It was so gratifying to receive this email from a parent whose children have been enjoying our blog over the past several months:
I just wanted to take a sec to let you know how helpful the Enrichment Alliance after-school online web page has been for my family and me… My mother moved in with us before the COVID outbreak, and then with twin girls we’ve definitely had our hands full… But, I was able to find some excellent online resources to use with them (their school district is going back to remote learning after winter break) Marie and Justine especially enjoy the zoo websites and live cams… they love animals and nature. Its been wonderful grandma/granddaughter bonding time! – Parent
But even more delightful was learning that the girls and their grandmother wanted to share the joy by offering their own recommendation. They suggested a webpage on HIGHRISES that offers a narrative description of the San Diego Zoo and its history along with several external links. The HIGHRISES links were not researched or selected by the Enrichment Alliance, and their inclusion is not an endorsement, but I have included the link for those who want to view all of their listings. I’ve picked a few of their links that seem of particular interest and added them below. Thank you so much Justine, Marie, and GG. Our readers are going to love exploring the San Diego Zoo with you.
About Science: Games, activities, information, and quizzes for our future zoologists.
All About Bats I’ve linked this to the activities page, because they offer some really cool hands-on activities, but explore the videos as well. This is an older website, and there are no new videos up, but the information and activities are worthwhile.
Frog Watch USA: There’s no better time to become a volunteer frog monitor, since their activities begin in February.
The Mighty, Mighty Bison: Offers a video and information on bison, and links to information on other species.
Nasa Climate Kids. After learning about lemurs and the problems they face, you’ll want to scroll down the page and enjoy an array of activities and videos. This is an archived link, but explore newer pages while you visit this site.
Nature Conservancy of Australia: You’ll love the pictures of Kookaburras on the main page, but I’ve chosen to link you to their “get involved” page so you can adapt their wildlife garden ideas to support the amazing birds live in your part of the world.
National Geographic: Could anything be as AWWWWWWW inspiring as these koala videos?
Zoohackathon: Learn about how coding skills can help end wildlife trafficking.
This is NOT the San Diego Zoo, but when I read this morning that Mei Xiang and Tian Tian, mother and cub pandas, had made their webcam debut, I couldn’t resist adding The Washington Zoo panda cam.
Share your own ideas for out-of-school time enrichment and we’ll be thrilled to consider incorporating them into our blog. We will not endorse products or websites; we simply share information that appears appropriate, affordable, and inclusive.
Our Purchases for Children in Need This Holiday Season
In Part One of this post, published on November 16, 2020, I talked about the benefits of board games and shared some recommendations from Charlottesville toy stores Alakazam Toys and Shananigans Toys, two delightful local toy stores that have been fabulous partners in our efforts to get enrichment materials out to low-income children since the pandemic started.
Their selections were included among the games that were delivered to New Beginnings Christian Community Church to be shared with community families in need. Other selections were made based on reviews and our own experiences. These and other toys will be available for parents/guardians to select as they chose Christmas gifts for their children. Today I am sharing the complete list of games we sent over.
This list is far from exhaustive. We focused on games that could be purchased for a large number of children by a non-profit on a budget. Even within those limits, we left out at least as many awesome games as we included. Fortunately, there is always next year.
These games are arranged by the earliest recommended age. Some age recommendations were taken directly from the manufacturers, but others were taken from community votes on gameboardgeek.com. Many games that can be introduced at an early age are games that are played and enjoyed through a lifetime (chess, backgammon, mancala to name only a few). Please see our blog post Adapting Board Games for ideas on making board games accessible across ages and abilities.
Toddlers and Pre-Schoolers
Three Little Piggies by SmartMax is one of my all-time favorite games for preschoolers. It is a single player game in which players set up the game board and then have to put each piggie in a house while keeping the wolf out of the house. This game requires players to execute a guess and check strategy and experience facing challenges in an engaging and fun way. There is only one correct answer to each puzzle! The lessons from this game are many – hard work pays off when you finally solve the challenge and struggling a little bit while you solve a problem is a good thing as you can eliminate possibilities. It also suits their attention span and they can play for as long or as short a time as they want. Fantastic fun for kids, and I dare adults to not get hooked on this game, too! ~ Amanda Stevens, Shenanigans Toys
2-4 years
Sequencing
Literature Appreciation
Problem Solving
Logic
Roll and Play Toddler Game by Think Fun. This is a dice rolling game for tots. Roll the dice and do what is suggested by the card. For more information see the review on Fatherly
Skills and Concepts:
18 months to 4 years
Color Recognition
Numbers
Creativity
Turn Taking
Gross Motor Skills
Skills and Concepts:
Hoot Owl Hoot by Peaceable Kingdom is a cooperative board game in which players work together to get owls home before the sun comes up. For more information see A Mom’s Take.
