Giant Bears

We were driving by Walmart on Thanksgiving evening and it wasn't crowded. We decided to go see if there were any deals. That's when we saw the cheap giant bears.

Did I mention they are giant?

Cuddling with a bear doesn't usually look like this!

Bass Pro Randomness

You never know what you are going to find when visiting Bass Pro Shop.

Laser Guns

Stuffed Armadillos

Consignment Sale Finds

We buy the kids clothing twice a year at consignment sales because it is so much cheaper. I can average less than $2/item and end up with high end name brands. This time the kids had to come with me and I knew it would be about a 2 hour shopping trip, not exactly exciting for them. I told them if they were good we could look and see if they could find a toy for their birthday.

As soon as we walked in Sweet Daughter saw this. She proclaimed, "I have always wanted one! You have never bought me one. This is what I have wanted more than anything!" 

This is a 5 foot tall banana with dreadlocks and a reggae hat.

At the end of the trip Sweet Son decided he wanted this plane that lights up and makes noises.

They both got what they requested. Sweet Daughter even bargained to get a cheaper price on the banana because hers cost more than his toy did. They lowered the price of the banana, TWICE because she explained that it was for her birthday and how much she had always wanted a banana with dreadlocks. ummm?

Yes, she slept with the banana.

A year later and I have no idea where the plane is, but the banana is played with almost every day. It makes a great body pillow and the kids love falling asleep on top of it. We quickly discovered the dreadlocks come off easily and everything is covered in "banana hair." This leads to many strange looks when discussing in front of people who haven't seen a banana quite like this one.

Ski Clothes

In preparation for an upcoming ski trip we needed to see what still fits and what doesn't.

Hmmm - that's the snowsuit he used to wear and it's a bit short on her legs. Why do they keep growing?

Shopping for new ski clothes and I turned around to see their hair literally standing on end. So I had to get a picture.

$10 credit at Educents!

They say that giving is better than receiving, but who says you can't do both? Educents just launched a new program that will help you AND your friends save money on innovative products that keep kids excited about learning.
If you're not already familiar with Educents - here's the scoop. Educents is the best place to discover new ways to make learning fun. Find innovative products and ideas created by a community of experts in education.

Innovative items that make learning fun:

   
• The Magic School Bus Science Club - A 12-month science journey delivered to your front doorstep.
   
• Life of Fred - These books weave math (and other lessons) into a funny story about Fred, the 5-year-old math prodigy.
   
• Times Tales - Proven to teach children their times tales in an hour.
   
• Magformers - Develop motor skills, geometric thinking, and problem-solving with the click of these magnetic tiles.
   
• NEW! Front Row Online Math Program - A standard-aligned technology for K-8 classrooms.

Give $10, Get $10

If you're new to Educents, help me earn credit! I have a couple items on my wishlist I'd love to test out and share with you. Use my referral link to sign up. You will receive an email for $10 off your first order of $25 or more (adding some of the items above will fit the bill). If you're already an Educents member, you can earn $10 for every friend who signs up and makes a purchase of $25 or more. Simply go to your account page and find your unique referral URL, scroll down to "Earn Edubucks by referring your friends" and copy the link.

A referral is sending someone you care about to someone you trust.

Invite your friends, your parents, and all the rock-star educators in your life! This deal will help everyone save a pretty penny on top products like the insanely popular Life of Fred or Times Tales.

Birthday Present Ideas

If you're a parent or relative to young children, then you've got birthdays to attend. For me, it's almost every weekend these days! Finding the appropriate gift can be time-consuming, and a bit stressful- whether it's coming directly from you or from your child to their pal. Never fear! I found a gift guide so you can focus on enjoying time with loved ones (and getting on with your day!) rather than hemming and hawing at all of the options. And while Summer birthdays have been top of my mind, the gift guide is appropriate for any time of year so you can bookmark this page as your gift that keeps on giving. The gifts are organized by age group from toddler to teen, and all of them are under $40. Happy gifting!

For giftees ages 3 to 5

 Geometric Building Set Tegu Blocks combine fun colors, geometric shapes, and a magnetic snap to create a playtime experience that's fitting for the living room or the classroom. Parents (and littles!) love this toy because its production has positive environmental and social impact.

  Make a Match Game This game helps children grow memory skills with adorable dinosaur chips! The beautiful design is a treat for parents and kids alike. Perfect for picnics, play dates, and rainy games, this game is small enough to carry in your pocket and hip enough for the coolest of pre-k birthday parties.  

