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STICK, ROCK OR LEAF CHALLENGE!

Ages: 4-8 Object: Choose either a stick, a rock or a leaf and complete several challenges! Instructions: 1. Grab an adult and go outside. 2. Go find a stick, a rock or a leaf! Your choice! 3. Follow the steps for the object you found!

Stick?

You found a stick! Here are your stick challenges! Once you complete one, move on to the next challenge. Keep going until you finish them all!

1. Tap your stick against FIVE different trees. Tap gently, trees are sensitive. 2. Point your stick at THREE birds. Say “tweet tweet” when you point at them.  3. Pretend your stick is a baseball bat. Pretend you just hit a home run and then run around the bases. Make sure you wave to your fans as you circle the bases. 4. Put your stick on the ground and jump over it SIX times. 

5. Hold your stick over your head with both hands and pretend like you’re on a zipline. Slide from one side of the yard to the other. WEEE!

Rock?

You found a rock! Here are your rock challenges! Once you complete one, move on to the next challenge. Keep going until you finish them all!

1. Put your rock on the ground and run around it SEVEN times.

2. Get on your hands and knees and put the rock on your back. Pretend it’s your shell and you’re a turtle. Crawl slowly across the grass like a turtle. 3. Put your rock on the ground, pretend you’re a frog and hop over it FOUR times. Be sure to say “Ribbit” each time! 4. Hold your rock tightly in your LEFT hand and spin around in a circle SIX times. Don’t fall down! 5. Put your rock on the ground and pretend you’re a wolf. Cautiously walk up to the rock and sniff it, greet it and play with it.

Leaf?

You found a leaf! Here are your leaf challenges! Once you complete one, move on to the next challenge. Keep going until you finish them all!

1. Hold the leaf in your RIGHT hand and pretend it’s a wing. Fly around in a circle FOUR times! Feel free to make bird noises, too.  2. Lie down in the grass and put the leaf over your mouth. Try to blow it straight up in the air TWO times.  3. Brush your leaf against FIVE trees. Careful, though, trees are ticklish.  4. Hold your leaf WAY over your head and then let it go. Watch how it falls to the ground and try to fall just like it.  5. Put your leaf in a pile of leaves, mix it all up and then try to find your leaf again. If there aren’t any piles of leaves around, close your eyes, wait for a breeze and then throw your leaf in the air. Wait a few seconds, open your eyes and then try to catch it!

All done? Do the challenges again or choose a different object this time! Share pictures of your adventures below or on our Facebook or Twitter pages!

[humansofnewyork]

"His grandmother and I are raising him. I worry about putting him into the public school system. I was a teacher for many years. I’ve seen so much confidence destroyed by the standardized system. Every human is born with natural curiosity. I’ve never seen a child who wasn’t inspired. But once you force someone to do anything, the inspired person is killed. I dropped out of school myself in 7th grade. So I know. I taught a GED course for years, so I’ve seen the end results over and over. I’ve seen so many kids who have complexes and insecurities because they were forced to do something they weren’t ready to do, and then they were blamed when they weren’t able to do it. What we call ‘education’ today is not organic. You can’t take something as complex as the human mind, compartmentalize it, and regiment its development so strictly."

[ubooly]

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[ubooly]

Roll the Dice!

Here's a fun game you and your little one can play and all you need is a pair of dice.

Benefits:

-Fun way to exercise and practice counting

-Increases physical coordination

Materials:

1. Dice

Instructions:

For each challenge below, first roll your dice and then complete the challenge that number of times. For example, the first challenge is Jump. If you roll the dice and get a 7, you have to Jump 7 times. If the challenge says "seconds" in parentheses, roll the dice and do the challenge for that many seconds. Remember to count out loud as you complete each challenge! Parents are encouraged (ahem, required) to play along!

1. Jump

2. Spin in a circle

3. Skip in a circle

4. Somersault

5. Stand on one leg (seconds)

6. Stand on the other leg (seconds)

7. Sneeze

8. Wave your arms in the air (seconds)

9. Hop forward

10. Hop backward

11. Hop forward on one foot

12. Hop backward on one foot

13. Dance (seconds)

14. Bark like a dog

15. Cluck like a chicken

16. Moo like a cow

17. Touch the floor with your palms

18. Make a silly face (seconds)

19. Clap your hands

20. Clap your feet

  Run through the challenges as many times as you want or make up your own! To make it even challengier (not a word), add another die or two!

