Use the time you and your child get ready for and recover from school to have a walk and talk with your child.

On your way to school go over the things they will be covering in school that day. Use the time for last minute spelling test prep or to practice addition facts or times tables. You can also play a game where you count almost anything: the number of red cars that drive by, the number of trees on your side of the street, or the number of strollers you see. Switch it up each day to keep it fresh.

The way home from school is the perfect time to discuss what your child learned in school that day. Much like the old dinner table chats, but revamped for today’s on the go family.

Need that new bikini for pool season? Bring your child along for a day of shopping and math fun. Before entering each store, have your child count the number of windows and mannequins he can see from the outside. Ask him what he thinks they sell inside of the store and why? Then go in and find out.

While inside, show him the price tags for the items you want to buy, and have him tell you which is the most expensive item and which is the cheapest.

As the cashier rings up your items, have him say the prices aloud and if he can estimate or add up the total.

A walk down your street or around your block can turn into a learning experience for the whole family. A perfect time for your family to take a walk together is right after dinner. This sets a pattern for family togetherness, a healthy lifestyle for your kids, and is a great way to counteract that chocolate crème pie you all just ate. Walking, talking, and spending family time together is great, but if you want variety, try out these activities

Bring along some paper and markers along with you on your walk. Have your child point out places of interest to them as you by and jot each one down, along with a brief description generated by them (for example: a big red house with a bird bath out front). When you get home draw a full map of your map. Keep the map and add to it each time you take a walk, you and your children will see that each time you walk by the same place, you will notice different things about the same places.

Take a walk around your block. Pick a house or a place and make up a story about what you think is going on there. Start out by saying how a particular place was built and why what is there now got there. Make sure to include stories of the people who live there or take care of the place. After you have modeled a story for your child, encourage her to take on the role of a tour guide and make up a story of her own. When you get home your child may want to illustrate the story she has made up and turn it into a picture book.

	BlueberriesForSal.pdf
	HikingTour.pdf
	ListenAndDoWalk.pdf

By David Kirk

What to do when the bugaboos strike? Miss Spider has the perfect solution—she takes her bashful son Wiggle on a moonlit walk to put faces to the spooky sounds he hears throughout the night. Join them as they discover that nightlife in Sunny Patch is filled with beautiful surprises. Written in the charming verse only David Kirk can deliver and illustrated in amazing 3-D CGI detail, The Listening Walk is sure to be a favorite with all children.

By Patricia Hubbell

This short, sweet, rhyming story featuring a young girl on a neighborhood stroll with her mother is just right for preschoolers discovering their own communities. As she starts out with Mama one sunny day, the little girl sings, "I'm dancing down the sidewalk / with a hop, hop, hop. / Pigeons peck at popcorn / with a pop, pop, pop." Besides pigeons, the little girl greets dogs and jumps in puddles; and when she hears the ice cream truck, she follows the sound through her city. Mother and daughter pass by the park, watch children riding bicycles, and greet babies in carriages, listening all the time for where the ice cream truck is. Then, they walk home together, licking their ice-cream cones, satisfied.

By Julie Markes

Skip down the sidewalk as you draw your way from A to Z! With sample chalk drawings and a piece of chalk included, Sidewalk ABC and Sidewalk 123 by Julie Markes, illus. by Jennifer Markes, offer ideas for children to practice their letters and numbers al fresco or on the bound-in chalkboard. A spread in ABC shows an apple for "A" and a butterfly for "B"; each spread of 123 shows the numeral opposite the number of objects it represents.

By Ralph Fletcher

One season, one slender volume, 33 gently evocative poems. Ordinary Things is a quiet book that begs readers to look around, observe nature, and experience a walk through the woods in spring. Fletcher reminds young people that such a walk can be mind-clearing and therapeutic. All the senses are at work in these selections, as Fletcher reflects on the "monotonous chant" of frogs, the sweetness of maple syrup, the sight of mailboxes that look like "old people dancing slowly cheek-to-cheek," and the feel of "hot horse breath on my cheek." The next time readers take a leisurely, head-clearing walk, they may wish to recall the author's observations and create their own.

By Karin Ireland

In this cautionary tale, a boy is advised not to take his unusual pets anywhere-"Don't take your skunk on an airplane," "Don't take your moose to the movies," etc. His pig will make a slobbery mess, and the snake will terrorize the neighborhood. The watercolor with black-line art is hilarious as each animal (rabbit, chimpanzee, frog, duck, and more) creates its own peculiar ruckus, and the boy's wide-eyed surprise suspends him in concentrated animation as the action swirls around him. At the end, the child holds his palm out to stop the pets as he walks with his oblivious parents and younger sister. His wise expression suggests that he will never go out with members of that motley group again.