Guest Blog by Eric Rea

Read mini-books. Mini-books are a terrific way to keep kids reading and discovering. You can improve reading skills, learn new things, solidify good social and moral lessons, and even create your own stories.

Geared for specific grade levels, mini-books can enhance and advance your child’s reading and writing skills. They spark creativity without being viewed as “educational”. You can even create games surrounding the stories you read. Best of all it’s an activity you can do together.

Go on nature walks. Grab a book on plants, birds, or history and hit the trails. Make a game of trying to find, identify, and locate all kinds of things. Other than the cost of some gas, and maybe some snacks or a picnic lunch, this trip is completely free.

You can check out books from the library and do some reading for a day or two before you go. Get the kids familiar with what they are to look for. The possibilities are endless – geography, geology, historic site markers, animals, stars, fish, shells, metal detecting, insects, or whatever you and your children can come up with. You might even schedule these outings once a week and look for new things each time you go out.

Educational TV sessions. Schedule educational television sessions for the Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, History Channel, Travel Channel, or Planet Green and the like. TV is often a boon of pleasure for kids in the summer. With more time to watch, make sure that they’re going to pick shows that will get the wheels turning.

Scout out shows that one or all of you are interested in, or let each child pick a show with a subject they want to learn about. Throw your interests into the mix, so they can learn about you, too. They can write about what they’ve learned, have a discussion, or take unanswered questions to the internet to find out more.

Go to historic museums and centers. Sure, you have the big and famous museums that are super fun, but you don’t have to restrict your fun learning to these super museums. Tons of small cities have historic museums or locations that give children a glimpse of all kinds of history.

These lesser-known places have tasty tidbits of interesting and unusual historic artifacts, stories, and atmospheres. Plus, they’re usually not nearly as expensive as the big ones, and can take you and the kids to areas you may never otherwise visit.

Don’t forget Zoodles. Keep your child’s academic skills sharp this summer by encouraging them to play fun reading games and math games on the computer. You can teach and reinforce a variety of subjects by visiting our Games Directory and populating the games your child has access to with the type of educational subject matter he or she most needs.

Learning and fun don’t have to be opposites!

Author Byline

Eric Rea

Eric Rea is a college student who loves the outdoors, blogging, and social media. He is a devoted uncle and his own blog can be found at www.ericrea.com.

Guest blog by Renee Brown, owner of Restoration Organization

There’s so much to love about summertime, but with all of that comes a new dizzy level of crazed activity for families of young kids. Day camps, swimming lessons and lack of school year structure can throw the best of us into a tailspin. Is there hope? Absolutely! With a bit of attention to creating new organized processes and systems, you can turn this summer into your best one yet.

1. Write it Down: First and foremost, you must have one and only one calendar for everything. Think about what makes the most sense for you and your family. A huge monthly one posted in the kitchen? An electronic version on the computer? Perhaps the calendar on your phone? Whatever you pick, make it the one place you visit at least a couple times a day to enter new information and events, update details and of course, to see what’s on deck for the day. What will make this the most successful is if you train yourself to input everything: soccer, games, camps, weddings and family get-togethers. Train your family to check the calendar frequently to keep track of their own events.
2. Mom’s Taxi: Since summer generally means an abundance of driving to and fro, think of your vehicle as a second home. What would be helpful and useful? Mandatory items include a hanging garbage bag (mine hangs behind the front passenger seat and gets emptied each time I gas up, so there’s never an overflow issue), a container of wipes (lifesavers!), a first aid kit, blankets for an impromptu picnic or for rain-drenched bleachers, box of tissues (summer allergies, anyone?), a small notepad and a few pens, activity items for younger kids, hand lotion, lip balm, bug spray and sunscreen. Look around your home for small boxes or containers (how about those gift-with-purchases bags that seem to multiply?) to corral the items in your car.
3. House Rules: These will vary according to your children’s ages and stages, but ideas include no wet swimsuits on the floor, no running in the house, no TV or Zoodles until after breakfast, beds made immediately, etc. Summer is also a great time to teach kids new skills, such as how to do laundry and clean a bathroom. Remember, even though you know you can do these jobs faster and more efficiently yourself, your kids need to learn these all-important life skills and the sooner, the better. I taught my sons to do their laundry when they were in 4th grade and after a short learning curve, they never looked back! Now as teens they have learned to think ahead and wash their baseball uniform before the game. Success!
4. Taking time to just enjoy: We all love to savor these three sunny months each year, so please don’t over schedule, jam-packing each day so everyone gets exhausted and crabby. Build in some fun, simple activities, such as lying on blankets in the backyard at night to view the stars, catching lightning bugs, or getting up early and watching the sunrise with a picnic breakfast. Remember, sometimes the most valuable moments are the simplest!
5. De-Clutter: Summer is also a terrific time to go through kids’ clothes, books and toys. Set a goal and create a plan so that you have done this for all of your kids before school starts up, otherwise there will be no room for new fall clothes and the onslaught of new school papers and projects. Get your kids involved in this process and gently help them let go of things that are no longer relevant. To make it an even more valuable experience, bring the kids along when you donate the items to a shelter or non-profit. Make sure to go one step further and explain how their former belongings will be a blessing to someone else.
6. Corral the Art: Another good summertime sorting-through project is going through your kids’ artwork. Make time to sift through a pile and let your child tell you about each one. Take pictures of them holding their favorites. Consider creating an art gallery of their best work. You can buy cheap frames at garage sales, and create a fancy show piece. Think about where the art could be displayed, perhaps the wall going downstairs? A big wall in the family room? Don’t forget about big wall spaces such as your garage. Another great way to use artwork is to gift it to family and friends or, use it as gift wrap or to make a card. Win-win for everyone!

So you see, with a little planning and a little project management, before you know it, things will feel a lot less crazed. After all, summer is meant to be savored not just survived. You never know when you are making a new memory!

Author Byline

Renee L Brown, Owner Restoration Organization

Renee Brown was born organized and after helping friends and family through the years, she finally began a freshly minted career as a professional organizer with her company Restoration Organization. Her specialties include whole-house de-cluttering, management and organization. She loves working with busy families and professionals, helping them create more space and peacefulness. A former editor for TV Guide Magazine, Renee has juggled many communications gigs through the years, all while single-handedly raising her two teenage boys. Her website is www.restorationorg.weebly.com and you can find her blog at http://mom-interrupted.blogspot.com

Guest blog by Stephanie Suesan Smith, Ph.D.

You can use your garden to grow minds as well as food.  The very things that are necessary to make a garden grow food, flowers, and hay can also be used to educate children in science and math, reading, following directions, nutrition, and cooking.  Even something as mundane as pulling weeds can involve lessons in taxonomy and composting.

Taxonomy lessons

For example, your child can sort the weeds into piles of similar plants.  A simple guide to weeds is not very expensive and usually has big pictures for easy identification.  Using the shapes of the leaves, color of the flowers, and type of stems, the child can work to identify the type of weed.  This can lead into a discussion about the life cycle of a plant and why some are useful in the garden and others are not.  The same plants that are pests in the garden might be grown in a pasture.

Composting

After the weeds are identified, you and your child can work on a simple compost pile.  If you have hoofed animals, you have a source of manure.  If not, kitchen scraps that are not from meat or fat can be used.  Layers of weeds and manure or scraps can be made, or laid on an existing compost pile.  The child can have a small one that he or she can turn and monitor until it becomes rich compost.  This compost can then be returned to the garden so the cycle can start again.

Soil test

Check with your local Extension Office for the best soil test kits (they are inexpensive and sometimes even free!).  A soil test can be used for several lessons.  Start with elements and which ones are important in growing plants. Move on to how those elements get into soil, and how soil is formed.  A hands on lesson can involve the gathering of the soil needed for the test.  Shovel a little dirt from five or six sites and allow the child to mix it with his or her hands.  Then let them pack the soil into the sample bag.

Plant circulation systems

While you are waiting for the results, which will take about two weeks, you can cover photosynthesis and how plants take up water and nutrients from the soil.  Roots need food, so the plant’s circulatory system, a simple one, can come next.  Finally, you can discuss why plants are green and go over chlorophyll.

Soil test results

When the soil test results come back, it is time for a little math.  Usually, for lawns, the results are expressed in pounds of element per 1,000 square feet.  Fertilizer usually comes in 40 pound sacks that only have a percentage of the element in them, with the rest being carrier.  You can cover fractions and multiplication while figuring out how much of the bag to spread to meet the recommendations.  You can go to the Tulsa Master Gardeners website and find calculators to make this easier for you and smaller children.

If these topics have wet your interest, there are lots more where they came from.  In fact, there are two years of curriculum in science, math, literature, and various other topics available from the United States for the cost of the books.  Children who complete the curriculum may be certified as Junior Master Gardeners. It is possible to teach much more than where food comes from if even a small spot is under cultivation.

Author Byline

Stephanie Suesan Smith, Ph.D.  is a master gardener, photographer, and writer in Texas.  You can see her photographs and read her work at http://blog.stephaniesuesansmith.com.

With the warm weather here, you’re probably cleaning out your swimming pool and pulling out the patio chairs. As kids get out on summer break and the days get longer and hotter, it’s the perfect time to plan a summer barbecue or a party. Entertaining outdoors during the summertime is certainly a lot of fun, though it also comes with some responsibility!

Open house for burglars?

Unless you have a doorman, it’s impossible to personally greet everyone as they walk into your home. During the party, you’ll probably end up leaving both the front and back door unlocked and open so that guests can come and go. Though this is certainly convenient, it isn’t always prudent. Doing so may invite unwanted elements into your home because they can tell that you’re having a lot of people over, and with that comes the potential for them to get lost in the crowd. Consider buying a hidden camera or “nanny cam” to record what goes on when you aren’t there.

Introduce yourself

If you plan to host a summer party, don’t take this as a warning to keep your home shut off from the outside. Instead, keep in mind that you need to pay attention to the faces in the crowd. Perhaps your friends or coworkers have brought someone you’ve never met to your summer bash. If you haven’t been introduced to someone you see inside your home during the party, now is the time to do so. If someone has slipped in unbeknownst to the host or guests, everyone might assume that they are there with someone else, and they will be free to rob small valuables left lying around, as well as scope out your home for a future robbery.

Lock your private rooms

None of your guests will feel offended if you lock up certain rooms of the home, such as your bedroom or home office. Use locks or motion alarms to keep guests away from these areas during the party. After all, guests shouldn’t be wandering into these places anyway, when they could be outdoors enjoying the party. It also makes sense to do a quick sweep of your home before the guests arrive to remove any small and valuable objects from the areas guests are likely to be.

Remember your swimming pool

Finally, if you do have a backyard pool, it is your duty as the homeowner to keep your guests safe around it. Even if the pool is off-limits for swimmers during the summer bash, the possibility still exists for someone to fall in. A pool alarm will alert you to a child or adult in the pool, whether you have dozens of guests over for a party or are home alone with your family. This simple device is a must-have security feature for any pool owner to install. With the start of summer and the swimming season, now is the time to buy a pool alarm.

Inviting dozens of guests over to enjoy a summer evening at your home is certainly an enjoyable occasion, but the night could take a sudden turn if you return indoors to find that you’ve been robbed while you were on the patio entertaining your guests. Whenever you have a large number of people in your home, be mindful of the security threat that this presents, and take the necessary precautions.

Author Byline

Guest Blog by Tara Shaw, a mother of three happily living in Austin, Texas.Tara was born in England and moved to USA in 1998. Together with her husband James she started the Resist Attack website in 2009 to make available a wide variety of personal safety products and to educate families on how to stay safe. So far they have published over 250 articles on the subject.

For those of us here at Zoodles, Father’s Day is more than just an event to squeeze in amidst schools closing for summer, signing kids up for camps, and attending graduation party after graduation party.  Of course we all have our own Father’s to buy ties for (they’re in the mail folks, they are in the mail!) but if it were not for one particular father, this company would not exist today. And  because of that, we here at Zoodles have found a new level of appreciation for Father’s Day.

Mark Williamson is our Founder and CEO. Yes, he is the guy who signs our paychecks. But Mark is also an exceptional father to 2 beautiful little girls. And were it not for them, catapulting him into the role of father and fatherhood, I expect that his life may have taken a very different course, altogether. Because if Mark had never become a father, if he had never had the pleasure of experiencing that overwhelming love and passion for his children, he may never have been inspired to create this fabulous tool we all call Zoodles.

Mark and his wife Tara welcomed their first bundle of joy into the family in July of 2004. Little did either of them know, but with the birth of their daughter Abigail, the wheels for what would eventually give rise to Zoodles, had been set into motion. Soon after Abbie arrived they had their second child, Samantha, and Mark and Tara settled right into parenthood. Life was hectic but full of a thousand little miracles that come from loving and raising 2 small children. The girls were growing and changing so quickly that time seemed to literally fly by. Only Mark’s career seemed to be moving faster. One business Mark sold to Amazon, another he worked for was acquired by Research in Motion, and a 3rd business, MyTinyHands, founded by wife Tara, is still retained by The Williamson’s family.

Fast-forward to the year that Abigail turned 4. Daddy was home watching the girls so mom could get some much needed R&R. The day started out just like most other days, his dax frustrated Abbie gave her father an idea which would ultimately lead him to build and design Zoodles. If you are not aware of our Zoodles Founding Story, it is a great read. It is the story of how WE came to be. A story which stars a father and his daughter. So Father’s Day is a very special day to us here at Zoodles. We not only believe in this product, but we love this company and we are so proud to be working for a man with such a love and passion for children, that he built a business upon it.

Integrity is something most of us are looking for in another person. Integrity in a business, well that is even harder to find.  But thanks to Mark and to Zoodles, we have been lucky enough to find both.  This Father’s Day we wanted to take the opportunity to share a little bit more about Mark and what it means to him to be a father. We hope you enjoy his answers as much as we did!

What do you enjoy most about being a Dad? Least? There really is so much to love about being a Dad that it is hard for me to choose just one thing.  If I had to choose just one thing it would be helping my children learn new things.  It is really rewarding to see them develop new skills since it brings them such joy and pride.  My least favorite thing is when I find myself in a position where I can’t help Abbie or Samantha… for example when they get hurt or are sick I wish I had a super power to make them feel better.

In what ways are you and your dad alike? My Dad and I share a lot of qualities, like our love of sports, business, and technology.  We are certainly more similar than different, and for that I am grateful.

Once you learned you were having a child, what did you worry about? I didn’t worry too much until I found out I was having a daughter.  Being a guy I had a fear that I wouldn’t really figure out how to play and bond with her.  That fear vanished the first time I held her as I just knew we would get along famously.

What is the secret to raising good kids? If I had the answer to that Zoodles would be in a different business .  If anyone has this answer please email or call me as I need to know!

Do you think today’s fathers have it harder, easier or just different? I think society’s view around the role of a father has changed over the last few decades, so I would have to say it is just different.  Maybe my Dad & I should exchange some notes this father’s day!

What is something fun that just you and your daughters do together? This year Abbie and I went on a Dad / Daughter ski weekend and we had a BLAST!  I can’t wait for Samantha to join us when she gets a little older.  Until then, me and the girls do gymnastics every Saturday together followed by getting an ice cream cone!

What is something cool that your daughters have taught you? Patience.  Raising kids requires an immense amount of patience.  I certainly could use more of it, but they have really taught me what patience really is.  On a more fun note, I think my kids have taught me to dance!  I have never liked to dance, but when my girls ask for me to dance with them I can’t say no… they are so much fun to dance with!

If you could give your (little) girls anything in the world what would it be? The ability to live a happy and fulfilling life.  If they are happy in their life I will feel like I succeeded as a father.

What do you want to make sure your children always remember about their childhood? I hope that they remember how much fun it is to be a child… and that they strive to find a life that is equally fun to live.

What do you want them to learn from you? Given Tara’s business and my profession I certainly want my daughters to have an entrepreneurial spirit.  They should know that they can achieve anything in life if they work hard.

What is the sweetest thing either of them has ever said to you? “I love you Daddy”… how can a Dad’s heart not melt when your daughter says that?

What makes you get up in the morning? I really love my life so getting up in the morning is easy.  I really love my kids, my wife, and my job… what else can a guy ask for?

They say behind every good man there is a good woman. Well in this case, we’d have to say that there are three:  Tara, Abbie, and Samantha –  thanks to all of you!

Happy Fathers Day Everyone!

Love,

The Staff at Zoodles

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Zoodles/

http://www.twitter.com/Zoodles

Contributed by Danae G. Zoodles Marketing Team

Wondering what to do with your children this summer that won’t break the bank (they can’t play Zoodles all day now that we’ve added our play timer!)? Creativity and advanced planning are your best bets for building fun family memories that you can enjoy, guilt-free.

Visit the library.

The library is not what it used to be! But they’re still completely free. They have kiddie computers, child soft seating, and baskets of toys to encourage free play. Children have their own DVD section, books on tape (great for car rides), and story time is quickly being rivaled by the library’s free summer reading program. This is an excellent program that gets kids really excited about reading books (they can even win prizes!). This summer my local library’s having Rubber Band Car Races, a puppeteer show, and at some point, a fireworks display. All really fun stuff that I wouldn’t have thought would be available through a library.

Dollar movies.

Check with your nearby theaters to see if they offer summer movie clubs. This typically means you pay a reduced cost if you take the kids to a movie during the week. No, you’re not going to see Disney’s latest release, but they usually show pretty good children’s movies that most kids will enjoy. Word to the wise, if you don’t want to spend all that you just saved at the concession stand, pack some snacks to enjoy once you are inside the movies.

Turn on the sprinklers.

This is one of the best ways to cool off when it’s hot out! Delay the sprinklers so they come on later in the morning than usual. Kids love getting wet and will be entertained for hours (assuming your local water supply and water bill allows!). Besides watering the grass, there is really no clean up like you would have if you pulled out the kiddie pool. And I don’t know about you, but I like NO CLEAN UP!

Explore your neighborhood.

When my kids were little we walked around the block almost everyday. Granted, they are likely to say “that sounds boring”, but once they’re on the walk, they usually change their minds. When you’re at the library, pick up a book on edible plants and trees so when you go on your walk, the kids can try and identify what they could live on if they were “lost in the forest.”

Set up a lemonade stand.

I just love the entrepreneurship lessons involved in this one! Loan the kids some “seed money” for supplies. Take them to the store and have them pick up the necessities like cups, lemons, and sugar. A powdered mix is fine but it’s a lot more expensive, less authentic, and not nearly as fun to make. Whether the kids are inside (preparing the world’s best lemonade) or outside, remember to have an adult with them at all times. And not just because they tend to drink up the profits!

Check out local museums.

There are probably several museums nearby that you’ve never heard of before. And most of them are free.  Do a search on Google or post a question on your Facebook and let local friends and family share their favorite spots. Spending time together as a family and learning about new things is a wonderful combination any time of year. Plus, if you walk the kids around long enough, they are likely to fall asleep in the car on the ride home!

S‘mores and backyard camping.

What kid doesn’t like building a fire after dark and roasting marshmallows? This, in and of itself, makes for a fun and exciting evening any day of the week. But why stop there? Dust off your tent, unroll those sleeping bags, and sleep under the stars to create an unforgettable experience for children of all ages. No need to pack the car, drive for 2 hours, or make reservations a year in advance. Just open your back door! Build a campfire, tell silly stories, and play flashlight tag. Don’t forget your cell phone (no reception problems here!). There are some great constellation apps available that are sure to thrill even the finickiest of children. It’s amazing what we can teach our kids these days, right from the comfort of our very own backyards.

