Pokemon Mania...

So my kids are totally into Pokemon. I am not exactly sure how it all began. Over the past few months I've reluctantly learned that I also need to learn to love Pokemon, and help my kids get inspired to do things with Pokemon that will expand and enrich their educational experience. I know you may think this sounds crazy, but its actually working.

A few months ago we researched all about the creator of Pokemon. Where he lived, how he came up with the Pokemon concept, etc... Then for the last month or so the kids have drawn, traced, and created lots of Pokemon art projects which has been fun. Pokemon has also spured many many hours of creative imaginative play. (Which is great since we don't watch much TV or play many electronic games.)

Last week we slowly started back into school, but our life was kind of crazy because we were in the middle of changing our 'office' into a school 'project room.' So I didn't have the ability to focus 100% on the kids. So I decided to get creative and brainstorm with Jarom and Megan regarding what they wanted to study that week. When the idea of creating an original Pokemon matching game came up they were all for it, and I was anxious to see what would happen.
The results were GREAT!!! They spent the whole drawing the playing cards out and creating the directions for the game. I was so proud of their creativity and determination. The best part was they figured out how to do it on their own and stuck with it for the whole week. Way to go kids!!


At first I tried to encourage Jarom to write by hand the instructions for the game, but after thinking about it again I realized it would be good practice for him to type the instructions up instead. He was so happy to be able to use the iMac for a school project.

I loved how careful he was when typing up the directions for the game.