Educational Games – Page 4 – Pollywog's Place Blog

Fall & Thanksgiving Themed Activities for Kids

Published on October 31, 2023October 30, 2023 by Susie @ Pollywog's Place Blog3 Comments

I’ve written a couple of posts about getting ready for the holidays and I’ve mentioned that I would be gathering ideas for activities for the kiddos. The following list is some of the activities that we already had on hand… hopefully, they will still be available for you to download if you wish. If they aren’t available a quick Google search will quickly deliver a list of fun activities.

I have already pulled out the Fall-Themed activity box for the youngest… it is just a plastic shoebox filled with fake leaves, bugs, nuts, and pinecones. She loves to dump them out and look for the bugs.

Pilgrim Unit Study & this cute Pilgrim hat and bonnet for the kids to wear.

Printable Thanksgiving Placemats with Activities

Thankful Cornucopia Craft

Thanksgiving Activity Pack

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Clutter scavenger hunt for kids

Published on February 7, 2023January 17, 2023 by Susie @ Pollywog's Place BlogLeave a comment

I’ve been trying to get the kids involved in helping to declutter the house so I have to get creative sometimes.

Lately, we’ve been playing this little game in the morning before we start our schooling. It’s pretty simple although you do need to provide a little supervision so that the little guys don’t throw away anything important.

I’ve been having each kiddo participate and I give them a number of items and a task to complete with those items. One day I might say I need 5 items to throw away, or another day might be I need 3 items to donate, or 4 items to put away, etc. I might even have them bring me one item per year of their age… I try to change it up to keep it interesting.

They bring the items to the kitchen island and deposit them. Then we complete the task of throwing them in the garbage, putting in the donation bin/bag, or putting them away in their proper places.

This doesn’t take very long to complete but it does make quite a difference… plus if the kids are complaining they are bored I can use this as a way to get them motivated to find something to keep themselves entertained.

You could even offer a ‘reward’ for the first kiddo to bring you the items… or offer them all a reward or snack when they complete their task. When we have 10-12 hands versus just my 2 hands picking up items we are able to clean/declutter a little bit faster… most of the time.

When we make the not-so-fun tasks a little bit more fun then they seem to get completed quicker. Who knows, maybe I could even come up with a Clutter Bingo?

Color the Classics Tests

Published on November 29, 2022November 29, 2022 by Susie @ Pollywog's Place Blog5 Comments

We have been using these books as part of our Art/Music studies. They make lessons so quick and easy and the kids love coloring the pictures while they listen to the various music selections.

We will often add an educational video from YouTube if they seem to be more interested in a particular composer/song.

The one thing that I haven’t found was tests to go along with the lessons which aren’t absolutely necessary but sometimes I like to have them just to see if they are really paying attention to what we are learning about or not.

Here are the ones I’ve completed:

COLOR THE CLASSICS – GODLY COMPOSERS (September – October – November)

color-the-classics-test-e28093-godly-composers-Download

GODLY COMPOSERS – CHRISTMAS CAROLS (November – December)

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Our 2022-2023 Homeschool Curriculum and Schedule

Published on June 2, 2022January 10, 2023 by Susie @ Pollywog's Place Blog2 Comments

I know most families are just now finishing up their 2021-2022 school year and looking forward to a few months off but we aren’t like most families. We’ve decided to adopt more of a year-round school schedule which allows us more flexibility to take time off whenever we need a break or have something important or unexpected come up… which has happened a lot lately!

We have it planned so that we can take a one-week break every three weeks or so with a two-week break around Christmas and at the end of our school year. We can adjust this as needed, for example, we could complete six weeks of school and take a two-week break if needed. Or we could have two weeks of school with a break and then have four weeks… we have a little bit of flexibility for whatever we need to do without feeling ‘rushed’ to get finished.

We finished our 2021-2022 school year back in March and I was tempted to take a few months off and not start back until August/September but I know from past experiences that this doesn’t go well and that it takes FOREVER to get a couple of the kids back into the school routine. You can read more about last year’s curriculum and routines HERE. Last year was pretty crazy but we adapted and we survived!

Last year I switched to some Living Education Books from Master Books for our Language Arts and Math and we absolutely loved them so we went with them again for this year. We used some materials that we already had on hand and I ordered a few new things to go along with our studies. So far, everything has been working out well and many of the studies have been overlapping/going right along with each other which has been really nice as it helps to reinforce what we are learning and gives a little bit of review as well.

I also have another post with activities that we use for little miss (20 months old right now.)

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Homeschool Activities for a 1 to 2-year-old and Our Daily Schedule plus a Weekly Preschool Schedule

Published on May 29, 2022June 2, 2022 by Susie @ Pollywog's Place Blog4 Comments

How in the world do we keep little miss occupied so we can get some school work done?

Homeschooling any number of kids can be difficult at times but when you add a baby or toddler to the mix it can get really crazy. Some days are easier than others as she is pretty good at keeping herself entertained but other days she can be extremely clingy and doesn’t want to be ‘left out’. We have to come up with some clever tricks to keep her entertained at times and sometimes we just take turns having someone play with her to keep her happy, although we don’t give in to every little whine or cry because sometimes she will figure out a way to entertain herself without us.

We have the basic routines that we have tried to stick to, even through the rough year that we had last year. During our numerous in-patient stays, I did my best to keep her routine as similar to our home routine as I could. It was difficult but it helped us both tremendously. Big sister also kept the kiddos at home on a regular schedule and that helped keep some of the chaos to a minimum.

Now that we are home and doing well we really had to get a little bit stricter with our routines as we’ve had a lot of adjustments to make. Shyanne missed her big brothers and sisters and they missed her but sometimes they get on each other’s nerves just as all siblings do. It’s a normal part of having a big family but it can lead to many distractions which are not good when we need to get certain things accomplished.

The basic areas we try to include in her daily schedule are: