Career Exploration AND Holiday Hoopla - World Post Day

According to the Universal Postal Union's website, the purpose of Universal Post Day is to "bring awareness to the Post's role in the everyday lives of people and businesses, as well as its contribution to global social and economic development". This holiday seemed like an open invitation to showcase a Career Exploration into a postal career. An easy way to accomplish this could be to have a mail carrier or post master visit your group and discuss their career. Another idea could be to take your group to the local post office for a tour. 

You could also put together a project that shows just how amazing our mail service is. We've got a project in the works to start a pen pal club with a group I met at a recent conference. When we send them our package, I'm adding tracking service to it so that our kids can see how far their package travels each day on it's way to our new friends. Some learning activities involved with this are going to be using technology to determine the distance between our club and theirs and to find out how long it would take to travel if we drove the club bus, took a flight on an airplane, or walked. Then we'll compare how long it takes our package to arrive at it's destination.

Have you had a Career Exploration with someone working in the Postal Service? Have you had experiences with having a group pen pal exchange? Let me know!

Science Spot - Space Week Activities

October 4-10 is International Space Week. This week has been designated because October 4, 1957 commemorates the launch date of Sputnik 1 and October 10, 1967 commemorates the signing date of the first International Space Treaty. Since this celebration lasts for an entire week, it encourages many projects. In our club, the kids love hands on science activities and we incorporate a lot of these through Magic School Bus episodes (the original, I haven't reviewed the new version).

The first episode we pull in for International Space Week is The Magic School Bus Lost in Space (Season 1, Episode 1). Once the kids watch the movie (all of the episodes are on Netflix and I've found several on teacher tube as well) you can use the parent/teacher activity and have them use everyday objects to create their own sort-of-scale solar system.

The second episode we cover is Out of This World (Season 2, Episode 11) where the kids learn about craters and the impact that space objects can have on our Earth. The activity that goes along with this is using household objects to make your own craters and I can tell you that our kids absolutely loved this project.

The final episode we use is The Magic School Bus Sees Stars (Season 4, Episode 7). The coordinating activity gives kids a chance to create a special constellation and see how the sun blocks out the stars we can see during daylight hours.

Do you celebrate Space Week with your kids? What kinds of activities do you do? Let me know!

Kids in the Kitchen - National Pizza Month

Choose any day in October to celebrate Pizza Festival Time Month. Pizza originated in Italy, but today is an international favorite.  Not only is pizza delicious, it's nutritious too.  A pizza made with meat and veggie toppings provides foods from each of the four major food groups.

Give your child a large circle cut from card board (or a pizza wheel) and let them paint on red "sauce" (tempera paint).  Next let them top their pizza with construction paper cut outs of their favorite toppings (red pepperoni circles, black olive ovals, yellow pineapple tidbits, green bell pepper rings, tan mushroom slices).  Let your child sprinkle on yellow cornmeal (from a shaker container) for cheese.

I Wish I Were a Pepperoni Pizza

Sung to: "The Oscar Myer Theme Song"

Oh, I wish I were a pepperoni pizza,

That is what I'd truly like to be.

For if I were a pepperoni pizza,

Everyone would be in love with me!

Additional Verses: Substitute other favorite pizza toppings.

Prepare a variety of pizza toppings.  Include tomato sauce (spaghetti sauce adds more flavor) and cheese plus any other toppings your children like (olives, mushrooms, cooked sausage, ham, pepperoni, etc.)  Have children place a hamburger bun or English muffin top or bottom on a paper towel and top with a little sauce, cheese and their favorite toppings.  Place on a cookie sheet and bake pizzas at 400 degrees until cheese melts.

Has your group celebrated National Pizza Month? Have you made pizzas from hamburger buns or English muffins? Let me know!

Holiday Hoopla - Mad Hatter Day

Mad Hatter Day came about because a group of computer techs decided in 1986 to have a day to celebrate silliness. The designation of the day comes from the tag on the Mad Hatter's Hat that indicates 10/6 (which actually shows the hat style of the order). In our facility we are celebrating Mad Hatter day with a celebration of all things Alice in Wonderland.

There are some simple ways to incorporate an Alice in Wonderland theme day in your facility - the first is snack. We do a daily after school snack and for Mad Hatter Day what is more appropriate than tea? Some of our kids have probably never even tried hot tea so it will be a first. If you have a small group, having a variety of real teacups is neat, but if you've got a large group like we do that's a little complicated. Instead, we'll be sampling hot tea (served out of styrofoam cups) and have some lovely teacakes and finger sandwiches. One of my favorites is to make banana bread and slice it thin enough to make sandwiches filled with cream cheese.

For games we will be playing croquet. Now, we don't have a croquet set, but we can improvise with pink lawn flamingos, small dodge balls, and goals fashioned from half hula hoops.

Have you celebrated Mad Hatter Day or had an Alice in Wonderland themed day with your group? Let me know!

Holiday Hoopla AND Service Skills - World Teachers' Day

Know what's better than a Holiday Hoopla post? A Holiday Hoopla AND Service Skills post! World Teachers' Day gives us a chance to celebrate and serve those people who contribute everyday to making our world a better place - our teachers. Our club has started a new program to honor our teachers at our school sites where we choose a teacher of the month to say a special thank you to. Each site has the kids vote on who their teacher of the month is and we make them a card, give them some teacher-oriented goodies (office supplies!) along with a treat that the kids have made (things like snack mix, cookies, etc). It doesn't take a lot of money, but it means a lot to these teachers to be recognized from an outside organization.

