Paleta-Themed Educational Resources

Looking for paleta/popsicle-themed learning resources? Check out this list of lessons, activities, books, and toys for kids in elementary grades.

It's summer. It's hot. And I'm always looking for fun activities to keep my kids busy when they are staying inside out of the heat. One of my 4yo's favorite themes at this time of year is paletas. So for him, I created a few paleta-themed printables. I kept looking and discovered other ideas, too, with a popsicle theme, including toys, books, crafts, and more.

This post contains affiliate links.

Paleta (Popsicle) Printables

Here are a few paleta-themed activity sheets that you may love!

Paleta Activity Pack for PreK & Kindergarten

Perfect for summer learning, this popsicle-themed activity pack is great for little learners. And for young Spanish learners, the paleta theme is win-win!

There are 12 pages total with activities that focus on the following concepts and skills:

• counting
• spot the difference
• puzzles
• vocabulary
• math
• sequencing
• tracing
• maze
• featured letter

All the activities are available in English and Spanish - you choose the version that works best for you.

Paleta Board Game

A simple board game that teaches number recognition (1 - 5) and basic counting. Comes with game pieces and a spinner base, as well as a game board. Object is to get the players (game pieces) to the finish where the paletero's cart is waiting for them!

Other Paleta-themed activities

• GetColoringPages has a whole ton of popsicle coloring pages that you can print for free.
  
  
• Make a popsicle/paleta garland with this free template from Lil Tigers.
  
  
• What do you do with those popsicle sticks when you're done eating your popsicle? Make art, of course! Here's a list of 50 Fun Popsicle Crafts You Should Make With Your Kids This Summer from DIY&Crafts.
  
  
• I really like this popsicle sticks shapes activity game from RikiTikiArt

• FeltyFun has this Popsicle Color Matching Game available on Etsy
  
  
• Older children may prefer this free Hello Summer coloring page for artists from Creatively Beth.

Paleta (Popsicle) Learning Toys

Recently, the popsicle/paleta theme has been popular with toy makers. Here are some that I find adorable and educational. 

Learning Resources Smart Snacks Number Pops $27

Ages 18months+

Build number and fine-motor skills with these irresistible ice cream pops. Pop the numbered shell over the ice cream pop with the matching number of dots. Perfect for practicing 1-to-1 correspondence with numbers 1-10. Great for color matching too. Includes 20 pieces total-10 pops and 10 matching shells.

Learning Resources Smart Snacks Alpha Pops $28

Ages 2+

Reinforce upper and lowercase letter recognition as your child matches together these frozen pops. Great for fine motor skills and imaginative play. Each pop is double sided so all letters of the alphabet are included. Pops are self-checking by color. 26 pieces.

Melissa & Doug Wooden Frozen Treats Ice Cream Play Set $16

Ages 3+

Chill out with this 24-piece mix-and-match set! Make wooden ice cream sandwiches, ice pops, and Italian ice cups. Self-sticking tabs hold together 3 different cookie flavors and vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry ice cream fillings. The set also includes 6 multicolored ice pops on sticks that kids can stick together and pull apart. Or, fill the lidded cups with 4 flavors of ice and serve with a classic wooden spoon! Display the array of chilled goodies in the storage tray and use the menu card to identify all the pieces and place orders. This play set is a great way for kids 3 and older to develop fine-motor, matching and sorting, and counting skills. Playing with food has never been so cool.

Paleta Books

Paletero Man
by Lucky Diaz

In this story, a young boy is melting on the hottest day of the year and goes in search of relief by looking for Paletero José and his cart of many flavors (and colors!). But once he finds el paletero, he discovers he has lost all his money along the way! What's a boy to do??

I wrote a review of Paletero Man that includes a free download of reading comprehension questions to go with the book.

What Can You Do With a Paleta? / ¿Qué puedes hacer con una paleta?
by Carmen Tafolla

As she strolls through her barrio, a young girl introduces readers to the frozen, fruit-flavored treat that thrills Mexican and Mexican-American children. Create a masterpiece, make tough choices (strawberry or coconut?), or cool off on a warm summer's day--there's so much to do with a paleta.