Do you have any ideas to share? Please leave us a comment, We’d love to hear from you! And remember, the kids will be off to college (or at least back in school) before you know it. Make the most of the short time you have with them by building fun family memories that can be cherish for years to come.

We hope that all the mothers out there have a *GREAT* Mother’s Day.  On a personal note, I want to thank my mother for being such a great mom to me and my brother and sisters.  It is only through being a parent that I can appreciate the patience and effort it took for her to raise four children.  I also want to thank my wife for such a great parent to our two little girls.  I would have never started a company if it weren’t for the fact that I have such a supportive wife who is able to handle the ups and downs associated with startup life, while also being a consistently great mom.

So thanks Mom & Tara and thanks to all the other moms across the world for everything you have done!

Inspired by the feedback we received after National Nutrition Month, we decided to keep the themed content going through April, National Poetry Month!  This month we added a bunch of lyrical goodies.  Here were a few of our favorite games!

Poetry Idea Engine

Your child develops writing and reading skills as they learn about the structure of different poems, and can even use the Poetry Idea Engine to build their own!

Magnetic Poetry for Kids

Your child develops poetry writing skills with a fun virtual set of Magnetic Poetry.

Highlights Poetry Player

Your child develops storytelling and listening skills as they interact with the Highlights Poetry Player and have wonderful poems read aloud to them.

Enjoy!  And be sure to let us know of any gems we might have missed

The iPad has arrived, and we here at Zoodles have been happily fiddling with our “family Pad” all week.  Are you as excited as we are?  Touch interfaces may be sexy for adults, but they are an insane game changer in the world of kids and education.  Until now, a lot of the motor skill constraints that toddlers face have kept them from benefiting from the great education technology already out there.  Apple’s iPad breaks that barrier, and it enables content developers to build unique experiences for kids that don’t require a mouse or a keyboard.

We took it upon ourselves (and it wasn’t exactly torture) to play a few of the early apps out there with this kind of potential, and see what ones were fun for kids and adults alike.  Here’s what we found.

It’s free, and it’s pretty stinkin’ cool. Disney Digital’s Toy Story takes stunning visuals straight from the movie, and narrates the story as your child follows along with the highlighted words.  During the best scenes, short clips of the movie play. The coolest part is that parents can record themselves reading the story!  Now when kids beg “Again?” after their bedtime story, you can save your singing voice.

Smule makes us think that the future of music will never be the same. This app, Magic Piano, lets kids and adults create music without having to read notes or properly “hold” an instrument. With this $3.99 purchase, your family can unlock a bundle of instruments that sound and look something like a piano, but play more like a game.  Oh, the joy of music without the pain of practice.

The name says it all, but Draw creates much more than a drawing experience for kids.  The extra goodness thrown in — Tic Tac Toe, Dots, and a Word game — make the classics feel young again, and make plain ol’ paper seem like a downgrade!  Once the scribbles are down, Draw lets you Tweet, email, or save them into perpetuity.  It’s the refrigerator door that never runs out of magnets!

Let us know if you discover any other cool apps, and stay tuned for our next batch of recs!

We get a lot of requests for spelling games.  And we know a lot about spelling games.  So why not write a post about spelling games?

Without further ado, Zoodles’ favorite spelling sites!

Spelling City

Spelling City* describes itself as “a new and innovative interactive educational site used to help children of all ages improve their spelling skills and expand their vocabulary.” The power of Spelling City* lies behind its ability to take custom spelling lists from parents and teachers, and turn them into fun, interactive games that help students learn those words.

Between the Lions

Between the Lions* is a PBS kids show that encourages kids to “get wild about reading.” Partially funded by the U.S. Department of Education, the show follows a family of lions – Theo, Cleo, Lionel and Leona – as they run a magical library where words take on a life of their own.

