Adapted from a Chicago City Parks & Rec activity recommendation (used with permission) See a familiar outdoor setting with new eyes as you and your child pretend to be aliens on a mission to explore our planet and report back to
Environmental Experiments
Set up a summer-long experiment to see how small changes in environment affect plants. Begin by planting identical plant seeds or young plants in 5 different containers (you can use cut off milk cartons or plastic bottles as your pots)
Remember Which State is Which? Naturally!
Build on your child’s blossoming naturistic and visual intelligence to connect state nature and name. Print out (or purchase) a good sized map of the United States, then decide which of the following to “map” on top of each state:
Animal Antics
Watch a short documentary or TV show about animals (e.g. Meerkat Manor or Wild Kingdom) with the sound off. After it’s over, talk about what your child thought was happening during the episode and the “characters” each animal played. Replay
Secret Hideout
Go to a nearby “wild” space with a few of your child’s friends and help the kids create a “secret hideout” solely from the trees, rocks, branches, etc. Show the kids how they can not only use the hideout for
Sensory Sensitivities
Visit different outdoor environments—e.g. the playground, a field, the woods, school, your backyard, a community garden, the zoo, the beach—or even just the same one at different times of day with your child and tune into your senses. What does
Backyard Bug Banquet
Use your child’s gifts for observation and analysis and use your backyard or nearby park as a math & science lab. One way Deborah Churchman of American Forests suggests is to mix overripe fruit and honey in a blender, then
Worldly Words
Learn about a different aspect of the world around you each week this summer! Brainstorm topics about the natural world that your child finds interesting, then put those topics in a hat or bowl. Have your child draw one topic
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
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