 

And for mamis, I recommend Aguas Frescas & Paletas: Refreshing Mexican Drinks and Frozen Treats, Traditional and Reimagined by Ericka Sanchez.

Other Posts You May Enjoy:

• Paletero Man by Lucky Diaz
  
  
• 15 Homemade Paletas to Try this Summer
  
  
• 15 Sandía Crafts for Summer!
  
  
• 25 Crafts & Activities for the 4th of July

15 Homemade Paletas to Try this Summer

It's the middle of summer and I don't know what it is like where you live, but here, the projected temperatures for the coming week are 99º every day! So I'm stocking up on fruit for a paleta fest to keep my family cool. 

Does your family do DIY paletas (popsicles)? Summer fruit popsicles make the perfect sweet treat for a warm weather day! They’re hydrating, refreshing, and it’s so fun to try new flavor combinations that you can’t find in stores!

Homemade fruit pops are often more flavorful than store-bought, and taste so much better fresh from the freezer! Plus, with simple ingredients, you can feel good about giving these to your family!

These 15 summer fruit popsicles are all made with summer fruits. From classic flavors like orange and raspberry, to more fun and unique flavors like watermelon boba and blueberry basil, you’ll definitely find a flavor here you can’t wait to try!

You can create your own paletas with simple materials such as popsicle sticks and paper cups, but I've added one of my favorite popsicle molds.

This post contains affiliate links.

Paleta (Popsicle) Recipes

1.   Strawberry Vanilla Paletas: Fresh strawberries, vanilla, and vanilla yogurt make for one unique and summery popsicle from my friend Vianney at SweetLifeBake.com!

2. Mango Pineapple Popsicles: A tropical flavored popsicle with a spicy chili salt twist...

3. Champurrado Paletas: Oh. My. Gosh! Ericka of Nibbles and Feasts might be the queen of paletas. I'm linking to her paleta and aguas frescas book below! Go order ASAP!

4. Paletas de Jamaica y Canela + Paletas de Melón: Hibiscus and cinnamon, or cantaloupe? Yes, por favor! I'll take both with these easy recipes from Yvette over at MuyBuenoCookbook.com.

5. Lemonade Popsicles: This popsicle is perfect when you can’t decide between lemonade or a frozen treat!

6. 3 Easy Mexican Paleta Recipes for Kids: My friend, Frances, shares these three easy recipes for Mexican paletas over on MulticulturalKidBlogs.com

7. Creamy Blackberry Popsicle Recipe: My friend, Christa, of PuraVidaMoms.com modifies Costa Rica's paleta recipe "to create an authentic Costa Rican paleta in the United States."

8. Toasted Coconut Lime Popsicles: A simple, 4-ingredient popsicle made with toasted coconut and lime juice! (Shown in image.)

9. Pineapple-Ginger Popsicles: Ginger, honey, and pineapple blended together for a paleta to enjoy all summer long from Silvia at MamaLatinaTips.

10. Orange Lemon Lime Popsicles: A super citrusy and hydrating popsicle made with 5 simple ingredients!

11. Passionfruit Yogurt Pops: A fun and exotic fruit pop made with rice cereal that makes the perfect summertime dessert or even snack! (Shown in image.)

12. Raspberry Popsicles: A 3-ingredient popsicle made with frozen raspberries, so you can make this one all year-round! (Shown in image.)

13. Coconut Water Pineapple Popsicles: Whole raspberries and chunks of pineapple can be seen right through the coconut water in this summery and hydrating popsicle!

14. Strawberry Chia Seed Popsicles: Add a few healthy chia seeds to your summer popsicle and the kids will be none-the-wiser!

15. Strawberry Yogurt Popsicles: These yogurt-based popsicles are creamy and sweet, and make a great popsicle to have on hand all summer long! (Shown in image.)

THE Paleta Book

This is the only recipe book for paletas you'll ever need. Go. Buy. It! Ericka's recipes are the best. (You're welcome!)

Aguas Frescas & Paletas
by Ericka Sanchez

Paleta Molds

If you're like me, you may have a ton of paleta molds in your pantry. Zoku is one of my favorites.

