Fun and educational website for kids!

Now that the weather is finally nice, the grass green, the trees and flowers growing, I'm eager to get out of the house every chance I get.  Running through a park with my kids is so much nicer than trying to manage their behavior in our small condo.  

But its inevitable that the occasional rainy day is going to drive us back indoor.  When this happens, I try to have an arsenal of projects up my sleeve - food to bake, crafts to make, books to read, games to play, work to do.  I try to limit screen time for all of us, but sometimes our projects lead us to the internet.  While the internet can be a major time waster, it can also be a great place for educational exploration.  Here's a few sites I've found that are great for a rainy day. 

Starfall

Starfall is hands down my favorite.  Totally free, the site is geared towards teaching Kindergartners and up how to read.  However, I began using the most basic tools on the site with my son before he was two years old.  As a result, he knew the names and sounds of all 26 letters around the age of two.  You can't ask for better results than that!  We've begun to dig deeper in the site, learning to put sounds together and other reading skills.  Some pages he enjoys but is not ready to read on his own.  For example, there are great pages that intro children to Classical music and various composers.  He loves these pages and I love the exposure it brings him - I simply do the reading for him.  A similar page introduces children to art and artists.  

I could go on and on about Starfall.  I'm grateful to have such a fun, educational tool available for me on rainy days.  

Dream Box

I have wished for something similar to teach Math skills as well, and I recently found this in Dream Box.  This website is pay-to-play: after an initial two week trial, you must have a subscription to the site in order to access it.  Again geared towards Kindergarten on up, I gave it a shot with my two year old.  I found that there was less low hanging fruit on this site.  He was able to enjoy playing the first few levels, but quickly found himself over his head in both Math and Computer skills.  The games did seem to effectively immerse kids in math skills within the context of an adventure game, so I'll look forward to trying this again in a few years.  

Earth Hour Kids

There's more to learning than reading and math!  This site was created by the World Wildlife Fund and features lesson-plans, games and songs children and their parents can download introducing them to ecology and how we can each play a part in keeping our planet healthy.   I'm glad that we have more tools now than ever to bring our children into the conversation of ecology and equip them with the tools to start making good decisions now.  

So there's a few ideas that I have up my sleeve.  Have you stumbled upon any website that are both fun and educational for children?

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Children's Museum Moving??

The Dupage Children's Museum: Bubbles galore, scarfs in a wind tunnel, giant Tinker Toys, ... A toddler paradise. From a mom's perspective, it is loud and their choice of paint colors is less than subtle. But still, the wonder in my son's eyes when he sees the ginormous water table makes it all worthwhile.
When you live in a climate such as ours, it is practically essential to have a place to go where kids can run and play and moms can have a break from the daily task of keeping them entertained.
I used to go there with friends and their kids. But I quickly learned that it is just a bit too loud and chaotic there to engage in any kind of meaningful conversation while keeping your eye on your kids. So more often now, we go by ourselves so I can give my full attention to my boys and engage in the play with them.

But this staple of Dupage County is at risk of going away. Or at the very least moving further west. According to a recent article in the Naperville Sun,the recent state of the economy has led to decreased giving to the museum putting them at risk of not being able to make the mortgage payment on their garishly painted space. The city of Naperville has offered some financial assistance but it may not be enough.
The museum is currently looking into spaces in Naper Settlement and Aurora as potential new homes for their many child-oriented, learning-friendly exhibits.

Thanks to Grandma, we have had a pass to the museum for the last couple years. And it seems that my son finds a new favorite exhibit each time we go. His puzzle-loving mind loves the light boards with shapes he can place and configure to his little heart's content. Or the blocks upstairs where he can build a giant road and no one is gonna ask him pick them all up before he moves on to the next thing. And a trip wouldn't be complete without wet sleeves from carefree play in the water and bubbles. It does my momma-heart good to see him run in with his eyes wide with wonder, anxious to start the adventure. And he's learning in the process and he doesn't even know it! It would be a horrible shame for the museum to move out of Dupage County or even to a place less accessible for many moms.
We have come to depend on it as our winter activity stand-by and even our "it is WAY TOO hot outside" activity too. I would seriously hate to see it go away.

Here are some of the activities going on at the museum this summer. Go explore and create with your little adventurers. Support the museum and keep this local mommy-resource in Dupage County.



Preschool Summer Camp: 8 weekly sessions beginning June 15th
Daily open studio sessions and storytimes
Seminar for Parents on April 23rd
Family Fun Nights
And so much more!!!

Oh, and check out their blog for inside museum info and cool kids' activity ideas.

Do you have a favorite place for active kids that you'd like to share with Dupage Mamas? Send us your posts if you'd like to be a guest blogger, or your ideas if you want us to take the reigns.

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