A shape poem is one that describes an object and is written in the shape of the object. To get your child’s creative juices flowing, you can look at examples of shape poetry here. Next, have your child pick an object
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
Innerspace List Poems
Adapted with permission from the Chicago City Park District’s “Once Upon a Day Camp” Guide, which was adapted from original source “Art & Poetry Projects for Kids”, by Alice George Using a piece of butcher paper, draw an outline of
How Playing Angry Birds Could Make Your Child Smarter

Have you noticed that kids nowadays are always glued to their phones or playing video games instead of going outside and hanging out with the neighborhood children? It seems that good ol’ fashioned games like duck, duck, goose are a
Out-of-the-Box Gaming
Much of the appeal of video games for kids lies in flexing their logic/strategy muscles and developing spatial aptitude via the game’s fast action and leveled challenges—not to mention getting the opportunity to be a “hero”—all of which can be
Paint by Part of Speech
Brush up your budding artist’s English skills by transforming a paint-by-numbers download into a a paint-by-part-of-speech. (Or rhyming words for the little ones.) 1. Download a paint by numbers drawing off the internet (this one came from http://allkidsnetwork.com/color-by-numbers/) 2. Import
Streams, Sculptures & Screens
Introduce your kids to the visual natural masterpieces of Andy Goldsworthy. Then, go on an outdoor “explore” with your kids and your camera phone with the intention of creating your own natural mixed medium masterpieces. As with Andy’s work, your
Score Well in Math
Inspired by Super Bowl Sub Game from Teaching Math to People with Down Syndrome and Other Hands On Learners Now that pre-season football has begun and families have started to think about afterschool sports, here’s a fun way to remember
Color De-Coding
Depending on your child's reading level, use color coding to help kids see patterns in spelling, vocabulary or grammar. For instance, if your child is learning to read, find an article in a magazine at home or print out a
Autobiographical Cube
Inspired by an activity in Multiple Intelligences in the Elementary Classroom: A Teachers Toolkit by Susan Baum, Julie Viens and Barbara Slatin. Take a square box (or die) and put 4 of your child’s FAVORITE multiple intelligences on the sides