4-8 years
Skills and Concepts:
Color Recognition
Turn Taking
Strategy
Cooperation
Pre-K and Early Elementary
Some of these games are appropriate for older children and adults.
My First Carcassonne, by Asmodee, is an introduction to the more complex game described below. My First Carcassonne is a variation that is more focused on the skills, interests, and attention of young players, but can be used as an expansion pack when players are ready for a more sophisticated game. ~MaryAnna Dunn, Enrichment Alliance
4-7 years
Skills and Concepts:
Planning and Decision Making
Strategic Thinking
Social Studies
Economics
Outfoxed, by GameWright. One of my most important qualifications for a board game for the younger set is that it must be fun for parents to play as well, and Outfoxed is always my first recommendation for early game play for that reason. It’s easy to learn and fun for the whole family! A pot pie has gone missing, and players must deduce who the guilty party is before the fox gets away! Outfoxed game play centers around deductive reasoning: players have to search for clues and use their observations to eliminate potential suspects. It’s a cooperative game, so children have to use social and emotional skills to work together to come up with a strategy to win. ~ Ellen Joy, Alakazam
5-10 years
Skills and Concepts:
Deduction
Visual Discrimination
Cooperation.
Guess Who? The throwback game, Guess Who, is a fun, timeless game that challenges players to use their deductive reasoning skills. Developing strategies for guessing the correct character with the fewest amount of guesses engages logical thinking and reasoning skills for players of any age. ~ Amanda Stevens, Shenanigans Toys
This game was very popular with children of all ages in our after school program, The Enrichment Place. It was a great game for the skills noted below, but also for building language skills for our English Language Learners and for encouraging children with autism to focus on facial features.
6 and up
Skills and Concepts:
Logic
Deduction
Attention to Detail
The Blokus Game by Mattel is a strategy game that will appeal all ages, including adults. Read more about this award winning game at Early Childhood Education Zone.
7 and up
Skills and Concepts:
Strategy
Social Development
Follow Directions and Rules of Game Play
Critical Thinking
Upper Elementary and Beyond
All of these games are appropriate for older children, teens, and adults. Many are also suitable for younger players.
Carcassonne. This is a tile placing game and the board is never the same. My First Carcassonne is a variation that is more focused on the skills, interests, and attention of young players, but can be used as an expansion pack when players are ready for a more sophisticated game. When you play the original game will need to plan carefully as you develop your medieval city. The decisions you make regarding your roads, features, and people will impact how you score. Another Enrichment Place favorite. ~ MaryAnna Dunn Enrichment Alliance
7 up manufacturers suggestion. 8 up Board Game Geek.
Skills and Concepts:
Planning and Decision Making
Strategic Thinking
Social Studies
Economics
Labyrinth players create an ever changing maze by moving tile pieces on move at a time as players attempt to collect pieces. There is also a Labyrinth Junior Version of this game for younger players. There are also numerous themed versions, such as Harry Potter and Super Mario. Read more about the game on Board Game Geek.
8 and up for the original.
Skills and Concepts:
Visual Perception
Planning
Strategic Thinking
Mancala is a classic…and by that I mean it’s been around for over 1000 years! The Mancala board is made of two rows of six pockets, or “pits”. Four stones are placed in each pit, and each player has a Mancala or “store” on his or her end of the board. The object of the game is to collect the most pieces into your Mancala by moving the stones clockwise around the board. This game develops a math skill called subtizing, which is the ability to instantly recognize “how many” in a small set. It’s a skill that we use with dice, for example, but in this case is used to quickly assess how many stones are in the pit by looking at them. Mancala also requires critical thinking: players have to think ahead and strategize to win. Beyond all of that, this ancient game offers an opportunity for a history and culture lesson! ~ Ellen Joy, Alakazam
6 and up but well-suited for older
Skills and Concepts:
Fine Motor
Math
Critical Thinking
Cultural History
Bananagrams is a fast-paced crossword tile game, with variations that make it adaptable to different levels and abilities. For more about this game, see Board Game Geek.
