MyPuzzle.org-- All Kinds of Puzzle and Logic Games

Want a good place to play free puzzle and logic games? Try MyPuzzle.org!

There are all kinds of games including sudoku, jugsawdoku, kakuro, freefall, mahjong, mine sweeper, blix, and 3D games. The categories include number puzzles, picture puzzles, word puzzles, and more. And you can decide which level of difficulty to play with many of them.

Have fun!

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Another Online Math Resource: Math Playground

Math Playground has all kinds of online math games to play.


In their own words: "Welcome to Math Playground, an action-packed site for elementary and middle school students. Practice your math skills, play a logic game :and have some fun!"

They have thinking blocks, manipulatives, worksheets, flashcards, multiplayer learning games, word problems, math videos, a computation section and a math apprentice section. And as far as I can see, all free!



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Math: My Puzzle-- A Place for Puzzle and Logic Games

I posted this already, but it disappeared! Weird. I'll Try again.

Want a good place to improve math skills and play free puzzle and logic games? Try MyPuzzle.org! There are all kinds of games including sudoku, jugsawdoku, kakuro, freefall, mahjong, mine sweeper, blix, and 3D games. The categories include number puzzles, picture puzzles, word puzzles, and more.

Don't get too addicted ;-)

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Professor Noggin Card Games!

Here are a few of our decks

The Professor Noggin card games are wonderful. With so many topics covered and more added all the time, they are a fun and stimulating way to learn about history, science, geography, nature, and even hockey. Age level? They say 7 and up, but my son started off with them around the age of 4 and 5-- as you'll see there are more than one way to use them ;-)

How do they work? Basically they are a Q&A card game. One side of the cards has a picture and the other side has 2 sets of questions, one easy set of three questions and one set of hard questions. The included dice is rolled to determine which question (1, 2, or 3) will be asked and the card is won by a correct answer; an incorrect answer sends the card to the bottom of the card pile. The goal is to collect as many cards as possible. Before the game commences, players decide who answers the easy questions (maybe the kids) and who answers the hard questions (maybe the adults). 

My son was never into playing them that way though. He preferred to read them on his own and create time lines or use them in story creation. Sometimes he would quiz me or ask me to quiz him, but we've never actually sat down and played them competitively or ever used the dice. So, these cards can be fun for all kinds of imaginative play!

The Professor Noggin series began with "Life in the Ocean" which was quickly followed by "Insects and Spiders" and "Wildlife of North America." Now there are 37 titles with "Hockey" and "Baseball" being the most recent. For a list of their titles click here. If there is a topic you'd love that they don't have, you can always suggest a title (on their website)!

This is a made in Canada product and definitely has a strong North American focus, but has several international titles. And while it does have a few Canadian focused titles ("Geography of Canada" and "History of Canada") it seems like there are even more American titles (from civil war to presidents, plus geography and history). And, if it matters to you, these card games have won several awards.

Click here to check out "Wonders of the World" card game: it's complete list of topics, their game instructions, and a sample card with questions and answers.

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BBC Nature Documentary: The Life of Birds

If you're patient enough and persevere to the end of the above clip (just under 3 minutes), you hear this amazing lyre bird imitating all kinds of birds... AND the sounds of cameras, car alarms, and chainsaws!

 David Attenborough's The Life of Birds is a wonderful series that we love to re-watch every now and again. With 9.3 stars out of 10 on Internet Movie Database, apparently we aren't the only ones enjoying this series.

Here's a link to the pbs website with more info, examples, and classroom resources.










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Virtual Field Trips!

Virtual field trips are one of those cool modern conveniences that the internet makes feasible. Many museums take advantage of this concept; we've certainly found a few treasures out there.

At Tramline Virtual Field Trips, "A field trip {is} created with TourMaker {and it} guides you through a sequence of Web pages on any given topic. For each page, there is simultaneous commentary in an accompanying frame. You move forward and back through the Field Trip using the tour Control Panel and you can leave the Tour to explore links and return to it whenever you want."

You don 't need the software to view the field trips, but if you want to create your own you do. As these navigate web pages, I did find a few dead links, but overall I think it's a cool idea and my son liked them. Some trips have interactive parts, audio, video, cool web resources, etc. It's certainly worth checking out and they have a range of different subjects covered: leonardo Da Vinci, endangered spieces, volcanoes, dinosaurs, aquifers, wonders of the world, etc

Each virtual trip has a designated grade range and contains learner outcomes, if that info rocks your boat ;-)

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Resource: Bird Identification Website

Quite a few years ago I was challenged to identify a sudden infestation of bird that descended unexpectedly on our neighbourhood. I didn't see it at first, I heard it! Flooding through open windows was a cacophony of unfamiliar bird song. And once we looked? Everywhere, upon every surface, were a medium sized bird happily "scree-ing" away.

