Mutt 101 – Raising a Pet with Your Blaster

There appears to be some mysterious and exciting happenings going on with our earthling counterparts over at JumpStart, and it seems as though our children will have the opportunity to embark on a brand new adventure. As our fairy friend Ivy has sent along a memo through cyber transmission, she has tipped us that Mythies, the very distant JumpStart cousins to our very own Mutts, will be essential to these missions.

Mutt101As your Blaster has learned from their Spaceport adventures, training a Mutt is a long journey. Between maintaining their pet’s energy and teaching them powerful skills, your child must put a lot of focus and care into raising their Mutt. In the end, your Blaster will not only have a loyal sidekick, but they will also have built important character traits in themselves. Here are three important skills your child will learn by mastering their Mutt Training, and how they can hone them:

  1. Responsibility:
    The most important characteristic in being a successful Mutt trainer is being incredibly responsible. In order for your child to begin teaching their pet special powers, they will need to make sure their Mutt is in good health. To do this, they will have to monitor their Mutt’s health levels in the top-right corner. In addition to knowing when they must feed and play with their Mutt, your child will also learn how to listen and communicate with their Mutt. This will allow them to really understand what is running through their pet’s mind.
  2. Time Management:
    There are so many exciting things happening at Spaceport at any given moment, and it can be difficult for your child to remember that they must care for their Mutt. After all, sometimes you really get sucked into the high-velocity tunnels of Hyperblast and lose track of time. When you are working on raising your Mutt, time management becomes very important. Your child will need to make sure they know when their Mutt is ready for another level at the Mutt Training School, or when they might need to feed their pal. Good time-management skills allows your Blaster to do all of the things they love on board the ship, while making sure their Mutt is at its healthiest.
  3. Patience:
    Lastly, patience will be key to raising a top-notch Mutt. In order for a Mutt to grow strong and powerful, they need some time to develop. Even the process for turning a larva into a baby Mutt takes about five hours, so it is important for your child to stay patient even though they might be incredibly excited to play with their new friend. Once their Mutt becomes old enough for school, your child will once again learn the frustrations of trial and error. Some skills will take longer for their Mutt to learn and it will be extremely important learning experience as your child becomes a supportive and encouraging even as their Mutt goes through the obstacles of growing up.

While your Blaster goes on the exciting adventure of raising their first Mutt, they are bound to wrestle with the challenges of building these three characteristics. The process of training a Mutt is not just a learning experience for their space pet; it’s a learning experience for them as well. There are many other things your Blaster may pick up along the way as well, or different ways to tackle these obstacles. We would love to hear about your child’s experience raising a Mutt and their own suggestions.

With their newfound knowledge, make sure your Blaster takes their discoveries from their Spaceport missions and beyond! They might just find these skills will come in handy for future JumpStart missions too.

DIY Gift Exchange Ideas

The holidays often provide ample opportunities for you and your Blasters to celebrate with friends and exchange gifts as tokens of appreciate and a means of marking this very special time of year. And while the act of exchanging gifts can have all kinds of different meanings to each person involved, have you ever thought to explore the role of learning and the development of new skills through DIY holiday gift exchanges? Start by cutting the costs and looking for how you might create a homemade present instead!

DIY Holiday
Not sure where to start? Head to our DIY Holiday Gift page on Pinterest for a number of exciting craft ideas that not only promote learning and developmental skills but that also make for memorable and cherished holiday presents. From edible treats to holiday décor and so much more, the possibilities are seemingly endless when it comes to creating unique holiday gifts that your friends and family will love.

And the best part is that no matter the project that you choose these are tools for learning in almost all crafts. Remember to highlight the following elements of crafting with your kids if they’re lending a helping hand this holiday season -

  • Counting / Measuring Quantities - How many gifts will you be making? How much of each material will you need to complete your crafting project?
  • Developmental Skills - Crafts can help children approach problem solving, motor skills, creative thinking and more.

Free Educational Resources for Kids

With all the different topics kids learn in school, some subjects may be tougher than others to master. This is where extra practice can yield big results from your littlest learner to your oldest student. Worksheets are a great way to exercise various subjects and a great resource for parents who want to give their kids a boost in specific school subject areas. Give your kids a breath of fresh air from the routine subject drilling they experience at school with these fun and free worksheets that will allow your kids the freedom to further develop their learning.

World of Percentage - Printable Math Worksheet


Math
can be a tough subject for kids to master, but by learning this subject in a fun way, your kids will find reason to excel. From addition to geometry or from kindergarten through the 7th grade, Math Blaster has stimulating Math Worksheets to fit your child’s needs.

Science is an essential subject that children start to learn of at a very early age. By encouraging them to understand scientific concepts through JumpStart’s, fascinatingly fun science worksheets designed for pre-k learners on through 5th graders. Your child will learn important problem solving and critical thinking skills.
Click here for more educational resources!

Worksheet of the Week

 

Trip to the Aquarium - Free Math Worksheet for 5th Grade

Worksheet of the Week

Plants Evolved to Survive Cold Weather

Have you ever wondered why some trees lose their leaves in the winter? It’s actually how these trees cope with the cold weather. But what about other plants that seem to disappear during the chilly winter months? Scientists have learned that plants have evolved in different ways to deal with frosty temperatures.

Photo by Jason Hollinger

Fossil evidence and records of past climate conditions tip-off that early flowering plants grew in warm tropical regions. As plants continued to grow and spread to different areas, they eventually reached higher elevations where temperatures were cooler. With the cold came challenges for survival so plants evolved in ways to combat the wintry weather.

Plants can’t move to escape the cold and they can’t make heat like humans do to keep warm. But it’s not really the cold that’s the biggest threat to plants—it’s the ice. Freezing and thawing can create air bubbles that can block their internal water flow. So plants that live in colder climates need to protect themselves from the ice.

Photo by muffinn

Here are some ways that plants have evolved to cope with the cold:

Oak trees evolved to avoid freezing by shutting off its water flow from the roots to its leaves. This is why oak trees lose their leaves during the winter chill. When the warmer weather returns, the flow of water is turned back on and new leaves grow.

Birch trees grow with narrow water transport system which is less prone to blockage during freezing temperatures.

Other plants have the ability to die and come back when the weather becomes warmer. They re-sprout from their roots or grow as new plants from seeds when the weather is right.

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