ZOKU - This is my go-to when we want paletas and we want them NOW! Seriously, you can have a popsicle in 7 minutes with this thing. It's unbelievable! Actually, I have the double one, but I don't think they make it anymore. Now they just have the single and it's hard to catch in stock, but maybe you'll get lucky!

Other Posts You May Enjoy:

• Paleta-Themed Educational Resources
  
  
• Paletero Man by Lucky Diaz
  
  
• Choose Your Snacks Wisely & Get Creative
  
  
• Airfryer Strawberry Chimichangas

K - 8th Activity Guide from Smithsonian

This is so awesome! This week I saw that there is a new Smithsonian Education activity guide for kids available for download online.

Inspiration Nation is filled with inspiring stories, hands-on experiments, and art projects for students in K through 8th grade. The 40-page activity guide is bold, creative, and colorful, and portions of it are bilingual. 

It focuses on three main questions:

1.  “How have you been inspired?,” 
2. “How have others been inspired?,” 
3. and “How can inspiration change the world?”

This resources is part of their Learning Lab collection, so when you download it, you'll have the option of taking a tour. If you've never used a Learning Lab, it's pretty fascinating. There is a tool bar that lets you do/read a variety of things including:

• information about what you are seeing, i.e. a description and other details,
• additional resources or interactives that the artist has uploaded to supplement the piece,
• the option to add the piece to your own virtual collection (!),
• the ability to bookmark it as one of your favorites,
• the option to cite the source if you are doing research (it will create the citation for you in MLA, APA, or Chicago style),
• and the ability to flag the source if you are especially impressed or concerned about it.

Overall, what a fabulous resource to keep your kids engaged and learning this summer in a really fun way!

Click here to get your free print-friendly PDF of “Inspiration Nation.”

Printables for Summer Fun Learning

Are you looking for fun activities to keep your kids busy, entertained, and learning this summer? Consider some of my bilingual printables! They're available in English and Spanish - you pick the language that best suits your needs. 

This year, I have some new activities for you, such as the Sandía Activity Pack and the 4th of July Book of Words. 

Older kids may prefer the Bilingual Travel Games for long road trips, or even the Magic Tree House pack of supplemental activities if they are just now reading the first three books in the series (in EITHER language!). 

Sandía Activity Pack

Lots of fun activities to develop math, literacy, and fine motor skills!

4th of July Book of Words

Introduce vocabulary for celebrating the holiday.

Bilingual Magic Tree House Activities for Books 1 - 3

Ways to extend the learning with this fun series of books!

Bilingual Travel Games

If you are embarking on a family road trip, help boost your kids' English or Spanish vocabulary along the way with this bilingual packet of 10 travel-related games. 

Special Discount Code from Spanish for You!

Summer is officially here in our household!

One kid has gone away to camp and another is taking college essay writing classes. What does your summer look like? Does it include language learning for your young ones?

If so, Spanish for You! wants to help. They are offering MommyMaestra readers a $5 coupon code that can be used in any of these ways:

• To be able to get any of these downloadable lessons for free: https://spanish-for-you.com/spanish-supplemental-resources/
• To get any of these songs with lyrics free: https://spanish-for-you.com/spanish-songs/
• Or just to use to get $5 off any total purchase on any products on their site. 

You can't beat that! 

So don't wait. Take advantage of their kindness and go download some lessons! Just remember to use the discount code MommyMaestra5 at checkout! This coupon will be good through June 30th.

Happy learning!

13 Free English & Multilingual Online Books for Children

It pains me deeply to read that parents are choosing to keep their children home out of fear resulting from the president's threat of mass raids. But I totally get it because I would, too. This means no summer camps or trips to the library. No bookstores for story time.

Or maybe you are a family on a budget and summer camps aren't on your list for this year so you are looking for free resources online to keep your kids busy learning...in an entertaining fashion, of course.

Or maybe you are just looking for ways to supplement your child's activities over the course of the summer.

If any of these sound like you, there are still ways to help maintain and even continue to develop your child's literacy skills at home during the summer.

