word problems. This is a fun way to practice math skills. For instance, ask questions such as:
  • How many chairs do we have?
  • How many people can sit here?
  • How many people are seated in this row?
  • How many more can be added?
  • If there are three rows of booths with six booths each how many booths is that?
  • If each booth sits 4-6 people, then what is the maximum occupancy of customers?
For family fun, try some board games.  For kid games that 4year old to adults can play, try Super Why ABC Letter Game, Scrabble Junior, Rivers, Roads & Rails, and Pegs in the Park.
So sneak education into your kids lives today and have fun!
 

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