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In today's digital age, where screens seem to dominate every aspect of our lives, it's more important than ever to carve out space for screen-free activities, especially for your children. While technology undoubtedly offers incredible learning opportunities, there's a special magic in the simplicity of unplugged, hands-on activities. Enter brain games—a captivating and enriching way to engage young minds while promoting screen-free learning at home.

Check out the free printables from Brain Games and Activities below. 

Five Benefits of Brain Games and Activities

Brain games, challenges, and brain teasers offer a myriad of benefits for children of all ages.

1. Cognitive Development: Brain games stimulate various cognitive functions such as memory, attention, problem solving, and logical reasoning. By engaging in these activities, your kids can exercise their mental muscles, leading to enhanced cognitive development.
2. Critical Thinking: Brain games encourage children to think critically, analyze information, and make decisions. Through activities that involve logic, reasoning, and creative thinking, your child can develop essential problem-solving skills that are invaluable in both academic and real-life situations.
3. Language Development: Many brain games involve language-based activities such as word searches, puzzles, and riddles, which can help improve vocabulary, spelling, and language comprehension skills.
4. Social Interaction: Some brain games can be done collaboratively, fostering teamwork, communication, and social interaction among children. These activities provide opportunities for kids to learn from one another and develop important social skills.
5. Screen-Free Fun: In a world saturated with screens, providing kids with opportunities for screen-free fun is crucial for promoting balance and healthy development. Brain games offer a refreshing alternative to digital entertainment, allowing your children to engage in enriching activities without the distractions of screens.

Ways to Include Brain Games in Your Child's Routine

Incorporating brain games and activities into your child's routine is easy and fun. Here are some tips for home:

1. Set Aside Dedicated Time: Designate a specific time each day or week for brain games and activities. Whether it's after school, before bedtime, or on weekends, having a consistent routine will help ensure that brain games become a regular part of your child's schedule. Researchers recommend just 15 minutes of time devoted to simple and challenging brain exercises.
2. Make It a Family Affair: Get the whole family involved in brain games and activities. Whether it's working on puzzles together or competing in a friendly word search challenge, involving the whole family can make screen-free learning even more enjoyable.
3. Encourage Creativity: Brain games and activities provide opportunities for children to express their creativity and imagination. Encourage your child to think outside the box and come up with innovative solutions to challenges.
4. Celebrate Achievements: Celebrate your child's accomplishments and progress in brain games activities. Whether it's completing a challenging puzzle or finding all the hidden words in a word search, acknowledging your child's efforts will help boost their confidence and motivation.
5. Have a book like Brain Games and Activities: Keeping a colorful activity book on hand for car trips and school breaks is a great way to keep kids screen free and provide instant boredom busters.

Evan-Moor's Brain Games and Activities book is a treasure trove of screen-free fun for children ages 4–11. Packed with entertaining and educational activities, including puzzles, word searches, mazes, and more, this activity book provides hours of engaging entertainment while promoting cognitive development and critical thinking skills. Try these free activities below.

Free Brain Games and Activities Worksheets 

Brain Games and Activities Ages 4-5 Get the free "Fun with Numbers" printable here.

Brain Games and Activities Ages 6-7 Get the free "Castle Project" printable here.

Brain Games and Activities Ages 8-9 Get the free "Crack the Code" printable here.

Brain Games and Activities Ages 10-11 Get the free "Find the Word" printable here.

By incorporating Brain Games and Activities into your child's routine and promoting screen-free learning at home, you're not only providing them with valuable educational opportunities, but also fostering a love for learning that will last a lifetime.

Incorporating financial literacy lessons into your curriculum is a great way to engage students in learning real-world math applications and life skills. Money-based word problems and real-world stories allow students the opportunity to learn important financial concepts, explore realistic opportunities, and make choices about using money, collecting allowances, applying for credit cards, and more.

Celebrate Financial Literacy Awareness Month in April with free printables from Financial Literacy Lessons and Activities, a valuable resource for promoting financial education and empowering kids with essential money management skills.