7 and up
Skills and Concepts:
Spelling
Word Recognition
Vocabulary
Flexible Thinking
Mille Bornes is a card game with a racing theme. You want to be the first player to travel 1000 miles by earning miles through the cards in your hand. Watch out for challenges as opponents can throw down obstacles cards that cause you to “break down” and lose miles. While not an obvious “educational” game, this game requires the players to be mentally adding two and three digit numbers, increasing number flexibility and mental math skills. There is also quite a bit of reasoning and strategy employed to impede the other players! This is a great game for kids and a regular at my adult game nights!~ Amanda Stevens, Shenanigans Toys
8 and up
Skills and Concepts:
Mental Addition
Number Flexibility
Reasoning
Strategic Thinking
Dixit is another favorite. It’s a wonderful storytelling game. One player is the storyteller for the turn and looks at the images on the 6 cards in her hand. From one of these, she makes up a sentence and says it out loud (without showing the card to the other players). Each other player selects the card in their hands which best matches the sentence and gives the selected card to the storyteller, without showing it to the others. The storyteller shuffles her card with all the received cards. All pictures are shown face up and every player has to bet upon which picture was the storyteller’s.~ Ellen Joy, Alakazam
8 and up
Skills and Concepts:
Abstract Thinking
Picture Comprehension
Creative Expression through Language
Addition
Set, though technically not a board game, is one of my favorites for older children and adults so I had to include it in our shipment to New Beginnings. This game is fun and challenging. Cards display images that are alike or different in terms of shape, color, shading, and number. Players try to find three cards with shapes that are either all the same or all different for each trait. (In this image: different number, different shape, different color, same solid shading). The game can be played competitively or as a game of solitaire. It’s harder than it looks. ~ MaryAnna Dunn Enrichment Alliance
8 and up
Visual perception
Logic
Pattern recognition
Clue is such a classic it probably doesn’t require much introduction. This murder mystery board game has kept children engaged since it was developed in England during the WW II blitzes. Today there are numerous variations on the classic scenario and characters. Read more about Clue on The Gamer.
8 and up
Skills and Concepts:
Reading Comprehension
Deductive Reasoning
Drawing Conclusion
Backgammonis part of a set of three-games-in-one that we sent over to New Beginnings. The other games were chess and checkers, which speak for themselves, but it was my love of backgammon that put this item in the cart. It’s a wonder I graduated from college after discovering the game. My roommate and I could play for hours (days??). The mixture of strategy and chance and the quick playing time may explain why people have been stuck on this Mesopotamian game since ancient times. ~ MaryAnna Dunn Enrichment Alliance
6 and up
Skills and Concepts:
Number Sense
Number Flexibility
Strategic Thinking
The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine is a trick playing co-operative game in which adventurers travel on 50 space missions. For more about The Crew, see Board Game Geek.
10 and up
Skills and Concepts:
Collaboration
Planning
Strategic Thinking
Forbidden Island is a cooperative, strategic tile placing game, in which players seek treasures while competing against rising tides. For more about Forbidden Island, see Board Game Geek.
You thought it was just fun and games? Well it IS fun and games; but it’s not JUST fun and games. The above list identifies some of the skills and experiences educators and parenting experts believe are prompted by playing board games. (Follow this link for a list of articles on the benefits of board games.)
Creative Commons
This is not to say that video games never promote these skills, or that board games are inherently better than video games. But board games do bring people together, face to face, around a table. They are tactile, usually involving the manipulation of physical objects. And I think most people agree that sometimes kids need to get off the screen and engage in the physical world right in front of them.
This is always true, but for children who are still experiencing most of their school and enrichment time virtually, these tangible experiences take on new importance.
Creative Commons
Experts who have explored the benefits of board games identify opportunities in even the simplest games. Candyland® and Chutes and Ladders®, as examples, have the potential to help young children with counting, color recognition, turn taking, and coping with setbacks. As children age, however, I think it is important to make sure your game shelf includes games that have the potential to develop some more complex skills.
