Healthy, strong family relationships are foundational to young people’s growth, learning, and well-being.

 

These relationships build strong social and emotional strengths that kids use throughout their lives.

 

But great family relationships don’t just happen..

 

Welcome to My Discovery Destination!

Discovery Family Adventures

where your family can find plenty of opportunities to

 

The Discovery Family Adventures provide ideas, activities, and experiences to help build strong family relationships.

 

Our goal is to strengthen family relationships to help kids be and become their best selves

and to support parents in raising happy, successful, resilient kids in an exciting,

but sometimes turbulent and dangerous world.

Core Adventures are still available via the website for use by anyone that wants them, but everyone is encouraged to use the Discovery Hunt (Goosechase) App for hundreds of adventures throughout the year.

 

Get links for downloading the App HERE.

Sponsored by:

Choose from the Adventures listed below

 

(or design your own family adventure!)

 

20 Minutes a Day


Family Adventure

GOAL:      Develop strong readers.

 

 

The ADVENTURE:

Review the information below and then use some of the suggestions to develop a habit of reading together  as a family for 20 minutes every day.

 

 

TIPS:

 

   When it comes to reading, sometimes the very best reward is simply praising them for how well they did. Be specific about what you like-- you use so much expression; you listened so well when other family members were reading; you really brought the story to life with your interpretation of it, or I can see you getting better every time we read.

 

   Another idea is to tie the reward to something in the story. For example, if you read 'If you give a mouse a cookie . . .' have cookies and milk when you're done. If you read Dr. Seuss' 'Green Eggs and Ham' fix green eggs and ham for breakfast the next morning (or at least the green eggs!)

 

 

 

 

Creating a daily family reading habit gives children a boost over their peers.  Time spent reading together as a family is a long-term investment in vocabulary exposure. Not only that, but family reading experiences give children the chance to ask questions about words, concepts, and even topics they don't understand, which leads to more effective reading and a greater understanding of the world. And-- it's a great way for families to connect and have fun at the same time.

For this Adventure read as a family OR have kids, preschool through sixth grade, read 20 minutes every day.

 

 

 


FUN IDEAS FOR MAKING READING FUN!


 

 

Carving out family reading time is easier than you think. Here are some ideas for how to incorporate reading into your family routine and enhance the experience:

 

 

   Nourishing the Meal Time -  Have your kids read recipes aloud to you while you’re cooking dinner. From ingredient lists to cooking directions, this kind of family reading will help build vocabulary, fluency and dessert!

 

 

   Book Nooks -  Create “book nooks” with your child. Book nooks are comfy places to sit and read. They should have good lighting and containers filled with sticky notes, colorful pens, pencils, and a small dictionary. Book nooks will motivate your children not only to read, but to select favorite parts with sticky notes, or look up words they don’t know.

 

 

   Reach Out and Read - Boost family reading by involving loved-ones who live far away. Using Skype or another video conferencing program, have your child share a book with relatives. Make sure the book is one that your reader has read a few times already; repetition is a fantastic way to enhance reading skills. Younger readers love to show-off their fluency, and oral reading builds confidence. Grandma will be pretty thrilled as well.

 

 

   Kid Karaoke - Download songs and their lyrics for a family karaoke night. Seeing words and singing them at the same time is a fun way to develop vocabulary…and practice your Elvis impersonations!

 

 

   Create a Family Reading bulletin board where family members can share pictures, quotes, or clues from the books they read with other family members.

 

 

   Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?  - While your family is eating together, discuss what your favorite characters would have for dinner – Winnie the Pooh might like honey grahams while Curious George could crave some bananas! Then after dinner read one of their stories and look for clues as to whether or not you're right. Incorporating characters of favorite stories into your eating routine is a delicious way to promote deep thinking about character traits and motivation.

 

 

   Story Charades - Choose a story your family knows well — like a well-read book or fairytale — and act out the beginning, middle, and end of the story. If you have more family than characters, a few could do the acting and the others can be the audience or be the narrator. This activity helps readers reexamine and understand story lines and details.

 

 

   Who Am I?  - Choose one of your child’s favorite book characters, then describe his or her personality traits, problems, and physical descriptions until she guesses the character’s identity. This game is a fun way to pass time when you’re stuck in traffic or at a bus stop.

 

 

   Marking the Spot -  Making book marks together is a great, simple family reading activity. Just cut bookmark-sized cardboard from cereal or shoe boxes, then get crafty! Use brightly-colored markers to write titles, authors, and favorite quotes. Younger readers can draw or cut and paste pictures from old magazines.

 

   Read a book while you eat breakfast. You could make green eggs and ham and read Dr. Seuss's book "Green Eggs and Ham" to them.

 

   Visit your local library and challenge each of your children to find a book they have never read before that they would like to read.

 

 

   Do a 5 book swap with your friend! Swap for a week, and then swap back.

 

 

    Find a quirky place to read in your house... under the table, in the storage room, in a fort, etc.

 

 

   Call up grandma and grandpa and read them a fun story. If you plan ahead, they may have a story to read to you too!

 

 

    Visit https://www.storylineonline.net/ and listen to your favorite actors read books for free to your kids.

 

 

   Family Reading Web pages - Using simple and free online programs, create a family reading Web page. Include sections for each family member’s book reviews, favorite book lists, “authors I’d like to lunch with” lists, pictures of famous authors, links to local libraries, kid-safe fan pages, and reading games.

 

 

 

 

Pre-K Adventure

Reading is one of the most important things you can do for your little Adventurers. Review the suggestions in the basic Adventure and choose a few that fit the age, style and interest of your little one and Have FUN!

 

 

 

Community Engagement Adventure

Ready to get your community engaged in reading?

Here are some suggestions:

 

 Grab a book and read it to a younger sibling and their friends, or a group of younger children in your neighborhood

 

Do you know of any shut-ins that have lost their vision and ability to read? Set-up a time to go read to them

 

Organize a neighborhood reading marathon

 

Check out what your local library has going on and ask what you can do to help them out

 

 

 

 

 

Teen Adventure

We all know that reading with young children is important, but as they get older we seem to think that they no longer need us to read with them. There is nothing further from the truth! Continuing to read with teens provides many key benefits from improvements in reading achievement and comprehension, writing, vocabulary, and general knowledge to improved empathy, understanding of self and others, and wellbeing.

 

 

Choose some of the suggestions from the Basic Adventure to keep it interesting. You can also enlist teens to read to younger siblings

 

 

 

 

Photo Location

Take a selfie of your family reading together and post it to your social media sites with the hashtags #KUED and #Read20Minutes

by Read Together




NOTE: If the Adventures don't show up find them at DiscoveryFamilyAdventures.com

Not sure how the Discovery Family Program works?

   

 

Discovery Family Program How-To Visual

 

My Discovery Destination! Adventures

Sponsored by My Discovery Destination! and  local businesses and organizations in your community

for the purpose of

STRENGTHENING FAMILIES and BUILDING CHARACTER.

Send an email to Sharilee@MyDiscoveryDestination.com if you would like to learn how we can bring a wide variety of FUN and educational LIVE EVENTS to your community!