I love Crayola products. It may be the teacher in me, but I just love opening up a new box of crayons or colored pencils. I just see a box full of unlimited possibilities. So I was thrilled when we had the chance to check out Crayola’s new Colors of the World crayons and participate in their campaign to share our True Selfies! This also gave us an opportunity to enjoy some children’s books about being true to yourself.
Category Archives: Learning
Why Teens Should Watch Hamilton
Hamilton is coming to Disney+ and I don’t know about you, but I am excited! Whether you are a Broadway fan or not, chances are you know about the show and may even know some of the songs. And now we all have a chance to see the original cast perform it together. I will definitely be watching it, and I think there are lots of reasons why teens should watch Hamilton too!
Standard Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. I may receive a commission from purchases you make through the links in this post.
The TRUTH about Kiwi Crates!
As a mom and former teacher, I am always on the lookout for great educational resources for families. So when we found KiwiCo subscription boxes, I was excited to try them out. After a year of trying out the Koala Crate for ages 2-4, we moved up to the Kiwi Crate for 5-8 year olds. And I am ready to share the truth about Kiwi Crates.
Standard Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. I may receive a commission from purchases you make through the links in this post.
They are AMAZING.
Every month, my daughter is excited to get her Kiwi Crate in the mail. We track it after it ships, and she takes guesses on what theme it will be about. When it does arrive, she immediately opens it up and we get started. I love the broad range of topics that we have had the opportunity to explore, as well as the skills she has been able to practice.
The Contents
I have been impressed every time we have opened one of their boxes. The educational magazine includes an introduction to the topic through games, colorful cartoons, and fun facts. Not only does the magazine get my daughter interested in the topic with it’s cute illustrations and interesting explanations, but the parent guide walks us through the activities with easy to follow instructions. I love how easily the instructions are laid out in the guide. All of the components for each activity are also included, making it possible for us to start them right away.
Related Post: The Best STEM Subscription Boxes for Kids
The Activities
The most impressive part of the Kiwi boxes for me as a parent are the smart ways that they create the activities. In one of the boxes, my daughter was supposed to paint wooden beads for friendship bracelets. The box included foam blocks and a dowel so she could paint the beads without holding them or rolling away. When she built a grasping tool, the instructions used stickers to hold the pieces together while she built it. All of these small details show just how much the people at Kiwi Co think about the activities and the kids who will be doing them.
Related Post: The Best Activity Boxes for Kids
The Product Lines
I am thrilled that Kiwi Co offers so many product lines for different ages and skill levels. My daughter will be turning 5 soon, so I recently changed her subscription to the next level up. I was a little nervous that it would be too difficult for her, but she has really enjoyed it. The magazine has been a little more over her head than the last box, but it just encourages us to take it slowly.
One of the nice parts about the Kiwi Co boxes is that the things that kids create can often be used again and again. Some of the items that my daughter has made through our time with Kiwi Co is a rainbow handbag, an arcade claw game, a bear backpack, a glowing campfire, a xylophone, and a dinosaur costume. A day doesn’t go by where we don’t use one of the items that we have made.
If you are looking for quality educational resources for kids, then you will want to listen to the Truth about Kiwi Crates! Click here to learn more about them!
More Posts You May Enjoy:
Suddenly Homeschooling?
We are all dealing with unfamiliar circumstances right now. For families who are trying to homeschool, it can be overwhelming to sort through all of the subjects and skills. In order to help parents as they try to keep kids engaged and entertained while learning, I’ve gathered a list of our favorite educational companies to help families through this tough time. These include some of my favorite activity boxes for kids, as well as some digital learning resources!
Standard Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. I may receive a commission from purchases you make through the links in this post. I received samples of some of these in exchange for my honest review. These are marked with an *. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Kiwi Crate
We are in LOVE with KiwiCo subscription boxes. My daughter received the Koala Crate (for ages 2-4) for over a year and adored it. I recently moved her up to the Kiwi Crate (for ages 5-8), and she is loving it even more. I am constantly impressed with the boxes she receives, especially the clear instructions and the materials included in each box. Each box introduces a new concept, and she has been able to recall what she has learned in each box. Check out their store here to see the many activity boxes for kids that they have available, as well as the free resources that they are offering for at-home learning!
Related Post: The Best STEM Subscription Box for Kids
The Best Spring Books & Activities for Kids
Spring is here and we are so excited to get outside again. Whether we are jumping in mud puddles, playing in the garden, or walking around the neighborhood, we find lots of ways to take our learning outside. This list has tons of fun Spring activities for kids to keep your family reading, playing, and learning all season long!
Standard Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. I may receive a commission from purchases you make through the links in this post.
Preparing for Spring with Gardening Activities for Kids!
