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5 Fun Tips to Help Your Kids Succeed in School
- EI Editor Posted On Aug 21, 2019 | Educational Tips
2. Talk! Share the details of your day with your kids and ask about theirs. The more they hear you discussing the order and flow, interactions, and experiences you’ve had, the better they’ll get at articulating their own. Use humor and ask open-ended questions like, “What was the first thing you did in the classroom today?”, “What made you feel proud today?”, and “What did you and your friends do on the playground?” Repeat what your child told you in your own words – this not only shows you’re listening, but also introduces new vocabulary words! Try not to correct their pronunciation or speech patterns, just respond enthusiastically and be engaged in their efforts.
3. Play! There are so many ways to slip early math practice into your everyday experiences. Count the crackers on the snack plate, cut an apple in four to demonstrate a whole/half/quarters, and arrange the fruits in your fruit bowl in size order. Sort the socks by color, then match them up – older kids can count the socks and divide the pile into two. Bake cookies together and let your kids get a sense of measurement and volume. Count front doors and stop signs on your walks. Estimate the number of steps from the car to the house or the number of Cheerios in the bowl. You get the idea.
4. Explore! Give kids the tools they need to practice what they’re learning at school on their own using engaging, interactive products like:- Hot Dots® Jr. Let’s Master Math and Reading sets! Available for grades Pre-K through 3, these sets include 100 grade-specific, interactive lessons perfect for independent learning.
- Hot Dots® Jr. Highlights™ On-The-Go! Learn My ABC’s and Learn My 123s sets or the Succeeding in School with Highlights™ set! Each set features Highlights’ traditional puzzles and games coupled with age-appropriate learning.
With a loving heart, a bit of planning, and the right tools up your sleeve, there’s lots you can do to support your little one’s academic growth and development at home. Together you can do it! ❤️ 
Must-Have Craft Supplies and At-Home Craft Ideas
Who’s ready to craft? We are always prepared for a quick craft, art project, or hands-on DIY activity. To help you get crafty, we’ve put together a list of the essential craft supplies you need for your next craft emergency. Plus, we’re sharing some of our favorite ideas for quick, simple, at-home craft activities for when the inspiration strikes! Check them out:
- Scratch Paper—If your kids are just looking to scribble or draw, give your single-sided junk mail or home printer mistakes a second life as scratch paper.
- Construction Paper—A crafting staple, you’ll want to stock a variety of colors and sizes and save the cut-off scraps for future projects.
- Card Stock—Heavier card stock paper is perfect for making stick puppets and other sturdy crafts. Go for matte versus gloss, as markers smear on glossy surfaces.
- Foam Sheets—Soft and squishy, use cut-out foam shapes to give your 2D projects some dimension, attach them to magnet packs, or hang them from homemade mobiles.
- Crayons—The cornerstone of every craft closet! Keep your broken bits to melt into multi-colored circle crayons in a muffin tin—just follow these instructions from our friends at MakeandTakes.com!
- Markers—If you can count on your kids to recap the markers, this is one place you might want to splurge, as cheap markers can run out of ink quickly and often leave uneven strokes.Crayola Ultra Clean Washable Broad Line Markers are a great choice for younger kids; older artists might like the variety of Dual Tip Art Markers.
- Kid-Safe Scissors—Another splurge item, higher-quality scissors will open and close smoothly and easily and fit little fingers without pinching.
- Craft Sticks—Purchase a pack or save your Popsicle sticks—these are great for spreading glue and perfect for supporting puppets and making DIY picture frames.
- Acrylic Paint—Acrylics work well on paper, wood, and canvas (and can be thinned with water if need be). Make sure to purchase a non-toxic paint that complies with U.S. government safety standard ASTM D-4236.
- Quick Dry Clay—Sculpting with kids can be so much fun and a great tactile experience! Quick-dry clay allows kids to keep their creations and paint them when they’re dry.
- Playfoam®—For non-permanent masterpieces, Playfoam is the perfect choice. Unlike dough, this squishy, squashy sculpting substance holds its shape, but never dries out, so you never have to replace it!
- Washi Tape—Available in a huge variety of colors and patterns, the decorative tape is an easy way to add embellishments to a project without using glue.
- Ribbon—Save those last pieces of holiday ribbon! They're perfect for weaving crafts, garlands, magic wands, and so much more.
- Yarn—See some yarn in the sale bin? Grab it! Your kids can use it to add “hair” to their puppets and drawings of people or manes and tails to horses…whatever their creativity inspires!
