Summer: Learning Bags

I have some educational goals for both of my kids this summer, but I don't want to spend the summer doing "school." At this point I think Christian is over it. So we are going to play one educational game each day (with some days off here and there I'm sure). 

I've noticed that in our house if we start the day with the TV on, it usually stays on way longer than I planned. So we're not going to start our mornings by watching "just one show." When my kids come downstairs in the morning for breakfast, there is going to be a learning bag sitting at their place at the table. They are going to play their learning game while I'm getting breakfast ready. And they can continue playing it while they're eating.

Here's a few examples of some of the activities the kids are going to be doing. "Christian's Alphabet Mystery" will probably be easy for him, but I think it's good practice to quickly think of what letter is missing on the alphabet cards. This will help him down the road when he has to put things in alphabetical order. I don't want him to have to sit there and say the whole alphabet just so he knows what letter comes after "k."  McKenna has her own learning bag similar to this but slightly easier.

This is one of my favorite activities that I found HERE.

The white spoons have uppercase letters on them and the clear spoons have lowercase letters on them and then you match them!

The cards have numbers on them and you have to figure out what number comes next and clip the correct clothes pin on each card.

 I also created a bunch of bags out of lessons that were already created for me. All I had to do was print them. Most of these activities are for late Kindergarten or early 1st grade. Go HERE to print your own copy.

 Source HERE

Source HERE

Okay, somebody stop me! Seriously. These are just a few of the bags I've got sitting on my kitchen counter. I have at least five more done and I'm in the middle of a few more activities for McKenna and then I just emailed my mom a list of even more stuff to print for me (she has a color printer, mine broke). I think I might have resurrected the teacher in me or something and now all I can think about are learning bags. Sheesh. 

In all seriousness, I do think these should make learning fun for my kids this summer. And I think they will bring a little structure to our mornings. If I home schooled I definitely think I would start out each morning like this.