On this rainy day in Muskoka, I know there will be complaints. Canadians always complain about the weather. A couple of my Facebook friends have been complaining about those who are complaining.The rain is a welcome break in the heat and humidity. We have been careful to open up the house at night, and close up, closing curtains in the day time.
This post arises from my experience as a teacher. While visiting the library yesterday, I noticed a drawing program for kids, as well as an intriguing box.
Our local Muskoka Lakes libraries have some great programs, as well as the books available!
They are hatching some monarch butterflies. Cathy released a butterfly while I was waiting for my hubby who was in a meeting!
As they emerge from the cocoon, and sit for awhile, eventually they can be released into the outdoors.
Specifically for kids: especially for kids with any learning disability, they need to keep up their reading and practice literacy and numeracy skills over the summer. Good readers get to be great readers by... reading!
Here are some things you can do to keep kid's brains working:
- Keep a journal. (Do not mark their spelling, ask them to choose 3 words they want you to check. No more!)
- Keep track of money spent: how much per day or per month does your family spend on vacation for groceries, transportation, accomodation, entertainment?
- Create a dream location: locate your holiday destination(s) on a map, find your location on Mapquest or Google maps.
- Create some skits about cottage life. Write a play. Do some improv plays.
- Write a creative story about where you are or would like to be this week.
- Write about Fridays, or Someone Who Understands.
- If you have access to Internet &/or TV, do an Olympic Project.
- Create a bird watching list, take photos, make a scrapbook, study insects, rocks, trees.
- Visit the MNR info page and collect pamphlets and flyers about wildlife, ponds, turtles.
- Create a scavenger hunt.
- Do book talks as a family.
- Create a written or verbal Reading Response.
- Ask kids to earn computer time by writing an essay.
- Purchase writing books and drawing pads, bring new coloured pencils or crayons.
- Buy the kids a disposable camera, let them plan a photo show, and teach them photography.
- They can used the photos for a scrapbook for memories.
- Blow bubbles.
- Create a slide show or video of cottage events.
- Scrabble, Monopoly, Backgammon, Sorry, card games, activity books (Soduko or crosswords!).
- This is a great time to do a BIG puzzle - set it up out of the way and work on it when you feel like it.
2 comments:
great ideas, I have seen that monarch butterfly idea somewhere else, can't remember where though.
Gill
Oh and I for one am glad of the rain, as it saves me watering the gardens!!
Seeing those pupae made me think of a book I read several years ago - as a teenager, she used the pupae as earrings while they were hibernating, or whatever the right word is. Then let the butterflies hatch out, and released them.
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