Old and New Ideas for Kids’ Toys and Activities II
This is a sequel to my earlier post about interesting ideas for kids’ gifts and activities.
Another suggestion is to visit all the NASA web sites. Start with the main NASA site and go around to other sites as well. The NASA sites have age appropriate activities in all sorts of math and science geared to school standards. You can ask a NASA scientist a question, you can do the site in Spanish, you can post your ideas, and, if you’re a girl, you can see how women are succeeding in the space program and in other science careers. NASA material is free for use. Also, visit the Planetary Society’s site and the Mars Society’s site.
One last suggestion for this post is to think about museums for your child. Find out if there’s a Children’s Museum near you. If there is, join it and see where it takes your child in her and his adventures. Next, if your child is interested in science or technology, you can go to a nearby science museum. I would recommend joining at the level which gives you reciprocity, that is, where you can visit for free other science museums. Your museum should be a member of ASTIC, which is the association of science museums in the US and Canada. Your museum may be posting science lessons and questions on line as well.
In the same vein, you can join art museums and take your child there. Many art museums offer art classes and art appreciation classes for children. In addition, many museums now feature much of their art, history, and science collections for online viewing. Furthermore, many museums offer camps during the summer. Perhaps a rich relative can help with the cost.
Lastly, many museums are members of the Western Regional or North American Museum Consortia. If you can afford to join at the appropriate level, you can visit any member museum for free. Sometimes you can even get reciprocal discounts in their museum stores as well.
