Monday Musings: Corn Edition

Travis (5):     Are we having that corn that is cut into a million pieces or is it stuck to the stick?

Monday Musings: Chinese Edition

Brennan(3): What did you eat for dinner?

Me: We went to a Chinese buffet.

Brennan: Why did the Chinese eat your food?

Things To Do With Old Magazines

Have an abundance of old magazines lying around? 

Here are some ideas to put them to good, educational use!

1. Make a personality collage or timeline.
2. Story Starter: Pick 5 random pictures and use them to write a story.
3. ABC Phonics Book: Choose cut-outs that represent each letter of the alphabet. (You can also include examples of blends, digraphs, etc.)
4. Prek and Toddlers can glue simple cut-outs to construction paper.
5. Cut out words to make simple sentences or more complex ones for older kids.
6. Cut out letters to make simple words.
7. Make a book of colored items for toddlers.
8. Make a number book for toddlers.
9. Cut out words and have kids glue them on a poster board under the proper part of speech heading. (You can also include cliches, idioms, homophones, synonyms/antonyms etc. for older kids.)
10. Categorize advertisements according to correct ad approaches (bandwagon, emotional appeal, loaded words, plain folks, opinion vs. facts or testimonial.)
11. Cut out body parts and make funny faces and bodies.
12. Make a poster board map of the world and see if you can find cutouts to go on every continent.
13. Laminate kids magazines and you can do "spot the difference" or mazes to be used over and over with dry erase markers.
14. Make a poster with simple words at the top. (For example: car, boy, animal, or for older kids emotions, situations, etc) and have them search the magazine for a corresponding picture.
15. Cut out pictures of food and have kids sort them out into the appropriate food groups. Older kids could put together pictures of a meal that would meet certain calorie or dietary guidelines.
16. Draw a big house on poster board. Make sure to include basic rooms, and rooms your child may want in a "dream house". Paste on pictures for decorations, paint colors, furniture, games, toys, etc. that your child would want to include.
17. Have older children choose an article and write an essay to critique the article. Make sure they use proper grammar, punctuation and spelling.
18. Make a travel guide promoting a certain destination with cut-outs for that location. (The cut-outs don't necessarily need to be for the same place, and the place could be imaginary!)
19. Does the magazine have editorials? If so, have the children read them, and with what they can tell about this magazine, do they agree or disagree with the opinions? Have them write their own editorial.
20. Scan through the magazines and cut out as many different jobs (or people doing jobs) as they can find. See how big of a list you can get. Discuss how/why these jobs are good/bad for the community. How would the community be impacted if that job didn't exist?
21. Find five different pictures that adequately represent the current times, (For example, modern cars, electronics, current clothing styles, etc.) and explain how they are a good representation.
22. Have students find ten numbers in the magazine that represent exact numbers and ten numbers that represent approximate values (many, few, thousands, etc.)
23. Cut out fun pictures for preschoolers and toddlers. Laminate them with contact paper and glue magnets to the back for your refrigerator. (You could do this with words for the older kids to rearrange their own personal messages!)
24. Make a simple graph on poster board. Label cut-outs across the bottom (flowers, foods, animals, etc.) and amounts across the side. Have younger kids glue the cut-outs to the appropriate graph columns.

Ideas To Go Beyond the Textbook

Are you stuck in a textbook rut?

Here are two dozen activities and ideas to do that don't involve a textbook! You can customize these ideas for the age and learning style of your child.

1. Plan a week's menu and budget shop for 1, 2, 4, 8.....people. You can include coupons, sales papers and comparison shopping.
2. Compare/contrast alphabets from different countries or cultures or time periods.
3. Make a timeline. You can print off clip art to include for a little extra visual appeal.
4. Research and write biography reports on artists, musicians, mathematicians, missionaries, world leaders, presidents, first ladies, etc.
5. Make a timeline or write an autobiography of your own life.
6. Interview an older family member or friend and write a biography of their life.
7. Research your family tree.
8. Make a sketchbook of Jesus's life-maps of where he went, sermons, key people in his life.
9. Make a sketchbook of key verses from each book of the Bible.
10. Do a country or state study. Don't forget to include maps and an authentic meal.
11. Make a travel guide collage for each of the fifty states or maybe even some countries.
12. Memorize states/capitals, countries/capitals, major oceans, locations of major land forms.
13. Make a critique notebook of books, movies, plays, poems, songs and hymns.
14. Start a nature sketchbook.
15. Research some famous poets and try to imitate their style, then find your own style.
16. Write a script and make a home movie. This could be a period from history, a scene from a famous person's life or something from your own imagination.
17. Make a Rube Goldberg machine.
18. Research the holidays you celebrate and why you celebrate them.
19. Make a journal with an important news clipping from the newspaper each day. You could also print out a story from an online newspaper site.
20. Play some educational board or card games.
21. Get out and visit the zoo, museums, nature centers and festivals. 
22. Take a co-op class or educational class offered in your community.
23. Start a new hobby-photograpy, sewing, letterboxing, or historical reinacting can all be educational.
24. Start a collection-coins, bugs, leaves, or favorite words.