My kids are now in school. They didn’t want the summer to end. I don’t blame them. In the summer time as a kid I remember staying up late and playing outside until the street lights came on. Now as a parent I see the joy of summer vacation through my children’s eyes. They had sleepovers, playdates, and fun summer trips.
All of that is done. At least until the next summer break. A lot of teachers are sad to see their summer end too. They know a lot of their students were not reading and writing like they did during the school year. I remember talking to one teacher from my child’s preschool saying that it is not a bad idea to get supplement books for the summer to keep what they have learned in the past school year fresh on their minds.
So each year now I run a summer school if you will for my kids to keep their minds active during the summer break. It is not an all-day thing, but we do activity sheets, write short stories, and do math problems Monday through Friday while they are on summer vacation. Since I started this up when they were young they don’t seem to mind it. Sometimes they ask to do their work right after breakfast. We have been making a lot of trips to the library as my kids were reading books left and right this summer. We would talk about the story they just read and see which parts were their favorites. We even went a bit further as they would write their own story to go along with the book they just finished.
I am very happy to say that they didn’t complain about doing the work and each year I try to reward them right before they go back to school. This year I knew exactly what I was going to get them. This summer has been what I dubbed, “The Summer of LEGOs.” There were days where they would just play with LEGO sets the entire day. They even had LEGO playdates with their friends.
So with that in mind I got them the LEGO Elves Queen Dragon’s Rescue set. They have been loving the LEGO Elves characters, sets, and the app on their tablets. They had a few of the dragons and elves already and would pine over this set when they saw it in the store.
Needless to say when my spouse and I gave that set to them they were ecstatic. They wanted to build it right away. They opened up box as quickly as they could and we all sat at the table and began building another great Elves set together. While we were building the set we were talking about their favorite Elves characters and dragons. We were also reminding them about how we appreciate their hard work both during the school year and this past summer.
This was a great way to put a bow on a fun summer vacation for them. They put in the hard work in my “Summer School” and got to reap the rewards with an incredible Elves set. Below is some information on the LEGO Elves Queen Dragon’s Rescue set that sells for around $69.99.
The Elf Witch’s minion, Dusti the evil fox, is guarding the castle tower and the captive Queen dragon! Help Emily Jones and Azari sneak in and find the key to unlock the chains. Make your way across the lava pit with Azari’s powers and distract Dusti. Join Emily while she bonds with the Queen dragon as Azari unlocks the chains, then hop on the dragon’s back with the girls and fly away!
The set includes Emily Jones and Azari mini-doll figures, plus Elandra the Queen dragon, Dusti the evil fox and a mouse. Features a 2-story castle tower with bedroom and cave, opening dungeon gate, chain and shackles to bind the Queen dragon and a ballista that shoots blasts of “poison”. Turn the “hidden” green crystal to move the stepping stones across the lava. Push the lever to open the dungeon door and find the captured mouse from the Crystal Mine. Find the key in the fox’s bedroom and free the Queen dragon from her shackles. Accessory elements include the Book of Dragons, capes for Emily and Azari, a hood for Azari, hourglass, fish, sack, crystal heart, potion, cheese, key and a diamond brick. This set offers an age-appropriate building experience for ages 9-12. Castle tower measures over 7” (18cm) high, 3” (9cm) wide and 9” (25cm) deep. Elandra the Queen dragon measures over 3” (10cm) high, 15” (40cm) long and has a wingspan of 15” (40cm).
Looks and sounds pretty cool huh? If you want to pick up the set go to LEGO.com.