It’s easy- start by simply entering your child’s name and grade.  You can choose between Preschool through 4th Grade. Then select up to three answers to a few simple, age-specific questions about your child, such as their favorite game or their favorite thing to read.

When you’re done, the JumpStart profiler will match your answers to the two Jumpstart characters that fit your child best! Each character comes with a specific learning style, along with links to find out more about each character and their type of intelligence, to help you best understand how your child learns.

Head over to the JumpStart All-Stars Learning Styles Test and find out about your child’s learning style today!

“Following and creating patterns, making comparisons, cause and effect, hand-eye coordination, following multi-step directions, life skills, goal setting, computer use, interaction with technology, etc. are all elements involved while playing in JumpStart”, says Heather Tuttle, Curriculum Writer.

Let’s take a look…

It takes quite a bit of hand-eye coordination to get to navigate Free Fall Mountain.

And navigating that chocolate maze requires pattern and letter recognition skills.

Even the pre-programmed chat words in the game are based on Dolch’s sight words, a set of words that should be standard knowledge by the third grade.

Plus, dance moves and emoticons help kids learn about social cues and body language. (After all, the Jumpeez showing angry emoticons are never as fun to make friends with.)

And the Jumpee Creator teaches body parts, colors and more.

Heather explains, “When a kid is playing at JumpStart they are drowning in opportunities for learning. Without even realizing it, this child is exploring, discovering, and beginning to make connections with prior knowledge, creating new knowledge.”

So tell your kids to go explore, chat, and play at JumpStart.com. You can relax, knowing that they are learning math and reading…but also much, much more.

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Jumpeez can pump up their brains and earn coins at the Brain Training Center!

What you may not realize is that lots more learning is available in FutureLand, at the IQ Actionizer!  FutureLand is a great place to check out if your child is toward the older end of JumpStart’s age range.

Your little adventurer can kick butt at learning games in FutureLand!

The IQ Actionizer is packed full of learning content for students in the third, fourth, and fifth grades, which means reading, writing, and arithmetic feature prominently.

Looks like we’re going to need a pencil and paper for this one…

Of course, there’s a lot more math content than just multiplication. Players can also practice addition, subtraction, division, fractions, place value, counting money, and much more!

In the reading games, students will learn about complete sentences, parts of speech, prefixes, suffixes, spelling, capitalization, and homonyms, among many other topics.

We’re glad Uncle Max is happy, but is that a complete sentence?

Geography games will teach your explorer about world and U.S. geography, states and capitals, U.S. government, world currency, reading maps, and units of measurement.

Science questions round out the learning with information about astronomy, science history, critical thinking, and graph reading.

Reading graphs and charts is an important skill for many subjects, particularly science.

Best of all, this is a great opportunity for players to earn lots of coins, so they’ll be jumping at the chance to learn. Next time your big kids are on JumpStart.com, make sure they check out FutureLand for a great chance to learn and earn!

Share the learning!

One of the most fun concepts to teach young children is that of the stoplight. Red, yellow, and green lights not only drive home basic colors but also the important, associated meanings of stop, caution, and go. What better way to teach children about this traffic safety instrument than through easy, tasty treats? We’re thrilled to introduce the Traffic Stoplight Treat, an easy, little dessert that kids can make themselves!

Traffic Stoplight Treat

What You’ll Need:

• Graham crackers
• Peanut butter (Allergic? Consider using a light layer of regular butter, which goes well with the graham cracker.)
• Butter knife
• M&M’S Chocolate Candies

Instructions:

1. Take a large graham cracker and break it into its perforated quarters.
2. Spread peanut butter on one side of one of the quarters.
3. Place a green, a yellow, and a red M&M down the cracker in a row, spaced like a traffic light.

Taste buds say go.

We suggest using regular M&M’S, but we only had Peanut M&M’S at the office, which are pictured in our example.  We made do all the same.    Enjoy!

Green Light on Sitting Down to Make These with the Kids

Forget what Miss Manners once said and start encouraging your kids to talk while they eat (after they swallow, of course)!  Dinnertime is the perfect time to hear about their day, their opinions, and what’s going on in their little heads.  Get past the one word answers and make your kids give you a mouthful of conversation.  While getting to know your kids on a deeper level, you’ll also be giving them practice at thinking quickly, forming arguments and opinions, and expressing their thoughts.

