History Activities for Preschool and Kindergarten

Exploring Art History with Preschoolers – Playground Parkbench

Explore art history, from Modernism in the late 19th century to Pop Art, popular in the 1960s.

Montessori Inspired European Unit Study – The Pinay Homeschooler

Study European history with flags, animals, and landmarks – great for all elementary school students.

The Legend of Horatius at the Bridge – Layers of Learning

Learn about the legend of Horatius with this stanza, coloring sheet, and free printable Roman helmets.

Picture Books for Black History Month – No Twiddle Twaddle

Study black history through literature! Here are 10 great picture books for bringing black history alive.

Ancient Rome Food and Feast – Highhill Homeschool

Fill your tummy with a feast, fit for Ancient Rome. There’s nothing too extravagant about the meal, but elementary kiddos will love this!

Famous Artist Crafts for Kids  – The Crafty Classroom

Recreate the works of famous artists with these tutorials! Learn about them in the process, from Monet to Pollock.

Popsicle Stick Teepees – Glued to My Crafts

Study Native American history by creating these teepees. They’re pretty simple to make, with popsicle sticks being the base.

President’s Day Freebie – Mrs. Ricca’s Kindergarten

Study George Washington and Abraham Lincoln in this freebie for President’s Day.

Roman Numeral Lessons – The Natural Homeschool

Roman numerals are still used today! Introduce your kiddos to Roman numerals with this free printable.

Jackie Robinson Craft – Cutting Tiny Bites

On April 15, 1947, Jackie Robinson made history for breaking racial barriers and becoming the first African American to become a Major League Baseball player.

George Washington Lapbook – Lapbook Lessons

Use this lapbook to learn about our first president, George Washington!

Learn about Martin Luther King Jr – Teach Preschool

Martin Luther King Jr. made great advances for the Civil Rights movements. Learn about his amazing life!

Stonehenge Lesson for Preschool – Adventures in Mommydom

Get hands-on while learning about Stonehenge! It can be adapted for elementary and middle school, and is great for combining history and STEM.

Rosie the Riveter Coloring Page – Education.com

Rosie the Riveter was a classic icon during WWII, inspiring woman to help the war effort by taking up jobs.

Liberty Bell Craft – Mrs. Black’s Bees

Recreate the Liberty Bell while learning about early American history!

Pom-Pom American Flag Painting – Crafty Morning

Celebrate the 4th of July and Independence Day with this American flag painting! It’s simple and costs next to nothing.

Free Ancient Egypt Preschool Worksheets – 123 Homeschool for Me

Learn about ancient Egypt with this math and literacy pack. There are 17 printables, with history activities that can be adjusted for toddlers to 2nd grade.

Fun with Coloring Mixing: A Martin Luther King Jr. Day Craft – MPM Ideas

Learn about diversity and segregation with this bright coloring craft. It works best for large groups, but can be adjusted for smaller groups.

Ancient History: Roman Road – Preschool Powol Pockets

Learn about ancient history with this hands-on craft! Recreate a textured Roman road.

The post History Activities for Preschool and Kindergarten first appeared on True Aim.

3 Tips to Encourage Kids to Learn

1. Offer Different Options

There’s many ways to learn any subject. For instance to learn to read you can write letters or words on a slate, play with magnetic letters, or even read a book together.

If your child would like more hands-on options, head outside to practice letter sounds while playing hopscotch or write on the sidewalk with chalk. There’s even card games available to help your child learn to read.

Do the same thing with math. When your child is tired of doing worksheets, offer the option of playing math games. Study geometry and shapes for a time.

Remember that variety is the spice of life. Learning happens beyond the worksheets, books, and curricula. Pull out the history projects, science activities, math games, and audio-books to enjoy alternative ways of learning.

2. Be Silly

Laughter makes everything, even schoolwork, better. Tell your child you’re having a pirate day. Dress up in fancy clothing with eye patches and scarves, before spending the day saying aargh. Set up a plank to make children walk when they don’t do their schoolwork.

If being a pirate doesn’t float your boat, try pretending to be a school for princesses, a dragon academy, or a t-rex family. Send the children to dress up in their favorite dress-up clothing and set up stuffed animals as students.

There’s also no need to go all out in being silly. Sometimes simply changing accents or talking like a hungry tiger is enough to set your children laughing and doing their schoolwork with a light heart.

When your kids are resisting learning, encourage them with silliness. Laughter distracts everyone from their problems, changes the focus, and encourages children to learn.

3. Sneak School into the Day

Sometimes the best approach is to drop school for a time. Children get into the habit of resisting school and the best way to break the habit is to stop and take a break. When you restart formal schooling again, concentrate on building good habits.