I asked the owners of Charlottesville toy stores Alakazam and Shenanigans to recommend a few of their favorite games for combining fun with skills development.
The throwback game, Guess Who, is a fun, timeless game that challenges players to use their deductive reasoning skills. Developing strategies for guessing the correct character with the fewest amount of guesses engages logical thinking and reasoning skills for players of any age.
Mille Bornes is a card game with a racing theme. You want to be the first player to travel 1000 miles by earning miles through the cards in your hand. Watch out for challenges as opponents can throw down obstacles cards that cause you to “break down” and lose miles. While not an obvious “educational” game, this game requires the players to be mentally adding two and three digit numbers, increasing number flexibility and mental math skills. There is also quite a bit of reasoning and strategy employed to impede the other players! This is a great game for kids and a regular at my adult game nights!
Three Little Piggies by SmartMax is one of my all-time favorite games for preschoolers. It is a single player game in which players set up the game board and then have to put each piggie in a house while keeping the wolf out of the house. This game requires players to execute a guess and check strategy and experience facing challenges in an engaging and fun way. There is only one correct answer to each puzzle! The lessons from this game are many – hard work pays off when you finally solve the challenge and struggling a little bit while you solve a problem is a good thing as you can eliminate possibilities. It also suits their attention span and they can play for as long or as short a time as they want. Fantastic fun for kids, and I dare adults to not get hooked on this game, too!
Ellen Joy of Alakazam shared these tips and favorites.
One of my most important qualifications for a board game for the younger set is that it must be fun for parents to play as well, and Outfoxed is always my first recommendation for early game play for that reason. It’s easy to learn and fun for the whole family! A pot pie has gone missing, and players must deduce who the guilty party is before the fox gets away! Outfoxed game play centers around deductive reasoning: players have to search for clues and use their observations to eliminate potential suspects. It’s a cooperative game, so children have to use social and emotional skills to work together to come up with a strategy to win. Skills used: deduction, visual discrimination, and cooperation.
Dixit is another favorite. It’s a wonderful storytelling game that develops abstract thinking, picture comprehension, and creative expression through language. One player is the storyteller for the turn and looks at the images on the 6 cards in her hand. From one of these, she makes up a sentence and says it out loud (without showing the card to the other players). Each other player selects the card in their hands which best matches the sentence and gives the selected card to the storyteller, without showing it to the others. The storyteller shuffles her card with all the received cards. All pictures are shown face up and every player has to bet upon which picture was the storyteller’s. If nobody or everybody finds the correct card, the storyteller scores 0, and each of the other players scores 2. Otherwise the storyteller and whoever found the correct answer score 3. Players score 1 point for every vote for their own card. The game ends when the deck is empty or if a player scores 30 points. In either case, the player with the most points wins the game. Skills used: abstract thinking, picture comprehension, creative expression through language, addition (point calculation)
Mancala is a classic…and by that I mean it’s been around for over 1000 years! The Mancala board is made of two rows of six pockets, or “pits”. Four stones are placed in each pit, and each player has a Mancala or “store” on his or her end of the board. The object of the game is to collect the most pieces into your Mancala by moving the stones clockwise around the board. This game develops a math skill called subtizing, which is the ability to instantly recognize “how many” in a small set. It’s a skill that we use with dice, for example, but in this case is used to quickly assess how many stones are in the pit by looking at them. Mancala also requires critical thinking: players have to think ahead and strategize to win. Beyond all of that, this ancient game offers an opportunity for a history and culture lesson! Skills used: fine motor skills, math, critical thinking, social science.
Our blog post Cooperative Games for Families suggests ways for changing up classics, such as Candyland and Monopoly to adapt them as cooperative games with opportunities for diverse players to participate.
One concern that I have about board games is that while some games that promote cognitive development are relatively affordable, many other games are out of reach for struggling families. Buying used games may not be an option, since game pieces get lost and boards and cards are easily damaged. We are currently launching a project to get quality board games into the homes of low income children through food distribution and housing programs. Your support for this program will help us purchase high quality games for families with limited resources. Please designate “games” with your donation.
In our next post, I will share three picks of my own, along with some picks from board game reviews, and compile all these into a wish list for distribution to financially struggling families.
Two of the pictures referenced in the note. We’ve left out the faces for confidentiality reasons, but boy we wish you could see the smiles!!!!