I started looking for free online children's literature that you can access from home and was pretty excited about all of the ones that are available. Here's what I found:

1. International Children’s Digital Library - Available in 5 languages! Read my review here.
2. Read Conmigo - English and Spanish No longer available.
3. Unite for Literacy - 2 written languages (English and Spanish), PLUS 43 languages for narrated stories!! WOW!
4. Magic Keys - English only. Pretty simple
5. Free Children Stories - English only
6. The Library of Congress - English only
7. Magic Blox - Books in 6 languages!
8. Oxford Owl - English only. Free ebooks for kids 3 - 11yo
9. Storyline Online  - Famous actors read aloud children's books. English only. Includes teacher's guides
10. Open Library  - Mostly Classics
11. Project Gutenberg - Also mostly Classics. Available in 4 languages, but not Spanish.:(
12. Children's Books Forever - 12 different languages!!!
13. Aaron Shepard's World of Stories - Folktales, fairytales, legends and more

Also, don't forget that I have printable FREE Summer Camp @ Home Calendars for children ages 6 to 10ish! You'll find book recommendations and more.

Learning Toys for Toddlers

The World Health Organization recommends that children between the ages of 2 and 4 spend no more than one hour staring at a screen each day (newborns up to age 2 should have NONE). But that's super hard for parents in today's technology-driven society. Screens are everywhere! And it is especially difficult for those of us with older children or nieces and nephews who whip out their phones when they come to visit.

This post contains affiliate links. 

There are two ways that I personally battle this. The first is to spend a LOT of time reading. We have books everywhere in the house. And my 21-month-old constantly brings me books to read. I try really hard to stop what I'm doing and read to him when I can. Or I make one of my older kids read to him.

The second way is by providing my kid with plenty of non-electronic toys. I try to focus on toys that inspire imaginative play or that develop important fine-motor skills. With two older kids, we still have tons of leftover action figures, animals, blocks, and vehicles.

But I also am building up my collection of wooden puzzles and learning toys. Two of my favorites are the bilingual wood puzzles shown at the top of this post from Begin Again. The chameleon puzzle is still a little hard for him to put together, but he loves playing with the pieces and watching me put it together. I use it to teach him colors and take my time showing him how the pieces connect together. I also love that it has the words and numbers printed in English and Spanish on the individual pieces, which helps me raise him in a print-rich environment.

The other is a gear stacker. It's super fun and an important toy for developing his fine-motor skills through stacking (a very important activity for toddlers). It also has the colors printed in English and Spanish on the gears.

He plays with both of these on a daily basis and I'm always having to hunt down pieces that he's carried off. I love that he loves them.

Recently, I bought a lacing apple for quiet play in church. I used it for the first time last Sunday and it was a success! Sorry, I left it at church, so I can't take a picture. But it is the same one in the middle of the image below.

You can find these and many others on my Learning Toys for Toddlers Idea Page on Amazon. Here's just a peek at some of the toys I recommend because I already have them or I want to buy them. Check out the little robots! Those are next on my list to purchase.

Project-Based Learning Ideas for Summer

I have a love/hate relationship with summer because I love that my kids don't always have something scheduled to keep them busy, but I also hate that they sometimes are just lazy and complain about being bored. 😝

I've already talked about BOCA, my guide for summer learning. And on Wednesday, I shared my first book recommendation.

Well, today's recommendations fall under the "Activities" section.

Project-based learning (PBL) is one of the best ways to engage kids and sneak in some learning. Personally, I think there has to be a lot of thinking going on, physical activity in some form or fashion, and a satisfying end result.

In practice, PBL nurtures specific skills, including planning, critical thinking, reasoning, and creativity, visualizing and decision making, and knowing how and when to use technology, and choosing the most appropriate tool for the task.

Generally, in classrooms, PBL is a joint effort because students work in teams to complete the project. But parents can use PBL at home, too, with multiple children or just one.

Where do I start? 

Fortunately, there are quite a few companies out there creating project kits that you can purchase and give to your kids. National Geographic, Thames & Kosmos, and Discovery are just a few examples.

To get you started, I've put together a PBL Idea List and added it to my Amazon shop. Currently, there are 30 45+ different kits on the list, and I'll be adding more as I find them. Here is a peek at some of my favorites...

