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IdeaZine for Kids and Parents - Vol 2 July 2008Nature Activities - Learning Ideas - Kid-Friendly Volunteer Opportunities - Science Training for Parents Nature Activities ------------------------- Monsoon season is the time to get out in the desert! Even if its not just the day after a rain, July and August see a great deal of reptile, amphibian, insect and bird activity. Mammals too - the Star reported that at sunset, thousands of bats emerge from under many bridges around town, in particular the bridge at Broadway and Pantano. From that spectacle, try heading to Sabino Canyon with a flashlight to see toads catching brown june beetles. (We still have toads out regularly at night near the Santa Cruz river - I'm assuming they will be out at Sabino also). SASI Saturdays - our own Sonoran Arthropod Studies Institute hosts a free open house the fourth Saturday of each month, out at its headquarters near the Desert Museum. If coming over Gates Pass, the turnoff is on your right just a quarter-mile before you hit Kinney Road. Its a dirt road with an open gate and a small sign. See http://sasionline.org for details. Usually they have a nature walk early, then a adult-type presentation around 9 or 10, then the kid stuff plus a free lunch from 11- 1pm. It combines nicely with a Desert Museum visit, if you have high-energy kids - we sometimes do both, or sometimes we stay at SASI all day. If you ask nicely they may take you in the back room where they have a huge collection of interesting arthropods - from Ant leaf gardens to Vinageroons. Learning Ideas ---------------------- For the primary grades, try introducing math games like simple Sudoku. There is a booklet called Kidoku that has small puzzles that may appeal to new players. Dictated stories: even children as young as three may enjoy dictating a story to an adult, who tries to keep up with the twists and turns by typing or writing verbatim what the child says. I find that the child really enjoys having his or her exact words read back (without editing for the younger children). They may also want to take a turn typing at the story, which depending on the child's age may involve random letters, kid spelling, or mature writing. Reading back your child's exact words also gives interesting insight into his or her thought patterns. Picture Portfolio: For about $5-10 investment at an office supply store, an entire season's worth of creative work can be preserved - with only a few inches of shelf space. A large 3-ring binder and set of plastic sheet protectors create an effective child's art portfolio. The ability to save and look back on one's work is encouraging for the creator - from age 2 to 100. My kids love to look back at previous pictures and explain what it was they were about - which can turn into the dictated story above. Kid-Friendly Volunteer Opportunities -------------------------------------------------- Many organizations limit volunteers to teens and up, but not all. I've found a few kid-friendly opportunities around town and would love to know of more! The Zambian Children's Center is fundamentally kid-friendly. Founded by Tucsonan Kathe Padilla, they support an orphanage and school in Zambia and send over a 40-foot shipping cannister every two years. So about every week they hold 'packing parties' in which donations are packed into boxes suitable for shipping. I don't know what their current schedule is, you can contact them at ... Ferret Friends - a local ferret rescue organization, can always use help with cage cleaning and laundry (I'm not sure what ferret laundry consists of) and in the process I'm sure it would be possible to pet a ferret or two. We have not done this but when looking for a kid-friendly animal rescue organization, I talked to the coordinator. (We've been volunteering at a different sanctuary, Snakes 'n Critters. The owner, Cougar, is fine with kids coming over but I'd have to recommend only at your own risk. She has a number of dogs who were abused as puppies and who show some fear or aggression. She does have many fenced compartments where the dogs can be contained, and the animals are uniformly clean and well-kept, but it would definitely have to be a case of use your own judgement. It is a neat place with pot-bellied pigs, horses, snakes, a turtle and a goat.) Science Training for Parents --------------------------------------- I've just recently run into two different opportunities for parents to get semi-formal training in teaching science to kids. May not be for everybody, but for what its worth: - SPARKS Across America : a program to promote parental involvement in children's science education will actually pay for you to learn to teach kids science. The program is presented thru the Children's Museum, the Zoo and the Desert Museum. To find out more pick up a newsletter at the Tucson Children's Museum or contact Jennifer Phillips at 792-9985 x 111 or email jphillips at tucsonchildrensmuseum org - The Physics Factory - I haven't contacted them myself yet, but this seems to be a really neat group of science-lovers and they will also train you to be a mentor so you can teach physics to kids. see http://physicsfactory.org That's it for this month - have fun and send tidbits you want to share to ideazine at btucson com ! "" |
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