Hands On Activities for Read Alouds: A Giveaway

 This giveaway is closed.  The winners are announced here.

Whether you homeschool or not, chances are you read a lot to your kids or nieces and nephews or grandchildren.  Many adults who want to foster a love of reading in the lives of children make it a priority to read to them aloud.  Sometimes, said children, snuggle up close and hang on every word.  Other times, those same kids want to be down on the floor, keeping their hands busy with something while they listen.  I, personally, have no problem with this (as long as the activity doesn't require talking or noisy sound effects) and even think it may help them listen.

Blocks, legos (again, less the sound affects), drawing paper and pencils, paper dolls, and sewing are just some of the wonderful activities our kids can keep busy with while we read to them.  The possibilities are endless.  Recently, I was given the opportunity to review some products (of my choice) from Froebel USA, an educational toy website whose motto is "Educating the Whole Child".  Many of the items on their website scream "read aloud activities!"  And, lucky us (!), the owner of the website wants to give two products away here this week!

The first item our family looked at was the Archimedes Square Stomachion Puzzle.  According to the Froebel website, it's "The world's oldest puzzle, developed over 2200 years ago, by Archimedes. Our Archimedes Square Stomachion puzzle consists of 14 polygons (made from brightly colored wood pieces) of varying sizes and shapes. Much like the traditional Tangram, you can solve the puzzle or create your own designs and patterns."  We had fun doing both.  It was very good that I took a picture of it put together before we turned the pieces out and tried to put it together from scratch.

Sadie (age 5, top row) gave it a go first.  It proved too difficult for her to reassemble the puzzle, but she quickly (and on her own) took out the pieces and started making her own designs.  What you see above is one of the most lovely giraffes every created.  But that's just my opinion:-).

Sam (age 8, bottom row) discovered that the completed puzzle included a vertical line down the center as well as a diagonal line drawn across opposite corners.  This helped him, as did asking me to put half of it together for him (I had to refer to the picture I had taken).  This is a challenging puzzle.  Sam kept at it and has asked me to get it out several times since.  It's a challenge for me as well and strangely addictive.  There are no age recommendations on the website that I could find, but I would suggest 8 years old might be a little bit young.  Maybe age 10 to adult.  But! If you have a youngster who loves puzzles and enjoys a challenge and is under 10, by all means, check it out.

The second item we looked at is the seventh in the series of Froebel Gifts- the Parquetry Tablets.  "The child will recognize shapes, see patterns and symmetry, and make the transition from constructing objects to representing them in two dimensions."  This reminds me a lot of Colorforms, except instead of sticking the cling shapes onto boards, you can manipulate the shapes how ever you choose.  Sam and Sadie really enjoy this.

It comes with suggested methods of introducing the "tablets" or shapes to your children.  We talked about the shapes one at a time and I asked them where they see the shapes in nature or in their surroundings.  We talked about how many sides and angles the shapes had and how they are similar to and different from each other.  Then, we came to the fun part- creating.  And, create they did.  This item was more age appropriate for them and they spent a long time enjoying it the day I first got it out.  They've asked repeatedly to play with it since and I imagine it will become a favorite during our read alouds this school year.

Now we come to the really fun part- the giveaway!!

To enter:  Please tell me two things.

1) First, follow the links above and decide which of the two items you would like to enter to win.  In the comments, tell me which one you chose.  One winner will be chosen out of each group.

2) The second thing I'd like you to tell me is what your children do when you read to them OR what you remember doing when you were read to as a child.

Please only one entry per household.  If you have trouble leaving a comment, please email me your entry and I will post it for you.  If you comment anonymously (which is fine!) please remember to leave some initials so I can identify you.  Winners will be chosen sometime on Friday- just in time for school!

I was given the two items that I reviewed in this post.

Pin It