Mayan Calendar, Wall Calendar

Ages 14+

Discovery Kids DIY Toy Model Engine Kit

Ages 8+

Snap Circuits Arcade Electronics Exploration Kit

20+ Build and Play Games!!

Ages 7+

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC Mega Crystal Growing Lab

Ages 8+

Playz Edible Candy! Food Science STEM Chemistry Kit

Ages 8+

You can find these and so many more by clicking here.

Prepping for Summer with MommyMaestra

Summer is coming! Summer is coming!

So that means that it's time to get serious and start some planning on my part in order to keep my kids entertained, busy, and learning. I always use the following guide for planning summers:

• BOOKS
• Outdoors
• Camps
• Activities

Sticking to this guide really helps me out when everyone is at a loss or complaining about "being bored."

Books

Read, read, read! I make my kids read. This means regular trips to the library and bookstores. I try to stock up ahead of time, but it's mainly activity books because really, this is their time to just relax and read what they want. If I stock up ahead of time, it's mostly because sometimes my oldest son needs some encouragement when it comes to branching out and trying new authors or series. 

(If you have a reluctant reader, you should consider using films to encourage them! This was how I was finally able to coax my oldest son into becoming a reader. Read how I did it with him and see a list of 25 movies and their books here.)

And so, of course, this means that starting this week, I'll be sharing a LOT of titles here over the next few weeks and throughout the summer. 

Outdoors

I'm not raising a bunch of couch potatoes. We try to spend a lot of time outside. But most of their lives have been spent in North Carolina, where the weather was mild and when it wasn't we were at our local pool.

Over the years we've come up with a LOT of great ideas. Check out these posts on outdoor activities to keep your kids busy outside! 

Camps

Camps are a must for those with social butterflies. But I love them because so many places (museums, libraries, churches, community centers, stores, etc.) really go all out to create camps that are fun, safe, and educational. So far, my kids will be doing basketball, lego, and taekwondo camps over the summer. But I'm sure there will be more opportunities that pop up.

Summer is also the perfect time to reinforce (or begin learning) a second language (Spanish!). There are so many wonderful bilingual/Spanish camps happening.

I'll share some of the camps that I know are happening across the country, maybe even in your own neighborhood!

But remember, not all camps have to cost an arm and a leg. In fact, there have been several years when we just couldn't afford to send our kids to summer camps. So I created my own! Download my free Summer Camp @ Home Calendars for children ages 6 to 10ish.

Activities

This means crafts, activity books, chores, art, projects, Legos, etc. If they can play it, build it, sing it, draw it, create it, then it is awesome in my opinion.

You can find tons of ideas in my Summer of Fun category. Over the years, it has built up quite a lot of ideas for keeping kids busy during those hot summer months, often using stuff you've already got at home.

I hope by the end of this month, you'll be feeling positive about the summer and prepared with activities and products that will make the time fly...because they're having fun!

I hope you'll share all of your fantastic ideas with me, too!

Other Posts You May Enjoy

• Project-Based Learning Ideas for Summer
  
  
• Free Download: Spanish Summer Bingo
  
  
• Keep the Summer Learning Going with PBS KIDS
  
  
• 7 Fun Products to Get Kids Outside
  
  
• The Mega List of Spanish Comics for Kids

Free Thank Your Writing Pages for Teacher Appreciation Week

Happy Teacher Appreciation Week!

Lots of goodness coming your way this week, starting with these free thank-you-themed writing pages to share with your children. Teachers love hand-written notes from their students, so why not have your kids write a little thank you to their teachers for all the hard work they do?

There are eight different designs, each in two different styles (for beginner or advanced spellers). And, yes, they are all in English and Spanish. You can download them here in my TpT store. Or if you are signed up for the MommyMaestra newsletter, look for them in your inbox soon!

IN ADDITION: Don't forget that tomorrow, TpT's sitewide Teacher Appreciation Sale begins! Get up to 25% off my entire store. What a great time to stock up on those items you have on your wishlists! Or get ready for summer with educational - but super fun! - downloads, like these...

Enjoy!

