Creative Family Fun

Your one-stop shop for kids activities and family fun

Terri Thompson

Go on a Fact Finding Mission

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We received the most amazing book in the mail a few weeks ago. It was packed full of fun facts about everything under the sun. Seriously. There was everything from animals, history, and the ocean, to a section full of the most disgusting facts you can imagine. The book all by itself was amazing, but we decided to have even more fun with it. We used it to go on a Fact Finding Mission!
Disclosure: We received a free copy of this book from Parragon Books, all opinions and the related activity are our own. This post also contains Amazon Affiliate links. Please see my disclosure for more details.
This fantastic book is called 5000 Amazing Facts: Incredible but True Facts About Everything by Discovery Kids. They’re not kidding. There are facts about everything such as dinosaurs, meerkats, black holes, populations, and world treasures, just to name a few. This is not a book that you have to read straight through. You can open it up to any page and enjoy. My 3rd grader thinks this is the most awesome book ever!
Even though this book is so enjoyable on it’s own, I thought it would be a fun idea to play a little fact finding game. I leafed through the book and found 10 different facts that were interesting. (Finding only 10 was quite a challenge!) I then created questions for those facts and challenged the girls to figure out the answer.
It seems like a daunting task to find the answer to only 10 questions from a book of 5000 facts, but I was very deliberate in my questions. The facts in the book are grouped together by topic and I made the topic very obvious in my question. For example, question 1 is “What whale has no sense of smell?” The girls were able to find that question on the whale page. The questions also went in book order, so they didn’t have to go back and forth in the book.
My girls absolutely loved the game and learned so much from it – more than just some fun trivia facts. They learned to find the subject of the question so they could easily find the section of the book they needed. And, they learned how to find the answer to a question in a book. All good research skills they need to know.

 

If you would like to use our Fact Finding Mission, you can grab it at the link below. I’ve even included the answers on a second sheet. It is very specific to this book.
Get the Fact Finding Mission here.
You can go on a fact finding mission with many nonfiction books. You just have to take the time to write out a few questions. It’s a great way to help a kid explore a nonfiction book and helps them learn how to research and find the answer to a question.
Thanks again to Parragon Books for 5000 Amazing Facts, Incredible but True Facts About Everything. You can click on the book link to purchase.
 

Dear Teacher: There Are a Few Things I Need You To Know

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Photo Credit: tagore75 via depositphotos

Dear Teacher,

I know we haven’t met yet. I’d love to sit down and talk with you, but I don’t even know your name. You’re about to become a very important person in my child’s life, which in turn will make you a very important person in my life. We’ve been very lucky thus far to have had the privilege of some amazing public school teachers. They’ve shown wisdom, compassion, and love to all their students. My girls have learned so much and grow each and every year. I hope this year will be no different.

You’re very busy at the beginning of the year. I get that. We never really have much time to chat before that first day of class. But, there’s just a few things I’d love for you to know before you start teaching my daughter.

We are a team. We have the same end goal in mind. There’s just one difference, my only focus is on my child’s education. You, on the other hand, have more than 20 other kids to focus on. What’s best for my child may not be the best for every one else. I get that. So, let’s keep the lines of communication open. Let me know if my daughter needs extra help mastering a skill or extra encouragement on a social issue. I’ll step up and I’ll get her through. We’re in this together.

I am also my child’s teacher. Yeah, I know I don’t have an education degree like you do. I don’t know teaching methods and I don’t know much at all about classroom management. But I do know a thing or two about my own child. I know her quirks and her particular learning styles. We like to have fun and we like to learn. I may not do all those cool suggested activities that you send home, but that doesn’t mean we don’t support learning in our house. We just do it in a different way.

I want to help you. I tell you this every year and every year I mean it. I’m not just saying this to be nice. I want to help you and I want to help my daughter’s classmates. Don’t ever be afraid to ask me! I will step in and help to the best of my time and ability. I know you can’t do it all. Please let me carry some of the load. I will sort and staple, file, or even step in and supervise your favorite messy project for the classroom party. I’ve already got the paint-stained jeans ready to wear!

