This activity doesn’t just have to be for superheroes, any theme could be turned into a “school” from fairies, to dog trainers, firefighter to princesses! This model is a fun way to work on basic skills that kids tend to get sloppy on during the summer when days are filled with more exuberant play. Spending a quiet time here or there still playing but working on skills at the same time helps kids stay on track while having fun.

1. Before you gather your materials decide what skills you want to work on. Math, Letter recognition, Sight Words, Fine Motor, Patterning...  you choose. Try to make sure that you don’t overwhelm your child, 2-3 options is probably enough.Remember to you aren’t testing your child you are using pretend play and activities to learn and have fun.
2. Gather the materials needed for the “school ” of your choice. I wanted to work on my son’s fine motor, writing and counting.
3. Our first lesson was “Bomb Squad” . His goal was to pick out the yellow, green and blue bombs ( aka pompoms) from the container to keep the city safe!  What this teaches is color recognition, counting and using the pinchers is great for fine motor.
4. Next up we had “Power Station” a super simple math activity that he places the correct number of stickers in the columns. Also I again worked in fine motor with the action of peeling the sticker off. I’m so tricky yo.
5. Lastly I decorated a workbook to look like a batman journal to encourage some superhero reports. My son is not the most excited writer so anything that will encourage it without pushing is something I look for. This did the trick .
6. Do not be empty handed after the tasks are completed – I made him a super fast medal like the family medals we made a while back to congratulate him on completing his super hero training!

Super Hero Board Book

My First Batman Book: Touch and Feel by David Katz.

I am just reviewing one book today because I want to really focus on it. It’s a rare find. A board book , a touch and feel no less,  about Batman. Trust me it’s rare, I squealed when I found it at the library and could not believe what a treat it was to read with both my kids. It’s not secret my son ( the one in the improvised Batman mask above) is into super heroes, he is also into books and I want to encourage that. However some of the books are so violent and I don’t want to expose him to all that at 4.5 , it’s just too young for my comfort zone. For beginning readers there are some great I Can Read books but for even younger ones pickings are super slim. Luckily there is this book. It’s sturdy, it’s age appropriate and it even glows in the dark!