When the schools closed last March, so did the afterschool programs. Children were now home all day, every day, not even allowed to go to one another’s homes. Knowing that many of children don’t have enough nourishing food to develop healthy bodies, we wondered how they could have access to enough nourishing materials to developing healthy minds.
Without afterschool programs and day camps, how would under-resourced children spend all that unstructured time?
The only materials we didn’t buy locally were the art supplies we sent to the Buck Mountain Food Pantry.
Would they be pestering already overstressed parents with choruses of “I’m bored, I’m bored?” Or would they be on screen all afternoon and every Saturday and Sunday? How would the time spent by children of low-income families differ from the time spent by families that can afford Legos, art supplies, creative board games, science kits, puzzles–the many things that develop creativity, strategic thinking, and interpersonal skills? We didn’t know for sure, but our experiences suggest that access to these materials is typically very limited in homes struggling just to buy groceries and pay the electricity bills.
How children spend their out-of-school time is related to positive outcomes. The gap is becoming the gulf.
Magnets from Shenanigans.
We called a special meeting of our board of directors to discuss how we could get quality enrichment materials into the homes of children with limited resources. We decided we would purchase the materials locally, because supporting the local economy supports local children. Our board members got very busy reaching out to food distribution centers and toy stores to develop a plan for getting affordable, enriching supplies into homes all summer and beyond.
Volunteers at Buck Mt. Episcopal Church receive sidewalk chalk.
Since then we have distributed just shy of 600 items through food distribution centers.
The generosity of our community during these very tough times has been heartening. That generosity has supplied art materials, science kits, puzzles, construction toys, games, and puppets to engage children’s imaginations, awaken their curiosity, and challenge and delight their developing minds.
Origami paper from Alakazam
We love this program and have decided to keep it going, at least through March and possibly beyond. We are currently making plans to add Hope House, which provides housing to families facing homelessness. We will be providing each unit with age appropriate board games selected because they develop strategic, creative, and collaborative thinking skills—AND ARE FUN!
Because we want to keep this program going, and to reach more children than only one small non-profit can reach alone, in the coming months I will be sharing more information about the program, the rationale behind it and the types of materials we are selecting. Please, steal our ideas. And contact staff@enrichmentalliance.org directly if you are interested in starting a similar initiative through your program.
Looking back on the last day of the strangest summer most of us have known.
Early in March, I went to the beach with my family, thinking that when I got back it would be time to start focusing on our summer inclusion collaboration with Charlottesville Parks and Recreation. I felt pretty relaxed about it, because so many of last summer’s Inclusion Counselors were returning, and one would be stepping into a new role to help coordinate the program.
These are just some of the cancelations my inbox contained in March of 2020.
By the time our four days at the beach were over, COVID-19 had been declared a pandemic. By the end of the week, Governor Northam had closed the public schools for two weeks, and we had no idea if they would re-open nor how summer would play out for the children of our community.
It soon became obvious that we needed to plan for a summer like no other. Our work is about out-of-school time, and man were the kids in our community out of school!
Crises and tragedies have a way of forcing people to think outside the proverbial box.
It is our hope that these three actions we took in response to the pandemic will be of lasting value to children and families with limited access to enriching activities:
Blog Posts Featuring Affordable, Inclusive Enrichment Activities for Social Distancing
Enrichment to Go: Delivery of Enrichment Materials to Families Through Food Distribution Programs
A Zoom Poetry Workshop
Our next few posts will talk about each of these activities, starting today with
Our first response was to share activities that are enriching, inclusive, and available even while quarantined or social distancing. I wrote up the blogs, but I had great help from board member Sue Smith and volunteers Amy Vandenburg and Lily Zhou-Mei Ji who identified many of the activities shared. Lily even got in her car and took a picture of Beta Bridge for one post. Thanks so much to you three imaginative people.
Inclusion is a core value and we made every effort to find activities for a wide range of abilities and interests. You will also find some stories in ASL and on audio files, and some movement activities suitable for people with limited mobility. We would be very interested in hearing from you if you have links to inclusive enrichment activities.
With 60 posts typically featuring 4 activities each, we feel that we have a good supply of activities to help children stay engaged in meaningful activities outside of their regular school hours. We will add a few seasonal COVID friendly activities as fall and winter go on, but will be focusing on new activities less frequently. Most of our activities are not age specific, but because of our efforts to offer a wide range of activities as well as ideas for adapting activities, you should be able to find activities suitable for different age groups.
