Making Reading Fun

During the summer, I am planning learning activities for my children as many days I can.    I view summer learning as a fun way to reinforce skills and concepts learned during the school year. This sneaky mom doesn’t want the kiddos to catch on that they are actually still learning!

Last week I may have blown up over 30 balloons for Lily’s sixth birthday. Those balloons have been bopped, kicked, and chased all over the house. This week my goal was to introduce our new Alphabet Flash Cards from Educational Toys Planet. I needed an activity for my emerging reader, six-year old Lily, and my pre-reader, three-year old Cortland.

Enter in the balloons and the flash cards – such a fun combination! I took the word from each flash card and wrote it on one of my balloons so that each card matched a balloon. Put 26 balloons in one room and you are bound to have fun! I gave each child a card and sent them on a treasure hunt to find the right balloon. My daughter matched the words while my son matched the first letter. When they found a match they tossed the balloons on the bed until they had matched all the pairs. My children loved this activity and have asked to do it several times.

AlphabetFlashCardGame

 

After we made all the matches, we played several games that were outlined in the card pack. We mixed up all the letters and then sang the ABC song to put the cards back in order. Once they were in order we matched the pictures from the lower case letter cards to the right upper case letter card. I love that ABC Flash card set came with both upper and lower case letters! The cards were colorful and my kids thought the pictures were fun.

alphabetflashcards

The best part of this activity was the smile on my daughter’s face when she found a match. Success – fun and learning! I am so excited for the rest of our summer learning activities. Stay tuned for a fun 4th of July reading activity as well! Until then I am going to be trying out a great idea from my sister who blogs over at Live to be Inspired. Shooting site words with a nerf gun – pretty sure my kids can get into that!

sightwordpractice

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

Linking up to Tot School!

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26 Comments

Erin · June 21, 2013 at 8:42 am

Sounds like a fun activity! Might have to grab some of these cards to use with my daughter! Thanks 🙂

OurFamilyWorld · June 21, 2013 at 8:56 am

My son loved flash cards when he was little! It really helped give him a boost in his reading. He’s 8 and reading way ahead of his grade level.

Tammy Snyder · June 21, 2013 at 9:10 am

That is awesome! Making learning fun is the best way to go. I think that is an outstanding use of these flash cards and I wish I would have thought of something half this creative when my kids were learning.

Briton · June 21, 2013 at 9:12 am

My kids would LOVE the balloon sight word match up!

Dawn · June 21, 2013 at 9:13 am

Great ideas! Thanks for sharing!

Jenny · June 21, 2013 at 9:20 am

Great ideas!

Lexie Lane · June 21, 2013 at 9:36 am

I’ve never seen balloons used before! This is definitely a lot of fun! So creative!

jennifer zuna · June 21, 2013 at 11:37 am

My 8 yr old is an avid reader but my 5 yr old not so much…will have to try this!

Bella Vida Letty · June 21, 2013 at 1:11 pm

What a clever and fun idea.

aprila · June 21, 2013 at 1:33 pm

very good ideas. Reading is so important. My daughter loves to do flash cards

Renae C. · June 21, 2013 at 1:39 pm

A smart Mama always uses sneaky methods to teach! 😉 Good job!

Nicole Copeland · June 21, 2013 at 2:15 pm

great ideal..Might have to use some when my daughter starts reading

Giveaways 4 Mom · June 21, 2013 at 3:35 pm

This sounds like it was super fun.

Summer · June 21, 2013 at 4:32 pm

Looks like fun! I need to do some things like this with my kids.

Crystal · June 21, 2013 at 4:43 pm

Great ideas! Would love you to share this at our Ladies Only Blog Share Link Party which is a summer theme this week! Visiting from the Summer Camp link party! 🙂

http://mommifried.com/ladies-only-blog-share-link-party-funtastical-summer/

Stacie D Wyatt · June 21, 2013 at 5:48 pm

I have a few sets of these cards, including the set from Tomoson. I love them. Works great with special needs kids. Now, if I can only get them to sit still for more than two to three cards. 🙂

Corinne · June 21, 2013 at 7:48 pm

This is such a great idea! All of my kids love playing with balloons. For older kids you could use riddles, math problems, or social studies questions. I think we might do an Independence Day trivia quiz scavenger hunt using this system!

Nicole @ One Punky Mama · June 21, 2013 at 11:03 pm

So fun! They really have some great educational products out there these days. Thanks for sharing!

Jenna Parsons · June 22, 2013 at 7:46 am

That is a great idea!!!

Filipino Beef Recipes · June 24, 2013 at 8:29 am

What an awesomely fun idea! Thanks for sharing. 🙂

Jana @ HowToRunAHomeDaycare · June 24, 2013 at 12:00 pm

Lovely idea! I like activities that I can use with a variety of ages. I have a new reader and a pre-reader who both LOVE balloons. I’m pinning this!

Whitney @ Pen Pals and Picture Books · August 8, 2013 at 7:32 pm

Love it! We’ve been doing these sort of FUN reading things this summer too!! Its a learning game and they don’t even realize it! Awesome!

Deceptively Educational · August 11, 2013 at 8:25 pm

Balloons and kids are a natural fit. I love that you’ve used them to make learning sight words and letters fun! Thanks for sharing this at the After School Linky Party. I’m featuring it tomorrow. Stop by to check it out and share more ideas while you’re there!

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