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.
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.
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.
This is the second of two parts. Last weekend’s post focused on transforming your home and yard into a destination. This weekend’s post shared information about potential destinations in the Charlottesville area, or close enough for day trips. The situation is very fluid, so rather than listing open destinations, we are providing links. Check these links often for updates.
Whether you have decided dining out is a safe choice for your family or are looking for the carryout for the beautiful restaurant you created in your home (see last weekend’s post), find out what local restaurants are currently offering. Staunton has closed four blocks of city streets to enable more outside dining.
During Phase Two more attractions will be opening up, but please weigh the risks carefully before deciding what is safe for your family and your community. Social distancing, hand-washing, masks, and other measures recommended by the CDC are still critical, and staying home remains the safest choice.
For information on a few local and regional parks and natural areas that are at least partially open:
Check out this interactive map to get some ideas for day trips in Virginia. But please don’t let down your guard. The virus is still out there. Most popular tourist destinations in Virginia have virtual tours, downloadables, and online activities, and we’ll be sharing some of those next week-end for Part Three of Family Staycations.
Whether vacation plans for the summer were cancelled by quarantine, or a family vacation was never in the budget to begin with, it’s still important to set aside a time to to exchange the same old routine for some fun and relaxation.
Every vacation takes planning. A staycation is no different. If you can’t get away this summer, or even if you can but quarantine has you in the doldrums for now: it’s time to plan a staycation. If you have a child with developmental differences, you may want to prepare for these changes with social stories or visual schedules, since changing a routine in a familiar setting may be especially confusing without some preparation.
Begin by finding out what’s important about vacation to your family. A change of scene? A change in routine? Freedom from daily chores and meal planning? Make a list with your family and start thinking about how you can create opportunities at home. Read more about planning a staycation for your family.
Engage your children as much as possible in these activities for physically transforming your home into a vacation destination. For example, do your folding with the kids a few days in advance and set the towels and napkins aside until the vacation begins. And remember, if it feels too much like work, it’s NOT a staycation. If it’s fun, fold a towel like a swan. But it could feel just as special to roll your towels up and put them in a basket.
An Inn in Your Home. If the novelty of sleeping in a new place is a named as a reason your family loves vacation, make your home extra, extra special for a week. Kids might find that rearranging their bedrooms gives them a feeling of waking up in a new space. Or would they like to sleep in a different room? Maybe swap rooms with a sibling, or sleep in a cardboard “fort” (see May 27 post). Turn your bathroom into a hotel bathroom with flowers, guest soaps, and specially folded towels. And don’t forget to fold that little triangle at the end of your toilet paper roll!
Dining Out Dining In. Probably dining out will be mentioned as a favorite vacation experience. It may be that it works for your family to visit some local restaurants. If so, to create the novelty of vacation, try some restaurants you haven’t been to before. But if weather, budget, or health concerns mean you prefer to eat at home, you can still make it new. This article on turning your dining room into a restaurant offers some great ideas. Here are a few more:
Rearrange your eating area or move it to another part of the house.
And try some recipes you’ve never prepared before, or order from a new restaurant.
Backyard Destinations. Of course, there’s more to vacation than sleeping and eating. There is. Really! Mini golf is usually a vacation favorite, so why not set up a golf course in your backyard? You can make it as simple or complicated as you want. This video tells how to make a hole with a cardboard box and a cup, but you can also dig tin cans into the ground. Put some big toys near your holes to create a theme. No clubs and golf balls? Improvise with sticks and small balls. After a few rounds of golf, you’ll be hot, so you might want to visit a water park next.
What’s your favorite destination? Try entering the destination with the phrase “Turn your backyard into a …” or “turn your house into a …” Some hits will be off topic, but you’ll get some cool ideas, too. Next week-end, we’ll share some day trips that are open in Central Virginia.
You don’t need to buy new games to play new games. The games you have around the house can be played with new rules.
Changing up checkers. Bashni is a crazy Russian variation of checkers that involves moving ever growing stacks of checkers around the board.
Scrambling Scrabble. If you have a set of Scrabble tiles at home, there’s almost no limit to the different kinds of games you can play with those tiles.
Monopoly Not Monotony. Ever notice the rules you play by don’t seem the same as the instructions? Ever play with a friend who has rules you never heard of? There are all sorts of ways to vary Monopoly. Maybe you can come up with some new ideas of your own.
These are only a few ideas. Look at the game you have at home and type the name of a game plus the word “variations” and you may get some helpful hits.
(That’s the plural of aquarium not an astrological sign, in case you weren’t sure.)
As you may have heard by now, the penguins are taking field trips in aquaria (that’s the plural of aquarium. I just said that, right?) Join them on their tour of The Florida Aquarium.
Staff at The North Carolina Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores are working incredibly hard to keep young people engaged in learning about marine life during the pandemic with activities and an animal of the day. They even have a virtual bookshelf.
Now you know enough to make your own aquarium, and you don’t even need live animals to do it. Check out this Pinterest Board to get some ideas for making an aquarium diorama. Maybe you’ll want to make two aquariums. No wait, that’s aquaria.
This promises to be a very lovely weekend, so get outside to collect some natural materials for these captivating art works.
Foil Art. Instructions for this activity suggest drawing with glue. The effect is marvelous, but here’s a suggestion: gather some natural objects and glue them under the cardboard as well.
Sun Prints. You may have seen commercially available paper for sun prints, but did you know you can make them if you have acrylic paints and a few other supplies?
We like to start every month with a gallery crawl. Visit the National Gallery print collections online to see some examples of beautiful prints through the centuries and from all over the world.
The end of National Poetry Month is not an end at all. It’s the beginning of a new year of exploring the many gifts reading and writing poetry can bring into our lives. So we end April and move into May with a few ideas to keep you reading and writing throughout the year.
Blackout Poetry is a type of “found poetry” that involves darkening sections of previously published writing in order to create a poem. While this type of poetry often involves the use of black markers, it can be particularly creative and exciting to use colored media to create a visual artwork that interacts with the written words. We’ve linked a Scholastic article that takes this process step-by-step to lead you into creating beautiful works of written and visual art. The artwork feature today is all offered with permission from Stacy Antoville, the art teacher cited in this article. For more exquisite student art, follow her class on Instagram @art_o_ville.
We want you to get up and moving every day during quarantine, so here’s an activity to incorporate with a daily walk. Grab a pen or pencil and notepad, or if you prefer use a notepad app. Take a walk, preferably a good long one. Write down at least 5 things you see, 3 things you do, and 1 thing you overhear. Draw a quick sketch of one thing you see. You may or may not actually decide to use this in a poem later. The point is to notice details. (Adapted from an activity offered by Erika Meitner, VQR Writers’ Conference, 2019).
There are numerous audio and downloadable poetry books at the Jefferson Madison Regional Library. Temporary library cards are available online during quarantine.
Our director, Mary Anna Dunn, will be offering an online poetry class through Charlottesville Parks and Recreation’s Adaptive Recreation Program later this summer. Details TBA.
