Inspire Young Minds

Are you an inspired Grown-up? Share your thoughts, ideas and memories here!

Spring and Summer Inspiring kids!

Inspired Guest May 10, 2010 8:08 AM	Ok ... we're starting off the forum with ideas for the fast approaching season of fun in the sun! Something my children and I do every year in the spring is plant a garden. A vegetable garden specifically. Then during the summer months as our "crops" come in, we set up a lemonade stand and the kids sell lemonade and organic veggies from our garden. For their efforts, the kids keep half the their profits and give half of the profits to a charity of their choice. It's become tradition in our house to do this every year as a way to eat organically, share our food and be mindful of helping others through charitable giving.
Jen, South Dakota Guest May 20, 2010 8:35 AM	I live in the midwest and summer vacations always start out fun, but then the kids get restless. What are other families doing this summer to inspire their kids? My husband can't always get off from work for long vacations, so if anyone has any inexpensive ideas, I'd love to hear them.
Claire'sgirl 1 post May 31, 2010 3:48 PM	Hi, Jen! You don't say how old your kids are, but one thing that my younger elementary-aged sons enjoyed doing each summer on days we stayed home was to explore a different country. We'd choose one together, and then spend some time learning something new about it. For example, when they chose Greece, we learned the Greek alphabet and how to count from 1 to 10, spent some wonderful time cooking Greek dishes, read about the history of the Olympics and marathons, and read some great myths. They LOVED watching Ray Harryhousen's Jason and the Argonauts! We had an equal amount of fun the summer we "went to China," and found online information about the Great Wall, the Terra Cotta Warriors, the invention of fireworks, gunpowder, etc. They were amazed to make their own won-tons to fry for appetizers or to to drop into chicken soup. From ages 4 to about 10, this was a hit for both of them. The upside? They both learned a lot about geography and other cultures that's not usually a part of most elementary schools' curriculum.