August 2012 Activities

“August 2012 Activities” by Linda Martin Andersen

  “A Writer’s Playground”

A place to find wordplay, writing, and monthly calendar activities for kids and those young at heart.

Think:  What does the word “August” bring to mind?

• End of summer vacation
• School supplies, fall clothes, backpacks, and all things Back to School.
• Tax Free Weekend–Here’s a link to Department of Revenue in North Carolina.  Check to see if your state participates.  http://www.dor.state.nc.us/press/2012/salesholiday.html

What else happens in August?  Choose one of the conversation starters below and leave a comment.

Special Days in August:

• Respect for Parents:  1  What’s one way you show your parents respect?  What’s one way you can improve?
• World Wide Web Day:  1  Brainstorm internet terms.  Name ways the internet has made positive and negative differences.  Use the internet to connect with family and friends near and far away.
• Watermelon Day:  3  List the products you know with watermelon flavor.  Which would you recommend to a friend?
• National Chocolate Chip Day:  4  What can you add chocolate chips to today?  Pancakes, cookies, trailmix, etc.
• National Mustard Day:  4 (1st Saturday)  Read the parable of the mustard seed.  What do you think it means?  Do you like hotdogs and hamburgers with or without mustard?  Do you like honey mustard or spicy mustard? 
• Social Security Day:  4 Ask your parents or grandparents to explain what Social Security is.  Do they predict it will exist in the future?  What would they recommend be done, if anything?
• Friendship Day:  5 (1st Sunday) Visit again on Friendship Day for an interview with Julie Bowe. Also, enter a giveaway for a signed copy of My Extra Best Friend, the last book in her “Friends for Keeps” Series.
• National Kids’ Day:  5 (1st Sunday) What would be your idea of a picture perfect Kids’ Day?
• Vinyl Record Day:  12 Ask your parents or grandparents about the history, size, and speed of vinyl records.  Does anyone you know collect these?  Have you ever played one on a record player?
• International Lefthander’s Day:  13  Research names of people who are lefthanded.   Tell of a time you noticed a left-hander doing something differently from a righthander.  What are other things they do differently?
• Poet’s Day:  21  I know a poet who writes a poem a day for kids and posts it on her blog.   She told me that she wished she could eat a sandwich with her favorite poet for Poet’s Day.  I can’t arrange that, but maybe I can persuade you to share one of your poems with her. Follow this link to meet Joy Acey, the Princess of Poetry:  http://www.poetryforkidsjoy.blogspot.com/ Leave her a comment.  Follow her blog and begin writing poetry every day like Joy.
• Senior Citizen’s Day:  21  What is a senior citizen?  Make a list of all the senior citizens you know.  Do they live in a rest home, nursing home, at home, with family members?  Do you have senior citizens in your neighborhood?  In your church?  How can you help seniors?  Get your parents’ permission first.

Special Weeks in August:

• International Clown Week:  1-7 Do you know anyone who is afraid of clowns?  What is that fear called?  What is your most pleasant memory of a clown?  What is your favorite book with a clown?  Read it again.  What fast food restaurant(s) uses a clown character for advertising?  Where else do you see clowns?
• Exercise With Your Child Week:  6-12  What type exercise does your family do together?  What would you like to do together?  Why not ask?
• National Scrabble Week:  11-15  Have you ever played Scrabble?  Other word games?  Have you ever visited a library for a game night there?  Does your family play board games together?  Why not start a board game club?
• National Aviation Week 15-21 Visit Wright Brothers Memorial in Kitty Hawk, NC, home of the first successful airplane flight in 1903.  Check their website:  http://www.nps.gov/wrbr/index.htm  The park schedules events for kids including homemade kite flying and a way to earn Junior Ranger badges.  Read a book about Wilbur and Orville Wright.
• Little League Baseball World Series:  17-26 Research the history of Little League Baseball.  Have you ever played for a baseball team?  What position did you play?  Tell about a favorite memory.
• Be Kind to Humankind Week:  25-31 What are random acts of kindness?  Try one.  Get parent permission first.
• National Safe at Home Week:  27-31 (Last M-F Week)  Do you have a home safety plan?  A fire escape plan?  Create and post an evacuation plan and practice it.  Schools have drills.  Homes can too.

August is…

• American Indian Heritage Month  What Native Americans are in your area?  Learn more about one of them.  Read books about Native Americans.
• What Will Be Your Legacy Month  What is a legacy?  What do you want yours to be?  Discuss your ideas with your parents.  Set goals.

*Thank you Brownie Locks.com for August celebration information.  For more August observances check out:  http://www.brownielocks.com/august.html

Let’s talk:  Choose one or more of the conversation starters above and leave a comment.  Thank you for visiting “A Writer’s Playground.”  Please come again soon.  Bring a friend.

*Resources:  http//vertex42.com (calendar) and http://www.brownielocks.com/august.html(calendar observances)

Coming next: Meet Julie Bowe, author of “Friends For Keeps” Series and Register for a Signed Copy Giveaway

Copyright © 2012 Linda Martin Andersen

 

June 2012 Activities

“June 2012 Activities” by Linda Martin Andersen

  “A Writer’s Playground”

A place to find word play, writing, and monthly calendar activities for kids and those young at heart.

Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.

Think:  What does the word “June” bring to mind?