In the meantime, there’s no need to stop learning. Sneak a bit of math into the day by having the kids help you bake in the kitchen. Count cups of flour going into the pancakes. Teach fractions by doubling, tripling, or even quintupling recipes. Yes, I do have a large family. We regularly quintuple recipes. What can I say, teenage boys eat a lot!

Keep magnetic letters and words on the fridge or set up a magnetic chalkboard. You can pass notes and even paragraphs to each other. My teens adore seeing what crazy words they can create out of the magnetic letters while my first grader practices spelling.

When your kids don’t want to learn, it’s best to be creative. With a bit of thought, imagination, and humor you can encourage kids to learn.

What are your favorite ways to encourage kids to learn?

The post 3 Enjoyable Tips to Encourage Kids to Learn first appeared on True Aim.

Here are 20 super fun ideas on how to learn outside:

20 Fun Learning Activities for Outside

• Learn about time with an outside Sundial. Easy and fun!
• Use this Water the Alphabet idea to learn your letters and add a sensory element to the learning with water.
• Use side walk chalk for these fun Color Hop or Sight Words Hop games.
• While outside, use natural elements for learning. A Nature Color Hunt, Name Writing, Nature Shapes and Nature Weaving are great ideas to use nature hunt finds for learning.
• Work on fine motor skills with this pretty Leaf Threading activity.
• Found some sticks on your nature walk? Use it as a Counting Sticks activity.
• Experiment outdoors are a way of learning outside too. A simple Sink or Float Experiment will entertain even the younger ones.
• Discover what What melts in the sun? or make your own Solar Oven!
• Use stones for storytelling like these pretty Story Stones, a fun way to tell stories indeed!
• Rock Stacking are great in so many ways!
• Have an Alphabet Obstacle Course to practice alphabetical order and burn some energy too.
• Make a Rainbow Wind Sock or use paper plates for a Giant Memory Game.
• Craft outside with Mud Painting or use recyclables on your slide for a fabulous Color Mixing activity!

Great and super fun ideas on taking your learning activities outside and enjoy nature!

More outdoor learning activities fun ideas:

Study Flowers with your Kids
Make a Butterfly Feeder
Bug Search Experiment

The post  20 Fun Learning Activities for Outside first appeared on True Aim.

Experiments like this Colour Mixing with clear plastic eggs, 3 Real Egg Experiments or Egg Drop Challenge are fun for learning about simple science.

Have a Name Egg Hunt or a ABC Egg Hunt for a different kid of egg hunt.
This Word Work activity and Hatching Letters activity use plastic eggs during literacy learning time.
Learn about Opposite Textures, Counting and Letter Matching using a large Easter Egg shape.

Babies and Toddlers can join in the fun too with this Egg Scoop activity, Posting Eggs and Montessori Inspired Sound Shakers.

Twist and turn plastic eggs and learn about Emotions or Math Facts!

Have some learning fun this Easter!

Find even more fun Easter Egg Activities here!

The post 15 Eggcellent Easter Learning Activities first appeared on True Aim.

Welcome to Mom’s Library

This post is filled with parenting tips, activities for young children, crafts, devotionals, recipes, and more!

Be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss the next Library!

Click here to see all Mom’s Library Posts

Interactive, Hands-on Learning Ideas

New Zealand Volcano Experiment – Preschool Powol Packets

Volcano’s are an important part of New Zealand’s geography. Combine science with geography with this activity, if you don’t mind a little mess!

Marco Polo Unit Study – Tina’s Dynamic Homeschool

Study Marco Polo and Terracotta warriors with this interactive unit study!

How I Am Making my Own World Geography Study – Growing in God’s Grace

Sometimes a DIY study works best for your house. Here’s how one mom does it!

Building an Eiffel Tower – 3 Dinosaurs

Build an Eiffel Tower with bricks!

Ice Science – Science Kiddo

Practice ice science with these fun activities!

President’s Freebie – True Aim Education

There are a million ways to make even the most boring of history fun, interesting, and most importantly memorable. Here are 18 crazy fun facts about the Presidents, plus the list of presidents in this freebie!

DIY Solar System Mobile – The Practical Mom

Compliment a solar system study with this solar system mobile!

Earth Exploration Activities – Living Montessori Now

From using a compass to drawing different country’s flags, this cultural study is great for long-term learning.

Free FBI Unit Study – Tina’s Dynamic Homeschool

What are the three branches of government? It’s scary how many Americans can’t answer that question! From branches of government to a mini-study on J Edgar Hoover, here is an FBI themed lapbook!

