Penrose Tutoring
  • About
    • Our Team
    • Why the name Penrose?
    • FAQs
  • Reviews
  • Tutoring
    • Key Signs Your Child May Benefit From Tutoring
    • Mathematics
    • Language Arts
    • Reading
    • Summer Tutoring
    • In Person & Online Tutoring
    • Auxiliary Services >
      • Organization/Study Skills
      • Piano Lessons
  • Test Prep
  • Contact Us
  • Resources
    • Blog

3 Effective, Non-Digital Summer Learning Activities

6/23/2014

0 Comments

 
Automobile travel continues to be a major part of life for American families (especially with the rising cost of airfare combined with the reduced number of flights). However, children are not looking out of the window like they used to. During my childhood, I recall trips to Disneyworld and Silver Dollar City, as well as Alabama, Arkansas, Ohio, and New York. Other than sleeping or playing with a magnetic Travel Bingo game, I spent the majority of the travel time looking out the window and taking in the sights (or lack thereof). That doesn't happen so much these days. With in-car dvd players, smartphones, tablets, Kindles and other handheld devices, it is difficult to get kids to observe. However, there are ways to keep young passengers in the back seat (back rows if the vehicle is a mini-van) entertained without the use of electronics! Here are a few activities to use this summer or anytime you will travel 30 minutes or more.

In The Car
Travel Bingo  Create and print a Travel Bingo card. It should be a 4 by 4 array of squares (16 total) with each square containing one picture. Examples of pictures are a bird, tree, rabbit, squirrel, stop sign, person jogging/biking, dragon fly, etc. A child can fill in a row horizontally, vertically or diagonally. Or perhaps they can play "coverall" or "blackout" bingo. Since you are in a moving vehicle you will not be able to use bingo chips. A perfect alternative is to laminate the bingo cards and use a wet erase marker to mark objects with an x or o when they are seen. A moist paper towel or rag will sufficiently clear the markings from the board when the game is over. The objects are easy to see from a car, but this can be played almost anywhere.

At The Grocery Store
Shopping at the grocery store, Target, Walmart, etc is the perfect opportunity for practical application of math skills and concepts. Parents can take advantage of this time to explore shapes, estimation, sales tax
(for upper elementary and middle school), addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, making change, and debit. Retail stores make for the perfect "math playground". Here is an activity to use that only requires a pencil and a note pad.

Add Them Up  Have your child take a small notepad (e.g. Steno Pad) to the store. As you select items from the shelves, have your child write down the cost of each item. They can either add as they go along (calculate a subtotal after every 4 items) or they can add them all at the end to obtain an approximate cost of the entire purchase. If you child knows how, they can calculate the total cost of all items including sales tax or you can show them how to do it when you return home.

How Much Change  Have your child observe as the items are being scanned and the total cost for your purchase is increasing. If you are paying with cash, tell your child how much money you are handing to the cashier (try not to use exact change), and have them quickly figure out how much change you should receive.


What games have you used?





0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Randy Sally

    View my profile on LinkedIn

    Archives

    June 2020
    September 2019
    July 2019
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    November 2017
    October 2017
    August 2017
    June 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    July 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    May 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    June 2013
    May 2012

    Categories

    All
    Acrostic Poems
    Classroom Management
    Classroom Time Saving Tips
    Common-core-standards
    Digital-media-overload
    Girls & Body Image
    Help With Homework
    Managing Homework Stress
    Middle School Interviews
    Modeling For Young Readers
    Mother's Day
    Multiplication War
    Online Safety
    Parent -Teacher Conferences
    Poetry
    SKUNK
    Time Management

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
Photo used under Creative Commons from One Way Stock
  • About
    • Our Team
    • Why the name Penrose?
    • FAQs
  • Reviews
  • Tutoring
    • Key Signs Your Child May Benefit From Tutoring
    • Mathematics
    • Language Arts
    • Reading
    • Summer Tutoring
    • In Person & Online Tutoring
    • Auxiliary Services >
      • Organization/Study Skills
      • Piano Lessons
  • Test Prep
  • Contact Us
  • Resources
    • Blog