Thursday, October 30, 2014

Review: Clued In Kids

Are your homeschool days dragging?  Are you and the kids feeling ‘stuck in a rut’?  Do you just need something fun for a rainy day?  Our latest product review is one EXCELLENT solution that adds some excitement to your day!

We have really enjoyed the opportunity to review Clued In Kids treasure hunts.  The kids and I received the Soccer Treasure Hunt and the Thanksgiving Treasure Hunt in PDF form.  These easy-to-use treasure hunts get all of your kids excited about working together, finding the clues, and discovering the prize at the end.

treasure hunt, Clued In Kids, scavenger hunt, playdate ideas

Clued In Kids offers a wonderful variety of treasure hunts in book form (called “Clue Pads”) or downloadable PDF.  Most are suitable for ages four and older, but the treasure hunts are designed to work with kids of multiple ages.  The hunts feature fun clues, ranging from easy enough for a four year old to challenging enough for an older elementary student.

To understand how the Clued In Kids Treasure Hunts work, please take a few moments to watch this short video:


Now that you’ve had a chance to see what it’s all about, I’ll walk you through our Soccer Treasure Hunt.   I downloaded and printed the hunt (which is eight pages of printing, if you’re curious).  I then looked through the clues, assigned a child to each clue (depending on the skill level required), and cut each page in half.  (If we had received a clue pad, we’d skip the printing and cutting steps…we’d simply remove the pages from the clue pad, assign the tasks, and hide the clues.) 


new-soccer-pup


After sending the kids to play upstairs for a little while, I followed the instructions to hide the clues throughout the house.

That’s when the fun begins!  I called down the kids, handed them the first clue, and Max worked to solve it.  Once they had the answer, they were off to find Clue #2.   Since pictures will help you get a feel for their excitement, scroll through these images to see how a Clued In Kids Treasure Hunt works.

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Max (5) solving a clue
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all three kids looking on as Max solves the clue
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Alex (almost 7) read the answer for Max
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Max (5) found the next clue by the pasta in our pantry cabinet
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Alex, with Mom’s (and Google’s!)help, solves the soccer-themed trivia clues
We both learned that a soccer field is also called a ‘pitch’!

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A clue in the grill?!  That made everyone giggle!
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Jensyn (3) folded her clue to find that she should go look in her bed!
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on to the silverware drawer…
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I love that I can assign the clues to the children,
as this clue was PERFECT for my soccer-lovin’ Max!
He had to dribble the soccer ball and shout “woo who” to receive the next clue!

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reading a backwards clue in the bathroom mirror…
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Showing off our ‘treasure’ – popcorn and fruit snacks for all!
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What you can’t see if the SQUEALS of excitement as they ran to the next clue, and I completely missed capturing my five year old’s giggles as he pulled popcorn and fruit snacks (our ‘treasure’) out of his SHOES.

The kids absolutely LOVED this treasure hunt, and they were excited to do the Thanksgiving Treasure Hunt, as well.  (Yep, when you review, you sometimes have to do things at unusual times of year!  But it’s still fun!)

What I really appreciated about Clued In Kids Treasure Hunts (besides the simple set-up and the FUN activity) is that there are lots of learning activities throughout the hunt.  Hunts include fun facts, math, spelling, handwriting practice, and so much more.  Kids don’t even realize they are learning, as they’re having such a great time!

I also loved that the activities covered a wide age range; that way, I could assign clues to each child based on their ability level.  It was such a fun way to get the kids working together without fighting!  (I will say that a few clues were still pretty challenging for my oldest, who is almost 7.  I had to offer him some assistance, so if you have younger kids, be prepared to help from time to time.)

Clued In Kids Treasure Hunts are available for $5.99 in PDF form, and Clue Books are available for $8.99.  You can choose from a wide variety of themes – princess, sports, holiday, seasonal, and even a gluten-free hunt and a “Happy Tummies” hunt for children with food sensitivities or allergies. 

Wouldn’t these hunts make a fun Christmas gift?  THIS POST, on the Clued In Kids blog, will share with you all of the Christmas options available from Clued In Kids.  You’ll also find out how to get a free treasure chest with your order!

If you’re interested in trying a Clued In Kids treasure hunt with your family, you can currently receive a FREE TREASURE HUNT by signing up for the Clued In Kids newsletter.  After signing up, you’ll receive a free downloadable Homework Treasure Hunt.

To read about other reviewer families and their fun with the Clued In Kids Treasure Hunts, please click on the link below.

Click to read Crew Reviews


Crew Disclaimer

Tuesday, October 14, 2014

MFW K Unit 2–Moon (Max)

{CLICK HERE} to view the rest of our MFW K unit posts.
{CLICK HERE} to read our 2012 Moon Unit post with our older son.



In this unit, we learned the letter Mm for moon.
Our Bible words were: I am the light of the world!

books

These are the books we enjoyed throughout the week – click on any book image below to read the book description on Amazon.  (We love to buy used copies; they’re usually in good shape, and the price is right!)

My kids really love The Moon Might Be Milk, and we all love the sugar cookie recipe found in the book!  I love the pictures found in On The Moon, as they are actual photos of the moon with hand-drawn characters added to the photos.  The text in that book is descriptive, yet very easy for a child to understand.

 
Book links are Amazon affiliate links.
If you purchase through these links, you are supporting our family. 
Thank you!

video

Once or twice a week, we start our school day with a YouTube playlist of 4-6 songs/videos that go along with our current school lessons.  My boys like Richard Scarry books/videos around the age of five, so we enjoyed this silly little “Trip To The Moon”.



calendar

We don’t exactly do calendar time the MFW K way.  We print a calendar page from HERE (preK and K options available), and Max fills in the numbers.  For September, we took turns.  Max does a pretty good job with his numbers.  I love the cute backwards four, though!

For the rest of our calendar time, we’re using a foam board that we can bring out during school time (and put away later, as our kitchen table is our school room).  Right now, we’re:

  • adding a straw for each school day to our place value pocket chart
  • writing that school day’s number on the MFW K 100 Chart (not pictured…on the left side of the board)
  • singing a Days Of The Week and Months Of The Year song while Max points to the day/month on the board.


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bible

lots of lessons on how WE are to be the light of the world

Just as the moon reflects the light of the sun,
WE are to reflect the light of the SON!

phonics

Learning about S and it’s /s/ sound.
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cutting out his M picture cards
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sorting his S picture cards and M picture cards
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stamping the pictures that begin with /m/
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cut & paste – beginning sounds /m/ and /s/
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handwriting
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(my own page…available HERE for MFW K users only)
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handwriting/letter sounds
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tactile handwriting/letter shape practice
(writing in salt with a popsicle stick)
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(gluing dried beans on the playdough mat in my alphabet activities set)

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 math
learning about the number 2 and making pairs with the official MFW K math page
(See the shoes & boots?  He was finding things that come in pairs.)
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We’re using butterscotch chips as manipulatives to fill in the ‘ten frame’, and we’re then using the same butterscotch chips to work on ‘even/odd’, ‘1 more’ and ‘1 less’.  He may eat the chips when he’s finished with the page.  (We’ll have to switch to raisins as the numbers get higher, as I don’t want him eventually eating 26 butterscotch chips!)

Cuisenaire Rods – he LOVES this!
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science

We made a moon phase flip book (scroll down – it’s linked near the bottom of the post, no picture – just text).  Each page has a plain circle, and I helped Max draw each moon phase.  We colored black the part that we can’t see, and I used glow in the dark squeeze paint to color the part we DO see.  We put the pages together to make a flip book of the moon phases.

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art

Cute “rocket to the moon” craft, formerly found HERE, but it doesn’t appear to be available anymore.  I think I still have another copy of the printable template that I can scan if you’re interested in doing this craft with your own child.

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snacks 

“Moon Cookies” (sugar cookies) from the book The Moon Might Be Milk.  Max was so excited to help me make these cookies.  He did all the measuring and pouring.  I cracked the egg and did the mixing.  He scooped the cookies on to the cookie sheet and pressed them with a cup dipped in sugar.  I took care of the oven part, of course!  When the cookies were cooled, Max has a blast cutting them into moon shapes!  He cut EVERY SINGLE COOKIE before he was finished!

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other

Max’s bulletin board at the end of this unit
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just a cute picture I found on the back of one of his worksheets

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(Jensyn is 3.5 years old.)

I don’t insist on participation from Jensyn.  She is free to join us or to wander away, but so far, she almost always wants to be a part of MFW K!  She sits with us as we read picture books, does the art or science projects, and completes papers or puzzles at the table.  She loves the Lauri alphabet puzzle included in MFW K!

My only goal for her this year is to learn the uppercase alphabet letters, and you may notice that in many of the activities that she’s working on…

sweet big brother Alex helping Jensyn do some pages

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gluing dried beans on letter M playdough mat - good for more than just playdough!)
found in my alphabet practice pages set
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letter tracing
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pages below are from my Solar System preschool pack ($2)

puzzle cards, prewriting practice

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shadow matching

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Jensyn’s bulletin board
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