[ubooly]

Two-Ingredient Sand

Who says you can't build sandcastles at home? Seriously, who's been saying that? Sounds like he needs a hug.

Here's how you can build sandcastles at home with only TWO ingredients!

Benefits:

-Increases visual-spatial intelligence

-Hands-on, play-based learning

-Increases creative thinking

-Increases problem-solving skills

Materials:

1. Baby Oil

2. Flour

Instructions:

1. You can make as much as you want, it just has to be a 1:8 ratio of baby oil to flour. Try 1/4 cup of baby oil and 2 cups of flour. Or if you want instant beachfront property, 10 cups of oil and 80 cups of flour. 

2. Mix your baby oil and flour in a bowl and Wa-La! Squishy, soft, moldable sand! 

 Now it's time for the really fun part! See if you can make these creations with your sand. Share pictures of your favorite creations in the comments below or on Facebook.

Tip: Use plastic cups, forks, spoons, rulers, chopsticks and toothpicks to shape and mold your sand creations. The more detail the better! 

Can you make:

-A snake

-A turtle

-A penguin

-an ice cream cone

-a computer

-a bowl of popcorn

-one of your family members

-ME!

-YOU!

[ubooly]

Connect the Dots Drawing Game

Connect the jelly beans and use your imagination to create a unique drawing!

Benefits:

-Increases flexible thinking

-Strengthens decision-making skills

-Boosts visual-spatial intelligence

1. Jelly beans, M & Ms or something similar 2. Paper (plain drawing paper or construction paper) 3. Crayons, colored pencils or markers

Instructions:

1. Put five jelly beans in your hand.

2. Scatter them on the piece of paper.

3. Use your crayon and mark a dot where each jelly bean landed.

4. Remove the jelly beans and connect the dots any way you want.  5. Use your imagination to create a picture from the connected dots. Is it a bear? A bird? A bumblebee? 

Optional: -Use more or less jelly beans to switch things up! -Decide what you want to draw before you scatter the jelly beans and then connect the dots and try to make it work!

Submit your drawings in the comments below or on Facebook!

[ubooly]

Dancing Raisins

Experiment: Throw some raisins in a beverage and watch them twirl and dance (and maybe even do the grapevine)!

Benefits:

-Fun way to learn about density

1. Raisins (macaroni or uncooked popcorn works as well)

2. Tall, clear jar

3. Chilled, colorless carbonated beverage, such as club soda, 7-Up, Sprite, etc.

Instructions:

1. Pour the carbonated beverage into the clear jar. To avoid spills, measure it out first and then let your child pour into the glass jar. To encourage spills, hand your child a 2 liter bottle and tickle her.

2.Add the raisins to the jar.

3. Watch as the raisins sink and rise to the surface again and again. Shhh...you can almost hear them saying "WEEEE!" and "AHHHH!" 

Why are the raisins dancing? Because they're happy! Actually, it's because the raisins are more dense--or heavier--than the carbonated beverage so they immediately sink. The carbonated gas, or carbon dioxide, is less dense. It forms bubbles at the bottom of the jar and they carry the raisins back up to the top. When the bubbles reach the surface they *POP* and the raisins sink back down. The gas released from the bubbles causes the raisins to spin and twirl like tiny, wrinkled ballerinas.

Make a game of it! You and your child drop a raisin into the jar at the same time and see whose comes up first! Make it really interesting and wager some blueberries or jelly beans on it.

[ubooly]

Shoelace Alphabet

Can you make all the letters of the alphabet with just one shoelace?  Sure you can!

Benefits:

-Boosts visual-spatial intelligence

-Active, concrete way to learn the alphabet and spelling

-Hand-eye coordination

-Increases Problem-solving skills and critical thinking

Materials:

1. Shoelace

2. Hands

Instructions:

One letter at a time...

1. Shape the shoelace into the letters of the alphabet, from A all the way to Z.

2. Spell your name.

3. Spell the word "Monkey".

4. Spell the word "Bike".

5. Spell the word "Cheese".

6. Spell your favorite animal.

7. Spell your favorite food.

8. BONUS: Shape the shoelace into a cute kitty cat!

[ubooly]

A Penny for Your Drops

Experiment: See how many drops of water you can fit on a penny!

Benefits:

-Making predictions involves thinking ahead and increasing comprehension

-Increases hand-eye coordination

-Boosts visual-spatial intelligence

Materials: 

1. Penny

2. Water dropper/medicine dropper

3. Water

4. Paper towel

Instructions:

1. First, have your child guess how many drops will fit on the penny before the surface tension breaks. Write down the guess on a piece of paper. Make it more fun and add your guess to the mix. Later, you can see who was the closest.