For giftees ages 6 to 8

Animal Charades Game Get kids on their feet and brimming with ideas! This high-quality wooden game is a perfect gift for outgoing children and to create an atmosphere of fun and creativity.
 Pirate Adventure Board Game This board game is cleverly disguised. Kids will be having so much fun that they won't even know that they were learning math from an award-winning program.  
 Squishy Science Experiment The Slimy Squishy Polymer Bucket is the perfect gift for budding scientists who aren't afraid to roll up their sleeves and get their hands dirty in the name of...scientific learning! But they'll too be busy having fun to realize they're learning the basics of chemistry.
 Garden Flowers Coloring Book One great idea for a gift is coloring books. These garden flower coloring books are perfect for child and parent, and can make a great group activity.

For giftees 9 to 10

Food Fighter 2-Player Game Food Fighter is a board game that has two children face off in a kitchen-themed battle. Children will have fun while developing higher-order thinking skills, mathematics, literacy, and executive functioning skills.
 Dream Catcher Kit Building dreamcatchers is a classic crafting activity - this colorful kit has everything kids need to make something unique and beautiful!
  Just Add Milk Experiments I love these experiments - little parental oversight is required, and they're so easy to do right at home! Girls and boys, readers and scientists, alike will love this colorful kit. Not to mention parents!

Gifts for Ages 11 to 13

Pairs in Pears Whether or not they love this pun as much as some of us, this game gets kids flexing vocabulary muscles while having fun with a little challenge and competition. Players build pairs of connecting words in matching patterns, like Scrabble 2.0. Best of all it's portable - a perfect gift and activity to bring along on sleepovers or for parties. For a little more "pearity," pair with two more pears!   Rainforest Biome Budding scientists and tweens who like hands-on fun will love this all-in-one Rainforest Biome - they get to start a whole ecosystem right at home! The biome includes cacao beans (a favorite), clay, an apple snail shell, and more to create a full-on biofeedback loop. Super cool!
 Math & Science Mystery Books Who doesn't love to solve a mystery?! The One Minute Mystery series takes a simple concept and turns it into an awesome book. Kids will read mysteries, then use their powers of deduction and knowledge of math and science to find the solution. Each is as satisfying as the next!

How to get FREE Amazon Gift Cards

Like almost everyone I know, I buy from Amazon a lot. I'm always looking for a good deal. A year ago I heard about a web site called "Swagbucks." I did some research and it seemed legitimate. You do things to earn points and can trade those for a gift card. Now, I am lazy. I am one of the worst people for doing these types of things, but after a year here are my results.

I have earned $50 in Amazon gift cards in a year. That surprised me. Here's what I did. I signed up for Swagbucks. I made it my default search engine and installed the button in my browser. Sometimes (looks like 50 times in a year) I would answer the daily question - one multiple choice question. That's it. You randomly get point for searching for things. You get a point for answering the daily question. Those add up slowly, but an extra $50 a year for doing practically nothing works for me.



There are a lot of ways you can earn more points. They give points for watching videos, answering surveys, buying things through their links, playing games, etc. I think I tried one of everything except buying through their link. It just wasn't worth my time to do more. They also have a mobile app with more ways to earn points. I never downloaded it so I can't tell you anything about it. Did I mention I'm lazy?

So after a year, would I recommend it? Yes. You can do as much or as little as you like and when you remember to log in and realize you have earned a gift card it's pretty cool. By the way, they have other options for spending your points, I just always get Amazon cards. I know I will always use them.

Here is my referral link: Swagbucks If you sign up with it, you start with 150 swagbucks and I get a bonus 15. The 150 swagbucks are worth $1.50 in Amazon gift cards, but the smallest denomination they sell is $3 for 300 points. 

Consumer Christmas

Almost everyone who sees us this time of year asks the kids one question, "What do you want for Christmas?" This is an issue for me and I would like to explain why.

1. Are you sure we celebrate Christmas? The assumption is that we are not only religious, but Christian. While we do celebrate Christmas, these are huge assumptions. Imagine putting kids of other beliefs on the spot multiple times a day to explain why they don't want anything for a holiday they don't celebrate.

2. Everyone seems to think Christmas is too consumerized. (I think I made up that word, but I like it.) Many people focus more on the gifts than anything else. There are reminders not to forget the reason for the season, but those same people, in my experience, are the first to ask the kids what they want. How are the kids supposed to think Christmas is about anything other than gifts if you start every conversation with asking what they want?

