News
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Why We Can’t Live Without Common Sense Media
Read more →Parenting is a challenge all the time, and we all have our tips, tricks and tools for doing our best with what we’ve got: rewards, consequences, bribery, parental control apps, wi-fi shutter downers. For us, one of the most important tools in our parenting toolbox is a website called Common Sense Media. For those of you who don’t know it, Common Sense Media is a phenomenal resource for parents to find reviews of books, movies, TV shows, websites, games and apps. There are star ratings for everything and three separate age ratings: one for what Common Sense Media says, one for what parents...
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Make Homework Fun with a Mail Order Mystery
Read more →Ok parents. It’s homework time. You know what to do. You’ve read the advice. Don’t let the kids have fun until the work is done. Make homework a habit. Set a timer. Set another timer. Be involved. Don’t be too involved. Encourage, but don’t bribe. Support success but know when to let kids fail. Aaaggh! Why is this so hard?You see it like a movie montage: the slow-motion ripping up of the math worksheet, the lying-on-the-floor-crying while you are trying to make supper, the bleary, late night dioramas. There is no magic wand. But we know, from experience, that some things...
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Mail Order Mystery Inspires Kids to Demand Airplane Tickets for Real Life Treasure Hunt!
Read more →All of our mysteries are a mix of fact and fiction, and for a curious kid, a Mail Order Mystery can be a springboard for the soaring imagination. We once received a letter from a parent who was super peeved at us because her kids were finishing up the Treasure Hunt mystery and were demanding airplane tickets to the Seychelle Islands so they could keep searching for pirate treasure.We were entirely sympathetic, of course, because it’s hard to say no to kids, even when they are begging for plane tickets. We were also kind of thrilled, though. Her kids were so...
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Our Summer Spy School Students Are Sneaky, Stealthy and Smart
Read more →This summer’s spy school students (aka your kids) are off to a strong start, even though they may or may not yet know that an evil villain will soon attempt to end all fun and it’s up to them to save the world. We have faith in them, though. We know they can do it. In the first installment of the Spies, Lies and Serious Bad Guys mystery we send kids a questionnaire along with their acceptance letter to spy school. Our junior agents-in-training have been diligently filling out these questionnaires and sending them back to us. They write down all the reasons...
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Keep Kids Active with a Mail Order Mystery
Read more →In our Enchanted Slumber mystery, things are not always as they seem. In this twisting, turning take on the classic fairy tale, the knight is not much of a hero, the dragon is sensitive and kind, the troll loves books and the happy ending requires teamwork. Another twist in the Enchanted Slumber is that in order for kids to prepare themselves for a mission involving a seven-century long sleep, they must be awake, alert and fit. Knight training is serious business.These are the Official Rules and Guidelines for Accepting the Noble Mission in the Enchanted Slumber, which arrives in a wax-sealed envelope, written on parchment...
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Wanted: Junior Detectives, Heroes, Pirates & Spies for Summertime Adventure
Read more →I think we can all agree, regardless of when school ended and when the weather finally came to its senses, that summer is here. Summer can be a glorious time, especially for kids.But summer can be a mixed bag for adults. No matter what time of year it is there is always a to-do list. We can never fully explain to kids that we have more to do than just entertain them. Mail Order Mysteries are a great way to keep kids entertained, but they do more than just entertain. Mail Order Mysteries are six week long adventures of the imagination...