Google to the rescue!

I quickly narrowed it down to a waxwing. But were these "ear-fulls" or "museums" of waxwings bohemians or cedars?

Well, at first I had a hard time distinguishing between the two, but found help at What Bird.com which has over 800 birds in its database.

This site gives a quick and easy Species Overview with photo, bird song audio, interesting facts, range of habitat, map, and related birds. Another tab Identification provides more specific help in identification. Two other tabs: Behaviour and Portrait round out the info on this website per bird.

And our mystery bird: Bohemian Waxwings, go check them out and hear their song-- just imagine that song multiplied by thousands!And you think I'm exaggerating?!

One of my favourite local song birds: Black-capped Chickadee
Another favourite local song bird: Robin


Oh, and those lucky enough to have an iPhone, apparently you can get the iBird app. I'm not sure if it's just an advertisement on whatbird.com or part of it. Just thought I'd mention it. And no, I'm not affiliated with iPhone  ;-)

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Theme Pages for the Preschoolers

I have a mess of bookmarks that I'm sure I'll never get through. I tend to research things, bookmark them for later, and never return. Sigh.

In an odd moment of cleaning up my bookmark files I came across this "Child Care Theme Pages" website. In their own words, it is "Preschool Curriculum Themes for Daycare Providers, Teachers, and Parents! Book Lists, Song and Fingerplays, Preschool Arts & Crafts, Recipes, and Preschool Theme Activites!"

A simple page layout contains all kinds of themes from the usual animals and holidays to numbers and colours. Clicking on one of the specific themes (like 'black' or 'watermelon') turns up a second page with a booklist, songs or fingerplays, experiments, crafts, etc.

All of this is too young for my son, but I thought it may be of interest to others with toddlers! 
Enjoy!


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Monterey Bay Aquarium: Live Web Cams, Podcasts, and Videos

The Monterey Bay Aquarium offers live web cams on their website! But that's not all, they also have podcasts (most are less than 5 minutes with two new ones per month) and videos!

Check them out here: Podcast, Videos & Web Cams

Being live web cams, some are more entertaining than others, but they do give the feeding times which, I'd assume, are more livelier events. And they are only live during specific hours, like 7am-5pm PST (depends on the cam).

Web cams include: Kelp, Underwater Kelp, Sea Otter, Aviary, Wading Birds, Penguin, and the Monterey Bay cam (24 hour).

If you select one of the cams, just to the right of the webcam you'll see a link to spotting guides or more information.

Don't forget to check out the podcasts and videos though.
Oh, and one more thing...

Bloodybelly Comb Jelly

They have two "Online Only Exhibits" to check out:
Jellies: Living Art about jelly fish, of course.
and
Sharks: Myth and Mystery




 I lied. Sorry! There is one more thing: A Games and Interactives page. They have printables, games, posters, colouring pages, and music. All kinds of activities with age and grade ranges provided.

Although, I'm sure you can find even more things to do at the Monterey Bay Aquarium website if you feel like exploring it!

Have fun!

PS. Monterey Bay Aquarium is in California, USA. Too far away for us to visit without a ton of preplanning, lol  ;-)

Linked up with Science Sunday, for more science fun, click the link below!



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Fun With Nasa Science!

Take a journey over to the NASA Science website and you'll find all kinds of fun for all ages! Beautiful photos and, of course, tons of information. Keep up to date with science news or explore black holes.

There are sections for citizen scientists, educators, students, and kids. Play fun games and watch interesting videos. I will not provide a full detailed analysis, rather encourage your own exploration and interests.

NASA's main website too has lots for all ages to explore. One could spend hours looking at just one of these sites!

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National Geographic: Sea Monsters

The book above the movie is not from National Geographic. It's Prehistoric Life from BBC, another favourite resource around here!

We love National Geographic around here. They have all kinds of online resources, series, books, and DVDs.

Right now?
My son recommends Sea Monsters: A Prehistoric Adventure!