My daughter is getting more interested in gardening as she grows, so we are spending lots of time digging in the dirt and exploring gardens. After reading the book Badger’s Perfect Garden, we were inspired to plan our perfect garden, engage in garden themed sensory play, and create a garden themed letter matching game. Click here to check them out!
And Then It’s Spring
We love exploring nature while we are outside. So when Spring rolls around, we are excited to see all the new sights in nature. The book And Then It’s Spring inspired us to explore the world around us, and create a fun Springtime scavenger hunt. We also made flower play dough, painted with flowers, and practiced our math and fine motor skills with flower activities. Check them out here!
Search for Signs of Spring with Fun Spring Activities!
As soon as the weather starts to turn, even the tiniest bit, we are ready for Spring to arrive. So we love searching for signs of Spring as soon as possible. The book When Will It Be Spring? inspired us to take a nature walk and search for signs of the changing season, as well as making an easy bird nest craft, practicing contractions, and making our own Spring flower bouquet.
Check it out here!
Children’s Books with Educational Apps
My daughter loves books and reading. But she also enjoys technology. I work hard to keep her screen time in check, but I also recognize that there are some benefits to giving her access to educational tools. Today we had the opportunity to check out books from a new publishing company that pairs children’s books with educational apps for kids, and encourages emerging readers to interact with books and play with text in a new way.
Standard Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. I may receive a commission from purchases you make through the links in this post. I received copies of these books in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Read Hear & Play: 600 First Words
This boxed set of books includes 6 books which each feature 100 words in various themes: In Your Town, On the Farm, For Fun, On the Go, At School, and In Your House. Each word featured in the book is written in a large block font, and is accompanied by a bright, colorful picture. These are great books for introducing new words to emergent readers.
The books pair with a downloadable app which offers 3 different options for interacting with the text. First, the app can read the text aloud, which helps kids with the pronunciation of each word. It also pairs each photograph with a fun sound effect, bringing the words to life for kids. The app also includes fun games for kids to play, using the images in the book. My daughter particularly enjoyed the matching game.
Mother Goose
This set of 12 small board books features beloved Mother Goose rhymes and sweet illustrations, all packaged in little books perfect for small hands. My daughter had a set of board books in a similar size when she was a baby and she adored carrying them around everywhere with her. These would easily fit into a purse or diaper bag for reading time on the go. Each book features a different rhyme, and adorable cartoon illustrations that tell the story.
These books also pair with the free downloadable app. Just like with the First Words books, the app interacts with the books in a variety of ways. The app can read the rhymes aloud, highlighting the words so emergent readers can read along with it. For very young kids, highlighting the words also teaches the concept that words come from the print on the page, which is an important pre-reading concept. The app also uses the illustrations to create fun learning games. Kids can play a memory game with the illustrations, or a matching game which encourages them to match the correct printed word with the illustration.
What We Think
How to Teach Kids in the Kitchen
Cooking dinner can sometimes seem like a big hassle. But what if you thought of it as a chance to create family memories and give your kids new learning opportunities? My daughter already loves cooking and working in the kitchen. She loves baking with her grandmother, and she already helps to choose and prepare one meal a week. There are so many great lessons that can be taught while cooking, so I wanted to share some of my favorite ways to teach kids in the kitchen!
Standard Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. I may receive a commission from purchases you make through the links in this post.
amzn_assoc_placement = "adunit0";
amzn_assoc_tracking_id = "babiestoboo0c-20";
amzn_assoc_ad_mode = "manual";
amzn_assoc_ad_type = "smart";
amzn_assoc_marketplace = "amazon";
amzn_assoc_region = "US";
amzn_assoc_linkid = "51811b5c4b4b4f10b72c18b2fab9148d";
amzn_assoc_asins = "1423163249,0696237326,164152135X,1492670022";
amzn_assoc_title = "My Amazon Picks";
amzn_assoc_search_bar = "false";
//z-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/onejs?MarketPlace=US
Choosing Meals
Before you even start cooking, the first step to making a meal is choosing what to eat. This is also one of the first opportunities to teach your kids. My mother insisted from a young age that my sister and I should choose one meal a week. This ensured that we would each have at least one meal on the menu that we enjoyed (and didn’t complain about). It also opens a conversation about healthy meal choices. My mother insisted that our meals always had a protein, a side dish, and a fruit and a vegetable. Before my daughter turned 4, she already knew that each meal should include a protein. This early interest in healthy food choices will help her as she grows and her tastes change.
Actionable Tip: Let your kids choose one meal this week. Search through fun cookbooks for ideas. My daughter’s current favorite is the Disney Princess Cookbook.
