Children love to write and erase. You can take advantage of this fun activity and make it a learning experience without them knowing! The littlest one can experience scribbling on a large scale and enjoy the magic of erasing. Start to make lines and circles and have them follow. If they are ready, have them make a line from top to bottom to start the pre-writing skill. (Most letters are formed top to bottom!)

Three to five year olds will enjoy choosing an animal (character) to be part of the story and you draw while you tell a story. Or, to incorporate math, make story problems. For example, my four year old chose cats playing baseball. We drew cats holding bats and baseballs to represent the number of hits they made. So, as I told the story we had to add the baseballs and find out which team won the game. The beauty of a four year old is your story can be completely silly and they do not care! Or, you could draw ducks swimming and have some fly away for subtraction. You can extend the activity by actually writing the equation or “number sentence” on the board. Not to force the child into learning this, but to expose them to math language and symbols.

There are many ways to use the dry erase board as an educational tool at home or in the classroom and we are always looking for more fun ways to learn!

When I think back to my childhood, I always think of family time, vacations and special time spent with someone. Not one of these moments had a price tag (well, the trips did cost money.) I am not going to say I did not love my bionic woman and Holly Hobbie dolls.

But the memories are precious. So, how do we create these memorable moments and tie it into our own children’s lives when it seems the society is commercial and material driven? I find my children asking for things everywhere we go. We try to not give into this, but it is difficult and I can understand why many parents will buy the tiniest of toys or candy to get out of a store tear free.

Remember the moments that meant most to you as  a child (or that you wish you had) and try to keep that in mind when planning your weekends and while you are at the store as the children may be screaming. As a family we try to do little things out of our ordinary day like eating picnic style on the floor or in the yard, playing café complete with menus and waiters, cooking a meal all together (make sure you have plenty of time for clean up!)

What does your family do to create memories that do not have a price tag?