Free Download: Getting to Know You Spanish Minilesson

We're more than halfway through the summer! Are your kids bored yet? If so, now is the perfect time to learn a new language or brush up on your Spanish. And to help you out, it's a good thing that we have this month's freebie from MM sponsor, Spanish for You!

Today's download is a 4-page mini-lesson to help Spanish learners learn phrases associated with getting to know others. The file comes with an introductory page with instructions on how to use the pages in the book as a minilesson. There are also two sheets of question cards - one in English and the other in Spanish. And finally, there's a worksheet to practice what you've learned. As always, there is also an audio file to help you learn the proper pronunciation.

Click here to download this file

Remember! Spanish for You!'s program is geared for middle schoolers and is the perfect choice for homeschoolers and afterschoolers alike because their concepts are carefully divided up into manageable bundles that are available for immediate download from their website.

If this is your first time here, you can find other free samples from Spanish for You! here. There are some fantastic downloads of games and activities for you and your family to enjoy. If you enjoy this activity, be sure to visit the Spanish for You! website where you'll find tons of additional resources for you to help your young Spanish learner!

Summer Camp @ Home Calendars

Have you been using the MommyMaestra Summer Camp at Home packet this year? If so, I just wanted to let you know that the calendars have all been updated with some new materials.

The packet is a way for parents of 6 to 10 year olds to keep their kids busy entertained and learning at home. Can't afford to send your child to a summer camp program? Don't have time to take your kids to a program every day? No worries! You can just have them do summer camp at home. :)

The program is very flexible and gives you several options. Do you want your kids imagination to control their activities? We've got a simple calendar that just offers the media. For example, one day might be clay and the next day might be paper. Your kids have to decide what to make using that media.

Another calendar has a theme for each day. So Mondays are Art days, Tuesdays are dedicated to Outdoor Play, and so on.



The final calendars are much more involved with a specific activity for your child to complete. There are three (June, July, and August). At the beginning of the month, the parent looks through the calendar and writes down any supplies they might need for the activities (I've included shopping lists) or books to read. Then each day, the child completes the assigned activity. Don't worry, they are all fun! From making a mini llama piñata ornament or coloring an alebrije to reading summer poetry or downloading a math app, every day is something different!

So enjoy the summer with my free Summer Camp @ Home calendars.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD YOUR SUMMER CAMP MATERIALS

Free Download: Spanish Summer Bingo

Is your family melting during these hot summer days? Are the kids going stir crazy in the house when they can't get to the pool? Are you looking for games and activities to keep them entertained (and maybe learning just a wee bit)?

If you're one of the families learning a new language (Spanish!) this summer, here's another wonderful printable game from MommyMaestra sponsor, Spanish for You! Your young Spanish learners will discover new vocabulary related to summer with this fun activity.

This 2-page activity comes with an audio file to help young students learn proper pronunciation. The activity includes directions and a bingo board template.

Click here to download this file

Are you looking for some Spanish or bilingual books related to summer? Here are my suggestions...




Spanish for You!'s program is geared for middle schoolers and is the perfect choice for homeschoolers and afterschoolers alike because their concepts are carefully divided up into manageable bundles that are available for immediate download from their website.

If this is your first time here, you can find other free samples from Spanish for You! here. There are some fantastic downloads of games and activities for you and your family to enjoy. If you enjoy this activity, be sure to visit the Spanish for You! website where you'll find tons of additional resources for you to help your young Spanish learner!

230 Juegos para toda la familia

During one of my trips to my favorite bookshop, I stumbled upon another treasure for bilingual families.

Published by Combel Editorial (out of Spain), 230 Juegos para toda la familia is a collection of hundreds of games for children to play alone or together with their friends and families...in Spanish, of course! This is NOT a translation, but the real deal. I get requests all the time from parents and teachers looking for authentic books that were originally written in Spanish. This is one of those. It is probably best suited for children ages 4 to 10 years old.

It is perfect for nurturing your child's Spanish skills during the summer or year round! Inside this book you'll find more than 85 pages of:

• patio games
• strategy games
• travel games
• water games
• outdoor games
• magic games
• seasonal games
• party games
• games of chance
• card games
• group games
• crafts
• track games
• solitaires
• tongue twisters and riddles
• songs
• cut-out games, and more!

