Boost Summer Learning with Fun Educational Products: Math, Science, and More!

Are your kids excited about the new school year?   Personally, mine are excited, so it was great timing to pick up some new educational items for them to play with during the last few weeks of summer.  In today's post, I'll share some fun products that my children personally used and highly recommend.  (We are talking hours and hours and hours of entertainment!)

Let's start with Pete the Cat. This trendy cat is iconic. Pete the Cat was a big part of story time at our local library and was also popular in Kindergarten.  We love that Pete the Cat is so groovy and that he makes learning fun.  The Educational Insights + Highlights’ Hot Dots Jr. is perfect for preschoolers and kindergartens. It's meant for ages 3 to 5 years old and retails for $19.99 to $22.99.  Personally, I wanted this set for my youngest because I know that extra familiarity with Pete the Cat will be nice when he enters Kindergarten. Here is the quick overview:

"Winner of the Parents' Choice Approved Award, National Parenting Center Seal of Approval, and NAPPA Silver Award, Hot Dots Jr., featuring Pete the Cat, from Highlights and Educational Insights helps make learning a little groovier with new interactive learning sets! This set provides Preschool or Kindergartners with 200+ fun, interactive lessons in reading, math, science, social studies, and MORE. Press Pete to an answer dot—he offers affirmative sounds and green lights for correct responses & red lights and lively tones for incorrect responses, which helps develop critical early learning skills and encourages self-paced, independent learning."

Another iconic childhood classic includes Highlights!  The beloved Highlights brand is stepping up to the challenge with Highlights™ Summer Big Fun Workbooks, 144 pages of imaginative puzzling, humor, and whimsical illustrations that will engage children 3-6+ to build confidence in learning while also combating summer slide.   I loved Highlights as a child. It's sweet to see that my son similarly loves the trendy line of Highlights books. Here is a quick overview:

"Used as entertainment on a summer road trip vacation, or during a random day at home, the Highlights™ Summer Big Fun Workbooks include ideas for simple ways to extend the learning through fun outdoor activities. Each book also features a rewarding certificate of completion at the end, in addition to simple tips to help parents guide their children through the activities in these workbooks."

Depending on your child's age, you'll either want the Summer Big Fun Workbooks Bridging Grades K & 1 for ages 4 to 7,   the Summer Fun Big Fun Workbooks Bridging Grades P & K for ages 3 to 6+, or the Summer Fun Big Fun Workbooks Bridging Grades 1 & 2 for ages 5 to 8 years old.

Finally, the next set of educational kits include hands-on fun for children in grades 3 to 12. (Although, my preschooler had a blast (pun intended) watching his older brother use these science kits!) The STEM at play! Series introduces kids to the wonders of STEM skills through a wide variety of experiment and activity kits. Ranging from slime to combustion science to a create-your-own-candy kit, each kit comes with a lab and career guide detailing each experiments’ instructions and a study of the particular field of science the kit explores.

Personally, we tried the Bubbles! Soap Making Lab Kit and the Fizz! Chemistry Lab Kit. These were a big hit. First, as a boy mom, let me tell you that the soap making lab kit is not only educational, but it also inspired my boys to be excited to get baths. Score! 

The chemistry lab kit was also educational and fun.  The kit includes 32 experiments. It contains several supplies that you are then able to use in combination with common supplies that many people already have in their kitchen.  Here is a peek at a couple experiments that we worked on.

We made raisins dance!

We used chemistry basics to inflate balloons!

This was our favorite experiment, but I won't spoil the secrets in case you want to buy the kit to try it yourself.

Good luck as you wrap up the last few weeks of summer. I hope that some of the products mentioned above will provide many hours of educational fun for your children too!