The Creation Story for Kids – True Aim Education

Bring the creation story alive for kids with these crafts and activities for each day of creation!

Eiffel Tower STEM Challenge – Preschool Powol Packets

Combine STEM (Science, technology, engineering, mathematics) with geography in this hands-on Eiffel tower project!

Would you like to participate?

Please follow me and support your fellow bloggers by visiting some links! Grab a button if you were featured!

* by linking up you give Mom’s Library Bloggers permission to use photos from your post with a link back.

The post Interactive Learning Ideas and Mom’s Library #176 first appeared on True Aim.

What is a homeschool mom to do when her kids dread school each day and she longs to pull the covers over her head to avoid the very same thing her kids are dreading?

Children love to learn. Every. Single. Child. Yet, learning looks different for each child. You can not expect your oldest to learn just like your youngest and vice versa. They are both unique with different strengths and weaknesses. As a homeschool mom you need to recognize these truths and embrace them. These truths will set you free. 

Bring Back the Love of Learning to Your Homeschool

Letting your children lead their education will bring back the love of learning to your homeschool. The joy you remember seeing in their eyes and the smiles that brighten their faces will return when you hand over the reigns.

It will be scary at first, there will be times that you question whether or not this is the right step, but each time you hear them tell you about what they learned in school today you’ll know without a doubt that it is what they needed. When you let your children lead their education you give them wings!

It’s important that you take time to discover what your children actually want to learn about, then you can gently guide them throughout their educational journey. Once you know what topic/subject they are interested in, you begin gathering homeschool resources, videos, books, crafts, projects, printables and more to teach them all about it! When your children lead their education you don’t cease from being involved, you become more involved and more passionate to feed their desire to learn and grow!

When we first began the journey to a child led homeschooling method, I was terrified and it took me almost 3 years to take the leap. Looking back I wish I had done it sooner, I know my children would have loved learning much more had they led their own educations for the last 3 years. I’m thankful that I found my inspiration and that we’ve begun this new part of our homeschooling journey.

My children are thrilled that this year they get to learn all about things that interest them and I can’t wait to hear all about it and watch them grow leaps and bounds above what they have been already!

How often do you let your children decide what they want to learn about in your homeschool?

The post Letting Your Children Lead Their Education first appeared on True Aim.

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Demme Learning. For more information read my full disclosure.

Spelling You See Homeschool Curriculum

I remember hating spelling in school. I don’t want my children to have that same experience. Spelling You See offers a different way. By combining handwriting, nursery rhymes, and spelling the program helps your child learn naturally. They remember how to spell sound combinations so they can put them together to make bigger words.

My favorite features about the program are the easy to remember rhymes that it has. This makes reading easier for my daughter, plus it helps teach her basic spelling principals like syllables and chunking.

The program comes with 2 workbooks and an instructor’s handbook. The workbooks are broken down into short lessons that take about 5-10 minutes each. Children learn best from short periods of learning time each day so this is the perfect amount for spelling. It also reinforces phonics concepts that my daughter is learning in her reading curriculum.

Another feature Spelling You See utilizes is the seek and find activity. It has children looking for certain aspects of the sentence with different colors to help reinforce the lesson. Almost all of the senses are used with this program as children write, seek and find, and say the words and sentences they are spelling, reading, and writing!

My daughter started with the Jack and Jill program. The first workbook was a little too easy for her in the beginning so we skipped to the middle of the book, which was perfect. It’s perfectly fine to give your children easier work at first, as this boosts their confidence and gets them used to using the curriculum.

As my daughter progresses through the program, she will naturally memorize different sound chunks; both vowel and consonant chunks. Not only will this help her spelling, but reading fluency as well.

Key Features of Spelling You See:

• no spelling lists
• no spelling tests
• no preparation
• free leveling guide
• 7 levels available
• brief daily activities
• engages visual, auditory, and kinesthetic processes
• long-term visual memory of letter patterns
• phonetic development
• affordability

Go to Spelling You See to read about all the great features, learn about placement or purchase a level.

Spelling Curriculum Giveaway!

One lucky reader will win their choice of one of the 7 levels of Spelling you See (up to $48 value)! Simply enter the Rafflecopter below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The post Spelling You See Homeschool Curriculum Review and Giveaway first appeared on True Aim.

Welcome to Mom’s Library

This post is filled with parenting tips, activities for young children, crafts, devotionals, recipes, and more!

Be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss the next Library!

Click here to see all Mom’s Library Posts

Making Learning Fun

Story Threading – Growing Book By Book

If you have a bucket of beads sitting around with a child who has trouble focusing, try this story bead threading activity.