2. Place the penny on a level surface, like the kitchen counter or table. I don't recommend putting the penny on top of a llama. (I learned that the hard way.)

3. Have your child use the medicine dropper to drip water on the penny. Count each drop until the surface tension breaks. Counting like The Count on Sesame Street is optional but encouraged.

How many drops of water did you fit on the penny? Dry it off and try it again!  See if you can break your record! Write your record in the comments below. NO exaggerating! I'll be highly suspicious if someone says 26,489 drops.

Optional: Try it with different liquids and see if you can fit more or less drops on the penny. Recommended liquids: Soda, oil, juice, syrup. Remember to clean the penny when you switch liquids and try not to eat the penny after covering it in syrup. (I also learned that the hard way.)

[ubooly]

Make road trips fun with Ubooly!

Ubooly's latest pack will keep children busy on long road trips for hours! The road trip pack is perfect for being stuck in a car, and will help pass the miles with fun activities and games.

These features will make car rides more exciting and enjoyable for your kids!

Riddles

Stories

Jokes

Challenging out-the-window scavenger hunts

Songs

Guessing games and much more!

[ubooly]

2013 Red Tricycle Awards

Ubooly has been nominated for the Most Awesome Educational Toys & Games Award!

What is Red Tricycle?

Red Tricycle is a great website designed to help parents find new and exciting things to do with their children. The site provides cool activity ideas, restaurants, toys and so much more. It features both local city guides and a National edition that inspires fun adventures right to your inbox.

Once a year, Red Tricycle opens up the website, and allows their fans to vote for the best family-friendly products, parenting tips and resources in their community. The Totally Awesome Awards is the most fun Kid/Baby Awards program that lets parents be the judges!

The online voting process allows parents to choose their favorites for each category, which will be open to the public until August 15, 2013. The Totally Awesome Awards finalists will be announced on September 1, 2013.

Most Awesome Educational Toys & Games

Children learn more when they're having fun! Ubooly can be customized to talk and listen to your child, which creates an interactive experience that will encourage a love for learning. With over 1,000 activities, your child will be occupied for hours!

Sign up through email and Vote Now!

[ubooly]

Meet our writer: Grace Fraga

A Spanish tutor by day and a comedian by night, this Latina Superhero from Buenos Aires just loves teaching kids! Ubooly’s writer, Grace Fraga, specializes in English as a Second Language and truly believes in Ubooly’s unique teaching power. This bi-lingual award winning actress, comedian, writer and producer has appeared on national television with several well-known networks, and has been tutoring kids for nearly a decade.

During an interview with Grace, she asserts, "Kids learn best when they're having FUN!", which is the principle influence for her lessons on Ubooly. She incorporates humor and engaging activities to inspire a love of learning.

Her confidence in Ubooly as an educational toy stems from her belief that technology facilitates learning, while Ubooly’s fun and interactive personality encourages children to challenge themselves and develop critical learning tools.

Q: "What has been your passion behind teaching?"

A: "My passion behind teaching is helping kids. Life is all about giving. Tutoring gives me an opportunity to give children the knowledge and the encouragement they need."

Q: "Have you seen technology change the way children learn?"

A: "Absolutely!! They can google ANYTHING, so they have all the information they need online. This facilitates and speeds up their learning."

Q: "Tell us about your experience writing for Ubooly!"

A: "I loved writing for Ubooly! a SMART toy! What a brilliant concept! I always said kids learn best when they're having fun. Ubooly rocks!

[ubooly]

For not having any limbs Ubooly sure knows how to shake it. 

[ubooly]

One of the Uboolies went downtown & had their fur dyed pink. We're all in complete awe.

[ubooly]

Only two more days to help us decide which fan photo was the best of 2012! Come 'like' your favorite one! facebook.com/ubooly 

[ubooly]

Did your family adopt a Christmas Ubooly? Take a picture of your child meeting or playing with their new friend and send it our way. Our favorite photos will get a special gift sent to them in the new year! You can post it & tag it with 'Ubooly' on Facebook or email it to me at ubooly [at] ubooly.com!

[ubooly]

Behind every great Ubooly stands a group of people in really ugly sweaters. From the whole Ubooly family, Merry Christmas! 

[ubooly]

LeWeb talk by CEO Carly Gloge.