Download these free sample activities from Financial Literacy Lessons and Activities for grades 1–8 here.

Five Topics to Include in Financial Literacy Activities

These financial topics are a simple way to introduce the concepts of buying, earning, budgeting, saving, and borrowing into your lessons. Hands-on games, activities, and classroom discussions can engage students in learning these important life concepts and create fun learning experiences they will remember.

The lessons are already done for you and easy to implement. From getting students engaged to showing how math is used in daily life, we’ve got you covered with these free financial literacy printables and worksheets.

Activities Include:

• A real-world story
• Vocabulary and concept practice pages 
• Money-based word problems and math applications
• Hands-on partner and whole-class game

Create memorable and engaging math lessons with hands-on financial literacy games and activities. The real-life applications in Financial Literacy Lessons and Activities allow students to explore financial choices with the understanding that there isn’t a right or a wrong answer.

For more free activities and lesson ideas, subscribe to our e-newsletter here!

I don’t know any teacher who looks forward to doing report cards. This time always seems to be packed to the max with additional testing days and long to-do lists. Despite this, report cards are an important tool that schools employ to show parents how their child is progressing in school and should be completed with careful consideration.

Report card comments should be personalized for each student and provide meaningful feedback to help parents understand their child’s progress. The most important concept to remember when writing report card comments is to frame each statement in encouraging and positive language.

Here are a few tips to help you provide honest and valuable feedback while being encouraging and professional, including 100 sample report card comments that you can use today.

Download a free PDF of 100 Report Card Comments here!

5 Strategies for Simplifying Report Cards

1. Employ the sandwich feedback technique:

• Always begin with a positive comment and end with a positive comment. This approach can help parents receive any negative feedback with the understanding that you “see” their child and are approaching his or her learning with a “growth mindset” and not criticism.

2. Highlight areas of growth

• Every student has areas of growth throughout the school year. Find an area he or she has improved on and mention it. It could be in a field of study such as reading comprehension, fluency, math facts, handwriting, asking important questions or a personal attribute such as persevering, helping others, leadership in the classroom, etc.

3. Expand on areas of improvement

• Highlight important areas for improvement and provide practical advice/examples of how to work on this at home. Provide simple strategies that parents can implement that will give them a tangible tool to help their child at home. Even if you think the parent won’t or isn’t interested, it is a good idea to provide documented options for your school files.

4. Be transparent

• Being honest about students’ progress takes careful consideration. Be tactful in your comments and back up your observations with specific examples. (I recommend taking notes on students’ progress throughout the semester and using this documentation during report card time.) This is also a great time to include helpful strategies/ resources and offer advice on how parents can support their student at home.

5. Proofread

• Always proofread your reports before sending them. Report cards reflect you as a teacher and should be treated with the same consideration you show your students in the classroom.

100 Report Card Comments

Participation/Behavior/Attitude

Positive

• Takes an active role in discussions.
• Consistently cooperates with the teacher and other students.
• Listens well and shares ideas frequently.
• Works democratically with peers.
• Shows self-confidence in…
• Works well in groups, planning and carrying out activities.
• Follows directions well.
• An enthusiastic learner who enjoys school.
• Tackles new challenges with a positive attitude.
• Has a positive attitude about school.
• Consistently makes good choices during the school day.
• Shows respect for peers and teachers.
• Transitions easily between classroom activities and is not a distraction to others.
• Is sensitive to the thoughts and opinions of others.
• Is a leader and positive role model for students.
• Is enthusiastic about participating.
• Takes an active part in discussions about (topic).
• Speaks with confidence.
• Volunteers often.
• Has a great sense of humor and enjoys our class assignments.

