e*******t 发帖数: 111 | 1 http://www.wired.com/geekmom/2012/07/smart-summer-fun-kids/?utm
( The hyperlinks work on the webpage, not here:( )
1. Make a marble run out of junk.
2. Mail yourselves postcards when you go somewhere for the day, even around
town. It’s a hoot when kids get snail mail. Later in the week they’ll be
glad to get a card reading, Hi Me. I had a great time today riding a paddle-
boat with Grandpa. We both got wet. Bye self!
3. Learn to play a free instrument you already have. (Really, it’s in your
kitchen.)
4. Learn chemistry using pennies.
5. Let yeast blow up a balloon. Have kids write their names on balloons with
a permanent marker. Using a funnel, let them fill each balloon with 1
teaspoon sugar and 1 teaspoon dry yeast. Add a little warm water to each
balloon, tie shut, and shake to mix. Then put them outside on a hot sunny
day. Check to see how big the balloons have gotten every ten minutes or so.
Guess what might happen to balloons that get too big.
6. Subversively advance geographic knowledge using a wall map.
7. Designate your yard as a nature area.
8. Assert your authority over technology with unplugged Fridays and In Real
Life lessons. Or avoid broadcast TV entirely.
9. Start a regular family board game night.
10. Identify species in your neighborhood.
11. Get out a big, somewhat complicated puzzle and work on it when it’s too
hot to go outside.
12. Make story stones.
13. Bend light with water.
14. Become one-square foot observers. Lie on your bellies or sit cross-
legged and lean over to closely observe one square foot of grass, dirt, tide
pool, stream or other natural area. Explain that you’ll all have to stay
at this much longer than you think is necessary because just when you’re
about to give up you’ll begin to see details you hadn’t noticed before–
maybe noticing how plants are structured or tiny creatures moving at the
base of grass blades or the way water moves differently around rocks. This
is how artists see and how scientists make observations.
15. Have kids help you create an outdoor water wall.
16. Make a worm tower or indoor worm farm. For more information, check out
Worms Eat My Garbage: How to Set Up and Maintain a Worm Composting System..
17. Promote kids’ reading skills using picture books and sci fi.
18. Make a map of your yard, your bedroom, or an imaginary world. Label it
and keep it.
19. Build a bat house.
20. Slap the label “memory jar” on any large container and encourage your
family to toss in slips of paper describing an ordinary day, funny family
sayings, silly happenings, and other things that might slip your minds. This
memory jar can become an important family tradition.
21. Teach the scientific method at the grocery store.
22. Make 3-D mathematical models from paper plates.
23. Hide treasure and make a map to guide your kids to the location, marking
the treasure with the traditional “X.” Your kids may start drawing
treasure maps for each other.
24. Play brainstorming games when waiting in line at the store. For example
come up with as many animals as you can name in a minute, or give examples
of how a paperclip can be used, or play I Spy. And use this method to figure
out the shortest line.
25. Encourage your child’s natural storytelling abilities.
26. Make an aquarium in a jar.
27. Get your kids to predict the future. Better yet, write to your future
selves. The kids may want to write to themselves as they’ll be in ten years
or at your age. Don’t make this a child-only activity. Sit down and write
to your future self too. You’ll want to include a description of an average
day, list some favorite foods and activities, and imagine what you’ll be
doing at that future date. Now seal those envelopes, write “Do Not Open
Until ______” on the outside, and keep them somewhere you’ll remember.
28. Throw a backyard batik party and enjoy messy art-making with a crowd.
29. Learn about simple machines by making and using a pulley.
30. Write letters. You might want to write to companies whose products you
use, authors, scientists, inventors, and other people you admire. You may
actually get return mail. To insure this, make sure you also write to
grandparents. |
|