This New For Us Friday I’m sharing a new-for-Cora activity and a new-for-us event: the fab, super-fun magazine hunt and Highlight’s State of the Kid Survey, which involved a press event that Cora and I attended together in the city.
With being in DC three times in four days last week, on top of playdates, homework, holidays, an injured Bradyboy, dive and dance, and soccer, things have been quite busy over here. But Cora and I have managed to find some time to do some reading together.
And hunting.
And searching.
And getting to know one of our favorite publications for children–Highlights and High Five.
Talk about a rockin’ New For Us Friday!
Here’s the skinny:
Magazine Hunt 2.0:
Maddy, Owen, and I loved magazine hunting a few years back, but at that time, it was too much to tackle for my then-2 year old Cora.
But now that she’s a fantabulous four-year-old, the magazine hunt was right up her alley. I didn’t make a huge deal about it–I can’t because Cora doesn’t roll like that–I just casually brought out a High Five from Highlights
one day and started flipping through in in her bedroom.
I love this magazine, I said. It’s really pretty cool. I know Owen and Maddy love it, too. My favorite part is the comics and the crafts. I kept flipping.
I had already grabbed our bag of Magazine Hunt Cards (grab them to download below as a pdf if you’d like), and I oh-so-casually flipped one over. Oh my gosh–I remember these magazine hunt cards!! Maddy and Owen loved these, too–it kind of makes reading a magazine like a scavenger hunt, like a game.
See? This card says ‘Table of Contents’ with a hint at the bottom: ‘It is near the front. It lists the page numbers and articles.’And because magazines are organized a little bit differently than books or newspapers, this hunt is a fun way of seeing that.
Cora is on a hidden picture hunt.
She said, Oh, I remember this magazine. Owen loves those pictures. The hidden pictures.
I flipped through until I found the Hidden Pictures, and she jumped up for a pen. Let’s do it! she said.
Sweet. We worked through the Hidden Pictures together, and I reminded her to put an ‘X’ over the object she finds on the right page and an ‘O’ over the object within the picture. (A super-sneaky way of getting her to practice her x’s and o’s!!) When she finished finding everything, I found the Hidden Pictures card in the pile and flipped it over. Okay, you found and completed one thing! Woo-hoo!
I flipped the next card, and it was for Silly Pictures. I said, Oh my gosh, ‘High Five’ also has Silly Pictures! Let’s find it and circle everything silly!
We circled the silly dog and the silly squirrel and the silly bird in a bath and the silly this and the silly that, and then we flipped through the magazine, doing the mazes, reading poems, and just chatting it up. Little did Cora know that all the while, she was learning about concepts of print during this little magazine hunt; she was practicing early literacy skills by pointing out words here and there, and she was doing tons of fine motor work in her circles, checks, and maze following.
Awe-some.
And before we knew it, it was time to head up to the school during the brief bit of sunshine, pick up Maddy and Owen, and move into the next part of the day. . .
Editor in Chief of Highlights, Christine French
Highlights State of the Kid Survey:
One of the things I love most about Highlights is that the magazine receives thousands and thousands and thousands of letters and emails from kids, and the editors read and respond to each and every note. They’ve done it for 65 years. I love it.
“One of the most powerful things we can do for children is to really listen to them,” says Christine French, Editor in Chief of Highlights magazine. I love that this publication takes children seriously, really listening to them and taking time to acknowledge their queries.
And for the last three years, Highlights has gone one step further, giving kids a national platform to share their thoughts, concerns, and experiences related to major issues at hand: school, friends, parents, siblings, bullies, and more, with the State of the Kid Survey.
Take a second and view the quick clip of Christine French talking about the Survey at the Press Event that Cora and I attended; it’s interesting, enlightening, and surprising.
It reminded me of how observant kids are, how much children remember, and how important it is to really listen to our kids–especially during crazy busy weeks like the one our family just muddled through.
It reminded me of the importance of remaining gender-neutral with Maddy, Owen, and Cora and not to corner them into ‘girl’ activities or ‘boy’ activities. It reminded me to have the bullying discussion openly and often with my children–reminding them of the best ways of handling bullies, sticking up for victims, and to make them understand that bullying comes in many different forms.
It reminded me of many things, but most importantly it reinforced for me the quality of this publication and the people behind it. Thanks, Highlights!
Grab the Magazine Hunt!
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