The “Tween” Years The tween years are a fun time when children engage in creative learning. They are fascinated by projects and enjoy spending time creating. They have a wonderful sense of humor and their fantasy lives have evolved, probably sparked by books like Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson series (all hail Olympians!) and Veronica Roth's Divergent series (where choices become reality ). Children this age are often voracious readers and you should do everything you can to encourage them in this activity. Children who read every day also learn well in school and make excellent academic progress. Toys between teens can be fun and often follow their fantasy interest. For boys (especially), Minecraft has probably captured their imagination. If so, consider a Lego building kit. These are small LEGOs that require thoughtful engagement in order to piece the projects together. Working with these building blocks can help your child work on functional geometry and pattern making. These are not only important mathematical concepts, they also provide a basis for three-dimensional thinking. This is an essential concept in physics! If you have a child who struggles with math, consider using these kits to help them overcome some of their basic fears. There are many educational projects online that incorporate the use of LEGO to help students. You may also want to consider letting your child join a LEGO league. These teams are inspiring. Kids team up to build a robot that will solve a “world problem.” Children who participate in these leagues learn engineering, science, math, and even language skills. For more information, see this link: http://www.firstlegoleague.org/.Rememb...... middle of document...... Remember that even things that constitute deficits can be transformed into positive skills. If you have a child who spends too much time "playing," help them learn about how programmers create and develop computer games. For teens who “watch too many movies or too much TV,” try a camcorder. Not only does it engage their love of entertainment, but it can help them learn essential filmmaking and computer skills. One last piece of advice: give importance to time spent with family. Board games can be great ways for families to spend time together and learn from each other. Backgammon, Monopoly, Scrabble and Risk (among others) are ways to integrate “quiet advice” into everyday life. Talking in a game supports the most important parenting tool available: communication. Family home evenings are a way for families to reconnect, relax and have fun. When you have a teenager, nothing is more important.