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Fantastic Art Projects
With 52 weeks of fantastic art projects using easy-to-find, everyday materials, Art with Anything provides a year of creativity, imagination, and fun for children ages 4–10. Organized alphabetically by material, each week features one everyday material (address labels, fabric scraps, leaves, rocks) and provides five days of unique activities, increasing in complexity with each day. Art with Anything, by MaryAnn Kohl, uses materials like buttons, cardboard, hole-punch dots, junk mail, and sandpaper, which encourages recycling and reusing!
Bumpy Canvas Painting
Egg cartons come in colorful polystyrene or pressed paper in blues and grays; both are equally useful for many creative art experiences.
1. Cut four or six paper egg cartons apart, and glue or staple the bumpy rectangle sections together side by side to form a larger surface.
2. Completely cover the outside of the bumpy carton with one color of tempera paint (the part the eggs sit in is face down and not painted). Dry briefly.
3. With the painted side facing up, paint a picture or design with tempera paints. The carton bumps make this “canvas” an artistic challenge, which ultimately yields a visually captivating painting. Some artists prefer to paint designs and patterns as a first exploration of the “bumpy canvas,” while other artists will jump in and paint a detailed picture.
Frame Idea: When the bumpy canvas is dry, create a silver frame for it by adding duct tape around the outside edge of the carton to bind the edges.
Boise Area Day Hikes
Best Easy Day Hikes Boise, by Natalie Bartley, includes concise descriptions and detailed maps for 17 easy-to-follow hikes in and around Boise. Discover a region of diverse scenery and natural splendors—from the forested mountains and the lush river valley to the surrounding high desert of the Snake River Plain.
Inside the book you will find:
• Thirty-minute outings to half-day adventures
• Hikes for everyone, including families
• Mile-by-mile directions and clear trail maps
• Trail Finder for best hikes for river lovers, lake lovers, children, dogs, history buffs, or great views
• GPS coordinates
Natalie Bartley moved to Boise in 1987 to work as an outdoor program manager and has lived here ever since. She is the author of Best Rail Trails Pacific Northwest and a regular contributor to Treasure Valley Family Magazine, as well as several other publications.
2010 Children’s Art Contest
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) invites children to enter its art contest with a chance to win a trip to San Francisco, CA, this year. The theme is “Protecting the World’s Children from Tobacco and Secondhand Smoke.”
The contest is open to U.S. boys and girls in three age groups, grades 3–5, 6–8, and 9–12. Group winners and their parents/guardians will be invited to a presentation ceremony at the 2010 AAP National Conference & Exhibition in San Francisco, on Sunday, October 3. Each first-place winner will receive a $500 cash prize and up to $1,000 for travel-related expenses. The three second-place winners will each receive $250. The six winners’ schools will be awarded matching cash amounts.
“Secondhand smoke is dangerous to children’s health and all of the world’s children deserve to be protected from tobacco,” warns AAP President Judith Palfrey, MD, FAAP. “This is an opportunity for children’s voices to be heard to help prevent addiction to tobacco, and for children to exercise their creativity to alert others to the dangers of tobacco and secondhand smoke.”
Rules, official entry forms, and consent forms must accompany all entries and are available online at aap.org, and must be postmarked by July 30, 2010.
Hope for Idaho Immunization Rates
The Central District Health Department (CDHD) has been awarded nearly $70,000 in grants aimed at improving immunization rates. Currently Idaho is tied for 49th place in the nation for the number of children immunized against preventable diseases. In Idaho and Nevada only 54 percent of children are fully immunized. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Healthy People 2010 goal is 90 percent.
The Regence Foundation awarded $49,800 and the Jeker Family Trust $20,000 toward a pilot program that would give vaccine providers greater educational and training support in immunization practices. The grant dollars will go to an Immunization Education Outreach Team that will provide training to the 40 medical clinics in Ada County with the lowest rates of childhood immunization. The team will include a community physician and health department nurse who will provide peer education to their counterparts at the selected clinics.
If successful, the health department plans to expand this program to reach other clinics. For more information about this program and immunizations, visit cdhd.idaho.gov.
Help with the Middle School Years
Because today’s children seem to grow up so fast, middle school has become the new high school. Concerns about homework, social issues, technology, and emotional health confront parents earlier than they would like or expect. Educator and parent Joe Bruzzese offers practical, empowering help for parents along with guidelines for their children, such as rules for using cellphones and tips for productive parent-teacher relationships. This streamlined guide helps parents and their families move toward the goal of not just surviving, but thriving in the middle school years.
