Karaoke Kids

Browsing around, as you do, and found the cutest app that I only wish I had found last year when I was tutoring possibly the world's biggest 1D fan! (If you don't know what 1D stands for, then you obviously don't have tween-age daughters or have been living under a rock for the past 2 years).

It's a One Direction Karaoke App! It has all the lyrics written and you can sing along to the music. You can also download the lyrics, view You Tube clips of their songs, get the latest news about the band and see their website. AND it's FREE! Who doesn't love a FREE app?

 

So what on earth does this have to do with learning?

Well, aside from being fun to sing along, it's a great way to get kids reading, especially if they are struggling with their reading or spelling. Music is a great way to inspire kids to move around and sing along, and many kids learn much better when they are on the go, and getting physically and emotionally involved in what they are doing.

So with my 1D Fan Tutee last year we printed the lyrics and sang along to the songs and focused on the words that were most important to her needs at the time. It's great because you get to use the words in context, and when you're singing along you have to think ahead and stay in time, it's not just drone repetition reading. Turn those mumbles that you sing along in the car into actual words that mean something!

 

So if the kids aren't into 1D all you need to do on your smart phone or tablet is search the store for "karaoke" and there are literally thousands of free apps to sing along to.

If you don't have a smart phone, go for the trusty old karaoke DVD. You can get them everywhere for bargain basement prices, the quality of the music is sometimes a little lacking, but it never stopped anyone having a bit of fun, especially in the name of "education".

And remember the good old Singstar games on the Sony? They were pretty popular about 10 years ago, so if you've got an old PS2 console you can pick up the games and the microphones dirt cheap at garage sales.

Karaoke = Reading = Learning that's Fun!

Mid Year Sales with Blossom

It's that time of year again! End of Financial Year, and the Australian retailers are putting out their novel size catalogues, offering the perfect opportunity to stock up and lay-by for Christmas. I love shopping! When I've been stressed out, it helps me relax to wonder around the shopping centre and browse. I like to think of it as "research".

So whether you like to be organised or love getting caught up in the moment, studying the catalogue pages, circling, listing, lining up, being the first in, I have a small challenge for you. Research, Blossom Style.

This year, when you are doing your planning and purchasing, put a little "Learning that's Fun" spin on it. Keep these 3 top tips in mind while getting ready for your Toy Sale adventures.

1. Value for Money
Before you spend your hard earned cash on anything, look into your magic globe and see if you can predict the future? Where will it be in 2 months time? Broken, lost, damaged? Will it make it through the Christmas Holidays and still be in tact by the time the kids head back to school in February? Unless it's an actual consumable, it might be worth looking for something else. Think quality not quantity. 

2. Learning Benefits

We've had a few Blossom posts over the years about gifts and educational toys and games. So this is where that really comes into play. We know that kids learn best when they are playing and having fun, so it's important to think about what they are learning from the toys and games we buy. The obvious ones are reading, writing and maths, but there are other learning benefits to be gained, keep these in mind when choosing your purchases:

• fine motor skills
• physical movement
• music & rhythm
• sharing
• competition
• problem solving
• creativity & imagination

If you can combine any of these, even better!

3. Our Favourites

Now you know I love shopping, and of course I've had a look through the catalogues, so I've put together a quick reference list that match the Value for Money with Learning Benefits criteria. Doesn't get any easier than this: 

• Fisher Price
• Great range of motor skills & literacy / numeracy big bold colourful toys for toddlers
• Leap Frog
• Ranging from baby to teen, the electronic gadgets can really grab their attention for literacy and numeracy
• V Tech
• Similar to the Fisher Price & Leap Frog
• Musical Instruments
• Guitars, keyboards, drums, recorders, anything musical that encourages rhythm is great! You might have the next Mozart in your family.
• Lego
• Motor skills, creativity, following instructions...not to mention learning to stay organised and clean up! 
• Board Games
• LOVE board games! So much to learn right through reading, writing, drawing, problem solving, general knowledge, articulation, vocabulary, numeracy, quick thinking, competition, working in teams, and so much more! 
• Art & Crafts
• Get creative, drawing, painting, sculpting, decorating, designing. Old School is Cool again remember! Knitting, Cross Stitch, Crochet, Sewing. 
• Books with Benefits
• Read about books with benefits in a past post. Books are beautiful treasures to enjoy stories and family time, but they can be so much more with the interactive options available! 
• Grown Up Play
• Kitchens, Gardens, BBQs, Tools, Dolls. Little versions of grown up things where they can be "just like mummy" or "just like daddy."
• Sports
• Sports are important for everyone to be involved in. From lawn bowling to football, there's something for everyone to get them up and about. 
• Electronics
• You can't fight the digital age, but we can be thoughtful about it. Opt for games that have some learning benefits or offer some creative challenges. Cameras are a great one for allowing kids to be creative. See the world through their eyes, literally! 

So get prepared, think about the 3 tips and have a great time. Don't let it stress you out, it's all in good fun, so if you're not having fun sleep on it, and try again the next day. 

Happy Learning!

The Road to Discovery

On a recent family holiday in an unfamiliar city we relied heavily on maps to get us around, using public transport and finding the local entertainment spots. Maps of roads and streets, maps of transport lines and maps of buildings and shopping centres. So it got me thinking about how you can use maps as a tool for learning.

NAVIGATION

Learning to read maps in the car or when you are out on a family trip can help the kids to learn navigation skills like directions north, south or left and right and concepts like distance and travel time.

As kids on long trips my brother used to try to calculate how far we had to travel, what average speed we were travelling at and work out how long it would take us to get there. So many times he would be within the minute! 

LANGUAGE

Using maps can even help with learning language by increasing their vocabulary, learning terms and phrases they might not normally hear in every day conversation, and it can help with reading and spelling.

Many maps and directories often have extra information written in them, information about places of interest in towns and cities, or stories of history in the area. The surrounding information can be just as interesting as finding where you are headed. 

TREASURE HUNT

Creating your own maps to set up treasure hunts can be a really great fun family activity. You can use them for children's parties to find the secret treasure, or get into pirate mode and make your own maps by staining paper with tea and burning the edges to give it that olde feeling. Remember X marks the spot! Treasure maps are a great way to get the kids outdoors and moving around, creative and kinaesthetic learners will get more from these types of experiences.

After some months of learning "sound pics" (phonic combinations of letters that make specific sounds) I took one of my tutoring students out for an afternoon around town. We spent an hour Window Shopping, looking at signs, posters and shop fronts for words that contained the sound pics we had been studying. Like CH for the sound K (as in Christmas), or EA for the sound E (as in meat that you eat). We had a great time moving and learning in the outdoors, doing something unusual but fun. 

Here are a few quick ideas for playing and learning with maps:

• Geo Caching (get your GPS, search the internet and join a world wide activity to find the hiding spots...there are 5 in my town alone). 
• Mapping out your journey
• Make their own Pirate Treasure Maps
• Plotting out their dream adventure / holiday around the world
• Marking out where family and friends live
• Find your house on Google Earth 

Happy Learning!

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And remember to get your photo entries for the Renovation Rescue in this week!