During the summer we had loads of fun with balloon reading games and outdoor reading games, but now that we are further into the school year I am wanting something fresh and fun for my first grader. Lily’s latest love is anything Disney princess or fairy-related as evidenced by her Halloween costume this year.

I took this action shot while I was volunteering doing math assessments on Halloween. Lily refused to pause for a picture telling me, “I’m supposed to be doing math right now, Mom!” That’s my girl! This picture inspired me to rethink our learning strategies at home. Everything is more enjoyable with a princess theme, right?

Lily’s first grade class does a fly swatter game where they practice word recognition. When I peeked into Lily’s classroom she seemed to be enjoying it so I decided to try a similar concept at home. I had a princess paddle ball board that I almost threw away because the string and ball had broke. We repurposed it to be our word swatter. The game is simple – lay out flash cards in front of your child and have your child sound out the words. Once they have read all the words, call them out and have them swat them. Easy peasy! I am thinking that we may even need some new princess-themed flash cards. We have have played this game several times and Lily hasn’t tired of it yet.

This is one simple way to incorporate what your child loves into their learning using on-hand household items. There are so many more! I would love to hear your ideas.

To celebrate all our little princesses, I am teaming up with several generous sponsors to giveaway a Disney Princess Ultimate Dream Castle, and Disney Magic Mirror app (compatible with iPad, iPhone, iPod, and iPod Touch).

The 3-story castle is over 3 feet tall, and comes furnished with more than 30 accessories and furniture pieces. Rapunzel and Ariel have joined the castle, adding a spiraling ‘elevator’ of hair and a sea-themed bathroom. Cinderella, Princess Aurora, and Snow White also return to the castle with themed rooms of their own. Disney Princess dolls sold separately.

To add a bit of magic, the castle has been designed to work with an app called Disney Magic Mirror [$3.99]. Download the app free when you purchase the castle. By way of the app your child will see a princess activity, castle event, special visit and more on their device when they align it with one of many special trigger points throughout the castle. How fun is that?

Enter to win on the Rafflecopter Widget:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

A special thanks to all the sponsors:

Be sure to check out co-sponsor’s Allison’s gorgeous Disney cupcakes complete with printable Princess toppers!

The post Princess Learning Activities and a Disney Princess Castle Giveaway! appeared first on KeepMovingForwardWithMe.

Earlier this week these words came out of my six-year-old’s mouth, “I don’t want to read. Reading is boring.”

Gasp! As a child I carried a book wherever I went and could not get enough of the library.  How could I give birth to a child who doesn’t like to read (or at least tells me so in a frustrated moment. This too shall pass, I know)?

My husband or I read several books a day to our children and we listen to classics like The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe while we fall asleep at night. But how to encourage my little socialite to independently read on her own?

Time to make reading fun!

I busted out the sidewalk chalk, leftover pop-it’s from the 4th of July, bikes, and water balloons. Covering the driveway with a mix of site words and easy to read words, I also mixed it up by using different colors and shapes. This way, my four year could participate a little easier as well.

The kiddos were quite excited when they came outside. I could see it in their eyes, “what has crazy mommy been up to now?”

We turned reading practice into 5 easy and fun and outdoor games.

1. Pop its! My children love pop its. I passed out several to my six year old and four year old. As I called out a word/shape/or color, they would find it and toss down a pop it like the word was a bulls eyes. Reading + noise = fun!  (please only use pop-its with adult supervision.)

2. Bikes and wiggle cars. I also had the children drive or ride over words as I called them out. Another fun idea would be to have your child ride over certain words to make a sentence!

3. Modified hop scotch. The kids came up with this idea on their own. They would jump from word to word reading each one. They had fun seeing how many words they could read in a row.

4. Writing practice. My daughter got in on the fun by using the chalk to write her own words. She wrote out words and her little brother wrote out letters.

5. Water balloons. Clean up is easy with water balloons! The chalk will stay on your drive way for awhile, but if you want a quick clean up – bring on the water balloons! Just like the pop its, have your child toss a water balloon at the word. Washes the chalk right, off!

We will definitely be bringing out more chalk, water balloons, and pop its for future spelling practices. The children loved it and mommy liked that they were learning, too.

What is your favorite learning activity to do with your children?

Are your children back in school yet?

How do you prepare for the school year?

The post Back to School – Outdoor Reading Games appeared first on KeepMovingForwardWithMe.

During the summer, I am planning learning activities for my children as many days I can.    I view summer learning as a fun way to reinforce skills and concepts learned during the school year. This sneaky mom doesn’t want the kiddos to catch on that they are actually still learning!

Last week I may have blown up over 30 balloons for Lily’s sixth birthday. Those balloons have been bopped, kicked, and chased all over the house. This week my goal was to introduce our new Alphabet Flash Cards from Educational Toys Planet. I needed an activity for my emerging reader, six-year old Lily, and my pre-reader, three-year old Cortland.

Enter in the balloons and the flash cards – such a fun combination! I took the word from each flash card and wrote it on one of my balloons so that each card matched a balloon. Put 26 balloons in one room and you are bound to have fun! I gave each child a card and sent them on a treasure hunt to find the right balloon. My daughter matched the words while my son matched the first letter. When they found a match they tossed the balloons on the bed until they had matched all the pairs. My children loved this activity and have asked to do it several times.

After we made all the matches, we played several games that were outlined in the card pack. We mixed up all the letters and then sang the ABC song to put the cards back in order. Once they were in order we matched the pictures from the lower case letter cards to the right upper case letter card. I love that ABC Flash card set came with both upper and lower case letters! The cards were colorful and my kids thought the pictures were fun.

The best part of this activity was the smile on my daughter’s face when she found a match. Success – fun and learning! I am so excited for the rest of our summer learning activities. Stay tuned for a fun 4th of July reading activity as well! Until then I am going to be trying out a great idea from my sister who blogs over at Live to be Inspired. Shooting site words with a nerf gun – pretty sure my kids can get into that!

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

Linking up to Tot School!

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