Ultimate List of Things That Pop, Fizz, Erupt and Explode – Preschool Powol Packets

What better way to have fun with science than experimenting with things that explode? Here is a printable list of things that pop, fizz, erupt, or explode!

Making Reading Fun with Books and Movies – Year Round Homeschooling

We have found picking high-quality books that have movies make the book more enjoyable, as they give a visual.

5 Reasons You Should Join A Homeschool Co-Op – This Sweet Life Of Mine

Joining a homeschool co-op can be a fun outside-of-the-house activity and the opportunity to meet other homeschoolers. Here are five reasons why you should join one.

Design Your Own Unit Study – Stuffed Veggies

Probably the best way to keep learning interesting is to design a unit study to fit your needs and interests. It truly isn’t as hard as it may sound. Here are the steps to creating one!

Would you like to participate?

Please follow me and support your fellow bloggers by visiting some links! Grab a button if you were featured!

* by linking up you give Mom’s Library Bloggers permission to use photos from your post with a link back.

The post Making Learning Fun and Mom’s Library #152 first appeared on True Aim.

This isn’t just a learning program! It is a massive, real life treasure hunt and the prize is $10,000 and a trip for your family to dig up a real buried treasure!

This is a sponsored post written in partnership with Brain Chase and The Motherhood.

Brain Chase Summer Learning Program

Brain Chase is a 5-week online summer learning challenge for 2nd–8th graders. Your child will complete an hour of daily learning activities to unlock clues to the hidden resting place of a mysterious golden mechanism, containing the key to a safety deposit box holding a $10,000 college scholarship.

If your child is the first to pinpoint the treasure’s location, then Brain Chase will take your family on a plane to dig it up yourselves! It’s the ultimate summer adventure!

Here are some quick facts about what Brain Chase is:

• 5-week online summer learning challenge for 2nd through 8th graders
• A massive global treasure hunt powered by reading, writing and math
• A learning adventure to prevent summer brain drain
• A motivational tool for getting kids to do online academic work during the summer
• A personalized learning platform
• A hunt for a golden mechanical treasure
• A $10,000 scholarship and trophy

Why Choose Brain Chase?

• A 2011 RAND study found that by the end of summer, students perform, on average one to two months behind where they left off in the spring.
• 94% of parents agree that Brain Chase helped their children stay sharp over the summer. (From a survey of families who participated in the 2014 challenge.)
• Can be completely customized to the academic level of your student.
• Children with learning disabilities can participate too!

What you’ll get!

• 5 weeks of structured challenges on external reading and math websites
• Weekly writing exercises with feedback from credentialed teachers
• Weekly progress reports emailed to parents
• Exclusive access to an original animated adventure series loaded with hidden puzzles and clues
• 3 adventure tools mailed to your home to help solve special bonus challenges
• Participation in a massive global treasure hunt for a golden trophy containing the key to a safe deposit box holding $10,000

How Brain Chase Works

See how you can join parents everywhere in helping children retain what they’ve learned throughout the school year with an exciting new learning experience!

1. START THE CHASE

At 9 a.m. ET on Monday, June 22, 2015, Brain Chase: The Sunstone of Cortés begins. Adventurers log in to watch the first animated webisode and meet Mae Merriweather, the star of the show. Then they dive into their first week of learning challenges. A proprietary (patent pending) learning management system – the “Dashboard” – tracks each student’s progress as they journey through the 5-week challenge.

2. UNLOCK THE ADVENTURE

Each week the adventurers have four tasks: read for 15 minutes per day, write one journal entry, earn 10,000 points on Khan Academy, and do one bonus challenge. When they’re done, they unlock the next webisode, which contains hidden pictures, numbers, and riddles to help them guess the treasure’s location.

3. FOLLOW THE STORY

Mae Merriweather and her friends from the Grayson Academy of Antiquities are hot on the trail the mysterious Sunstone of Cortés. To find it, they travel to the Himalayas, dive off the coast of Greece, and solve riddles. But there is more to the quest — and treasure — than they realize.

4. FIND THE BURIED TREASURE

The hunt for the Sunstone isn’t just fiction – there is a real golden Sunstone of Cortés and $10,000 buried somewhere on Earth. Every 24 hours, adventurers can log in to enter their guess of the treasure’s location. The first adventurer to guess the location within a two-mile radius travels with his/her family to the treasure site to claim the gold.

THE 2015 CHALLENGE

The 2015 Brain Chase challenge is to find the Sunstone of Cortés, a mysterious calendar stolen from the Aztec empire by Hernan Cortés in the 1500s. Kids join Mae Merriweather, her brother Max, athletic Sean Drake, and former nemesis Savannah Bryce to find the fictional Sunstone of Cortés… and the real one!