Word World

WordWorld* calls itself “the first preschool series where words are truly the stars of the show!” Using a map navigation format, your child can visit different characters in their environments and practice developing literary skills one at a time, rather than all at once.

Read Write Think

Started in 2002, ReadWriteThink.org* was created through a partnership between the International Reading Association, the National Council of Teachers of English, and the Verizon Foundation. Their goal is to provide parents and educators with free games, tools, and activities that will not only enhance kids’ reading ability, but their love for books and written expression.

Starfall

Starfall* is an independent site dedicated to helping children read, and have fun while doing it. The site hosts hundreds of early reading games and activities that engage kids while helping develop key literacy skills. These skills include letter recognition, phonics, spelling, and reading comprehension.

*This superific spelling site can of course be found within the Zoodles browser.  Get it now!

Coupled with developing motor skills, the thought of introducing your young one to a computer can be daunting.  Where do you start?  What are most kids able to do, and by what age?

In this post we thought we’d share our take on the stages you can expect your child to move through on their path to Computer Whizdom.  As with most things, their progress down this path will depend a lot on how much time they’re able to spend online playing, learning, and exploring.

1. Toys

Most of the first toys your child handles are bulky, colorful, and safe.  As your child learns to grasp these objects, they also learn how to wrangle fun sights and sounds out of them.  In this early stage of motor skill development, your child is just starting to understand that what they do physically can make something else in the world behave a certain way.

2. Screens

Soon after, your child will start to understand that screens – be they on the phone, TV, or computer – are places where things happen too.  Not only that, but they’ll quickly realize that they can make things happen there!  Depending on how developed their motor skills are, this is a great time to introduce toddlers to hand-banging keyboards like Fisher Price’s Laugh & Learn Keyboard Topper or full-body systems like the Wii or Leapster Zippity.

3. Touch

Touch is the third physical interaction usually mastered by tots.  Their little fingers do particularly well with touch screens, so the iPhone and iPad are great (though expensive!) interfaces for them to start with. With apps like My First Puzzles, the interaction between finger and screen can be so immediate that children can easily get caught thinking that the manipulatives on screen are real!

4. Pen

After touch, the next interfaces to learn are ones that involve pens.  No need to run out and get a tablet – you just need something interactive that will continue to develop your child’s fine motor skills without losing the feedback and immediacy of touch interfaces.  Whether your child spends time with crayons, Magna-Doodles, or Tag Readers, learning to grasp and use a pen tool will pave the way for mouse success.

5. Keyboard

The keyboard – mentioned previously in Screens – is a tool that can be mastered to varying degrees.  The first thing to learn is that banging on the keyboard causes things to happen on the screen.  That’s pretty much all your toddler needs to know to explore their powers on sites like Kneebouncers or Fisher-Price.  The next thing to learn is that different parts of the keyboard do different things, starting with the spacebar and arrow keys, and then the letter and number keys.  After the hunt and peck typing has begun, your child is well on their way towards 120 WPM typing!

6. Mouse

The mouse is a perplexing tool for kids.  The first thing they do – and easily too! – is start clicking away!  What you’ll quickly find is that clicking the mouse isn’t the hard part, it’s clicking the right thing on the screen that proves difficult.  To do this, your child has to understand conceptually that the small rounded device in their hand controls another small graphical image on the screen – the cursor.  Once they see that their hand and mouse movements map to the cursor’s movement, then they’re clicking really means something!   From there, they need to learn how to “click just one time,” do some clicking and dragging, and finally hit those double-clicks and right-clicks!

After watching lots of little ones struggle with their mouse at home or in our office, here are some recommendations:

Get a mouse they can grip. They’ve got tiny hands!

Get a mouse with one button. Left click vs. right click means nothing to them, and disaster to you!

Adjust the mouse speed. The cursor’s tiny as it is!  Why not slow down the speed, so they can actually watch it move!

7. Explore!

With these skills under their belt, your child will be well on their way to computer bliss and freedom.  As they explore, they’ll quickly pick up other important abilities like scrolling, searching, and navigation.

At that point, it’s not a question of “can they go,” but “where they go” that really matters.

