If I had all the time and money in the world, I would take my kids to the Arctic to see the animals up close. But since that isn't going to happen anytime soon :-), I've been showing them brief videos of Arctic animals in action instead. Indeed, I've found a number of high quality YouTube videos that have been wonderful resources for teaching ... Continue Reading
Valentine Sudoku Printable {guest post}
Valentine's Day is fast approaching. Have you checked out my growing collection Valentine printables yet? I shared my most recent Valentine printable over at Teach Beside Me recently: a Valentine Sudoku Puzzles printable! Have you ever played Sudoku? I don't play much anymore, but I used to love doing Sudoku puzzles. I started with the easy ones ... Continue Reading
Chinese New Year drum craft for kids
Looking for Chinese New Year crafts and activities to help ring in the Lunar New Year? This Chinese New Year drum craft for kids makes a great activity that will keep little ones quite engaged. This craft re-creates a traditional Chinese instrument called the Bolang Gu, or pellet drum. This instrument is used in Chinese ritual music ... Continue Reading
Comparing Arctic animal sizes
The kids and I have been discussing Arctic animals lately. We've read a few books about Arctic animals. We saw polar bears at the zoo. And the kids have done some pretend play related to Arctic animals. We also did an activity comparing Arctic animal sizes. I had two learning objectives in mind for the activity we did to compare Arctic animal ... Continue Reading
14 Books about Chinese New Year for kids
Chinese New Year is the most important holiday of the year for Chinese people, and one that is increasingly celebrated in the United States and other countries as more and more Chinese people migrate to live abroad. Communities all over the world host Chinese New Year parades each year in celebration of this important holiday. Chinese New ... Continue Reading
Chinese New Year Do-a-Dot Printables
Chinese New Year begins on January 31 this year. According to the Chinese Zodiac, we will be entering the year of the horse. In an effort to raise my kids with a good understanding of multiple cultures, our family celebrates Chinese New Year in our own little way. As part of those celebrations, I'm releasing my Chinese New Year Do-a-Dot ... Continue Reading
Teaching colors in Spanish to kids {free printable}
Are you teaching your kids in Spanish? Or do you work with native Spanish speaking children? This activity is a fun and simple idea for teaching colors in Spanish to kids. Last year I published a winter printable called Color the Snowman Buttons. It is a simple, snowman-themed printable to help kids work on color recognition. A reader who ... Continue Reading
20 books about Arctic animals for kids
Winter is a perfect time for kids to study polar animals. The polar regions include both the Arctic and Antarctica. If you are looking for books about Arctic animals to read with your kids, I invite you to check out my reviews below. Note that some of the books reviewed below provide information about polar animals from both the Arctic and ... Continue Reading
Sticky paper snowman craft
This sticky paper snowman craft is a very simple winter activity for kids. My kids, although especially XGirl, are just a wee bit obsessed with snowmen. XGirl has never seen real snow, but QBoy has. A few years ago before XGirl joined our family, we spent Thanksgiving in Yosemite. One day we drove to Crane Flat, which is above 6,000 feet, and there ... Continue Reading
Penguin crafts and learning activities
Penguins are a popular subject of study during this time of year. They are such adorable animals and kids seem to be fascinated by them. In fact, the kids and I did a mini unit to learn about penguins last year. My kids still remember the lesson about Emperor penguins carrying eggs on their feet to prevent them from freezing in the freezing ... Continue Reading
