Attend a trade show or conference with some of your fellow advocates and/or a parent that is in alignment with your mission. (Maybe one of your new email pen pals will also be attending and you can meet!) Walk the
10 Ideas to Help Kids Understand That Honesty is the Best Policy
(Adapted from a piece on fulltimenanny.com. Used with permission.) One of the greatest challenges that both parents and teachers face is helping kids to learn the value and importance of honesty. Children learn to fudge the truth at a shockingly
Parking Lot Parade
Getting bikes all gussied up, then parading around on two (or three) wheels with friends is one way to get both fine and gross motor skills moving this summer. And while parents are growing increasingly wary of letting kids play
Be Playful
Have your child become a playwright. Take his/her natural gift for language and storytelling and apply it to playwriting. Creating dialogue, imagining character motivations and developing story arcs will help your child strengthen interpersonal smarts in a way that’s comfortable for
How Schools Are Improving Solutions for Kids with ADD & ADHD
In 2013, we’ll be delving more deeply into how some personality types and learning styles are aligned with certain learning differences…and what parents and teachers can do help honor and embrace these differences, while helping the kids play to their
Let’s Commune About Nature
If you haven’t already discovered Wordle, this activity will give you a fun introduction to this creative tool as well as a creative way to get your Kidzmet Kids talking about all the natural phenomena that are affecting our loved
The Way You Make Me Feel
Play different classical music pieces by different composers. How does the music make your child feel? What about each piece makes him/her feel that way? Instruments used? Chord progressions? Tempo? Melody? Harmonies? Extra Credit: Look up what the composer intended the piece
References We Used As We Developed Kidzmet
Genesis of Kidzmet While we started building the current version of Kidzmet in late 2010, the inspiration for the idea actually came from Jen Lilienstein’s undergraduate senior thesis in 1994. Under the direction of Dr. Francesca Cancian at UCI, Jen
Enlightening Film Fest
Watch a movie together, paying close attention to set design, camera angle and lighting. How do the changes in lighting or openness/closed feel of the set change the way your child interprets the emotional state of the actors? Extra Credit: Are
Fall Recipes Your Kids will “Gobble Gobble” Up
Few things are close to cooking for at-home learning activities that don’t feel like learning. There’s math involved in measuring and adjusting recipes; linguistic smarts involved in recipes & reviews; kinesthetic work involved in chopping/kneading/stirring/etc; interpersonal & communication skills involved since