3. My kids generally have no idea what they want. We don't watch tv so they don't see commercials. They often offer to give away toys they don't play with and mention that they have too many toys to clean up. As the only grandkids on either side of the family, they are correct. We have WAY too many toys. We go through the toys at least twice a year getting rid of the things they no longer play with. So when someone asks what they want, they really don't know how to answer. They give answers like "a sharpened pencil" or "a rat snake" because it's the first thing that comes to mind. They have plenty of pencils, but they often break them. There are rat snakes in the neighborhood because there is a field behind our house. We don't need either of these things.

4. When realizing my kids don't know what they want we get suggestions like "take them to a toy store." One of two things happens when we do this. Either the kids will claim they want everything, including the plastic price tag holders on the shelves, or they will look at the prices and say it's not worth it. Our kids have had "jobs" to earn money for years and when they save up, they are encouraged to spend some of it. When it's their own money, those toys just don't have the same value. This has taught the kids to appreciate how much things cost and they really don't want anyone wasting money on things they know aren't worth it.

So what would I like people to say when they greet my kids? Here are some suggestions:
"Hi"
"Are you doing anything special this week/month/season?"
"What are you reading?"
"Will you get to see your extended family soon?"
"What is your favorite thing to do/eat/play with/read?"

Just please, don't ask what toys they want and then complain about a consumer Christmas. Just don't.

Bass Pro Christmas

One of our Christmas traditions is a trip to Bass Pro Shops. It's free, fun, and there are so many activities.

We start with visiting Santa. They give out timed cards so you only have to stand in line for 10-20 minutes rather than the hours it takes most places around here. While you wait for your time, there are tons of great activities.

They have activity areas set up around the store. Here the kids try a race track. They also have remote controlled vehicles, shooting galleries, and art projects.

A free reindeer carousel ride always seems exciting.

There are also all of the usual Bass Pro activities - looking in a shark, looking at boats, seeing the fish, walking over a bridge and more.

Educents $10 off anything

I am an Educents affiliate because I love their offerings. They are basically a deal site for educational products. This is clearly perfect for me. If you become a new member (free), you get a $10 credit to be spent on anything. No minimum purchase requirement or other requirement. $10 to spend on anything. Just click on the image below to get your $10 coupon.


Here are some of my current favorites:  Green Energy Kit    Clifford Science Kits   Life of Fred Math

Educents Anniversary

Let's Celebrate! It's the Educents 1-Year Anniversary!

Have you heard of Educents.com? It's the first group deal website for Educators where you can save up to 90% on curriculum, educational toys, and other learning products. They are turning 1 year old on April 2, 2014 and to celebrate, they are giving an additional 20% off, site wide until April 7, 2014! Just use code "Anniversary20." In addition, they are SO EXCITED to kick off an AMAZING month of fun activities to celebrate. They will have 30 giveaways (one per day) in the month of April! And, their grand prize winner will receive a family vacation in Florida (thanks to Wyndham Vacation Rentals) & with a runner-up prize of a $1,000 Educents Gift Card!

Just a few of the companies that will be giving products away in April: Math Mammoth, SayPlease, Systematic Mathematics, DNA Educational Games, Red Apple Reading, Critical Thinking Co., Times Tales, Seat Sack, The Latin Road, Intelli-Tunes, Simply Fun, Institute for Excellence in Writing, Luv Chicken, Center for Hands-On Learning, Classical Academic Press, Your Story Hour, Wordsmiths, American High School, Middlebury Interactive Languages, My Year Look, The Latin Road, Intelli-Tunes, The learning Journey International & MORE!

The mission of Educents is to provide affordable education to all. In just 1 year, Educents has saved educators over $5 million dollars and over 150,000 products have made it into homes and classrooms all around the world.

So, what are you waiting for? Go save an additional 20% and enter to win tons of giveaways

. For every giveaway you enter, you get an entry for the two grand prizes!

www.Educents.com -- The Best Place for Educational Products at a discount!

I am not being paid for this post, but it does include affiliate links. These are free for you, but help me support my addiction to buying curriculum from Educents.

MyCausora and a Giveaway

Have you heard about MyCausora? I just recently learned about them. It's a simple concept and one I think we should all support.

Donate Now On Causora And Get Rewards!
 