Related Post: Reading at the Grocery Store
Reading & Following Directions
One of the most straightforward ways to learn in the kitchen is to practice reading. Once you have chosen a recipe, encourage your kids to read through the recipe. Get out the ingredients as you read them. For kids who are too young to read the whole recipe, have them match the names of ingredients in the recipe with the names on the packaging, when possible. Reading a recipe is different than reading a regular book, so it encourages them to recognize the differences between types of texts and the skills needed to decipher them.
Actionable Tip: Read through each step in a recipe together and discuss any vocabulary words that they don’t recognize.
How to End Hair Brush Battles
My daughter has never liked having her hair brushed. She has had lots of hair since birth, so we have spent a lot of time battling over the brush. Lately, I have found some great tricks to help with hair brushing time, including sweet and silly children’s books about hair, and handy tools for detangling and brushing. I hope these help you to end hair brush battles in your family too!
Standard Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. I may receive a commission from purchases you make through the links in this post. I received copies of these books in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own
Fun Hair Books for Kids
Hair with Flair
Written by Audrey Hinds and illustrated by Hatice Bayramoglu
This sweet story follows a young girl named Samantha as she prepares to host an art show for her friends and family. But when her hair threatens to ruin her night, she tries everything to get it under control. In the end, she has to accept her hair as special and unique. The inspirational story is paired with adorable illustrations featuring artwork by the author’s daughter, who was the inspiration for the story. This story provides kids with an important message about accepting themselves and their features.
Related Post: 12 Books that Celebrate Being Yourself
Hair of Zoe Fleefenbacher Goes to School
Written by Laurie Halse Anderson and illustrated by Ard Hoyt
In this silly story, a young girl named Zoe has bright red hair that is out of control. When her first grade teacher tells her that something must be done to control it, she tries everything to contain it. But eventually, she finds a way to make her hair work for the class. The illustrations are full of funny situations and images that kids with crazy hair will understand and enjoy.
Dinosaurs Living in My Hair
Written by Jayne M. Rose-Vallee and illustrated by Anni Matsick
Sabrina has very curly hair, and the constant tangles are frustrating for her and for her mother. When her mother teasingly tells her that something could be living under her curls, she starts to wonder if there are dinosaurs up there. The rhyming text and the creative illustrations will entertain young kids who recognize the struggles that Sabrina faces, and parents who are familiar with the battle of the brush.
Products That Have Helped Us End Hair Brush Battles
Styling Heads
Recently we had the opportunity to check out a Barbie styling head toy. My daughter immediately fell in love with playing with Barbie’s hair and giving her different hair styles. So I placed her styling head on her dressing table, by her own hair tools. Now whenever we sit down for hair brushing time, she places the Barbie head in front of her, and she styles Barbie’s hair while I style hers. It has been hugely helpful in getting her excited for hair brushing time, and it gives her some feeling of control. There are tons of styling head toys available for a wide range of hair styles, giving kids an opportunity to style a doll’s hair that looks like their own.
amzn_assoc_placement = "adunit0";
amzn_assoc_tracking_id = "babiestoboo0c-20";
amzn_assoc_ad_mode = "manual";
amzn_assoc_ad_type = "smart";
amzn_assoc_marketplace = "amazon";
amzn_assoc_region = "US";
amzn_assoc_linkid = "0033ce4ebfcdb1c7abcec8177cabd334";
amzn_assoc_asins = "B07BC987GK,B07D7DMS3V,B0764L6NG9,B07MMFRH13";
amzn_assoc_search_bar = "true";
amzn_assoc_title = "My Amazon Picks";
//z-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/onejs?MarketPlace=US
Knot Genie Brush
This brush is EVERYTHING. I have no idea how it works, but it has been a complete game changer when it comes to brushing knots out of hair. There are several different sizes and styles of this brush. I use the large brush without a handle, so it fits right in my palm. Somehow, the little knots seem to just fall out of her hair with this brush, and the large knots are much easier to battle. Even when my daughter doesn’t want her hair brushed, she is willing to let me brush her hair with this brush. This has been a HUGE part of ending the hair brush battle in our home.
amzn_assoc_placement = "adunit0";
amzn_assoc_search_bar = "true";
amzn_assoc_tracking_id = "babiestoboo0c-20";
amzn_assoc_ad_mode = "manual";
amzn_assoc_ad_type = "smart";
amzn_assoc_marketplace = "amazon";
amzn_assoc_region = "US";
amzn_assoc_title = "My Amazon Picks";
amzn_assoc_linkid = "bf99093b1de997a7753461311ab03bef";
amzn_assoc_asins = "B007OWPWG4,B00AZZMFZ8,B07V7HLCD9,B07JYN42CW";
//z-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/onejs?MarketPlace=US
Glam Creamsicle Mist Leave-in Conditioner
Please, Oh Please: Ignore Reading Levels!
