Your Child, Book Reviewer

Let’s hear your kids’ questions!

ADDED January 20, 2010

kids reading activities

We like to read books with our children. Kid's books are often so beautiful and fun -- they're a great pastime for kids of all ages.

In the past, when we finished reading a book, my wife and I would ask the kids some questions about it:

Did you like it?

Was it funny?

What was your favorite part?

Truth be told, the kids were okay with these questions. Sometimes they had thoughtful responses, but more often than not, they were ready to move on to the next activity on the agenda.

So we turned the tables. Now I ask the kids to make up some questions about the book we've just read.

My kids ask, "What was your favorite part of the book?" but they also ask "deeper" questions -- and questions that lead to insight as to their own thinking:. . .

Color Code

Are your kids color-coded?

ADDED January 19, 2010

kids color activity

“Simon Says” eat your heart out! This idea is pure “Today Is Fun:” it’s simple, fun, and free. (Well, it pretty much should be free.)

Here’s what you need to do:

Find some objects that clearly represent all the colors of the rainbow. Colored paper, such as construction paper, works the best. Ideally, you can find some scraps of paper that are red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple. You could add more colors — black, white, brown and gray — but to start off, keep it simple with fewer colors.

(If you don’t have any colored paper on hand, you could have your kids make some paper for you to use. Take some white scraps of paper, and have the kids color one red, another orange, another yellow, and so on.)

(You could also have the kids write "red" on a card. That would work well and make for a good "second round.")

Next, with your kids’ input, assign some meanings to each color.

Red could be “sing a little song” or “spell out a word.”

Blue could be “Stand up, sit down, then stand up.”. . .

Animal Races

All animals win, really, just for trying!

ADDED January 18, 2010

kids activity

Sometimes when the weather outside is frightful, you’ve got to entertain the kids inside for days on end. That’s well and good — and we do have a number of activities here that should help. But after a while, kids being kids, you’ll realize that your children absolutely need to do something similar to exercise, in order to get their excess energy out.

Well, today’s activity should help you do just that. Today the kids will be racing around as the animals of their choosing.

Figure out an open space in your house for the kids to use — it doesn’t have to be too big. Choose a starting line and a finish line. Have the kids go to the starting line and tell them to think up an animal. Let them know that they’ll be running a race while acting like whatever animal they choose.

Count the kids down — “On your mark, get set, go!” — and they’re off to the races.

The point here is not to win or lose -- in fact, there really should be no winners or losers. Instead, the point is merely for the kids to demonstrate how each animal would run a race -- and to have fun doing it. Will the “animals” gallop? Will they slither? Will there be a scurry involved?

The point is also to expel some kid energy, of course!

Below is a video of “Animal Races” in action. No actual animals were injured during the creation of this film.

We hope that this activity is a success in your house.. . .

Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day!

Take some time to remember and honor a great American

ADDED January 18, 2010

kids martin luther king

Today, we'd like to take a moment to reflect on the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. My kids are quite young, but we have talked about the unfairness — and absurdity — of judging people by the color of their skin. Dr. King helped change that, and he righted wrongs while renouncing violence. He was a great man!. . .

Weekend Reading: The Circus Ship

A top reading pick. We love it!

ADDED January 16, 2010

kids reading activity

We suggest good books here pretty frequently. But today we would like to announce: Circus Ship by Chris Van Dusen might just be our top pick of all time! It’s certainly our favorite book of 2010. Yes, yes, it’s still early in the new year — I know — but we just love this book! 

When my kids and I finished reading Circus Ship for the first time, they demanded that we start over and read it again immediately. All in all, we probably spent an hour with this book during our first reading.

Here’s the story: a ship carrying animals from a circus has a mishap at sea . . . and sinks. The animals swim to a nearby island, whose residents are quite shocked at the sight of the exotic creatures. The humans are also a bit annoyed at the varieties of trouble that the animals get into. . . .


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