With all of the craziness that has been circling around us the past couple of weeks, we have sort of taken a break from our usual at home lesson plans. I try to stick to a homeschool preschool lesson plan for B, who's three years old, and has not yet entered a private preschool program. Just because he's home with me during the day, doesn't mean that he shouldn't be learning and experiencing things. When he shows an interest in something, I usually run with it, and we try some fun things out.
A lot of moms that I know are also teachers. I have never really had the desire to teach, but had no concept of 'a mom is a teacher, too,' until I became a mom. Since we're at home- working, playing, learning, I try to find the very best educational resources possible- things that will be easy for me to 'teach' with, fun for my son to learn from, and age appropriate, as well.
I recently had the opportunity to work with Super Duper Publications, who have been connecting parents and teachers with fun educational games and more since 1986! I was able to select a few different learning games from Super Duper to try out with B, and I was so glad for it. Even though wer sort of strayed away from the lesson plan I made for the year, we needed to get a little educational time back into our routine the weeks leading up to Christmas, and the weeks that would follow.
Our package from Super Duper!
B couldn't wait to check out all of these colorful surprises!
Super Duper had lots of great options for B's age group, so I was able to select about four different educational games/activities that I thought he would have a lot of fun with. He couldn't wait to check out the games, and when he saw the fishing box, he just about flipped his lid!
Classifying Photo Fish Game- Ages Pre-K - 6.
I selected the fun Classifying Photo Fish Game for B, because he's really getting into recognition, matching, etc, and I thought that this would be a great way for us to work on categorizing. The game comes with a big 'tackle box' filled with foam fish, and round stickers. An adult or teacher will have to put the stickers on the fish, but once that's done, the game is ready to be played. There's a large plastic mat that resembles a pond, which can be placed on the floor. Next, you simply put some of the foam fish on the mat (each one has a thin magnet on it), and then give the child a plastic fishing rod, which also has a magnet on the end. The child fishes for the different colored fish.
Our fishing box...
B, checking out the fishing rods and eager to go fishing!
The Photo Fish Game includes everything here: Foam fish, two fishing rods, stickers, and instructions.
Here's the mat laid out on the floor, with lots of fish in the pond for B to fish out!
B, ready to go fishin'!
The Classifying Photo Fish game is wonderful for Balian, and there are so many variations to this fun game! I can ask Balian to fish for specific items, like clothing. He identifies the clothing picture stickers on the fish, and then fishes those out. We do the same for other categories, like vehicles, or fruit. Sometimes we fish for fish of a specific color, like only the red fish, and sometimes we turn all of the fish over, so you can't see the photos, and we categorize the surprises we wind up with!
B, hunting for 'food fish.'
We think this is a great game, and it's a lot of fun for two people to play together. It passes the time, and your child is learning a lot, while having a super duper time learning and categorizing! Classifying Photo Fish retails for $43.95.
Turtle Talk- Fluency and Language Game - Ages Pre-K and up
Next up, we tried out the Turtle Talk Fluency and Language Game, which is geared toward ages Pre-K and beyond. B doesn't read yet, though he has been recognizing words, and we've started working on writing with him. Turtle Talk is a question and answer game, so it's prfect for kids who read, and kids who aren't quite there yet. The teacher, helper or adult can read the questions to the children and prompt them for the answers.
Colorful board of the Turtle Talk Game...
Turtle Talk comes with lots of colorful tokens that are collected by the players as the game goes on.
We have tried to play Turtle Talk a few times since we received it, and though B is interested in it, he's more interested in playing with the tokens, than actually playing the game. For a three year old, his attention span and listening skills just aren't quite where they need to be to truly play this game. We'll work up to playing th game correctly, but in the meantime, I use the cards from the game to ask B questions during down time, or when we're sitting at the table for a meal. This helps to keep him engaged, keeps him at the table, and we're talking and learning together, which is so wonderful!
Features of Tutrle Talk
In this innovative fluency and language game, players pick a card, answer a skill level question, roll the die, "skate" around the board, and receive Turtle Tokens™ (found inside the turtle) as they go!
You get 240 illustrated playing cards, 40 each of animals, around the home, food, holidays and seasons, occupations, and things you wear. With six questions per card, that's 1,440 opportunities for fluency and language practice! Cards measure 2 1/3" x 3 1/8". Plus, you may use the illustrations on the backs of the cards to help your students respond to the questions. That makes this game ideal for readers or non-readers!
We think this game is going to be a big help to us at home as we learn our way through 2014, and will be even better suited for B as he grows!
The next Super Duper fun learning game we received, was the MagnetalkYogarilla game! This magnetic board game features Otis the Gorilla, who shows the game players how to transform their little bodies into different animals and objects, using various yoga poses. B and I love to exercise together, and we have had a blast doing mommy & me yoga. This is a lot of fun for us to do at home, and gives us a lot of different poses to try together, which helps us work on our balance and coordination. B has a lot of fun relating the poses to animals or objects, like dogs, trees, etc. This is a fun and relaxing learning activity for kids and grown ups, alike, and we enjoy it so much that we do this almost daily! As the players move around the board, they can collect special treasures, so it's truly educational and interactive!
Magnetalk Yogarilla retails for $21.95.
We chose one more Magnetalk game- the Magnetalk Magnetic Mealtime, which allows children to 'build' a healthy meal on a large plate, using magnetic foods. There are over 48 food magnets to choose from! We have a lot of fun using this when it's time for me to make our weekly meal plan. As I plan out the meals for our dinner for the following week, B makes different plates containing a protein, a fruit or veggie, and sometimes a wheat/grain. We usually wind up with a lot of plates containing apples, chicken, broccoli and rice, which is great, because that means B has an understanding of what a balanced meal looks like.
I also ask B to build me a snack plate, which helps me know what types of snack items to purchase during the next grocery store trip. The plate is usually filled with apples, grapes, oranges, cucumbers, carrot sticks, yogurt and crackers. I couldn't be happier that my son loves to snack on healthy foods!
*Retails for $21.95
We have been so impressed by the amount of fun we have been having with our new learning games by Super Duper! I am happy to have them to my disposal to use with our lesson plans for the new year, and I know these will be wonderful to use while we're on Christmas break, too! They'll keep B engaged, and keep the learning going on, after he's burned out from the excitement of Christmas and lots of new toys! Super Duper games are perfect for moms or dads who are home with their little ones, for CDC's, Pre-school classrooms, and beyond!
If you're looking for a fun gift to give this holiday season, don't discount educational games or materials for kids and teachers! They will be so super surprised by receiving one of these fun learning games, and will truly benefit from a thoughtful gift such as this!
Want It? Buy It!
Head on over to Super Duper to check out all of their wonderful educational games! You can search by keyword, age group, etc to find the perfect game for your kiddos! You can also connect with Super Duper through Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube, and check out their news feed for the latest news and tips!
Special thanks to Suoer Duper for allowing us to review these wonderful learning games! Here's to a super educational new year!
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