This game is designed for two to four players, ages 3 and up (the pieces are too small for younger kids). It comes with an alphabet mat, tornado board, letter coins and cards, and toy boxes, and doesn’t require any batteries. If your kids are more interested in Disney Junior characters, there is a Super Stretchy game for them too. It teaches colors and shapes instead of letters. Pros Easy to learn and playShort game duration helps prevent frustration (and parent aggravation)Provides active playReinforces letter learningLittle emphasis on competition...

Tips to Help Your Child Learn Spelling Try a few of these fun, easy tips and tricks to help kids learn spelling words. Play Alphabet Ball Alphabet ball is a great game for kids when you introduce them to phonics but it’s also a great tool to use with spelling lists. All you need is an inflatable ball and a marker. Write the alphabet all over the ball, writing each letter randomly and not all in order....

Structuring your child’s environment can help him be successful. Try these ideas to make your home ADHD-friendly. Provide as much structure and predictability in the home as possible. Establish some rules, routines, and schedules to help life run smoother. Plan with your child a routine/schedule (e.g., for getting ready for school in the morning, homework, mealtime, bedtime). Your child needs to know what is viewed as acceptable and unacceptable behavior at home, and the consequences (positive and negative) for both....

My nurse then suggested that I talked to the anesthesiologist about my options for further pain relief, and as a result of my conversation with the anesthesiologist, I decided to have an epidural. I told the anesthesiologist that I’d had an epidural a few years ago for knee surgery and how it had provided excellent pain relief, but that I had itched for hours afterward. The anesthesiologist surmised that the itch was caused by one of the painkilling medications (fentanyl) in the epidural top up and agreed that this medicine wouldn’t be used....

UV Radiation & Your Child’s Eye Health Ultraviolet (UV) radiation is essentially energy emitted from the sun. There are two types of rays that can reach the earth’s surface. These are called UVA and UVB rays. The ‘A’ stands for ‘aging’ and the ‘B’ stands for ‘burning’. No matter your age, both are harmful, but babies and toddlers eyes are particularly precious. We all know that spending too much time in direct sunlight can lead to a sunburn of the skin....

All families go through hard times. As parents, we may struggle to cope with stresses ranging from money worries and job changes to marital difficulties and illness. Talking with our children about these problems may seem like an insurmountable hurdle, but keeping silent may inadvertently cause them harm. Children – even very young children – are acutely sensitive to the nuances of their parents’ tension and well-being. Family silence around stress can cause children to shoulder unnecessary burdens of shame and guilt....

Motor skills enable the movements children need for everyday tasks, from playing and feeding themselves to moving from place to place. Typically, children develop certain motor skills at specific ages, but not every child will reach milestones at precisely the same time. A child with motor impairments has trouble moving in a controlled, coordinated, and efficient way. If your child seems to be delayed in developing fine or gross motor skills, they will likely undergo an assessment and may require physical or occupational therapy to catch up....

Have a discussion with your child about the shapes and sounds of fireworks and about his or her reactions to fireworks displays. Move with your child and shoot into the air with a loud sound, then drift down to the ground making a soft sound. Alternate jumping, leaping, and exploding loudly, and then landing quietly. Try jumping, leaping, and exploding quietly with loud landings. As a finale, do a dance showing many fireworks going off, one after the other....

Bees are “vegetarian,” feeding their young only nectar, and they live in hives built from natural wax secretions. Bumblebees and honeybees simply look for nectar and pollen to take back to their hives for food. If you leave them alone, chances are, they will ignore your un-honeyed arm or leg. Wasps (also called hornets) are more belligerent. They, too, go after pollen and nectar, but because their tongues are shorter, they are unable to get nectar from many flowers that bees can....

1. Exaggerating the Truth At first, they’re little exaggerations—for example, your child tells a friend they can run a mile in four minutes or assures grandma that they ate all of their vegetables when they hardly touched a single pea. These little white lies are not harmful, but they’re not exactly the facts. What’s the problem? When kids gets used to making themselves look slightly better in the eyes of another person, lying becomes automatic....

Halloween parties might look a little smaller this year, but that doesn’t mean they can’t still be full of spooktacular fun. Your Halloween celebration can include much more than just Halloween costumes and trick-or-treating, consider spicing things up with some of these Halloween game ideas that are family friendly and perfect for kids of all ages. From crafts to guessing games you can utilize plenty of free Halloween ideas, or spend less time prepping and pay for pre-made activities....

The problem with the tin lid was that it didn’t glide very easily and it made a horrible shrill noise when it flew threw the air. It also hurt to catch them. Sometimes the lids would crack or break and then the edges became sharp and dangerous. So after the war, two veterans took it upon themselves to manufacture a kinder, gentler Frisbee—they were Walter Morrison and Warren Franscioni. They manufactured a better flying disc, but it still had some major flaws due mainly to primitive plastic materials....

10 to 15 minutes Materials Newspapers or magazines with grocery coupons Directions Work together to go through the newspaper and cut out coupons for things you need to buy, talking about not buying unplanned items just because there is a coupon. Extensions When you have finished shopping, give your child the money saved with the coupons.Select a local charity together and donate the money saved, in person if possible.

In Christian belief, Gabriel is revered not only as one of only two archangels mentioned in the Bible (along with Michael), but as the bearer of very good news. Although the angel Gabriel’s most famous scriptural appearance is his visitation to Mary, this was not his first interaction with humanity. In fact, he also appears twice in the Old Testament book of Daniel to interpret Daniel’s visions about the future....

A sixth-grade family history project hooked Megan Smolenyak into the world of genealogy, and decades later, she’s as captivated as ever. “It’s all Mrs. Berkowitz’s fault!” said Smolenyak of the teacher who assigned the project. Smolenyak is now a professional genealogist and author of the book Who Do You Think You Are?: The Essential Guide to Tracing Your Family History. The book is a companion to the NBC television series Who Do You Think You Are?...

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