Teaching Kids to Read

September 17, 2009

I taught my daughter to read when she was three. Now she has a three year old and she wants to teach him to read. I think we started out just reading her favorite books over and over again and later we got workbooks to do, too. I did find some interesting websites that have suggestions on how to go about it now:
The Well-Trained Mind
starfall.com
Reading Buddy 2.0
Succeed to Read
Preschool Express
WowzaBrain

If you have a suggestion, feel free to add a comment!


Nature Rocks

September 16, 2009

The back of my Autumn Nature Conservancy magazine had a little ad on the back for Nature Rocks: Let’s Go Explore. It is a fun website to click through – complete with children’s voices and ducks! Here is a Staycation Guide (takes a while to load – it is a pdf file) on things to do as a family close to home. A fun feature to play with is Find Nature. Great photos can be seen here. Enjoy!


Shared Sibling Activities For Youngsters

September 14, 2009

I don’t remember how I found this blogspot but it had an interesting interview with the twin authors of The Siblings’ Busy Book that I just ordered for my daughter. It has at-home activities that keep the interest of brothers and sisters of different ages while they are creating something together.

Found lots of similar books by reading the various reviews in Amazon. Actually, the day care centers would probably enjoy the ideas in these books as much as the parents do! – Here are some of them – Be sure to check out the similar books at the bottom of the book descriptions:
more Art oriented books
Arts and Crafts type books
Busy Books for various ages


Happy Grandparents Day!

September 13, 2009

This e-card says it all! Enjoy!! It is from
grandparents.com.

For a little more info on Grandparents Day, check out my earlier blog.


The Great Reno Balloon Race in 28th Year

September 12, 2009

The Great Reno Balloon Race is this weekend. The visitrenotahoe.com site has all kinds of pictures and info. The Reno momslikeme.com sponsored The World’s Largest Pajama Party this morning with Farmer’s Insurance. Here’s a Flickr slideshow from the RenoTahoe website including my favorite – The Energizer Bunny! This video is pretty awesome! There are lots more videos on the same page as that one. Enjoy!


Keeping Kids Entertained On The Road

September 9, 2009

I’ve already written a couple of blogs on this subject, but this article from Grandparents.com is another great essay on the subject: click here. Have fun!


Free Things To Do With Grandkids

September 8, 2009

At Grandparents.com, they have 100 great ideas for spending time your grandchildren – for free. Click ‘Download Now’ at their site for their printable guide.


Indoor Activities for Kids or Grandkids

September 4, 2009

Today I have several links for indoor activities for kids or grandkids. My daughter says it will be raining this weekend in Portland, so here are some home-spun fun ideas. Mommysavers.com has a whole page of frugal fun. HowStuffWorks.com has easy indoor games and crafts. SimpleMom.net has a list of indoor activities. eHow has another fun page of all kinds of activities. Orato.com has a list of 10 Best Rainy Day Games For Kids as well. Should get your imagination started if nothing else!!


Backyard Activities for Kids or Grandkids

September 3, 2009

All kinds of ideas are available on the net for games and activities to play in your backyard with your kids or grandkids. Grandparents.com is again a great source of ideas. Nabiscoworld.com has a cute interactive website of ideas. How Stuff Works has several learning experiences outlined. FamilyFun.Go.com has Fun in the Sun activities identified. Suite101.com has a lot of yard games listed as well as several associated links. Have fun!


Free Art Venues Sponsored By Target

September 2, 2009

The Target Community Webpage gives you the opportunity to enter the city closest to you to list museums and art venues you can visit for free or with discounts thanks to sponsoring from Target. Target gives 5% of its income to communities. Their newspaper ad says that is over $3 million every week.

In the LA area:
Levitt Pavilion at McArthur Park -Target Children’s Night every Sunday through Sept 6 6:30-7:30 pm
LACMA: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles – Target Free Holiday Mondays 9/7/09, 10/12/09
Japanese American National Museum, Los Angeles – Target Free Family Saturdays Days – Second Saturday of the month
CAAM: California African American Museum, Los Angeles – Target Sundays at CAAM – First Sunday of the month
Plaza de la Raza, Los Angeles – Target Feria de la Familia 9/9/09
Bowers Museum – Target Free First Sundays Every first Sunday through December 10 am-4 pm

Orange County Museum of Art – Target Free Second Sundays Every second Sunday through December 11 am – 4 pm

The Children’s Museum at La Habra Target Free First Saturdays Every first Saturday through November and December 12 10 am – 5 pm

And several places in major American cities: Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, Minneapolis, Washington DC, Dallas/Ft Worth, Denver, Indianapolis, Las Vegas, Seattle, St. Louis, San Diego, Portland, Phoenix, Orange County, Detroit, Long Beach, Omaha, Oklahoma City, Philadelphia, New York, Miami, Salt Lake City, etc. Check it out!