Category: Just for Fun

Audio, Holidays, Just for Fun

Christmas Every Day

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Christmas Every Day by William Dean Howells (MP3 audio)

This is definitely one of the funniest, laugh out loud, classic short stories you’ll ever hear. We guarantee the kids will love it. While this story, which originally appeared in St. Nicholas Magazine in the 1890s, is about Christmas, it is not exactly a Christmas story… it is more about unintended consequences and what might happen if wishes really did come true, and how some things – like Christmas – can be a bit overdone (you think?). A sheer delight for the whole family – HIGHLY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! Length: 14 minutes, MP3 Audio

To download this MP3 audio, RIGHT CLICK HERE and “save” to your computer!

Homeschool Helps, Just for Fun

Wonderopolis

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Wonderopolis continues to offers a series of delightful and intriguing  “Wonder of the Day” questions every day. They are great for homeschoolers. Each day, a new question is posed, then answered in a mini-lesson (often with a video, activity or experiment). They are great curiosity generators. Recent questions posed include “Are french fries really French?”, “Why are trampolines bouncy?” “Why do my feet stink?” and “Can an apple a day keep the doctor away?”

You can see the current “wonder”, then scroll back through past questions as well as subscribe to the site for daily updates. This is fascinating stuff, sure to spark the interest of young students.

Click here to go to the site!

Arts & Crafts, Just for Fun

10 Week LEGO Class

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Mary (and her son) at HomeGrownLearners.com put together this fun 10 week class all about LEGOs! The full 10 session lesson plan is a PDF freebie on her site. Here’s what she says about it:

“This is for the oodles of moms out there dealing with LEGO crazed kids. I am one of those moms, and when my little boy asked me to teach a LEGO class at our homeschool co-op, how could I refuse? My son and I spent a lot of time brainstorming and planning this class TOGETHER, and I wanted to share my plans with you.”

This is a fun class any young LEGO fans would love to be a part of, whether with a group of fellow homeschoolers or just at home. (Tip: the download link to the PDF is near the bottom of the page.)

CLICK HERE to go to the download page

Audio, Autumn, Just for Fun

Favorite Kiddy Songs for Fall (and Punky Pumpkin too!)

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Well, today we’re off for a return visit to the countryside where a delightful stack of fun, classic children’s records from yesteryear awaits us.

First up, join in on a jolly version of the classic children’s song, “Oats, Peas, Beans” by Roger White, as we quickly follow Mr. Farmer through his very busy day.

Next, we stop by the house of “The Little Crooked Man” (of the Mother Goose rhyme) with his crooked cat and crooked mouse, and then visit “The Old Woman Who Lived In a Shoe” in a fine record by Roy Hallee.

Next, we travel with Uncle Don Down On The Farm where we meet all the animals in a fun musical adventure from long ago Sonora Records.

And last but not least, we join Uncle Lumpy as he tells about one of our favorite characters, Little Orley in a couple of fun musical adventures… as he is first unexpectedly serenaded by a little mouse and his friends in the Barnyard… and then puts on his own great barnyard concert you’ve just got to hear to believe.

All of the above = loads of fun for kids of all ages. Enjoy your visit down on the farm!

Here are your download links. You can click these to stream online, or RIGHT CLICK these and “save” to your computer:

Oats Peas Beans & Barley
(.6 megs, 3 minutes)

There Was a Crooked Man /There Was An Old Woman
(1.3 megs, 6 minutes)

Uncle Don Down on the Farm
(2.3 megs, 12 minutes)

The Barn Dance
(3 megs, 3 minutes)

Orley’s Big Concert
(7.4 megs, 8 minutes)

And finally…

THE PUNKY PUMPKIN SONG! (MP3 audio)

Here’s one more little treat from us to you… one of our favorite fall songs… and certainly the catchiest song about a pumpkin ever! This song does mention Halloween in passing, so if that bothers you, don’t download it. But if you just want a fun, old fashioned pumpkin song, check it out and your kids will soon be singing along!

To download this MP3 song, RIGHT CLICK HERE and “save” to your computer. To just play it online, click the link.

Let us know if you enjoy your musical visit to the countryside!

Just for Fun

Dinosaur Mazes & more

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KrazyDad.com offers dozens and dozens of collections of easy (and not-so-easy) mazes that you can print out for your kids.

These come in handy downloadable PDF ebooks containing 12 mazes per ebook and include collections of geometric shaped mazes, animal shaped mazes, and yes, even Dinosaur shaped mazes. Dinosaur shaped mazes! It doesn’t get any better than that! These are great “thinking puzzles” that keep young hands busy for extended periods of time.

CLICK HERE to go to the website

Homeschool Helps, Just for Fun

Educating with Cootie Catchers!

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Children’s book author Lou Treleaven has a unique crafts site that offers dozens of downloadable, printable “cootie catcher” paper toys of all sorts. It really stretches the boundaries of this traditional children’s paper toy.

There are fairy tale cootie catchers, treasure hunt cootie catchers and lots more. But what we especially like are the examples of educational cootie catchers that review different subjects, such as Spanish, geometry, art terms, forms of water, vocabulary terms and more. What a novel way to review basic facts or lessons!

If you’ve never shown your kids how to make and play with a cootie catcher, you definitely need to print out and make a few of these. There is also a template that you can use to create your own cootie catcher just for fun, or even to use for reviewing your own lessons, should you be so inclined. 🙂

CLICK HERE to go to the website!

Just for Fun

Christmas with Mother Goose #2

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Christmas with Mother Goose (PDF e-comic book)

This year we found yet another delightful vintage collection of Christmas comic book stories for young at heart readers of all ages, by the incomparable Walt Kelly! These feature Mother Goose characters and of course good ol’ Santa in some truly classic children’s comics and poems – very funny and well written, with some of the best artwork ever done for young children’s comics. This is “just for fun” stuff your kids will adore. And if you want some educational value from it, check out the “months of the year” story for little ones learning just that. Don’t miss it!

RIGHT CLICK HERE and “save” to your computer. Mac users, press the “control” key and click the link, and save to your mac!

Holidays, Just for Fun

Christmas with Mother Goose #1

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Here’s a delightful vintage collection of Christmas comic book stories for young at heart readers of all ages, by the incomparable Walt Kelly! It features the classic Mother Goose characters in some truly classic children’s comics and poems – very funny and well written, with some of the best artwork ever done for young children’s comics. Don’t miss it!

To download this PDF comic book, RIGHT CLICK HERE and “save as” to your computer.
(It’s a big file… 22 megs, so allow a little time for it to download.)

Holidays, Just for Fun

Walt Scott’s Christmas Stories

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WALT SCOTT’S CHRISTMAS STORIES (PDF comic books)

Here are two great issues of these classic Christmas comic books by cartoonist Walt Scott. These are filled with great stories of woodland creatures & elves celebrating Christmas, and also have several true accounts of how some classic Christmas carols were written. Very different, very well illustrated, and great light holiday reading material for little ones! Enjoy!

To download Issue #1, RIGHT CLICK HERE and “save” to your computer.

To download Issue #2, RIGHT CLICK HERE and “save” to your computer.