Good Morning, World!
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When you look in many toy stores, you can find tons of expensive electronic gadgets for your kids that claim to help improve reading skills. One year on Black Friday, I bought a Leap Pad for super cheap, like $15, for my daughter. She was sooo excited! She enjoyed it . . . it was fun, but in order to enjoy it, you should purchase the books/cartridges that go with it. This is where it gets expensive. Plus, batteries. Plus, my daughter chewed on the cord of the wand and broke the entire unit within 2 months.
Does anyone else's kids chew on everything?
My boys don't.
But my girls did.
They still do.
Weird girls.
Anywho, today I am going to offer some fun and frugal ideas to help promote reading in your kids, without spending any money.
1) Closed Captioning on your Television.
Seriously.
Ok, so I have a hearing problem. And David got sick and tired of me saying,
"What happened?"
"What did he say?"
"What's going on?"
So, he figured out how to get the closed captioning on the television. And we can't figure out how to take it off.
We are not a family known for our technological skills.
Just our lumberjacking skills.
But, I am okay with the closed captioning being on, because otherwise I might miss hilarious lines like,
"That's why it's called MURDER not MUKDUK!"
Ha! Name that TV Show/Character
Back in the dark ages when I was still in college and childfree, I learned in my children's literacy classes that having closed captioning on the tv helps kids with their reading skills. They can associate the written word with the spoken word and blah blah blah, they start to pick up a few reading skills.
Now, don't have your kids in front of the tv all the time.
But, if you are allowing them to watch a quick show so you can empty the dishwasher without your one year old throwing plates onto the floor and your two year old chasing his sister with the knives, then flip on the closed captioning and let them learn away!
2) Free sites for kids on the computer. Kids can play fun games and learn computer skills while learning some reading skills.
www.starfall.com is a good one. Also, www.pbskids.org.
3) Books on CD or Tape. Letting your kids listen and be exposed to tons and tons of words is excellent. You can get books on CD or tape for free at the library. Or, if you get "Charlotte's Web" on tape and your girls' take out all the "fun brown string", it could end up costing you $20 to pay to replace it.
4) Read to your kids. Some books we have tried :
Little House on the Prairie series
Chronicles of Narnia series
Bible
Stuart Little
Feel free to add any more suggestions!
Happy Frugal Friday!
For more frugal ideas, visit: My Life as Mom
My kids love pbs.org too!
ReplyDeletethe Office - Dwight!! Andy had a hard day at the mechanic store, that was my fav line from that episode!! :-)
ReplyDeleteThe Office! Dwight!
ReplyDeleteI laughed so hard at that one.
I always wonder when I see all of these gadgets like LeapPad what ever happened to just READING to your kids? Seriously.
And my kids love to listen to books on tape and stories during their rest times!
hey, forgot to tell you! you should try Anne of Green Gables with your kids (Caden listens to it every night but I am not sure he would admit it!) and the Mysterious Benedict Society.
ReplyDeleteMy kids have music players in their rooms of the mp3 variety... I can actually download some recorded books from netlibrary.com on our home computer. No music here, Horrible Harry is all the rage. No I'm treated to random quotes such as "my mom made me a salami sandwich, I'm eating fungi for lunch" throughout my day by my 4 year old... I guess I need to download the Bible instead :)
ReplyDeleteThe Mysterious Benedict Society is great, I even enjoyed it! Another series you should try is the Redwall books. Also, if it makes you feel any better, Kelsi had a Leap Pad at some point and chewed through the cord that is attached to the pen thingy too!
ReplyDeleteI love you for doing Frugal Fridays- you have great suggestions! It helps to remember I'm not the only poor Mom too! :)
ReplyDeletei got it covered - low tech. handwritten letters in the mail coming soon to your neighborhood
ReplyDeletewait for it
I see your kiddo is watching Dinosaur Train. That show was made for my dino and train obsessed 4 year old! He was singing around the house the other day, "Every dinosaur poops!" Ha!
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of constant closed caption. I'll have to see how to do that on our TV.
FunBrain.com is a great educational site that will grow with your kids. It'll be a great help if you wind up going with home schooling the little ones.
ReplyDelete