I understand that education today looks much different than the education I received. And, that doesn’t mean one is better than the other. They’re just different. I’m embracing all the differences as they come along and in some cases, learning right along with my daughter. I won’t mock it or post crappy Facebook posts out of frustration. I’ll try to figure it out. And if I come to you with questions, take it in good faith that I’m trying to learn.

You are amazing. I don’t think I could do what you do. It pleases me so much to see you enjoy your job. You love those kids. You care so much about them. Because of that, I can put my trust in you. I know you’ll do a fantastic job and I look forward to the coming year.

Thank you.

I wrote this piece as part of a monthly blog hop in support of public schools. Make sure and visit the rest of the participants.

 

 

Rainbow Color Hunt: A Tally Mark Scavenger Hunt

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We love scavenger hunts – really love scavenger hunts.

They’re fun, engaging, get you moving, and are a great way to sneak in some extra learning.

We recently spent a hot summer day on a rainbow color tally mark scavenger hunt throughout the house.

It was a great way to sneak in some math practice. We were looking for the colors of the rainbow and also practicing tally marks at the same time.

Sneak in math fun while you search for a rainbow of colors. This tally mark scavenger hunt is a great way to practice writing and counting tally marks.

Disclosure: This post contains Amazon Affiliate and other affiliate links. Please see my Disclosure Page for more details.

Perfect for inside or outside

This scavenger hunt can work both indoors and out, but we did discover that there are many more color choices inside.

You would definitely want to find a more colorful location (like a flower garden) if you plan on trying this scavenger hunt outside.

Sneak in math fun while you search for a rainbow of colors. This tally mark scavenger hunt is a great way to practice writing and counting tally marks.

Go on a rainbow color tally mark scavenger hunt

The hunt is so easy and so much fun.

All you need is the Rainbow Color Hunt printable, a hard surface to write on, and a pencil.

Have your child hunt for all the colors of the rainbow. Each time that find a color, they need to make a tally mark on the sheet.

At the end of the hunt, total up all the tally marks to find out which color occurred most frequently.

To make sure there was an end point to this scavenger hunt, I set a timer for 15 minutes. Our goal was to find out how much color we could find in that time frame.

Sneak in math fun while you search for a rainbow of colors. This tally mark scavenger hunt is a great way to practice writing and counting tally marks.

My girls worked together to find the colors and total up the tally marks. You could also give each child their own copy of the printable and let them compete against each other to see who found the most incidences of each color.

Are you ready to play? You can download and print the Rainbow Color Tally Mark Scavenger Hunt at the link below.

Download and print here –> Rainbow Color Hunt
Sneak in math fun while you search for a rainbow of colors. This tally mark scavenger hunt is a great way to practice writing and counting tally marks.

More rainbow fun

Make simple egg carton rainbows. You probably have all the supplies you need at home.

Read a book about color! You’ll find great recommendations for books about all the colors of the rainbow.

Learn with Rainbow Writing. Practice spelling words or sight words with this fun activity.

Try some rainbow science. Visit Buggy & Buddy for a fun list of rainbow science activities.

Make this a family adventure

Cost: Free

Planning time: About 5 minutes. You need time to download and print the Rainbow Color Hunt sheet.

Ages: 5 and up. This works best with kids who have already learned about tally marks. You can pair up younger kids with an older sibling or adult if they can’t do tally marks on their own.

Time needed: 15 to 30 minutes.

Choose your location wisely! You don’t want everyone to get frustrated because they can’t find the different colors.