Although these posts went up during the pandemic, they will always be relevant. They were specifically posted for children stuck at home, but most of them would also make great activities for afterschool and week-end programs. Sharing information about out-of-school time curricula has been identified as a strategic goal in our three year plan, so expect to see more links to awesome out-of-school time activities for all children in the year and years to come.
Stay well, stay hopeful, and stay devoted to making the world an enriching place for all children–Mary Anna Dunn, Director.
Access to enriching activities for all children and youth has never been more important. And it has never been more challenging. Out-of-school time providers have outdone themselves in rising to the challenge. We’ve created a new web-page to share what we learn about programs offering virtual and social distancing activities, with regular updates through the fall.
This list is not exhaustive. We are reaching out to local programs and will update this post regularly. If you know of a program that should be added to this list, please contact us at mail@enrichmentalliance.org. Please also contact us if we have missing or inaccurate information about your program.
Writers in Charlottesville Parks and Recreation Adaptive Recreation‘s summer camp identified Harry Styles as a favorite musician. I felt that “Canyon Moon” offered an opportunity to explore descriptive language in landscape poetry.
As you watch this lyrics video, pay attention to the colors the lyricist uses.
(Note to helpers, YouTube might follow this with viewing with suggestions for videos you consider inappropriate. You may want to monitor minors).
Now read, “Girl Riding a Horse in a Field of Sunflowers,” by David Allan Evens. His poem is awash in color. The poet also adds some details from the landscape to help us see the place: sunflowers, lake, trees, brush.
Even though the song and poem are about scenery (moon rising in a canyon, girl riding through a field of sunflowers) they are also about feelings. Without coming right out and saying it, both writers let us know that they feel sad when they are separated from someone.
What is a place that you really love?
For the next activity, you will need an image of a place in nature that you really love. Here are just a few examples of places in nature: beach, garden, lake, woods. (A note to helpers: for poets who need visual cues, consider providing photographs of several places you know the poets love and letting them pick one. Or choose from this small collection of Place Images).
Write a poem that lets readers know what it feels like to be there.
Your feeling doesn’t have to be directly about the place. It can be about something you or someone else is thinking about.
Remember to use colors and details to help us see where you are.
Harry Styles repeats the same sentence several times. This is a technique used often by songwriters, but poets sometimes use that strategy as well. You might want to try repeating sentences in your poem.
These Pre-writing and Template pages can be useful in getting you started. You might decide just to do Page 1 and then write a poem without a template, but if you need one, pick a template to get you going.
A Note to Helpers
Some poets may need support writing their poems, but of course we all want to allow the poets to express themselves. Our Notes to Helpers offer suggestions for providing support only to the extent it is needed.
Firework is a song that uses a lot of comparisons to explain feelings. “Like a plastic bag/drifting through the wind.” “Like a house of cards/One blow from caving in.” Comparisons can make writing much more powerful than simple statements. How boring this song would have been if she had said, “Do you ever feel sad and insignificant? Like your world isn’t stable?”
Poets and Songwriters Love Comparisons
OPTION A. Grab a piece of paper. Write down 2-3 emotions, next to each emotion write or draw an image to go with it. An example from “Firework” might be “Sad. Plastic bag drifting.” An example from your imagination might be “Happy. A vase of sunflowers.”
Poets Don’t Always Say things Directly. Read A Blessing, by James Wright. At the very end of the poem, what do you think he is feeling? And what is he comparing himself to (hint: what could break into blossom)?
Write a Poem about Your Feelings
As mentioned, Perry uses a LOT of comparisons in “Firework”. Poets tend to prefer to use fewer comparisons. Pick one of your comparisons and use it to write a poem about a feeling.
Poets usually break their lines before they get to the end of the page. You can learn more about line breaks and white space through thisvideo.
Option A. Write a poem about a feeling. Use a comparison to help your reader understand what the feeling is like. Use some strong action verbs to talk about what you do when you feel that way. Remember to think about where you want to break your lines.
Option B. If you need some ideas try one of these Poem Prompts. And here are great “doing words” you might want to use in your poem.