- Beads—Plastic beads are perfect for stringing, gluing, or even melting into suncatchers (break out your muffin tins and follow these instructions from HappinessIsHomemade.net).
- Pipe Cleaners—String them with beads, use them to make butterflies, or add them as antennae to your kiddo's crazy creatures.
- Pompoms—These fluff balls are perfect for making everything from caterpillars to gumball machines. Just make sure you've got enough glue and are sticking them to a heavier stock paper.
- Stencils—Tracing and cutting around stencils are great ways to exercise those fine motor skills, so stock up on different shapes as you see them on sale.
- Cardboard Boxes—Save those delivery and shoeboxes! They’re perfect for making dioramas. (Pizza boxes also make great easels.)
- Cardboard Tubes—You can always have more of these! Save your TP and paper towel tubes and turn them into everything from telescopes to 3D self-portraits.
- Egg Cartons—What do snails, jellyfish, spring chicks, turtles, and dragons have in common? They all started out as egg cartons—just snip, paint, and embellish!
- Googly Eyes—As silly as they are, googly eyes bring every project to life.
DRILL DRAWINGS
Make awesome art for ages 3-5 using the kid-friendly drill and art supplies you already have!
Supplies: Paper, Design & Drill® Drill with drill bit, markers, tape.
- Choose a marker and use your tape to secure it to the drill bit.
- Attach the drill bit to the drill.
- Turn the drill on and get ready to draw!
- We're drawing a lion, so let's start with the mane. Set the marker down on the paper and activate the drill, creating a large, spiraled circle.
- Next, switch to a different color. Let's try green so we can draw some trees.
- Use your yellow marker to draw the outline of your lion's head, then color it in.
- Use a brown marker to draw trunks for the trees
- Use a black marker to add the lion's nose, mouth, and whiskers.
- Add googly eyes to finish!
Make Your Own Cardboard Ring Toss
Recycle those boxes into a DIY game! Michael Sheridan, another one of our Product Managers and spearhead of sustainability, came up with this recycled-materials ring toss game (that also practices math skills) for ages 4 and up!
Supplies: Cardboard box, scissors, marker, tape.
- Cut the short flap off a cardboard box.
- Mark five even lines about 3/4 inch wide and cut them out.
- Mark each cardboard strip with a number from 1-5. These will be the points for each peg.
- Fold the strips in different lengths so that 5 is the shortest and most difficult. 1 should be the easiest. You can skip this step if you have little ones who might have difficulty getting the ring on a peg.
- Tape the strips to the inside of the box at different locations. For example, two in the top row, one in the very center, and two on the bottom row.
- From the remaining piece of cardboard, cut out two rings. If you have more than two players, use the flap from the opposite side of the box to make more.
- Let the games begin! Game ideas: throw the ring around the pegs. Play first to 10 or 20 to build their math skills while they play. You can also play where only odd or even numbers count.
Beautiful Bubble Art
This simple activity requires a few simple ingredients and will have you and the kids creating beautiful art in no time. It's truly fun for all ages to create your own masterpiece!
Supplies: Cup or jar, water, straw(s), food coloring (tempera paint or watercolor paint are alternatives) liquid dish soap, card stock or construction paper
- Fill a cup or jar about 1/3 full of water.
- Add a few drops of food coloring and stir. If you choose to use tempera paint, it may take some trial and error to get the right color saturation. My first attempt did not use nearly enough food coloring. I used watercolor paint on the second attempt and that gave much better results (see the final photo with blue bubbles).
- Once the color is mixed evenly, insert the straw, and gently blow bubbles. Be careful not to send bubbles flying all over the table!
- Bubbles should rise over the edge of the cup. Take your construction paper and press it to the top of the cup. This will leave a cool imprint on the paper.
- Repeat blowing bubbles and pressing paper with other colors (or the same color!) for a fun pattern!
- Try combining bubbles of different colors and see how the colors blend.
Rainbow Prancer Unicorn Horn Craft
Make a wear-with-flair Rainbow Prancer Unicorn Horn! What kind of unicorn are you? Show off your Prancer style in minutes, and be sure to share your dazzling creations with us on Facebook or Instagram!
Supplies: Fancy paper of your choosing (glitter paper, construction paper, or cardstock), washi tape or ribbon elastic cording, hole puncher, sticker gems, pom poms or other methods of bedazzlement, scissors, glue or double-sided tape, markers or crayons, our printable rainbow prancer horn template.