Simple conversation starters will get the ball rolling and before you know it, your kids will be bringing a lot more to the table than hungry bellies.  Try some of these conversation starters or make up your own:

• What was the __________ (choose one: funniest . . . most surprising . . . most predictable . . . dullest) thing that happened to you today?
• If you were writing a newspaper article about your day, what would be the headline?
• Teach us one thing that you learned today that you think we don’t know yet.
• If you had one hour alone with the President of the U.S., what would you want to discuss or talk about?
• Which cartoon character would you most like to have as a next door neighbor?  Why?
• If you won the lottery (or won $100) what is the first thing you would buy?
• Imagine you had an identical twin; name three things that would be really great about having an identical twin and three things that would be “not so great.”
• Which fairy tale character would you most like to take a vacation with?  Why?
• If you were a plant and could be planted anywhere in the world, what kind of plant would you be?  Where would you like to be planted and grow?
• If you could go on a vacation anywhere in the world, where would you go?
• If the sky suddenly started to rain candy, what candy would you want it to rain?
• If you were to take a time machine 50 years into the future, what do you think life will be like?  What will you do with your free time?  How do you think people will communicate or prepare food?
• What kind of car would you say you are most like?  If you could be any car, which one would you choose?
• If you could invite any famous person to your birthday party, who would it be?  Why?
• If you could create a national chain of restaurants designed for kids, what would you call it?  What kinds of food would you serve?  What would the theme of the restaurant be?
• If you had to choose one modern convenience, appliance, or technology that you just couldn’t live without, what would it be?
• What was the best birthday party you remember having?  Tell what you remember about it.
• Where will you be, and what do you think you will be doing in 10 -15 years?
• If you had a choice, would you rather live in the city or the country?  Why?
• If you could be a TV producer, what would be the name of your new show?  Who would you get to star in it?  What would your show be about?
• In the movie about your life, what actor would play you? Your best friend? Your family members?

Another way to get the table talk going is to play a little game.  President Obama plays a game with his family called “Roses and Thorns.”  Everyone takes a turn describing a good thing that happened that day (rose) and a low moment or tough problem they had to deal with (thorn) during the day.  Whatever the approach, set your dinner table with conversation to strengthen relationships and make memories to last a lifetime.

Tell Your Buddies to Set the Table!

Christmas lights, Hanukkah menorahs, the Kwanzaa Kinara…the holidays are full of symbols that represent a variety of cultures, beliefs, and traditions, making this the most wonderful time of year to help your little ones notice that not everyone celebrates the season the same way they do.

Oftentimes limited experiences and infrequent interactions with backgrounds different from their own lead kids to make assumptions or judge others who do things differently than they’re used to.  You can make the season even brighter by helping your kids realize that our society is a mixture of people- no two the same.  All of these differences bring new ideas, energy, and flavor, enriching the world we live in.

Many kids are way ahead of us when it comes to acknowledging and respecting differences.  Playgrounds, play groups, and classrooms are increasingly diverse, and we as a society have become more aware of tolerating and embracing a variety of cultures, traditions, and beliefs.

Still, as parents, it’s our job to ensure our kids are prepared to live, learn, and work in a diverse world.  Teaching tolerance is important not just because it is the principle our country was founded on, but because the child who learns to be open to differences will have more opportunities in life.

Like all attitudes, tolerance is often taught in subtle ways when we don’t even realize it.  Even before they can speak, our kids watch us closely and imitate what they see.  Modeling tolerance, respect, and acceptance early on can help set your child up to positively embrace differences.  There are a variety of other things you can do at home to help your kids realize that being unique and different is good.

• Encourage your kids to ask questions – Kids are naturally curious about the world around them. Instead of letting them reach their own conclusions or assume things, make sure your kids ask questions when they wonder about things.  Many times a simple question can spark valuable conversation and learning for both you and your little questioners.
• Answer questions – When your kids come to you questioning their own traditions or the values and beliefs of others, take the time to listen.  Spend time learning, researching, and exploring other cultures together. Attend festivals and events around town to expose your family to new celebrations and practices.
• Respect and honesty – Model respect and acceptance for your kids.  Teach your kids to appreciate their own differences and those of others. Be sure the words you use are not offensive and do not convey judgment.  Help your kids realize that every person deserves to be judged as an individual, not grouped in a category that’s based on religious beliefs, skin color, or cultural differences.
• Learn together about other cultures and traditions that are different from your own.  Honor your own family and teach your children to be proud of their traditions.  Discuss how your family traditions began and what they mean to you and your ancestors.
• Make sure your kids have a positive self image and strong self-esteem.  Confidence and self-respect lead to respecting others.  Also, a strong sense of self will help your kids be proud of who they are and where they come from, so they can help share their culture and experiences with others.
• Give your kids opportunities to play and interact with others who are different from them.
• Help your kids understand that images and dialogue they see and hear in the media are often biased and do not represent an entire group of people.

