NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC KiDS: You Read - I Read Books

If you have a beginner reader at home, I'd recommend picking up the new "You Read - I Read" books from NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC KiDS.  These soft cover books filled with great photos of wild life and natural settings take a co-read approach that encourages parents and children to explore reading together.  These books are setup so "you" the parent reads a page followed by "I" the child reading the next.  Reading through these books together provides a sense of working together in developing a child's reading abilities rather than him or her just listening to you read or your sitting back monitoring a child's independent reading.  My kids often whine about a book being too long or too hard when they are supposed to be doing their twenty to thirty minutes of reading homework each night.  By partnering with my kids in reading these books I found them more confident to delving into the pages and more open to asking for help with pronouncing or understanding a difficult word.

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC KiDS currently has two Level 1 "You Read - I Read" books available for kids who are just beginning to read on their own.  Day and Night explores how as the sun rises and falls its impact on animals, fish and plants in the environment.  Follow Me! Animal Parents and Babies shows how even animals in the wild need to learn lessons from their parents when it comes to surviving in the world. Both of these books are filled with wonderful photography that enhances the reading experience and helps maintain the interest and attention of young readers.

On each page of these books is a bolded word that is meant to be a point of focus for helping a child build their vocabulary.  For every two pages the same word will be bolded on both the "You Read" and "I Read" pages.  All of the bolded words in each chapter of a book will have a similar theme.  For example in Day and Night all of the bolded words in Chapter 1 relate to times of day while in Chapter 4 they are all action words. Parents are encouraged to engaged in an expanded discussion at the end of each chapter on how each of the bolded words relate to one another and to the topic of the chapter.  At the end of each chapter there is also an activity to do together that reinforces that chapter's educational message. For instance in Chapter 3 of Follow Me! Animal Parents and Babies readers match pictures of animals, birds and fish to photos of their homes.  I really appreciated how these books expanded beyond just being an exercise in reading to provide an enhanced educational experience.

With photographs and interesting trivia that will capture a child's attention and educational elements that will enhance  children's reading and vocabulary skills, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC KiDS "You Read - I Read" books get A Geek Daddy's nod of approval.

To help you sustain your child's excitement about reading after going through the "You Read - I Read" books together, I'd recommend enrolling in the free NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC KiDS SUPER READER program.  Parents can download and print out a poster based upon a child's reading level that is filled with images of appropriate National Geographic children's book that are available at book stores or public libraries.  As kids read these books the images can be checked off the poster to earn specially designated prizes like stickers, bookmarks and fun fact cards. The SUPER READERS website also includes free learning activities, educational games and other fun stuff!



A Geek Daddy is a member of the National Geographic Kids Insider blogger program.  Insiders get a behind-the-scenes look at National Geographic’s resources, activities, content and projects for kids and families. They also review copies of books, magazines and toys, and are offered interviews with authors, explorers and editors. I do not receive any financial compensation for my participation as a National Geographic Kids Insider.

Video Game Utilizes Football To Teach People On Being Financially Savvy

Reading the Sunday morning newspaper this last weekend I noticed that stories about people being ripped off because they weren't very financial savvy or literate and that analyzed how competitive the Detroit Lions may be in this upcoming football season dominated the headlines.  With the new school year in Michigan officially starting today and the Lions battling the San Diego Chargers in their first game of the season this week, it seemed like a good time to highlight a fun video game that utilizes a football theme to teach people on being financially savvy. Financial Football which was created in partnership between the Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy, Visa's Practical Money Skill's for Life program, and the NFL  lets children, teens, and adults test their money management skills by answering questions that allow you to move down the field and score touchdowns when you make the correct choices.

Available to play online via your personal computer or laptop for FREE, Financial Football puts players fiscal knowledge to the test in an online simulation game environment by combining the structure and rules of the NFL with financial education questions of varying difficulty. Visa has also released the game as a FREE iPhone app on iTunes, along with an optimized HD iPad version.  The game can be played in single player mode or against a friend in head-to-head action. It really is a fast-paced, fun game that can be challenging for all ages.

To start the game you can pick its length ranging from 5 minutes to 20 minutes plus select which NFL team you want to play as.  Difficulty settings are also available with Rookie (Ages 11 -14), Pro (Ages 14-18) and Hall of Fame (18+) to choose from.  Players are than able to select defensive and offensive plays with difficulty levels of easy, medium and hard which are followed up with questions about financial literacy and money management that correspond to the selected play's difficulty.

If  you get a question right you than your team is successful with their play, but if you get the question wrong than your QB will get sacked, your running back hit for a loss, or a wide receiver drops the ball.  The harder the successfully completed question the better your players do so an easy question might get you one or two yards, a medium question 5 yards and a hard question could get you ten yards or maybe even a break away touchdown.

This game takes a topic that can be boring and mundane for many kids and adults and adds some excitement to it that will help ingrain important tips and information into people's heads as their competitive instincts get them involved with this game.  As a parent, I'm always keeping an eye out for opportunities that combine entertainment and education to assist getting kids to embrace learning.  Financial Football is a great way to catch children and teens' interest and help them become financially savvy.

For more information about the FINANCIAL FOOTBALL video game, CLICK HERE.