I just discovered something really awesome. I grew up with the Highlights magazine, and my children are subscribers to Highlights High Five (for children 6 and under). What I've always really enjoyed about Highlights are not only the great crafts and stories, but the hidden pictures. They may seem like a silly waste of time, but they're actually training you to pay attention to your surroundings. They're great for conentration, thinking skills, logic, etc.
I've lost count of how many times I've walked right by something only to have it pointed out by my husband or children. It was there, but I just didn't see it. This is great for your cognitive and thinking skills. One of my husbands and mine favorite activities to do together are hidden picture games. We spend an enjoyable hour looking for the hidden objects and it's amazing that you can be looking right at something, and still not see it.
This newest activity I recently signed James up for and just recieved the first kit in the mail. It looked like it might be too old for him, but I thought I would give it a try because it looked so awesome. This book club introduces children 7 (or 8, it varies so I'm not sure) and up to 27 different countries, one at a time, through a mystery and adventure series.
~Starting with a jigsaw puzzle that reveals a mystery, kids become young puzzle detectives. They learn about the people, culture, terrain, history, and geography of the featured country while searching for clues to solve the who, what, and where of the mystery. Top Secret Adventures will help expand knowledge and stimulate curiosity in children as they gain understanding of other cultures. ~
That right there caught my attention. In this house, the three biggest subjects are reading, history, and the world (geography, etc.). So I talked my husband into letting me try it. I figured that I could at least take a look at it and I could always cancel later. What I got was a great packet that contained a large wall map of the world with all adventures marked on it (there are a ton), a folder for that specific Adventure (I chose Greece), a great book (32 pages) that has a ton of great facts and color photos, jigsaw puzzle, a little passport, stickers to go in the passport for your adventures, a 32 page puzzle/game book, and cards for each of the suspects. This all fits into the folder (similar to a lapbook) so it's easy to store for lots of adventures.
At first glance, I thought this really wouldn't work at all for my little guy, since he's not quite five. However, as I looked it over, my creative juices really got going. There is no reason he couldn't do the jigsaw puzzle, or learn from the awesome book of facts. So I figured that as each country came in, we could devote the week to that specific country. We could put the puzzle together and then look for it on the map. We could learn facts from the book, and even eat food from that region. Then I could store each Adventure in the handy folder it came in so when he was older we could haul it out again. These are about the size of a normal portfolio folder, perhaps a little larger so I could store like magazines in a magazine box. It would also be interesting to perhaps do a lapbook for the country as we learn about it.
Read more about Top Secret Adventures here. Join here and you'll soon be on your way to your first Adventure in Japan! (I received a card in the mail about this, and it had three choices, including Japan, which is why I was able to choose Greece. However, it seems that you can't choose if you sign up online.) I'm also interested in Which Way Usa, also by Highlights, which would be an awesome way to learn about our country but Carey put his foot down on that one. :D At least for now.
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