A Parents’ Guide to the Middle School Years offers parents and their children empowering support to face the critical years from sixth to eighth grade with confidence. Filled with valuable advice, its proactive plan of action enhances communication and helps parents find workable solutions for their most pressing concerns.
For more great tween and teen resources, visit www.treasurevalleyteen.com.
Idaho Green Expo
The Idaho Green Expo is a free public event that offers information and fun for the whole family. The event will be held at Boise Centre on May 8 & 9. It’s a production of GreenWorks Idaho in collaboration with the City of Boise, The U.S. Green Building Council, and many other businesses and groups. Some highlights at this year’s event include:
A 2020 Vision: Looking Forward Ten Years to a Sustainable Idaho – View a fascinating multi-media presentation that will help to envision what Idaho could look like in the year 2020.
Growing Green Jobs – What are green jobs? How can you prepare yourself for a career in this new green economy?
Eco-Kids – An awesome outing for the whole family. Booths will be staffed by organizations and individuals dedicated to connecting young people with the environment and opportunities to sustain it. From 11am–5pm each day, kids of all ages can engage in a variety of free activities: exploring nature, hands-on experiments, crafts, and an adventurous clue hunt.
Green Within – Empowers you to know more about how to live in harmony with nature — how to breathe, move, rest, drink, eat, and heal.
In addition, you can explore over 120 exhibits and take part in free workshops covering a variety of topics. The first 500 moms attending on Sunday (Mother’s Day) will receive a free Idaho Green Expo reusable stainless steel drink container.
For more details and schedules, visit www.idahogreenexpo.org.
Children’s Capital Corner
For two years, Idaho Voices for Children has worked in support of legislation to support grandparents (and other family members) who step up to care for children whose biological parents can’t or won’t do so. The De Facto Custodian Act, passed in the 2010 legislative session, helps both the court and the caregivers by simplifying the process by which the caregivers can seek legal custody of grandchildren or relatives.
Another goal of IVC this year was to improve Idaho’s childhood immunization rates (next to last in the nation). Idaho lawmakers approved a bill automatically enrolling children in an immunization registry that will remind parents when to bring kids in for shots. The bill includes an amendment added by the House Health and Welfare Committee that allows parents to opt out before their children’s names are entered into the system.
For the first time in history, Idaho schools will receive less total state funding than in the previous year—a $128.5 million drop from last year. The impact of this reduction will be determined in the next few months as school districts struggle to balance their budgets.
Idaho Voices for Children will spend the next few months identifying the issues of focus for next year’s legislative session. Please watch their website for the 2011 agenda later this summer (www.idahovoices.org).
Planning for Summer Travel
Forms4Travel.com offers every form that might be needed by a parent making travel arrangements to send a child on vacation without them. The site consolidates important information about your child, from allergies, blood type, and phone numbers of family members to a doctor to contact in case of an emergency—all into one notarized document. The forms cost about $15 including delivery and come on secure watermarked paper.
www.Forms4Travel.com allows parents peace of mind knowing their child has all the important information they might need in an emergency situation.
National Bike Safety Month
May is National Bicycle Safety Month. Here are a few tips provided by Idaho Bicycling Street Smarts for riding confidently, legally, and safely.
• Wear a helmet for every ride.
• Wear bright-colored clothing during the day, such as white or yellow.
• Use lights and wear reflective clothing at night.
• Be predictable so other vehicle operators can anticipate your actions.
• Wave and/or nod your head while making eye contact with other road users when you need to make sure they see you. If they don’t react, there is a strong chance they don’t see you.
• Ride with the traffic flow and allow motorists to pass when they can do so safely.
• At intersections, position yourself in a through lane when going straight, or in a dedicated turn lane when turning.
• Have at least one hand in control of your bicycle at all times.
• Be alert, continually scanning ahead for hazards such as debris, potholes, opening car doors, or vehicles moving into your path.
• Sometimes a little courtesy or a simple thank-you wave can go a long way in improving a motorist’s attitude toward sharing the road with bicyclists.
Boise Bike Week (May 16–22) promotes cycling in every form. The events highlight our great cycling community by promoting bicycling to work, providing resources for commuting, and having fun. The final event is the Pedal Power Parade which begins at 4:30pm at Capitol Park, on 6th St. between Jefferson and Bannock in Boise. It will be fun for all riders! For more information about Boise Bike Week, visit www.boisebikeweek.org.
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