And that’s where Zoodles comes in.  With Zoodles, you can trust that your little keybanger will not only be contained, but engaged, and educated, all from within the safety of our browser.  Our interface protects your computer, and our content safeguards your kids.  We feature content providers who are passionate about designing games, activities, and videos specifically for young developing users.

Truth be told, your little one will probably move through these stages faster than you can say “antivirus,” and you won’t have to do a thing.   They just need time to explore.

With Zoodles, you can trust that your child’s road to computer literacy will be a smooth one.  So let them drive.  You just sit back and enjoy the ride.

Contributed by Mike Portuesi Zoodles Engineering Team

When I’m not building new product features here at Zoodles, I’m very involved with Astronomy as a hobby. It gives me the opportunity to engage the public, especially young people, and share my excitement with astronomy and science in general. One of the joys of my work as a citizen science educator includes judging duties at the San Francisco Middle School Science Fair.

This year’s fair included 210 entries, pooled from the winning projects at twenty-nine schools across San Francisco. Around 30 volunteer judges with career experience in science and technical fields break into teams of three to four people to judge entries across three grade levels (6th, 7th, and 8th) as well as three categories (Biological Sciences, Behavioral and Health Sciences, and Physical Sciences).  I was the team lead judging 7th grade Physical Sciences, which included 22 entries.

Every year, I’m impressed by the thought and creativity that go into the projects, and this year was no exception.  Some of the more notable entries I encountered include:

Clouds in a Jar - inspired by the notion of catching and bottling a bit of ‘magic’, the student tried generating clouds in a jar with a crafty process involving water, a match and a rubber glove.

Can my Laptop Get Better Reception? – in this case, the student, wanting better wireless network connectivity for his computer, built radio antennas from cookie sheets, wire strainers and Pringles cans, and judged their effectiveness.

Singing Wine Glasses – The student investigated how liquids alter the sound produced when you run a finger over the rim of a wine glass.  The student experimented with not only the amount of liquid, but the viscosity, including such odd ingredients as almond butter!

Our team rated each project in three areas:

Methodology – Did the student come up with appropriate “controls”, or standards of comparison for the experiment? Was the experimental procedure sound?  I look for experiments where the student investigates the “whys”, or the science principles behind the experiment, rather than just demonstrates an effect or makes simple measurements (as in one project that simply timed the speed of popular web browsers).

Creativity – Is this an original, offbeat idea, or did the student pull the project from a book like “101 Science Fair Projects”? The most creative projects, like “Clouds in a Jar”, were motivated by a student’s real-life observation, which piqued their curiosity and spurred them to learn more through discovery.

Communication – How well did the student present his or her hypothesis, procedure, experimental data and conclusions?  Are the charts and graphs clear?  As judges, we value clarity and completeness over slick presentations produced with fancy graphics software.

Science Fair Do’s and Don’ts

A science fair project is a perfect way you and your child can have a rewarding, enriching experience together, and maybe produce one of tomorrow’s generation of scientists and engineers.

Here’s some ways you and your child can work together to produce a winning entry:

• Gently urge your child to come up with their own idea from real life that will motivate them and make them excited. These projects get the most time with, and discussion amongst, the judges.
• Photos are a great way not only to spice up the look of the project, but also to give the judges a real flavor for what the student really did.
• Let the child lead, and drive the direction of the project. You can assist the child with trickier bits, and suggest resources for more information, but don’t give them answers outright or do their work for them. Trust me: the judges can tell.
• Make sure your child provides proper credit where credit is due, if he/she includes materials from elsewhere or gets help with various aspects of the project. Judges always react positively to honesty, but will mark down projects where they suspect another’s work used without attribution.
• It’s okay to include background research in your final presentation, such as a report.  Even quoting Wikipedia works for me, if I have a feeling the child actually read and learned from it, rather than just hit copy/paste.  But make sure the background information is not the centerpiece of the offering. Judges want to see more than a book report, they want to see true creative, experimental effort on the child’s part.