Sand: Reading and Writing

If you want to add some fun to reading and writing words (in English or another language), go to the park.

Instructions:

1. Go to a big sand box with your kids (a couple days after rain works best)

2. Find some long, pointy sticks (for pencils)

3. Have them write words and you write words for them to read (or translate)

4. Have fun!

We did our reading and writing activities at the park today. A wrote her name with a stick and I wrote the short a words we have been working on reading (hat, cash, etc.). It was a lot of fun!

This could be used for little ones learning to read and write. For foreign language, you could have them translate for you or dictate sentences and they write it down. Just wanted to share and hope someone can try it out!

Thrift Store Books!

I just wanted to share an idea for those of you who have never browsed the children's books section of a thrift store. It is a gold mine! Usually the prices are 65 cents a book. There are books that smell and look brand new. I found an Abeka 4 math book for 33 cents that has one page used. They have many picture books from well-known, award winning authors.

Thrift stores are wonderful for finding foreign language books, especially Spanish. I have bought at least a dozen great picture books in Spanish. First thousand words or first hundred words books are pretty common and a great way to build vocabulary with your kids. On Labor Day, my best purchase was a Spanish textbook (completely in Spanish, no English) with stories by great authors along with questions and activities for 33 cents. I am planning on using this when my kids are probably in 3rd or 4th grade. I even found a fun children's book in French. Try it, I know you will find some great books!