Of course, celebrating differences of others doesn’t mean giving up your own heritage. Your family may have its own long-standing cultural and religious traditions that are something to be proud of.  You can find ways to celebrate differences of others while continuing to honor and pass down your own cultural heritage and traditions.  May this holiday season be a joyous celebration of the diversity around you.

While the entire family looks forward to celebrating the Thanksgiving holiday and eating delicious food, there is one thing that most people do not look forward to: the long car drive to and from a relative’s home! Boredom is really almost a guarantee.  However, with a few fun car game suggestions, you and your family can enjoy the hours of driving together.

Alphabet Race. The goal of this game is to find each letter of the alphabet, in alphabetical order, on the road signs you see throughout your journey. This game may seem easy, but just wait till you get to letters such as “Q” or “X”! See how fast you can accomplish this feat.

Hug Bug. You might have played this game a little differently when you were growing up, but we are making it much less…painful.  If you see a Volkswagen Beetle or “Bug” you get to give one other person in the car a hug or blow them a kiss!

The Frankie Game. In this game, the word “Frankie”, as in our lovable mascot, is substituted for a verb. To play, one person picks a secret verb like “swim”. Then everyone else asks questions using “Frankie” in place of the verb. “Can you Frankie in the ocean?” “Can you Frankie in the house?” The person who correctly guesses the secret verb gets to choose the next one.

Your Ideal Car. This game requires your family to use their imaginations! Pick a car on the road -even yours- and have each person say one thing that they would want to add onto the car to make it into the car of their dreams. For example, you could say, “I would add on a frozen yogurt machine to the car, so I could have frozen yogurt whenever I wanted!” Keep going until your family thinks they have created their ideal car!

The Teacher’s Dog. We at JumpStart love learning, so this game is perfect if you want to build up your child’s vocabulary on the road! In this game you will go through the alphabet using words to describe the teacher’s dog, the first letter of the descriptive word corresponding to the letter of the alphabet you are on. For example you could say, “The teacher’s dog is an Angry dog.” Then the next person would say, “The teacher’s dog is a Boring dog.” See if your family can find adjectives to describe the teacher’s dog from A-Z!

Question Game. In this game, you are only allowed to speak in questions to everyone in the car. For example one person could ask, “When are we going to get there?”  The next person would ask, “Do you have a watch?” The next person would ask, “Did you take it?” If you do not answer in a question, you are out. The winner of the game is the person who can carry on the conversation in questions the longest!

What are your favorite car games?

Share with some families that are in for a loooong drive.

Good luck brainiacs!

(tip: click on each puzzle to enlarge it if you’d like a closer look…)

That's a printable, (adjective) picture of a mad lib.

To get started, print out the story template here.  Then, ask your child to provide each of the word types you see in white (adjectives, nouns, etc), and use their choices to fill in the blanks.  Read the story aloud with your child for lots of laughs!

(Feeling ending in -ed) what you saw?  Tell all your (plural noun)!

Levitating Ice Cubes

What you will need:

• Clear cup
• Ice cube
• Salt
• Food coloring (optional)
• String

1. Fill the cup ¾’s full of water.
2. Put a drop or so of food coloring into the salt to create magical, colored salt crystals. (We used green; with the addition of food coloring, the attachment of ice to the string will become more apparent.)
   

   Pine green never looked so Halloween-appropriate!

3. Now, place the ice cube into the water.
4. Pace the string inside the water and over the ice cube. Put on display the fact that the string does not stick to the ice cube.
5. Once that idea is obvious to your child, sprinkle the colored salt onto the ice cube.
6. Quickly place the string onto the ice cube and let it sit for about 2 minutes.
7. Pull the string out of the water and show your child that the ice cube is now securely attached to the string, like magic!

Static spooks, boo-tiful bats, and now levitating ice! What's next from JumpStart?

What happened?
Salt lowers the freezing point of the water.  Therefore, when the salt hits the ice cube, the ice cube begins to melt a little bit. After this reaction has occurred, the salt begins to weaken and becomes captured by the ice, freezing the thread to the ice cube.

Where do we see this reaction in our everyday lives?
Ever wonder why oceans never freeze? Since the salt compound found so heavily in the ocean controls the ocean’s freezing point, salt lowers water’s ability to solidify. Even when the temperature is zero degrees, oceans are still filled with salty water!

Also, have you ever wondered why people salt icy roads? This experiment must have made that a little clearer! We’ve shown that salt has the ability to melt ice. This is especially helpful in cold, snowy places where people walk or drive everyday, to keep paths and roads slip-free!

Like mastering ice?  Spread the knowledge to your friends!