At the library, we've put on hold Sky Monsters for more adventures :)

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Geography: Usborne Sticker Atlas Books

My son's affinity for geography was fostered by Usborne Sticker Atlas books. We have wall maps and play with SmartGlobe and even exchange random postcards at Postcrossing, but it was the initial interest in these sticker books that engaged him so much. And boy did he learn from them! I swear his ability to locate countries on the map far surpasses my own and it all started with these sticker atlases. Not only did he figure out where different countries were located, he accumulated knowledge of what animals/flags/dinosaurs/history occur there.

As time passes, these collections often resurface and get flipped through. Definitely money well spent!

Canadian Geographic Kids! aka CG Kids

Winter is still lingering here even as the light is returning and days getting longer. More light, but still cold with a little hope on the horizon: looks like this week should be considerably warmer.

Even so, we optimistically borrowed Lost in a Forest-- BC's Rainforest Vancouver, Haliburton's Boreal Ontario, by CG Kids, from the library. My son gave it 5 stars out of 5! And we are now craving forest exploration. Yes, yes, winter forest exploration has it's own benefits, but we're very ready for spring now. Besides, my son is looking forward to finding insects and bugs!

Typically we enjoy CG Kids around here. Short (25 minute episodes) and targeted to youth 8-14 years old (but great for all ages), the CG Kids adventures take us across Canada engaging in all kinds of discoveries. One of the features I like best is when they show quick experiments to do. For example, the Lost in a Forest episode explained why leaves turned colour in the Autumn. The experiment was to tape a leaf to a piece of paper, cover half of it with tin foil, and leave it out in the sun. The results should have the leaf half green where the sunlight was absorbed and the autumn colour for that leaf where the sunlight was prohibited.  We can't wait to tests this out ourselves! There was also an easy chromatography experiment demonstrated that would be very easy to duplicate.

There is even a show on Edmonton-- Edmonton to the Extreme!

This wonderful resource is going on it's sixth season. Over at the Canadian Geographic website, you can explore all current and past episodes here. It is a TV series and I suppose available that way. We usually take the dvds out from the library, but it looks like our library is way behind with only 35 episodes ;-)

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The Living Edens: Arctic Oasis: Canada's Southhampton Island

My son and I picked up this PBS dvd from our local library on a whim and I'm glad we did. It was a fascinating look into Inuit life with breathtaking filming; very visually stunning with an engaging storyline.

My son gives this episode 4.5 stars out of 5.

Here's the PBS plot summary:

There is an Eden in one of Earth's most brutally unforgiving realms. Along the shores of Southampton Island in northern Hudson Bay, a survival story has played out for centuries. Only a hardy group of animal and human souls have learned to live within this frigid and dark arctic world. Noah Kadlak, of Inuit ancestry knows how to live in the arctic environment and survive. Now he has decided the time is right to take his eldest son, 12-year-old Logan, on an extended hunting trip. The trip offers him a chance to introduce the boy to traditional Inuit skills of living off the land.

In the early spring Noah and Logan make the long trip by skidoo and sled. Father and son journey across the frozen ocean. They sleep in igloos, eat fish they catch from under frozen lakes and traverse a landscape that is defined by a horizon of ice and sky. It is a trip that is no longer readily made by the Inuit, but it is still ingrained in their souls.

The trip is an arduous one. With wind gusts up to 50 miles per hour, and air temperatures reaching 20 below zero, it takes a tremendous amount of effort to build their camp, take care of their sleds, and secure their equipment each night. They journey to a source of perpetual open water, an arctic oasis for man and animal alike in a land of frozen snow and ice.

After doing a quick Google search, I found that this episode has a "Featured Program" page full of extra information and more beautiful pictures. The special features includes going on an arctic adventure, learning a bit of history, checking out the map, exploring the arctic animals and flora, as well as a look at the filming of the episode, teacher's lesson plans, and extra resources.

NOVA scienceNOW: "The Science of Picky Eaters"

Today I came across a NOVA scienceNOW episode entitled The Science of Picky Eaters. Wouldn't you know it? Apparently genes do help determine food tastes ;-)

I recommend checking it out if you are interested in such things, it's not too long (just under 13 minutes). The whole show that includes this segment can be found here. And then, feel free to browse the NOVA scienceNOW website for more episodes to watch online!

Update: Please note you may not be able to browse the episodes, in Canada. I keep coming up with no access due to rights restrictions. I'm really annoyed by this. The link, which I got from an American blog site, still seems to allow viewing of The Science of Picky Eaters. So, this post is still valid.