Activity Village Newsletter

4th July 2008

Hang the Better Behavior Wheel on your kitchen wall, and the atmosphere in your home will change overnight. It's guaranteed! Watch the dramatic changes as homework gets done, clothes get picked up, arguing stops...in short, the Better Behavior Wheel produces great kids and a stress free environment!
Get the Wheel!

A Message From Lindsay

Happy Fourth of July to all our American readers! I hope the weather is great today for all your picnics and celebrations. If you need any last minute inspiration or printables to keep your kids busy, head on over to our Fourth of July pages. We've added a few last minute Fourth of July coloring pages and Fourth of July printables and freshened up the "Links" page, too.

If you are worried about your children getting bored and losing some of their newly-learned skills over the holidays, I can personally recommend a subscription to Maths-Whizz (and now Math-Whizz in the US too). This is a program my daughter joined a couple of years ago when she had lost her confidence in maths at school, and I have raved about it to all-and-sundry ever since. They are launching their special summer program, too, which was run for the first time last year with great success. Please go and have a look at the website, details of the summer program, an article on summer learning loss, and this segment from a Seattle television show which gives a really good overview of the system - I really can't recommend Maths-Whizz highly enough! I am also delighted to say that they have agreed to give Activity Village referrals half price on the first month's fees - just type "activityvillage" into the referral box on the final payment page, and your fee will be recalculated).

Maths-Whizz summer maths program, Lost In The Jungle

Now, what else this week? We have been piling up the summer activities on the website and have some fun new summer coloring pages and crafts - details below. We also have more on the Olympics, and some ideas for encouraging your children to read over the summer. Until next week!

What's New At Activity Village?

Olympic Recipes! NEW!
Encourage kids to get involved with the Olympic Games by serving up an Olympic treat or two!

Toys coloring pages NEW!
We've got dolls and bikes, games and yo-yos, and a lot more favorite toys besides!

Summer crafts for kids Lots NEW!
In England, summer means strawberries! We have some fun new strawberry crafts and lots of other ideas to help you make the most of the summer weather.

Reader Tip...

This tip comes from Lola, in California. Thanks Lola!

Color code everything! Lunch boxes, drinks bottles, socks, underwear, towels and wash cloths, placemats - even T-shirts, if you like! It makes washing and sorting and distribution so much easier, and the kids will be able to help you themselves from a very early age. And it stops a lot of squabbling over possessions, too.

Do you have any child-related “Reader Tips” to make life easier for other parents, teachers and grandparents? Send them to us (suggestions@...) - and we may publish them in a future edition of the newsletter.

Have You Seen?

Encouraging Reading
Encouraging your child to read a wide variety of books is probably the best education you can give them - but sometimes it seems an uphill struggle! We have put together a collection of tips and tricks to encourage reading which may give you some ideas, as well as pulling together a collection of free printable bookmarks which can make the process more fun.

This Week's Web Picks

An absolutely superb collection of online games from The National Gallery of Art - "Flow" is possibly the most addictive art program I have ever come across and one with which even the youngest children will produce some fascinating results.
http://www.nga.gov/kids/kids.htm

Making dolls out of old clothes and socks
http://bobilina.blogspot.com/2008/04/cloth-dolls-workshop.html

This is a great website designed to help adults share science with children. There are lots of experiments, games, animations and worksheets too. You do have to register to get access to some of the website, but it is free.
http://www.sciencewithme.com/index.php

Stuck learning multiplication tables? You'll find some great ideas here..
http://www.multiplication.com

Learn all about classification at this website, while picking up some interesting facts about birds, mammals, reptiles, fish and amphibians.
http://www.hhmi.org/coolscience/critters/
critters.html

Latest Articles...

Parenting - Making A Schedule
This article on the benefits of scheduling your day as a parent really struck home with me. It took me a while to work this out for myself when I had young children at home, and I wish I had done so - and benefited from the much calmer household that was the result - sooner!

The Uneducated Palate
When did you learn to really enjoy food? How about experiencing taste and textures? I think children develop a taste for food a lot sooner than we think.

Ways of Dealing With Separation Anxiety
All parents will remember how difficult it was to leave their children when they were young, and some of us had to deal with unhappy children suffering from separation anxiety, again and again and again! Veronica shares some tips on how to make the partings easier.

Healthy food is yucky food
Healthy Food Means Yucky Food
So, you are ready to make some changes in your family's diet. You've heard and read enough to know that eating Real Food is important to your family's health and happiness. You know what your kids eat when they are young not only affects their health now, but also in the future...

5 Reasons Why Animals Are Important To Your Child
Why are children so fond of animals? From teddy bears to favourite TV and cartoon characters, animals are a key part of a young child’s development. Children’s educational specialist Stephanie Cooper has identified 5 key areas where animals play an important role...

Math Games for the Active Child
To put it in a nice way, my son is rather squirmy. He doesn't like to sit still for very long unless he's playing a video game, then it's just amazing. So instead of constantly telling him to sit down and do his math, we take it outside or up the stairs, literally...

Activity Village News

4th July 2008

A Message From Lindsay

What's New At Activity Village?

Reader Tip...

Have You Seen?

A Giggle!

Something To Cook With Your Kids This Weekend..

Something To Think About..

This Week's Web Picks