The Reading Railroad is a free newsletter for parents, caregiver's and teachers.
Fun reading ideas & activities for preshool and primary grade children
Learn to Ride a Bike How to teach your child to ride a bike in less then two hours
without getting hurt!
Holiday Travel Games
2. How to make your own travel games
3. Primary grade kids science resource
4. Holiday gift giving ideas
Holiday Travel Games
{!name}, the greatest gift you can give your child is preparing him/her to learn to read. You may be saying that they will learn this important skill in school. Or that is the teacher's job.
Well, that just isn't true anymore. It is up to parents to provide activities so that their children are ready to learn to read before they enter kindergarten. So you may ask, "How do I accomplish that with everything else?" "I am not a stay at home mother. I have to work!"
The best way is to fit pre-reading skills into your everyday activities. Driving to and from school or after school activities, watching TV, eating dinner, or whatever other times you have together. Have fun with the experience. Make a game out it. Certainly your young child is not ready to be a serious student.
The most profound statement I heard during an education class in undergraduate school was "a child's play is their work." Yes, that is how children learn, through their play.
There are many ideas in the backissues of The Reading Railroad. Plus today I am going to provide you with some fun travel games since the holidays are coming up soon.
Travel Games Make a Travel Board
Material Needed
Game 1.
11" x 14" white magnetic dry-erase board with rounded edges only
Colored chard tape or decorative tape.
paper
Game 2 & 3. Add
Magnetic tape
colorful small round stickers
highlighter marker
map of neighborhood
map of route to destination
Cardboard
Lay the white magnetic board on a flat surface. With your decorative tap, equally divide the board into sections by
making 3-horizontal lines and two vertical lines to create 12 squares.
1. Glue various pictures on yellow pieces that will fit within the squares. These pictures are
things that your children will see while they are traveling: 55 speed limit sign, sharp turn, yield sign,
stop sign, horse, car, truck, farm, and other photos that will increase their vocabulary. As they see an image explain
to your kids what the image stands for and the name of the image.
You can also give them colorful circle stickers. Everytime they find an image that you ask them to find, they place a sticker on the board (with older children you can also have them do this on a map). After they find ___ number of photos you take a rest stop, let them stretch, play at a park or get them a healthy treat.
A quick and easy place to find images is to do a search in google. For instance: search for "yield sign".
Then at the top of the search engine you will see a link to images. Click on the link. Copy and past the images into a word document and
print the image. You probably will be able to get 4 images on one piece of paper. As long as you do not use these
copywrite images other than to have your child plan with them in a game, I don't believe you will be breaking any laws.
2. If your younger children need to learn their shapes, you can do the same as above, but print images of different shapes in bright colors. Having kids see shapes in nature and their surroundings is a great way for them to apply what they know to their environment and increases their critical thinking skills.
3. For 1st - 3rd Graders - Print a map of your neighborhood. You can find out how with this free program: Google Earth.
Glue the map to a piece of cardboard that will
cover the whole surface of the magnetic board. Attach the map to the board with magnetic tape.
Give your child a picture of a car. (paste / glue the car to a piece of cardboard, trim around the image leaving 1/4" margin and stick a piece of magnetic tape onto the back. Or use a miniture toy car and have him / her follow the streets on the map as you drive to your destination. S/he will be able to learn left and right orientation; north, south, east and west directions. You can easily help even if you are driving by hold up your hand in the direction of the turn.
Or your child can use a yellow marker to trace the route on the paper.
Primary Kid's Science Resource.
Visit us at our award winning Super Science Fair Projects site. Get lots of ideas and topics for your school science fair. You will also find outstanding science gifts.