Aboriginal Dot Painting: Exploring Australia Through Art

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Our next stop in Project Around the World was to a country most everyone knows something about – Australia. It was one of those places where we took a pause and immersed ourselves in all the wondrous things to explore. One of my girls’ favorite things about Australia are the animals. Australian animals are different from anywhere else in the world. The kangaroos, koalas, wombats, and more are endlessly fascinating. But, before we completely immersed ourselves in the animals, we learned a little about the Aboriginal culture in Australia.
Disclosure: The post contains Amazon Affiliate links. Please see my disclosure for more details. 
Before beginning our project, we read Rainbow Bird: An Aboriginal Folk Tale from Northern Australia by Eric Maddern. The book retells the traditional Aboriginal fire myth from northern Australia. The story is wonderfully told and the illustrations were delightful. It’s a book we read over and over while we had it from the library. After reading, we decided to try our hand at dot painting, a traditional Aboriginal form of art.
Supplies Needed:
Heavy cardboard for your canvas (I cut apart a shipping box)
Craft paint
Empty plastic lid (or other flat surface for your palette)
Cotton swabs
We used a cut apart cardboard box for our painting surface. You can actually do this project on paper, I was just looking for something a little more solid and I wanted the brown background. Use whatever you have on hand for your project.
Before we got started painting, I had the girls draw simple outlines of their subjects. Despite their complete infatuation of all things Australia, the girls didn’t want to draw any of the Australian animals. One drew a rabbit and the other a bathing suit (she’s really into fashion design). After we had simple pencil outlines, the girls used their cotton swabs to fill in their designs with dots.
In order to stay true to traditional dot art, we chose colors that were earth tones, or other colors found in nature. The brightest color we chose was yellow. Even though the girls chose non-traditional subjects, the art technique and colors reminded us of all the examples of traditional Aboriginal dot art that we saw. It was such a fun painting technique and one I hope we revisit some day.
Thank you for travelling along on our virtual trip around the world. To see all the projects we’ve done so far, please click here or on the image below.
 

Skip Counting by 10 Pretend Play Store

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My girls have always loved playing store. Always. And just when I think we’ve played every version imaginable, I think of a new idea.

I’ve already shared one way to use a pretend play store for math practice with our Number Stories Store. This time we’re going to use a store to practice skip counting by 10.

The set up is so easy. In fact, let your kids help. They enjoy setting it up as much as they enjoying playing with the store.

A pretend play store is the perfect way to have fun while you're practicing skip counting by 10. Set up your store, practice math, and have fun.

Disclosure: The post contains Amazon Affiliate links. Please see my disclosure for more details.

Supplies needed:

Items to “sell” – We used stuffed animals
Paper cut into small pieces
Marker
Coins

A pretend play store is the perfect way to have fun while you're practicing skip counting by 10. Set up your store, practice math, and have fun.

Set up your skip counting store

While my girls went in search of our merchandise for the store, I started working on the price tags.

I have this cool gift tag punch that I used to make our fancy price tags. (On a side note, I use it all the time to make homemade gift tags!)

You don’t have to get as fancy as I did, just cut your paper into small rectangles. I cut out 10 tags and started writing prices.

We were going to work on skip counting by 10, so each tag was marked 10 cents up to $1.00. I let the girls assign price tags to each animal.

A pretend play store is the perfect way to have fun while you're practicing skip counting by 10. Set up your store, practice math, and have fun.

This is the perfect time to practice with real money

We used real money in our store. This was a perfect chance to practice counting money!

I gave my daughter 10 dimes and let her start shopping.

She would pick out an animal she wanted to “purchase” and then have to count out her dimes to pay for it.

I had her skip count by 10 since that is what we were practicing.

My two girls played for a long time and got in a lot of sneaky math practice.

A pretend play store is the perfect way to have fun while you're practicing skip counting by 10. Set up your store, practice math, and have fun.

Don’t just stick with skip counting by 10

If your child needs to practice skip counting by 5’s, just switch up the game a little. Write prices in multiples of 5 and let them use nickles instead of dimes.

You could use prices that teach skip counting by 3, 4, 6, or any other set of skip counting.

This game is so much fun. Your kids will get plenty of practice skip counting and they won’t feel like they’re working. It’s a win-win!

A pretend play store is the perfect way to have fun while you're practicing skip counting by 10. Set up your store, practice math, and have fun.

For more information about skip counting:

Math Homework 101: Skip Counting: Why is skip counting so important and how can I help my child learn this skill.

Skip Counting with Bottle Caps: Another easy and fun skip counting game.

Skip Counting with the Cat in the Hat: Practice skip counting by 10 with this fun homemade puzzle.

Fine Motor Skip Counting Game: Get a little fine motor practice with this simple skip counting by 5 game at Better Than Homework.

Skip Counting by 5 DIY Game: Practice skip counting with this simple craft stick game at Simply Kinder.