Productive Summer Projects

One of the many nice things about summer is the free time it gives kids to read about other lands and to broaden their interests. Younger children, 3 to 8 years old might like the following books:

• Brush of the Gods by Lenore Look introduces Wu Daozi, a 7th century Chinese artist
• Ruby's Wish by Shirin Yim Bridges tells about a Chinese girl who wanted to go to a university
• The Fortune Tellers by Lloyd Alexander takes children to Cameroon to hear about a poor carpenter who tried unsuccessfully to be a fortune teller. Kids will really like the illustrations, too
• Bravo, Chico Canta! Bravo! by Pat Mora and Libby Martinez shows how it helps to know more that one language, when a multilingual mouse saves his family that lives in a theatre

An elementary schooler may enjoy The Year of the Fortune Cookie by Andrea Cheng, a Chinese-American girl who visits China and sees the country from her perspective. Teens and young adults can be introduced to Russian history by reading The Family Romanov by Candace Fleming. Using pictures and text, she describes the country's last royal family. 

To find an extensive list of science-related books for various age groups, sample the collection compiled by the iINK Think Tank at inkthinktank.com.

     Kids can escape the fate of some high school students in Wisconsin who didn't graduate with their classes, because they failed to fulfill their community service requirements by learning to help people and animals who are hungry, lonely, have a disease, or are suffering in some other way. Sometimes bringing a flower from the garden or cookies they helped bake on a visit will cheer a grandparent, neighbor, or nursing home resident. To reach beyond their communities to buy mosquito nets, school books, or vaccines, students can raise money for donations from a yard sale, lemonade or produce stand, or sales of jewelry or other crafts they have made. (See other suggestions in the earlier post, "Hope for the Future.)

     The following ideas for helping animals came from the World Wildlife Fund:

1) Young people with a summer birthday can ask guests, instead of presents, to contribute an amount equivalent to their ages to an animal cause.

2) If youngsters are competing in running, swimming, or cycling races this summer, they can ask friends and family members to donate a $1 per mile or lap to an animal cause.

3) Students can start writing a free blog (on blogspot.com, for example) about favorite animals: such as dolphins, sharks, tigers, wolves, monkeys, pandas, and ask blog viewers to contribute to an animal rescue or conservation organization (Some of these organizations are mentioned on the earlier blog post, "Talk with the Animals.)