Tips on Making Test Prep Fun

Turn it into a game.
Practice during train rides, while traveling, or while riding in the car – makes the trip go faster!
Pretend to be stumped yourself and let your child help you.
When playing IQ Fun Pack, I ask the questions using “proper” Space Baby voices and my daughter loves it.
I give positive reinforcement to my child after our practice time (extra ipad time, hugs and kisses, a favorite snack).
We give rewards for a job well done – but not every time.

We turned our practice questions into a “son vs. mom” game. He loves that.
We do the questions right from the site without printing them out and I call it an online game, which he loves.
My child is an enthusiastic learner and always enjoyed practicing the questions – he thought they were fun.
I called them puzzles and he thought they were a game.
We constantly made up our own games and incorporated your questions into our games.
We made it a contest between siblings! This can be done even if the kids are getting questions at different levels. They loved it.

We mixed up the different techniques we used so our child never got bored. Sometimes our son pointed to the answers on the site. Sometimes we played the on-line games. Sometimes we played IQ Fun Pack. Sometimes we printed the questions out and circled the answers. Sometimes we had father-son competitions!
Even when we weren’t playing IQ Fun Pack, we’d use the Space Babies from the game to “ask” my child questions from the site. She really got into explaining her answers to the Space Babies. You could do this with your child’s stuffed animals or finger puppets as well.
We always told our daughter we were playing a game and we made it feel like a game to her.
Use the TestingMom.com computer games.
On-line practice in “game” format worked well with my daughter. Giving her positive feedback and adding humor to the activities engaged her the most.
You know your own child. Find a way to get through to YOUR child and engage him. Make it interesting for him.

My son adores IQ Fun Pack. We bought a simple foam rocket launcher from Amazon. Whenever he finished a game, he gets to launch the rocket into “space” and send the space babies home for their dinner.
We came up with our own reward system for his participation that motivated him to want to do his “brain games.”
I would act silly and try to make him laugh when we worked together.
I tried to make up silly songs about the material.
My son loves super-heroes so we found ways to incorporate his super-hero figures into our practice sessions.
I never had to make it extra fun. Instead, I let my son enjoy it as if we were both trying to do the questions together. He always responded to that. When I couldn’t answer a question, he enjoyed “helping” me.
We acted some parts out, Googled words we didn’t know and told stories with such words.

During Family Fun Time, we used the questions as contest material (Dad almost always won!)
We played “against” each other. Every correct answer would earn a point. Whoever got 20 or 30 points first won the game. I made sure to answer some questions wrong, so that he always won…and he could correct me, which he loved doing.
We loved IQ Fun Pack (the “space baby” game). My child requested to play it even after we were done with testing.
I gave out points when we played and my son won stickers or temporary tattoos.
We provided praise as well as small awards (stickers, progress charts, etc.).
She got to pick out the coffee shop to go to where we would work on material together. She enjoyed the 1:1 time with us with no other distractions – no phones, no ipads – just her and me!
We used Skill Building Academy to prepare our 3rd grader for our state achievement test. It covered all the core skills she needed and presented the questions and lessons in super fun ways. If your child has to take an achievement test, this is a fun and effective resource that comes with your membership!
We played “school” with my daughter’s stuffed animals. I’d be the teacher and my daughter would answer questions I’d ask to different animals in their voices. Sometimes my daughter would be the teacher and ask questions to the animals and I’d answer for them. I’d purposefully miss some answers so my daughter would notice and have to “teach” the animal the right answer.