The other day another mother told me something that I hear often, which always breaks my heart: “My bookworm son is starting to hate reading”. This absolutely crushes my book-loving soul. We got into a discussion about the way that reading is being handled at his school, and she repeated what I had heard so many times before. The dreaded reading log. This led me down a spiral of sadness and frustration that forced me to make this plea: please, oh please, oh PLEASE, Ignore reading levels!
Standard Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. I may receive a commission from purchases you make through the links in this post.
I know, I know. If you haven’t already clicked away from this post, you are probably thinking, this woman is crazy. Of course we can’t just forget about reading levels! But stick with me for a little bit and let me explain.
I received my Masters degree in Elementary Education with an emphasis in literacy, so I have lots of experience with the reading levels, the assessments, and all the research around them. The bookshelf next to my desk as I type this still holds my guides to reading instruction. And I recognize the importance of figuring out where a child is in their reading. But levels are not the end all be all for reading. Let me say it a little louder for the people in the back… LEVELS AREN’T THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF READING!
Where the Decisions are Made
Now let me make this very clear. I DO NOT blame teachers. I love teachers. I’m a teacher myself. So I recognize the impossible situation that most teachers are finding themselves in right now. Most decisions on the education of students are not being made in the classroom. Teachers have to follow a whole lot of strict guidelines to answer to those in power above them. So please don’t take this as an attack on teachers, because it definitely is not.
What this is, is a plea to everyone to put the reading levels aside and remember that the most important thing to teach our children about reading, is that it is fun! Forcing kids to read books that they have no interest in, but that are “appropriate for their level” is not going to get them excited for the wonderful world of reading.
Related Post: Let Kids Read What They Want
Where is the Disconnect?
The same mother I mentioned above, told me that when she asked her son what he was reading that he didn’t like, he showed her a book that the teacher had recommended for him because it was “on his level”. It turns out that it was a series that he had read years before and had grown out of. When she asked him about another book that he had been reading, he said his teacher wouldn’t want him reading that book.
Now, again, I am not necessarily blaming the teacher. I know for a fact that as a kid, I had similar conversations with my parents where I told them “the teacher said ___” and there was no talking me out of it. I heard what I thought the teacher meant, and I could not be persuaded. (Sorry Mom and Dad!). But the fact that these kids believe that their teachers don’t want them reading things they actually enjoy is a whole separate problem.
The Problem with Levels
One of the problems with leveled readers is that they force children into a very tiny box. There are a lot of benefits to reading books that are both below and above your ability level. Reading slightly above your level makes you work harder to understand what is going on, and to decipher the vocabulary. While reading below your ability level can help with fluency and confidence.
My sister reread the same series of books over and over again for years. (I won’t say which ones or she will be mad at me.. cough, cough, Full House: Michelle). They were obviously well below her reading level, but she found comfort in rereading them, and I firmly believe that that is part of the reason that she is the speed reader that she is today. (Seriously, I cannot remotely keep up with her).
Check out some of her recommendations for YA and adult books here!
Can U Save the Day?
Alphabet books are a fun way to get kids excited about reviewing letters and learning how they work together to form words. So I am always happy to find new creative children’s books about letters that help me to teach my daughter. Today we had the opportunity to check out a new story about consonants and vowels, and it inspired us to try some fun vowel activities for kids!
Standard Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. I may receive a commission from purchases you make through the links in this post. I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Can U Save the Day?
The story is full of hilarious animal sounds that are missing their vowels, making them lots of fun to try reading aloud. (My little one loves to laugh at me trying to say cock-a-doodle-doo without any vowels). Plus the story dives into how the letters all have to work together to create the words in our world. The illustrations are full of adorable animal characters and colorful letters with faces that kids will love following on their journey.
No Vowel Talk
Can you hold a conversation without the letter A? What about the letter O? Pick a vowel and try to have a whole conversation without it. This will not only lead to lots of laughs, but will also encourage you to come up with synonyms for the words you want to use.
Illustrating the Alphabet
Just like the letter U changes itself to save the day, we decided to have some fun turning letters into other things. We used chalk to create the letters of the alphabet, and then turned them into images that begin with that letter. For the letter C, we added circles to turn it into a caterpillar. We also turned the letter B into a butterfly and the letter D into a dog. We had a lot of fun coming up with different words that we could illustrate.
Click here for more creative alphabet books for kids!
Play Dough Letters
The letter U uses his flexibility to save the day. So we decided to have some fun stretching letters and turning them into different things. We used different colors of play dough to make the letters of the alphabet. Then we tried to stretch and fold them to turn them into other letters. We had a lot of fun changing the letters into other things and seeing what we could come up with.
Related Post: Bringing the Alphabet to Life
Guess the Answer
We love playing guessing games, so this book inspired me to create some fun puzzles without vowels.
These printable puzzle pages
