Reading is a Blast with A Shufflebook

I love thrift stores. They have such great finds that help make education easier or more fun. Sure you have to be picky, really look through a lot till you find a gem, and discipline yourself not to buy a lot of other things you don't need. But I really find that it's fun to sift through thrift stores to find a few treasures.

I recently found one that I know I'm going to use a lot this next year. And it only cost me $.25!

It's called a "Shufflebook" and was created by Richard Hefter and Marin Stephen Moskof, the publication date on this particular package is 1970.

It contains 52 large double sided cards. Each side of the card has words with large, colorful, pictures. The words are either nouns, simple verbs, or nouns with pro nouns.

The object is to simply create your own fun and crazy story by starting you sentence with "Today I" or "Yesterday we" (or get creative), and pulling cards out at whim to make a long ongoing sentence that forms a completely random story.

We did this today during our read aloud time, and this is what we ended up with:

Yesterday we went to the zoo,
and the turtle
and 8 ants
flew
and she
got kissed
and the chicken
laughed
and the astronaut
cheered
and 5 cows
flipped
screamed
slipped
pouted
and he
swam
and the dog
wiggled
and I
bounced

Isn't that a riot?!

These cards could have many applications. For a beginning reader they could be used for help with fluency in reading.

For a more advanced reader, these cards could be used as language arts aids by creating a sentence, and then using it to learn about subjects, predicates, verbs, nouns, pronouns, punctuation, etc.

I believe these are out of print. I found 2 for sale on Amazon.com, but these would be very easy to make on your own with index cards, a sharpie, and lots of cut out pictures from unwanted catalogs and old magazines.

Take this idea, and run with it to make learning in your home more enjoyable!

Developing Thinking Skills Through Play - Bloxorz

I recently found a neat game at Cool Math Games.biz. It's called Bloxorz. The goal of Bloxorz is to move a rectangular block around the playing board of each stage. At the end of each stage is a square hole that the rectangular block must fall through when on it's end. The rectangular block can be flipped from end to end or rolled from side to side based on which direction key is pressed to move the block.
The first few stages are fairly easy in order to help you figure out how to maneuver the blocks using the direction keys. But as you progress through the stages you quickly find new challenges. There are 2 types of switches to open and close bridges on the level. There is 1 switch that will transport your block to another place on the playing board at random. And there are also tiles in the playing field that are fragile and will fall away.
While figuring how to move your block to hit each switch just right, and land on the hole just right, you also have to avoid falling off the edge of the playing board.
Fortunately the tutorial for this game is pretty easy to understand.
It's a pretty fun little game, but it does require thinking and some strategy. Once a child gets the hang of the controls they should be able to figure out the rest on their own. I would recommend this for about 8/9 years and older.
The website this is on has lots of good math games to help supplement your math and critical thinking curriculum. You can find the main index here: http://www.coolmathgames.biz/
This is a free site, but does have lots of advertising on it. Fortunately you can view the game alone in a larger pop out window, and minimize the window with the advertisements. This way your child is less likely to accidentally click on a wrong place on the website and click on an add. So far, the adds seem to be only for other games and pretty kid friendly. But they can be pretty annoying as well.
Parents: Please use caution when allowing your children to use the internet. I highly recommend you do not ever let a child use the internet alone and unsupervised. And please pre screen all websites before allowing your child to view them. The websites I recommend are kid friendly at the time of recommendation. But I can not vouch for them in any future time.

Auditorium - Developing thinking skills through play

It's important for me that the things my kids do in school time or free time helps to develop logic and thinking skills. We watch very little tv or movies, and have no video gaming systems in the house. Most of our play and creative time is spend working on paper crafts, hand crafts, single player games, and multi player games. Very little of our free time during a school day is spent on the computer.
I am not against gaming systems, they do have their place and purpose in play and recreation. We just have very little room to store one with all the games and accessories that come along with it.

But when I find a computer game that helps to develop thinking and logic skills, while letting my girls be creative and have fun, I feel that I've hit pretty close to the jackpot. And I've done that with a game I found online earlier in the school year.




Auditorium, found at http://www.playauditorium.com/, is an abstract game that stimulates creative thinking. Each level and puzzle has no right or wrong answer, and no one solution. The game is very entertaining in that it utilizes sound and color.

Each "puzzle" begins as a single stream of light. Controls are moved around the screen to bend the stream, change the color of the stream, the direction of the stream, or the speed. The object is to direct the stream to an Audio Container, and fill the container. The container transforms the light into sound. On the levels where there are several Audio Containers, it creates a pleasing and harmonious "symphony".

The concept is simple, but requires real thought to be put into the game to solve. And usually the first attempt at solving the puzzles with multiple containers is not successful. Which also teaches to not give up on the first try, but try again.


The online demo is free, and offers hours of playtime. You can also purchase the full version for even more options and controls. Flash Player is required to play.

I highly recommend this for upper elementary/lower middle school on up. Younger ages can play too, but probably better sitting in mommy's lap as a helper.