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Summer sun and fun doesn’t mean that the learning stops. For our family, it typically just turns into some extra hands on activities, field trips, play dates, and FUN!

A big thanks to Lakeshore Learning for these fun products! Our family has been having a great time exploring, playing with, and learning with them!

Lakeshore Learning Road to Reading Activity Center

As a mom, helping my kids learn to read is a huge but exciting task. I was an avid reader as a child and our older two kids love how picking up a book allows them to be transported into an endless amount of places. So I can’t wait for our next two kiddos (who are 4 and 5) to learn these skills too. All five of our children enjoy being read to but once they learn this skill on their own, so many opportunities arise. So I turned to the Lakeshore Learning Road to Reading Activity Center. Geared for children ages 4 to 6 that are pre-k to 1st grade learning level, this center helps kids learn to read by working on one skill at a time. They start by mastering letter sounds through and then move on to utilizing cards and tiles to create simple words. Then the kids practice tracing site words and finally put all their skills together to read the book! (Our 5 year old especially LOVES the books!) All of the different activities and learning tools really pull this together and make for a fun learning experience. I’m super excited to continue using this system as it makes learning to read fun.

Create-A-Chain Reaction STEM Kit Pre K-Gr. 2 – Starter Set

Our boys especially love gadgets, balls, gears, and watching things go. So this Create-A-Chain Reaction STEM Kit was a clear choice. Kids can arrange the ramps, hammers, pendulums, and other pieces for a fun track. Then, just drop the ball on and watch it go (or not.) It’s neat to see the kids see what works well and watch doesn’t and how they can fine tune the arrangement, distance, and angle to get different results. This great starter set includes 37 fun pieces plus 4 balls, challenge cards, and a guide. Practicing skills of gravity, force, momentum, speed, and problem solving becomes engaging and fun with this hands on set.

The Butterfly Nursery

Finally, my kids are obsessed with bugs, caterpillars, birds, bird eggs, and butterflies. We recently attended a local library presentation with Bruce the Bug Guy and now my kids want to pin bugs too! But for now, we’ve decided that The Butterfly Nursery would be a good place to start. Included with this fun set is everything you need to watch caterpillars form their chrysalises and then finally emerge as butterflies! Our kit was missing a couple pieces so Lakeshore Learning is sending those out so we can order our caterpillars but for now, the kids have been catching butterflies and moths to observe in The Butterfly Nursery until the rest of our kit arrives. Overall, the nursery itself is really nice as the net allows for great viewing from all sides while the small side zipper is perfect for adding water to the drinking dish.

Buy It: Head over to Lakeshore Learning to see for yourself the great selection of products they offer. From Active Play, Arts & Crafts, Blocks & Manipulatives to Furniture, Software, Games, Puzzles, and more. Their selection is vast and covers products for ages infant through 6th Grade and up.

Connect: Don’t forget to like Lakeshore Learning on Facebook, follow them on Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram, and subscribe to their YouTube Channel for all the latest news and promotions.

Win It: Lakeshore Learning is generously offering one of our lucky readers their choice of ONE of the above three prizes: ~Road to Reading Activity Center (#TT303), ~The Butterfly Nursery (#LC362), or ~Create-A-Chain Reaction STEM Kit Pre K-Gr. 2 – Starter Set (#PP848). This giveaway is open to the US only and will end July 29th, 2016. For your chance to win, enter the Giveaway Tools below. Good luck!

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I’m a city girl turned country by my awesome husband and we have three busy boys and two darling daughters. I love spending time with my family, reading Karen Kingsbury novels, and catching up with friends while our kiddos have play dates. I’m blessed beyond measure and can’t wait to see what God has in store.

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