We just finished a poetry workshop with Charlottesville Parks and Recreation’s Adaptive Rec Day Camp. The workshop was so much fun I thought I’d share our activities here.
Our workshops always starts with a pop song, chosen by participants in current and past workshops. We look at devices lyricists use to make their writing powerful. Then we read a poem that uses similar techniques. Finally, participants write poems of their own.
The different options provided with these activities are intended to make them accessible to children and youth of all ages, all interests, and all abilities. Materials are included to assist writers with developmental differences.
For the first two posts, I will share activities based on “Firework”, by Kate Perry. Next, I will share activities based on a song our Adaptive Rec campers chose.
Repeating Sounds
Kate Perry often uses near (or slantrhyme) instead of full rhyme. The “in” in “wind” is repeated in “again.” The words almost rhyme, but they are not “full rhymes” because they don’t have the same final letter.
Listen to “Firework” by Kate Perry, reading the lyrics as you go.
Notice how she repeats the short “i” as in wind and the long “i” as in “light.” Listen for other repeated sounds, too, as well as repeated words and phrases. Repetition makes poetry and lyrics sound good.
Poets also use near rhyme. Read and listen to rhyme in “Snail” by Langston Hughes, What full and near rhymes pair with “go?”
If you would like to know more about repeating vowel and consonant sounds in song lyrics and poetry, read about assonance,consonance, and alliteration.
Some Poems Are Written to a Person or Thing
“Firework” and “Snail” are both examples of a kind of writing called an “apostrophe,” or an address to someone or something. “Do you ever feel….?” Kate Perry asks someone. We aren’t sure who it is — maybe the listener. When Langston Hughes says “Dreaming you go…” we know from the title and first line that he’s talking to a snail.
Write a Poem to an Animal
Write a poem to an animal. Think about where it is (the snail is on a rose) and what it does (the snail crawls along the rose, drinking dew). Here’s a “Talking to an Animal Think Sheet” if you’d like some help getting ideas for your poem.
Now the fun part. These “Poem Prompts” are options for you to use as you turn your ideas into poetry. The first is a very open-ended prompt. The next two provide more structure. For this poem, we ask you to focus on near rhyme and other forms of repeated sounds.
We’ve provided a Word Bank, in case you need it. The words are color-coded by sounds, so if you pick words that are the same color, you will have repeated sounds in your poem. If writing things by hand is a challenge, these words can be printed onto standard mailing labels, such as Avery 8160, so you can peel them off and paste them down to write your poem.
There are also numerous website to help you find rhymes and near rhyme. Rhymedesk is a family friendly website. Rhymezone is an uncensored website, but it offers options for poets looking only for near rhyme. You can find more options by entering “rhyming dictionary” in your search engine.
A Note to Helpers
Some poets may need support writing their poems, but of course we all want to allow the poets to express themselves. Our Notes to Helpers offer suggestions for providing support only to the extent it is needed.
Temperatures this week are in the upper 90s. Around here the pools, lakes, and spray parks are closed, but even if they are opening where you are, with new cases of COVID on the rise, you may be looking for ways to play it cool at home. Here are a few outdoor activities for hot weather.
Put it on Ice. These way cool activities did not come with a warning that prolonged direct contact with ice on the skin can cause tissue damage. Well, it can. Please read this first and provide tools and supervision!
Ice Dying could be especially fun for older children and teens.
Water Balloon Mayhem. “What? Balloons,” you may be saying. “Do you know the harm they can do to the environment?” Yes. Here are three options for eco-friendly balloons that may work better than conventional ones anyway.
So if you are well supplied with eco-friendly balloons, how ’bout a very wet game of volleyball?
Put away your device for the best game of Angry Birds ever!
Spray it On. The spray parks may be closed, but that can’t stop the good times. Please combine fun and environmental stewardship. Play near a garden in need of watering. Set a time limit on activities involving running water and maybe add a valve to the nozzle of your hose.
Grab a squirt gun or any squirt toy for some games that won’t dampen your spirits.
Playing in the hose is classic kid fun. You can change it up a little by making it a game of tag or water limbo .
Okay, this may be for people with too much time and PVC piping on their hands but I couldn’t resist the PVC spray park. Could this be made with enough flexibility that the kids could develop design skills by changing things up some? Maybe some valves and movable parts?
