Making use of things around the house for learning inspires creativity for both the teacher and student. It is also a way to develop a lifelong learner as all surroundings will teach lessons and inspire thought. Being resourceful also saves your pocketbook from losing too much valuable weight. Old newspapers, magazines and even phone books can be used for such purposes. Before you throw your old publications in the recycle bin think about recycling them into educational tools. Here are ways to squeeze some fun learning out of the Sunday paper:
Letter Hunt. Give your child a highlighter, pencil or marker and have her highlight or circle the letter she is currently studying.
Word Hunt. Give your child a highlighter, pencil or marker and have her highlight or circle words she recognizes.
Make a Sentence. Have your child cut out words in the newspaper and form them into a sentence. The sentence can be complex or simple, funny or serious, and then glue it on construction paper.
Spelling Words. Have your child cut out letters and glue them on construction paper to spell her spelling words for that week.
Form an Opinion. Older kids love to share their opinions. Assign your child a news story and have her tell or write her opinion on the topic.
Become a Reporter. Have your older child familiarize herself with the style of newspaper writing. Then have her write up a fake news story which can be funny or serious.
Story Board. Allow your child to cut out images from magazines. Your child will form a story and tell it through those images she chose. Glue the images on construction paper and tell aloud or write below the picture what is going on in the story.
Opposites. Go through magazines and cut out pictures that are opposites and glue on construction paper.
Homophones. Go through magazines and cut out pictures that are homophones.
Rebus Story. Cut out images from magazines and form a rebus story with your child.
Parts of Speech Cut out images from magazines that represent nouns, verbs and adjectives. Paste on construction paper and have your child tell you which part of speech it can represent.
Can you think of more fun activities?
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