With summer just around the corner, parents of both homeschooled and public schooled children alike are looking for ways to get their children active outside and to keep what their children have learned this previous year fresh in their minds.
Summer slide, or the forgetting of learned information over school holidays, is a very real problem across the board for anyone who doesn’t do year-round schooling. And even those who do year-round schooling still want to get out more when the weather is warm, have lessons outside.
This versatile and affordable toy can be used a multitude of ways depending on age and subject. All you need is a $1 ball and a permanent marker to write on it with.
First decide how you are going to use the ball: Throw, kick, or roll it back and forth between you, playing catch and taking turns reading the ball? Play one-on-one basket ball and read the ball whenever you miss a shot? Play soccer and read the ball whenever your goal gets scored on?
As for what you use your ball to review, the list is endless!
For LittleMan, I write sight words on the ball and have him read the word or use the word in a sentence when we play. For SunnyGirl, I write letters on the ball and have her identify the letter or the phonetic sound it makes.
You could also easily write numbers or basic math problems, draw shapes, write vocabulary words, short science questions, etc..