The illustrations and layout make this book lots of fun for children to read, too. Take a look...

The final section includes templates, such as markers and game boards, for some of the games that your kids can cut out (or print and cut out, if you want to be able to use them over and over again).   

I bought all of the copies that the bookshop had so I can offer them to you. But I only have three copies. They are all in excellent condition, practically new, though the cover of one has some shelf wear. So if you are interested, you can purchase one from my shop. 

Back-to-School with PreK12 Plaza

This is part of a sponsored collaboration ̊with the PreK12 Plaza. However, all opinions expressed are my own. #PreK12Plaza

Now is about the time of year when I start getting emails from parents that are concerned about the start of school. Most want to know how to start homeschooling, but many are a little stressed. "Help! We haven't done anything all summer! How do I get my child ready for school?" is a common message in my inbox.

The second is what I want to focus on today because the reality is that kids who do absolutely no educational work during the summer lose up to 25% of what they learned during the school year. It's frustrating for teachers because they have to waste up to 6 weeks of the new school year reviewing material that their students already learned...and then forgot!

But at the same time, I think it is totally unfair (not to mention unrealistic) to expect children to spend their summer vacation sitting around doing school work. What a kill joy. Yuck.

Fortunately for us, summer learning doesn't have to be that way. (It doesn't have to be that way during the rest of the year, either, but that's another conversation for another day!) I'll be honest: I don't want to spend my summer cracking the whip and forcing my kids to fill out worksheets or workbooks. So instead, I turn to materials and resources that are fun, but still help to boost or maintain my kids' skills and knowledge. So I use educational board games, apps, outdoor activities, crafts, and more to keep my kids busy learning. 

One new tool we just found out about is the PreK12 Plaza Summer Victory Challenge! The online program uses engaging tech to get kids busy doing hands-on activities that challenge their ingenuity and their creative spirit. Once you open a (FREE!) account, you can then enter the dashboard and choose to "create" an eBook, video, game, printable, exercise, and more.

We've only been using it for a few days, but my daughter - who is getting into the swing of the Olympics - elected to create an eBook on the subject. She's been doing her research using an awesome Summer Games Unit I created, and has been putting together her project.

I love that she can use the software on the PreK12 site to "publish" her first eBook. She loves seeing her words come to life and I love all the research and preparation she puts into it. It's a fantastic way to boost her literacy skills. And she's also putting her artistic side to work as she creates images for the cover and the pages using clipart and creative commons photographs.

And I know that MommyMaestra readers will love the fact that the entire site is completely bilingual making it possible for both English- and Spanish-speaking children to participate.

The eBook is easy to create, but there are How-To Manuals in video and pdf formats in case you need them. You can also look at other eBooks to see how other students and educators have created theirs.

To make your own, you simply click on the yellow "Create" button at the top of the page, select "eBook," and then you'll be directed to a page where all of your books are stored. Click "Add Book" and then fill out the basic information such as subject, grade level, and more. You'll want to have an image for the cover already stored somewhere on your computer because it will ask you for it before you can move on to creating your pages. After you've created cover page, you'll then be able to create individul pages. Here's what my daughter's pages look like (pre-editing and spell check!):

The cool thing is that you can even add sound to your eBook, so if you child wants her readers to have the read-aloud option, she can simply upload an audio file for each page. We couldn't quite figure out how to reorder the pages or make copies of pages, so my daughter had to copy some of the text and make new pages that way.

Once you've completed your eBook, you can submit it for review and approval to be added to PreK12 Plaza's online library to help other kids learn about various subjects.

Overall, she has been having fun doing it and it's great to know that someone else also believes in my kids and is creating programs that help them grow and develop into future college students.

This program is also a great tool for homeschoolers. We started back to school already, and I'm excited to know that we can use this year round to create various learning projects in whatever subject we want.

So to get your kids using tech in a fun and educational way, why not head over to PreK12 Plaza to sign up for their Summer Victory Challenge and help your student get ready for going back to school?

Please join us on Wednesday night for a Bilingual Back-to-School Twitter party!! Just follow the hashtags #prek12plaza #bts and/or our hosts @estilofamiliar & @prek12plaza.