First you pick a charity to donate money - I selected Donors Choose, but there are many great ones to choose if you would prefer something else. When you donate money, you get a one for one credit match. So if you donate $20, they give you a $20 credit. The credit can be spent at over 150 merchants. My favorite merchants listed include Novica and Creativebug. If you really want to stretch your money, you can use your credit to donate more to charity. How else could you sit at home and buy Shakespeare books for a class and feed a gibbon fresh fruit within minutes?

MyCausora has generously offered to host a giveaway for my readers so you can try it out for free!  10 winners will each get $20 to donate and the winner will get to keep the reward.


a Rafflecopter giveaway

First Purchases

I know I've explained how my kids don't get paid for their basic family contributions, but do get paid for doing extra jobs around the house. After saving up, they each had just over $1. I let them pick anything they wanted from the dollar store. (I did take them straight to the toy aisle before letting them look.)

She is holding up her pink maracas. He won't even look up from his blue truck. They were so happy to have something they earned and paid for. They also quickly learned that toys from the dollar store don't hold up to typical wear and tear from preschoolers. They decided next time they will spend more than $1 on a toy.

The best part of this experience from my perspective is when they ask for something. I simply ask if they have enough money to buy it. The answer is always no and they stop asking. I don't have to tell them no. I don't have to explain any more than that. They get it. They understand the value of money. There are times they will find out a toy costs $10 and say it's not worth that much. This is one of the best skills everyone, not just children, needs to have in our society.

Other research notes

I learned a lot at the conference that I want to share, but wouldn't make a good post on it's own. So here's some random notes from various sessions.

• A child's attachment at 18 months is a better predictor of college graduation than I.Q.
• The job of retail/marketing is to make you unhappy with what you already have.
• In order to survive the young of our species need defenses against social manipulation - the earlier the better. 
• No accurate assessment for executive function, however Kindergarten teachers can accurately judge.
• The first two months of life and adolescence are the two biggest periods of brain growth. They are both noted by lack of sleep, moodiness, overwhelming emotions. Nutrition during these times is crucial.
• Some brain training works and some doesn't.
• C8 program for kids and Lumosity for adults are currently the best two on market.
• Use fMRI to confirm training with far transfer and durability for 1 year.

Family Contributions and Money Management

This is another repost from last year, but since I included photos of the kids doing the chores in June and July of this year it seems appropriate. I also included an update at the end.

As I mentioned in the post on Tuesday, once the kids were interested in money, we started family contributions. Family contributions are things you are expected to do as part of the family. They don't earn you money or rewards, but they will earn you a smiley face. For our two year olds, we have make bed, push in chairs, help with laundry, clean up toys, make good choices, take out garbage, child's choice, and mom/dad choice. If you have toys in multiple rooms, you might want to list them separately. We include putting away their plates with pushing in chairs because it is all done at the same time. Other ideas could include watering plants, feeding animals, getting dressed, and anything else you can think of.

 Once they have completed all of their family contributions for the day, they have the option of doing jobs to make money. These are things they are still learning, need more supervision, or don't need to be done daily.  Ours include vacuuming, cleaning mirrors, cleaning windows, dusting, watering the grass, sweeping the floor, moping the floor, and mom/dad choice. You could also include cooking, or any of the things above. Since we are working on money starting with coins, each job pays 5 cents (paid in pennies) and pay day is on Friday. We started by marking who did each job by color. However, as you can see in the picture, the green marker exploded, so now we just write the first letter of their name on the job.

As they get older and can do more, we will introduce new jobs. We can move the already masters jobs to the family contributions chart and take things off the family contribution chart that should already be a habit and not need to be reminded or rewarded. For example, my kids fully dress themselves without being told, so that isn't on any chart. They are almost at the point of not needing a reminder about pushing in their chairs and cleaning up their dishes, so that will be removed next. They are awesome at dusting and no longer need supervision to do a good job, so that will be moved onto the family contribution chart and we can add another job.

Pay days are exciting. I couldn't find the type of bank I wanted, so I created one. I found a 4 part divided container at The Container Store and I put sticker letters on each section. We have save, spend, invest, and donate. Once I pay out their pennies, they place them one at a time in each section, in order. So the save always gets the most and the donate always gets the fewest. After their money has been sorted, they take the money out of one section at a time. They start by counting pennies. If they have 5, then they trade them for a nickle and so on. This works on one to one correspondence, counting, and of course money.

