Utah Idaho’s goal is to help parents teach and inspire their children. With that in mind, they’ve put together a few products that they think do just that. And they’re all under $30…
Mary Margaret Pingree shows what’s new for summer
Live Butterfly Garden
Retail price $19.99 small, $29.99 large
Watch a caterpillar change into a butterfly in about three weeks. You mail in a coupon to receive your caterpillars. They come with all the food they need. The caterpillars double in size every day, and you watch them eat until they grow to ten times their original size. Then you watch them hang upside down and shed their skins to form chrysalises. Finally you watch them emerge as butterflies. One of the great things about this product is that it is exciting for very small children as well as older children to watch.
Some grandparents can give this to their grandchildren as a gift and tell them to call them every time something changes. This generates daily calls with excited voices telling them everything that had changed that day. Grandparents love it. This can inspire your child to get excited about science and the magic of the natural world. It’s perfect for summer.
National Parks Map & Guide
Retail price: $9.95
Utah is such a wonderful place to live. This guide helps you take advantage of all the beautiful national parks you can visit during the summer. One side of the guide has a map of the different parks in Utah, but the other side is my favorite—it lists the top five or six things to see in each park. For example, in Capitol Reef National Park it tells you about some petroglyphs and exactly where to find them.
If you want to know the best hikes in the places you visit, pick up “Best Easy Day Hike” books which are geared toward families or you can visit Utah.com for a list of hikes in each area as well as their difficulty level.
The Night Sky
Retail Price $5.95
What child doesn’t like to stay up late on a summer night and look at the stars? It’s one of the of best things about summer whether you’re in your own back yard or on a vacation. This next product is very simple.
• It is a glow-in-the-dark fold out of the night sky and it shows all the constellations for both winter and summer.
• And it shows them in a way that is easy to children to find them. It isn’t complicated. The only thing you have to do is line up north on the chart with north.
• On the other side are explanations and pictures of the different constellations.
• It’s a simple way to get your child excited about astronomy.
Summer Bridge Workbooks
A lot of parents want to make sure their children don’t forget the things they learned during the school year, but they aren’t sure how to do it. This next product is easy for parents and fun for kids and it helps children remember those skills they learned during the year.
They are called Summer Bridge workbooks.
• With this product, the work is done for you. You simply ask your child to complete one page per day in order to keep up in math, writing, language arts and reading. There is also a little bit of science and geography in them.
• They only take about twenty minutes to complete and they are fun and colorful so kids like to do them.
• If you want more, you can go online and find reading lists, a reading club, contests and lots of other things to keep kids excited about learning during the summer.
• These books were developed locally—they were designed by a team of two Utah teachers and a parent.
• Price is $13.95—if you mention Studio 5, you can get $1 off.
Utah Idaho Supply is having a tent sale May 23rd (the Saturday before Memorial Day) from 9 a.m. to noon. It’s a family event with lots of activities for kids as well as lots of great summer products that will inspire you and your children to keep learning during the summer.
For more information, go to www.uisupply.com
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