Activities · 03-19-2017

Despite the snow on the ground, spring is on the way. Celebrate the new season with the following spring-themed scavenger hunt. It builds vocabulary and creativity and helps young children enjoy the beautiful signs of the season.

Music · 07-11-2014

Can’t go wrong with using the first line of a song as a writing prompt for a short story, journal entry, poem, or even another song! The following list will motivate young writers and introduce them to the Great American Songbook. As we know, art is one of the best ways to promote creativity fluency.

Activities · 03-30-2014

1. What pattern do you see? 2. How do you know what color comes next? 3. How many times does the color yellow appear? 4. If the pattern continued 7 more times (for a total of 10 times) how many times would yellow appear? 5. If the pattern continued 7 more times (for a total of 10 times) how many times would green appear? 6. If the pattern continued, what would be the 48th color? What would be the 55th color? 7. How could you answer question 6 without naming each color? How could the pattern...

Activities · 12-19-2013

My friend and colleague, Patti, designs creative activities to challenge and motivate primary-aged children. One of her well-liked creations is the Scavenger Hunt Challenge Box. The purpose of the Challenge Box is to increase vocabulary and to encourage higher-level thinking. Enjoy the following winter Challenge Box activity adapted from her idea.

Activities · 09-01-2013

Engage your child's thinking skills with this "Summer's End Logic" deductive thinking puzzle. In addition to building thinking skills, logic puzzles also help children learn patience. The children must put together many pieces of information to find the correct answer. This puzzle is appropriate for children in grades 3-5, depending on their levels. If you get stuck and need a hint, please contact me, or leave a comment below.

Activities · 08-05-2013

My friend and colleague Patti designs creative activities to challenge and motivate primary-aged children. One of her well-liked creations is the Scavenger Hunt Challenge Box. The purpose of the Challenge Box is to increase vocabulary and to encourage higher-level thinking. Here’s a summer Challenge Box activity based on her idea. If you enjoy the activity, please let me know, and I will make more. Have fun!

Activities · 07-15-2013

What is Cubing? Cubing is an educational strategy that is great for children who like to play games - and what child doesn't like to play games? It makes use of an instructional cube, which is a 6-sided figure that has a different activity or question on each side (face) of the cube. Children roll the cube and complete the activity that lands face up. The cube below has a “twist” because instead of having children answer a question, they must supply an answer. For example, the cube may land...