The Learning Masquerade

National days are always more exciting when food is involved, especially candy! The National M&Ms Day fun started at school and ended with dessert (and learning, of course) at home. are a great tool for just about any type of math activity - addition, subtraction, patterns and estimation. My little used them for sorting (buy the minis and peanuts variety and you can sort by size too). My 2nd grader used them as ones and pretzel sticks as tens to build and add two digit numbers. What a sweet day!

Year 14! 👩🏻‍🏫

Summer of ABCs - “Z Day”
Our trip to the zoo was so fun and exhausting that zucchini noodles didn’t happen. Dad did treat us to bliZZards though! *Other ideas: zip lining, Zumba, zig-zag races, zoom (...to the moon/space,...in a race car, etc.), make zucchini bread, 😴!

Summer of ABCs - “Y Day”
Our yes day started with watching the book online. Next, shopping for new Pokémon cards, frozen yogurt, video games and McDonalds for dinner! *Other ideas: yoga, learn yo-yo tricks on YouTube, yarn crafts, yard work, Yahtzee tournament, make yogurt parfaits.

Summer of ABCs - “X Day”
This day takes a little bit of prep work if you choose to do a scavenger hunt and/or treasure map like I did, but aside from the $3 treasure box I bought at the local craft store (filled with treasures we had around the house) it was a cheap day full of fun! We also enjoyed CheX miX while working on our handwriting! *Other ideas: make an x-ray out of q-tips or xylophone out of craft sticks, make a boX fort or trail miX. Also feel free to X-peremint with words that start with ex. Part of the X-citement (see what I did there?) of these days is seeing what you can come up with!

Summer of ABCs - “W Day”
Water balloons, water balloon baseball, sprinklers and watermelon! *Other ideas: watercolor painting, walk around the neighborhood/through the woods, wind catcher/chime craft, white water rafting, make waffles.

Summer of ABCs - “V Day”
We swapped veggie soup for vanilla pudding but of course video games was the highlight! *Other ideas: volleyball, virtual reality, volcano experiment, volunteer, make veggie chips or vanilla ice cream, go on a voyage, or vacation (we did our vacations throughout the summer but saved ABC days for when we didn’t have things planned to spread out the fun).

Summer of ABCs - “U Day” Under the sea day meant a trip to a local aquarium where we touched creatures and fed the sharks! Goldfish crackers and blue jello with Swedish fish made our under the sea day complete! *Other ideas: U-pick fruits or veggies, visit an underground cave, go up in the air (at a lookout tower or on a ride. You could even fly a kite.), make a pineapple upside down cake), unwind (another opportunity to just relax for the day).

Summer of ABCs - “T Day”
Our trolley tour turned into a mall train ride (since I remembered there was a store with barrels@of taffy there) but the kids really didn’t know the difference and still had fun! Usually, just doing something out of the norm is an exciting experience! *Other ideas: tea party, tubing, trail hike/ride, tennis, trampoline park, tree climbing, trick or treat in your house (who says it’s only for Halloween?), make trail mix or tacos!

Summer of ABCs - “S Day”
Today is a prime example of taking advantage of what is in your neighborhood. The snow cone truck is literally parked in front of the splash park....winning! *Other ideas: swimming, skating, sandcastles, scavenger hunt, sports, swinging, sliding, make sundaes, shakes, sushi or s’mores.

Summer of ABCs - “R Day”
This day was intentionally planned for when I needed a break, but turns out we needed it the first day of summer, as Gav was under the weather. While not very exciting, it served its purpose! *Other ideas: roller skating, rock climbing, races, random acts of kindness, build robots or rockets, make rice crispy treats or rainbow fruit kabobs.

Summer of ABCs - “Q Day”
Dessert quesadillas weren’t as popular as I thought, although I thought they were delicious! We made a quill for use on his handwriting practice and the quizzes for kindergarten! As a reward for all the hard work we also visited a quarter machine! *Other ideas: make a paper quilt, visit a quarter arcade, go on a quest, have a queen for the day, quiet day.