So, what can you do if you want to celebrate World Teachers' Day but you're not ready to commit to having a monthly ongoing project? Why not take a platter of goodies to leave in the teachers' lounge with a nice card signed by all of your kids? Groups could also make personalized gift bags for the teachers in your school. Purchase small gift bags and fill them with teacher-friendly tidbits like sticky notes, pens, some hard candies or chocolates, and a gift card for a local coffee shop.

How do you celebrate the special teachers in your life? Do you do something special for teachers at your school sites? Let me know!

Culture Corner AND Holiday Hoopla - Sukkot

Sukkot, or the Festival of Booths, is a Jewish celebration that takes place in September or October.  It is a time of giving thanks for a bountiful harvest.  One of the customs of Sukkot is to build a harvest booth, or sukkah, in a place outside the house.  The sukkah is decorated with harvest fruits, and a roof is made by placing green tree branches across the top.  During the week-long festival, many families often gather inside the sukkah to eat their meals.

Making a Sukkah

Let your children help create a sukkah for your celebration.  To make a three-sided booth, place two chairs against a wall, about four feet apart, with their backs to each other.  Make a roof of branches topping with a green blanket.  Let children use play food or plastic fall decorations to decorate their sukkah.

Another option for making your own sukkah that I have found online is to build one out of legos. This example was found at Bible Belt Balabusta.

It is Harvest Time

Sung to: "Ten Little Indians"

Gather up the food and put it in your basket,

Gather up the food and put it in your basket,

Gather up the food and put it in your basket.

It is harvest time.

Additional Verses: Gather up the corn, the grapes, the pumpkins, the apples, the nuts, the carrots, the berries, etc.

Harvest Snacks

At snack time discuss foods that are harvested.  Set our bowls of foods such as nuts, seeds, dried fruits and raw veggies.  Let each child place a small amount from each bowl in a resealable plastic sandwich bag and eat their snack in your sukkah.

Because Sukkot happens during the harvest, apples are a traditional food. I found a new take on the candy apple using one of my favorite foods - chocolate!- at Chabad and we will definitely be trying this out. I'm thinking that perhaps adding a layer of chocolate over a caramel dipped apple would also be wonderful!

One of the first questions I had when looking for Sukkot ideas was how to incorporate culture without religion. This is a fine line as the two are interwoven throughout the world. When I present any of these projects I am careful to refer to them as part of Jewish culture and we do not mention the religious aspect of any of these activities. I believe it is important to educate our children about as many cultures of the world as we can. We truly only fear what we do not understand.

So, what do you do to celebrate culture in your organization? Do you have a fun and exciting way to introduce a culture or do you have a special way to let parents know what to expect when you showcase a new culture? Let me know!

Graphics for this post from

Culture Corner AND Holiday Hoopla - Mid Autumn Moon Festival

The biggest holiday for children in Vietnam is the Mid-Autumn Festival, which is also celebrated as Children's Day.  The festival takes place at the time of the harvest moon, usually sometime in September or October.  On the day of the festival, the children help their mothers make moon cakes, the special treats enjoyed by everyone on this holiday.  The round cakes are made of sticky rice and filled with nuts, raisins and other fruits.  Often local contests are held to see who can make the tastiest rice cakes.  In the evening, children walk up and down the streets carrying lighted paper lanterns.  Some of the lanterns are round and white like the moon, while others are brightly colored and fashioned into shapes such as fish, dragons, rabbits and boats.  When the children hear the sound of the drums and cymbals, they know it is time for the dragon parades.  Large and small dragons made of paper and cloth are carried through the streets by dancers.  When the parades are over, the dancers celebrated by setting off hundreds of noisy firecrackers.  Later in the evening the children and their families gather under the full moon for songfests.  The lighted lanterns twinkle far into the night as everyone joins in singing favorite folksongs.

Festival Lanterns

Vietnamese children make colored paper lanterns in various shapes for Mid-Autumn Festival.  To achieve a similar effect, let your children make pretend wax paper lanterns.  For each child cut two lantern shapes (or fish or whatever) about 12 inches wide from waxed paper.  Five the children small pieces of different colored tissue paper to glue on their shapes.  When they have finished, staple the edges of each child's shapes together with a handful of lightly crumpled waxed paper scraps inside.  Use a hole punch to make a hole at the top of the lantern and reinforce with holes with gummed reinforcement circles (or put scotch tape on the top and punch a hole through the tape and paper at the same time).  Attach pieces of colored yarn to the lanterns and allow children to hang them in front of a sunny window.

Full Moon

Sung to: "Row, Row, Row Your Boat"

Full moon shining bright,

(Flutters fingers downward.)

Shining in the night.

What a lovely face you have,

(Holding arms in a circle above head.)

Big and round and white.

Fruit Bread Moon Cakes

Let your children help make banana bread or any other bread that contains fruit and nuts.  Bake the bread in well-greased soup or vegetable cans.  Then slice the bread into rounds and let the children spread on fruit flavored cream cheese.

How do you incorporate culture into your program? Have your kids celebrated Mid Autumn Moon Festival? Let me know!