Needs Improvement

• Has difficulty staying focused and on task. · Needs to actively participate in classroom discussion.
• Needs to work on not distracting others during class.
• Is learning to be careful, cooperative, and fair.
• I would like to see him/her work on…
• One area for improvement is…
• Eager to participate in class but needs to raise his/her hand.
• Is becoming more independent when completing class assignments.
• Needs frequent reminders to stay focused throughout the day.
• When motivated, does well on class assignments.
• Needs to work on following written and oral directions.
• Needs to actively participate in classroom discussions.
• Frequent absences are affecting (name’s) schoolwork.
• Needs to work on treating others with respect.
• Needs to work on completing homework assignments on time.
• Frequently comes to class unprepared.
• Often seems tired at school.
• Gets upset easily when (topic).
• Although _____________’s growth in social skills and maturity is continuing, it is not consistent.
• _______ continues to make nice progress this year concerning his/her attitude in the classroom and on the playground.

Time Management/Work Habits

Positive

• Uses class time wisely.
• Is a self-motivated student.
• Completes work on time.
• Is very organized.
• Demonstrates problem-solving skills and is persistent.
• Has done a great job facing and overcoming big challenges this year.
• Is very responsible and turns in work on time.
• Is a flexible learner and adapts to changes easily.
• Has made improvements in the area of…
• Has strengthened his/her skills in…

Needs Improvement

• Does not complete assignments on time. Seems unable to finish.
• Is encouraged to use time wisely to finish tasks in the time required.
• Struggles to stay organized and find appropriate materials (paper/pencil).
• Needs to slow down to improve the quality of his/her work.
• Is not working to full potential.
• Is easily distracted.
• Needs to listen and follow directions more carefully.
• Needs more opportunities to…
• Grades are suffering because of missed assignments.
• Would benefit from…

Growth Mindset

• Has demonstrated very good progress this year.
• Is learning how to be a better listener and takes direction well.
• Has worked very hard this year and has made strong gains in the area of ______.
• Has shown great improvement with ______.
• Is progressing nicely and shows consistent improvement in many areas of schoolwork, including ______.
• Is learning to be cooperative when working in groups.
• Is developing more positive ways to interact with others.
• Is listening to directions more carefully.
• Has continued to make steady progress with…
• Has shown noticeable improvement in…

General Subject Area Comments

Reading

• Has good reading and decoding skills.
• Is reading well at level…
• Uses reading strategies to increase his/her reading comprehension.
• Is reading smoothly and with good expression.
• Struggles with reading comprehension.
• I would like to see (name) read for 15 minutes each night.
• Is choosing books that are too simple for his/her level.
• Has difficulty using reading strategies to decode new words.
• Needs to learn basic sight words to improve decoding skills.
• Needs to build reading vocabulary.

Math

• Uses various strategies to solve one- and two-step word problems.
• Demonstrates a good understanding of math concepts.
• Demonstrates strong problem-solving skills.
• Has strengthened his/her critical thinking and problem-solving skills.
• Has difficulty understanding/solving word problems.
• Understands skills and strategies but has a difficult time explaining processes.
• Would benefit from memorizing math facts.
• Has difficulty solving multi-step problems.
• Needs to slow down and check work.
• Memorizing basic math facts would be helpful to…

Writing

• Is willing to learn new writing skills and quickly applies these skills within his/her writing.
• Understands and applies the correct use of punctuation within writing.
• Writing is clear and follows grammar and punctuation rules.
• Enjoys writing stories and can construct unique and interesting sentences.
• Is able to create clear and effective writing that is interesting to read and easy to comprehend.
• Has shown great improvement with his/her writing skills and is consistently increasing his or her writing comprehension and techniques.
• Has difficulty writing clear and understandable sentences.
• Words are often misplaced throughout his/her writing.
• Frequently displays grammatical errors within his/her writing.
• (Name) needs to slow down and review his/her writing.

Report cards are used to show parents what students have learned, areas they excel in, and areas for improvement. Although report card grades reflect how well a student is performing against a set of standards, I would refrain from any comparisons on report cards. Every student matures and develops at a different rate, and it is important not to focus on how well children compare to their classmates, but rather to highlight how they are excelling in their personal goals/growth.

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