Special Summer Learning Discount

Brain Chase is just $33 each week for 1 child if you use this special discount for True Aim readers!

Use code TRUEAIM15 for 15% off!

Brain Chase Giveaway!

1 lucky reader will win a FREE registration for their child! This is a $199 value! Just enter the Rafflecopter below!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The post Take the Ultimate Summer Learning Adventure Challenge first appeared on True Aim.

I wanted to teach in a way that my kids felt learning at a desk was just as common as learning on the carpet, kitchen counter, backyard, or on a hike.  Taking every little moment and realizing that if I am purposeful, teachable moments can happen anywhere and at anytime.

10 Tips to Encourage Learning All Day

1. Soak up Mealtimes

• They are already sitting, why not teach? My kids are young and active so I have learned to capitalize on moments where they are already content at sitting down. We usually do our Bible stories and memory work around the breakfast table. They are so busy munching away they don’t feel like it is school yet!
• Use mealtime mats. We often review our states, presidents, and countries while the kids are waiting for their lunch. I am prepping food and teaching while they feel like they are just playing a game while they wait.

2. Keep things in their line of sight.

• If they can reach it and see it, chances are they will use it. Everything that hangs on our walls is at their eye level. Our magnetic letter board, alphabet line, and wall maps are always right in front of them which makes for their curious minds to always find a way to use them. We use a table that is their height so they can kneel, stand, or sit to study and play.

3. Make Technology within Reach.

• Our curriculum is made up of e-books so it has made it easy for our kids to use it in so many ways. We loaded the curriculum onto our laptop, tablet, and an extra computer we have just for the kids. Most of the time they feel like they are playing computer games as they click and swipe through the pages. They will often request time to “play” with their books…. Fine by me!
• There are so many resources out there for apps and computer games that enhance kids learning. We love Starfall and SplashMath for some educational games.

4. Art, Art, Everywhere!

• Whether it’s paper and glue, play dough, or painting, art is the perfect way for kids to express creativity and relate what they are learning. I usually have my kids draw each day something that we talked about and without hesitation they will make pages of maps, animals, people, etc.
• Make different art centers. Our art easel is the gift that keeps on giving. It’s so versatile! We also keep art supplies handy in almost every room that has a table. Sometimes learning is best when messy!

5.  Keep books easy to grab.

• I love my little book shelves that are actually Ikea spice racks. You can hang them anywhere for kids to easily pick up their favorites to read.
• Make a little reading nook or hideaway that will encourage reading to be fun! We simply put an old crib mattress we weren’t using on the ground and the kids have loved sitting on it to read together.

6. Hang Up Their Work

• When I show my kids how much I love what they do, their pride in their work grows too. When they see their work hung up and proudly displayed, it usually encourages them to want to do more!

7. Go Outside!

• Field trips, play dates, and trips to the park don’t have to be time away from our studies. Learning about tadpoles? Go find some! Getting stuck on a lesson? Fresh air can make all the difference. Never underestimate the things that can be learned through things you didn’t plan on teaching!

8. Use bath times to connect.

• Make bath paint and draw new words. Hang up your mealtime mats on the tub walls and sing songs about what you are learning. Don’t forget to make them extra special once in a while with a glow in the dark bath.
• This is the perfect time to talk about how special God made them and how there is no one else just like them! This is some of the most valuable things you can teach them now.

9. Night and bedtimes are for learning too!

• Darkness makes for some fun learning. Flashlights hunts, star searching, and moonlit walks are some of our favorite times together.
• Stories are the perfect ending to a day. Every night we give the kids each a turn to make up their own story or a song. We’ve had everything from tales of Davy Crocket and the wild bunny rabbit to a fierce pirate traveling from Egypt. Not only is it working their brain creatively but it also lets me know I am on the right track. They are excited about what they are learning!

10. Use what you have to make an impact!

• Look around and see what you already have. We’ve made an old crib mattress into a reading nook, took the side off of a crib to make an art center desk, and wood scraps to make a sensory table. See what you don’t use anymore and find a way to make it a learning machine!
• Use what they already play with and make it count. Train tables, play kitchens, tea sets, cars, Legos, and everything else they get their hands on can be used for learning.

Learning is experiencing life and life happens all day long. What easy steps can you take today to soak it all up and purposefully make each moment count? Be creative, use what you have, cherish the time, and be sneaky- they may not even realize they are “doing” school!

Photo credit: KristinNador / Foter / CC BY

The post 10 Tips to Keep Kids Learning All Day! first appeared on True Aim.