- Download the Rainbow Prancer horn template. Print out on your favorite fancy paper, color to best reflect your unicorn style, and cut out the shape along the dotted lines. Fold into a cone, then secure with glue or double-sided tape.
- Punch holes on either side of the cone as marked. Thread the elastic cording through and secure with knots.
- Embellish your Rainbow Prancer horn with washi tape or by gluing colorful ribbon around the horn.
- Bedazzle with sticky gems, pom poms, or glitter!
- Wear your newly bedazzled horn with flair, and proudly prance with a fellow Rainbow Prancer.
Stock up on your craft essentials and get crafting!
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5 Ways to Play and Learn with Sentence Building Dominoes
If you only pick up one item for back-to-school, grab the Sentence Building Dominoes from Educational Insights! These Sentence Building Dominoes are super versatile and can be used by kids no matter where they are in their journey learning to read.
These are a must-have for families with kids learning to read and for any elementary teacher from kindergarten through third grade.
Read on for 5 simple, FUN ideas to learn with Sentence Building Dominoes! These tactile learning activities are organized from the most basic to the most advanced. And don’t miss the free Sentence Building Dominoes downloadable activities available on the Educational Insights website!
Count the words: Practice 1:1 correspondence!
Did you know being able to count the words in a sentence is an important part of learning to read?! Yep! Words make sentences, and sentences make words. Kids need to understand this and learn each printed word is one spoken word – this is one-to-one correspondence!
Build a simple sentence and invite the child to count the words. (For example, “I like the cookie.”) Then swap out one word in the sentence and count again! (“I like the book.” Or, “I like the school.”) Have the child touch each domino as they count.
This is a fabulous support for a child struggling with 1:1 correspondence, because it makes the learning tactile for them. Also, the dominoes are different colors. Visually, this helps the child see each of the separate words as they develop their understanding that each printed word is one spoken word.
Pick, read, and write: CVC words!
Choose several CVC (consonant, vowel, consonant) word dominoes, and place them in a bin of rice (or just an empty bowl). The sentence building dominoes include lots of CVC words like cat, bus, big, dad, ran, but, men, and many more!
Invite the child to choose a word, read it, and then write it. You can even add kids’ tweezers for pulling out the dominoes – this makes for added fun and fine motor practice!
CVC words are the perfect place to start with a beginning reader who is starting to blend letter sounds to make words. If a child knows all of their letters and letter sounds, support them as they begin to explore how these sounds are put together to make words!
Need a modification? If the child is just starting to blend letters to make words, start with words that all have the same middle vowel. For example, use the ran, cat, and dad dominoes. Distinguishing middle vowel sounds is tricky for beginning readers, so focusing on 1-2 at a time can be helpful to scaffold learning.
Word families!
Ready for more of a challenge? Try using the dominoes to practice word families (words that rhyme and are spelled with the same ending).
Pull out dominoes for word families you’d like the child to practice (you may want to target word families that end in -ear, -ice, -est, or another phonics pattern that is tricky for the child). Next, invite the child to pull a domino from that pile and write 3-4 words that are in that same word family! For example, if they pull the “best” domino, then they may write: rest, pest, vest. These are all words that end in -est.
Recognizing common word families is a powerful strategy for beginning readers to decode words more easily. This helps kids with chunking! If they can spot a word family they know when reading, it makes blending the beginning sound and the ending chunk quick and easy!
Sentence Building!
Offer your child a pile of dominoes, and invite them to build sentences!
Add an element of competition to increase the fun! How many sentences can you build? Who can build the silliest sentence? Or make it a game by taking turns picking dominoes from the pile – who will be the first to have enough words to build a sentence?
Want to add a writing component? Build sentences for each other and take turns writing them! This is a wonderful way to incorporate both reading and writing in a fun way!
Sorting: parts of speech!
These dominoes include color coded verbs, nouns, adjectives, and more. If your child is learning the part of speech, invite them to sort a pile of words into nouns and adjectives!
No matter where your child is in their journey learning to read, the Sentence Building Dominoes can meet your child where they are to build on their skills! This supply is perfect for back-to-school!
Beth Ann Tieche is an elementary principal turned stay at home mom of twins plus one! She helps parents have more joy and less stress with spirited kids. Her content revolves around doable ideas for art, hands-on learning, and family fun! Find Beth Ann at lowliftfun.com and on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/lowliftfun/) for lots of low lift (EASY!) fun!
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