Your children are busy throughout the day learning many new things.  However, when you ask them what they did in school they usually reply, “Nothing.” Rephrasing the way you ask your questions may lead to more descriptive responses. Here are some suggestions for you to ask your children about their day: 

1. Tell me something exciting that happened today.
2. Who are three people that you talked to today?
3. What did you play at recess?
4. If I walked into your classroom, what would I see?
5. What was something new that you learned today in ______ (math/reading/etc)?
6. What made you laugh today?
7. Who was nicest to you today?
8. Tell me one thing your teacher said.
9. Tell me a story about today.
10. If you could play more at recess, what would you do?
11. Tell me about one paper that you worked on today.
12. What did you do in your unified arts class today?
13. What classroom job did you do today?
14. If you could have done something differently today, what would that be?
15. What are you looking forward to tomorrow?

Hopefully this will spark some great conversations!

Margo Faherty

Speech/Language Pathologist 

Educational Holiday Gift Ideas for 2019                      

Once again the holidays are upon us.  Here are some on-line sites that offer loads of toys that are not only fun, but educational as well. 

Mindware.com was the first site I found. It has gifts that range from under $25 to over $100. You can shop by age (ranging from infant to adult) and/or category (ex. Science & Nature, Pretend Play, Active Play and much more). There is a section that focuses on Special Needs, which is divided up into Tactile, Speech/Language, Fine/Gross Motor, Social Skills, and Cognitive Development. There is even a section dedicated to classroom resources as well. Right now they have a promo code that includes 15% off $50 or more and $2.99 shipping, but it’s for a limited time.

The next site was Fatbraintoys.com. On this site you can shop by age (ranging from infant to adult) and/or by interest (ex. Imaginative Play, History, Geography, Music, STEM toys and more). They have a very large selection of American made toys.  Some of their best selling toys include: Personalized Name Puzzles, World Record Paper Airplane Book, See and Spell (a puzzle solving spelling kit), and Edible Chemistry Kit (your child can make 16 tasty experiments), just to name a few. 

Raisesmartkid.com provides “A parent's guide on how to raise a smart, bright and intelligent child from baby, toddler, preschooler and school kid to teen” as well as a list of the best educational toys and gift ideas for children 2019. Age ranges from infants to school aged kids 5 years - 12 years. 

Borncute.com has their list for the best 10 educational gifts for kids and toddlers. They provide an in depth review of each of the top 10 toys, some of which include: Anki Cosmo, Toy Robot, Mind Blowing Science Kit, Mathlinks Cubes, and Smart Globe Discovery just to name a few.

Lastly, I found “The Best Educational Toys for Kids” on Insider Picks from Businessinsider.com. The article describes the benefits of educational toys. It describes the best educational toy overall, the best educational toys for learning about electricity, science, and robots, and the best app-based educational toy. It lists the pros and cons for each of the toys as well. The article also discusses the importance of play, educational toys and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) toys.

I hope you have found this helpful. Happy ordering and happy playing. I wish you all a wonderful holiday season!

Margo Faherty - Speech/Language Pathologist