June bug—beetle, nickname for NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt Jr., and Mitch Capel, better known as “Gran’daddy Junebug,” a storyteller from Southern Pines, North Carolina.   Listen to one or more story segments.  Consider “Opportunities” and “The Colored Soldiers” by Gran’daddy Junebug at http://gjbug.com/Store.php.

June bride–many couples choose this month for their weddings.  Read a book about a child who is in a wedding or attends one.  Write about something that went wrong at a wedding.  For example, the groom’s ring nearly rolled into a storm drain at my wedding.

Summer vacation, summer camps, Summer Reading Club at public libraries, etc.  Are there science, math, or history camps in your area?  Try something new.

Father’s Day–cards, gifts, and cookouts.  Offer to find a new recipe and cook it for Father’s Day.  Make gift receipts for chores you will do for dad, such as wash his car.

What else happens in June?

Special Days in June:

• National Go Barefoot Day:  1
• National Running Day:  2
• Do-Dah Day (Salute to Silliness) :  4
• D-Day:  6
• Flag Day:  14
• National Flip Flop Day:  15 (3rd Friday)
• Father’s Day:  17
• June Solstice:  20
• Log Cabin Day:  24
• International Fairy Day: 24
• Tour De France:  30

Special Weeks in June:

• Old Time Fiddlers Week:  18-25 (3^rd Week)
• Watermelon Seed Spitting Week:  21-24 (Last Weekend Thursday-Sunday)

June is…

• National Camping Month
• National Rivers Month
• Great Outdoors Month
• National Smile Month
• Vision Research Month
• Adopt a Shelter Cat Month

*Thank you Brownie Locks.com for June celebration information.  For more June observances check out:  http://www.brownielocks.com/june.html. While visiting her site, look for foods, activities, and topics to research:  Why not cook fudge on Fudge Day (16).  Try a new activity such as juggling (16).  Research a topic such as eagles for American Eagle Day. (20)

Let’s talk:  Choose one or more of the conversation starters below and leave a comment…

1.  When you think of June, think of “summer reads.”  What books would you like to read just for fun?  Will you join a summer reading club at your local library?  Some give prizes.  Challenge your whole family to participate.

2.  School gets out in June.  Now that’s something “worth whistling about.”  What does that expression mean?  Now that you  have more time at home, will you keep your room “clean as a whistle?”  If you leave a mess, will your little brother or sister be a “whistleblower?” Have you heard this one? “A whistling woman and a crowing hen always come to some bad end.” (Choose one of these expressions and comment about it.)

3.  Do you have a bicycle?  Describe it.  Does it have speeds?  How many?  Is it a mountain bike or a racing bike?  Tell about a time you raced on your bike.  Research racers and their speeds in the Tour De France.

4.  Describe a time you went barefoot and you wished you had shoes.  For example:  Stepped on sandspurs.  Describe a time when you went barefoot and you’re very glad you did.

5.  In honor of National Running Day, research a runner.  Read a picture book about a fictional character who ran such as The Gingerbread Man.  Find a nonfiction book about a track-and-field athlete such as Jesse Owens.  Search for books about other runners.

6.  Name three ways to salute silliness on Do-Dah Day.  For example:  wear two different colors of socks or a silly hat like mine.  Have someone push you in a wheelbarrow.  Watch out, you may get dumped.

7.  Name famous Americans who lived in log cabins.  Locate a log cabin in your area that provides tour.  Research vocabulary words for log cabin construction.  For example:  chinking.

8.  Name a favorite fairy character.  Name different types of fairies.  For example:  flower fairies.  Draw a design for a fairy costume, book bag design, fairy zone sign, and enchanted fairy garden.  What are brownies?  Name a book with fairies or brownies.

9.  When did you attend a festival that served watermelons.  What contests were held?  Create an original festival contest.  Tell of a time you were in a contest at an outdoor event.

10. Do you know the name:  Doc Watson?  If not, research him.  What type events do you think are part of “Old Time Fiddlers Week?” What event would you want to attend?  Why?  Do you play a musical instrument?  If so, what?  What would you like to learn to play?

11.  Is there a walking path near a river in your hometown?  Have you ever traveled on a river?  How did you travel?  Write an advertisement for a trip on the river.  What information would you include?  What information would you not include?  Why?

12.  If you were a vision research scientist, what disease would you want to treat?  Why?  Do you know someone who has a disease of the eyes?  Which one?  What causes it?  Does your area have a center for the blind?  What are some of their services?

13.  Do you own a pet?  What kind?  Did you get your pet from the store or from the animal shelter?  Why do cities encourage animal lovers to adopt pets?  Tell about an adventure with your pet.

14.  Summers are for cookouts.  Have you ever roasted a hotdog over an open fire?  Have you toasted marshmallows?  Do you like yours golden brown or charcoal black?  What ghost stories can you tell?  Tell some by a campfire, with parent supervision. Check out additional ghost stories at the library.

15.  Create a special Father’s Day card (Grandfather/Uncle/Foster father).  Write a message about a special Father’s Day memory or thank your father for something he has done for you.  Remember that glitter and stickers make dads smile too.

Thank you for visiting “A Writer’s Playground.”  Please come again soon.  Bring a friend.

*Resources:  http//vertex42.com (calendar)

http://www.brownielocks.com/june.html (calendar observances)

Coming next post:  Meet a whistler.

Copyright © 2012 Linda Martin Andersen