The save is a long term savings. Once they get at least $5 in it, they will open their own savings account. The spend is the immediate, fun money. If they ever say they want to buy something, this is where that would come from. They will be introduced to this idea once they have just over $1. We will take them to one of the dollar stores and let them buy whatever they want. If they want a toy later, we will cut out a photo and price of the toy to place in the spend section so they can see it and remember what they are saving for. The invest is a little more tricky. We want the kids to know that you can either work to make money or make wise investments to make money. Once they have $5, we will let them start with micro-investing. There are many ways to do this, but most require $25. We figure if they can save $5, we can throw in the other $20. They will get their money plus the interest back and we will only get the $20 back. This way they see it grow faster and it helps them to understand. The donate is self explanatory. They will get to choose the charity and how often they donate money.

It has worked out that after 2 months, the save has just over 30% of the money and the donate has around 23% with the spend and invest coming in around 23/24%. I'm sure you could figure out a way to make it come out differently, but this works for us. It doesn't matter how much they earn, each section always gets at least one penny and it's very easy for a toddler to understand.

UPDATE: The first time I took them to the dollar store they each selected a toy. Sweet Daughter chose a set of pink maracas and sweet son selected a blue truck. They were so proud and told everyone how they paid for the toys. They weren't high quality and didn't last very long. Now the kids are saving up for "better" toys.

The kids also spent some of their donate money buying cans of peas to donate at their school food drive. So far the invest and save don't have the $5 minimum before we can use them. I've also discovered that mico-investing isn't legal in my state. I'm still pondering that one. If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know!

Wordless Wednesday

After Halloween Sale on Costumes!

Family Contributions

As I mentioned in the post on Monday, once the kids were interested in money, we started family contributions. Family contributions are things you are expected to do as part of the family. They don't earn you money or rewards, but they will earn you a smiley face. For our two year olds, we have make bed, push in chairs, help with laundry, clean up toys, make good choices, take out garbage, child's choice, and mom/dad choice. If you have toys in multiple rooms, you might want to list them separately. We include putting away their plates with pushing in chairs because it is all done at the same time. Other ideas could include watering plants, feeding animals, getting dressed, and anything else you can think of.

 Once they have completed all of their family contributions for the day, they have the option of doing jobs to make money. These are things they are still learning, need more supervision, or don't need to be done daily.  Ours include vacuuming, cleaning mirrors, cleaning windows, dusting, watering the grass, sweeping the floor, moping the floor, and mom/dad choice. You could also include cooking, or any of the things above. Since we are working on money starting with coins, each job pays 5 cents (paid in pennies) and pay day is on Friday. We started by marking who did each job by color. However, as you can see in the picture, the green marker exploded, so now we just write the first letter of their name on the job.

As they get older and can do more, we will introduce new jobs. We can move the already masters jobs to the family contributions chart and take things off the family contribution chart that should already be a habit and not need to be reminded or rewarded. For example, my kids fully dress themselves without being told, so that isn't on any chart. They are almost at the point of not needing a reminder about pushing in their chairs and cleaning up their dishes, so that will be removed next. They are awesome at dusting and no longer need supervision to do a good job, so that will be moved onto the family contribution chart and we can add another job.

Pay days are exciting. I couldn't find the type of bank I wanted, so I created one. I found a 4 part divided container at The Container Store and I put sticker letters on each section. We have save, spend, invest, and donate. Once I pay out their pennies, they place them one at a time in each section, in order. So the save always gets the most and the donate always gets the fewest. After their money has been sorted, they take the money out of one section at a time. They start by counting pennies. If they have 5, then they trade them for a nickle and so on. This works on one to one correspondence, counting, and of course money.

The save is a long term savings. Once they get at least $5 in it, they will open their own savings account. The spend is the immediate, fun money. If they ever say they want to buy something, this is where that would come from. They will be introduced to this idea once they have just over $1. We will take them to one of the dollar stores and let them buy whatever they want. If they want a toy later, we will cut out a photo and price of the toy to place in the spend section so they can see it and remember what they are saving for. The invest is a little more tricky. We want the kids to know that you can either work to make money or make wise investments to make money. Once they have $5, we will let them start with micro-investing. There are many ways to do this, but most require $25. We figure if they can save $5, we can throw in the other $20. They will get their money plus the interest back and we will only get the $20 back. This way they see it grow faster and it helps them to understand. The donate is self explanatory. They will get to choose the charity and how often they donate money.

It has worked out that after 2 months, the save has just over 30% of the money and the donate has around 23% with the spend and invest coming in around 23/24%. I'm sure you could figure out a way to make it come out differently, but this works for us. It doesn't matter how much they earn, each section always gets at least one penny and it's very easy for a toddler to understand.