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Show Es The Salt Lake Tribune HOME & FAMILY Friday, July 19, 1996 Activity Kits CanKeep Little Hands Busy BYJOANRICHARDSON KNIGHT-RIDDER NEWSSERVICE “I don't have anything to do.” Howlong did it take your chil- dren to utter those dreaded words after class was dismissed for the summer? For my son, it was less than 24 hours. After nine months of being guided by an energetic teacher who kept his days chockful of learning, he was bereft of ideas. No, he did not wantto read a book, even though his room comes stocked with dozens. No, he did not want to play a game he'd played a hundred times be- make, into a larger box, which you've also made. This would make a great addition for a Type A family headed off to a cottage vacation. With “Castles,” a child can build a medievalcastle from precut cardboardpieces. Thekit also contains precut knights mounted on horses. Although the precut cardboard worksfine for the cas- tle, your child is probably better off recruiting some cowboys mounted on plastic steeds to play those roles for serious storytelling or combat situations. “Cas- tles” is suitable for children as young as third grade. The folks at DK are neversatisincludes a small book that’s rele- For a child who’s more artistic, consider one of the art activity packs published by Chronicie Books. The series includes packs featuring Van Gogh, Monet, Ma- vant to the topic. The “Puzzles” tisse and Cezanne ($9.95 each). fied to merely sell fun, so each kit book, for example, describes the history of puzzles. That's a story that's at least as fascinating as putting together the puzzles themselves. Ditto for “Castles,” which includes two booklets. one with general information about castles andonethatis tantalizingly titled What a Knight Wore Un- der His Armor. These packs are part art history and culture and part hands-on artistry and can be found in many art-supply stores as well as bookstores. Each contains a beautifully designed book with the story of the featured artist and examples of his work. In the Cezanne book, a child will discover why the artist was so fascinated bystill life;a Van Gogh, how he varied his brush strokes to demonstrate movement, An artist's notebook guides children to drawin the style of the featured artist. Finally, each pack contains a 17-by-20-inch outline ofone of the artist's famous paint. A young artist can try to recreate the master's work — or create a unique interpretati: Even if you don’t see a budding artist in your child, you might consider buy one of these beauties and tucking it away for a quiet, rainy day. If you yearn for the days when simple games like jacks and marbles kept children amused, Workmar Publishing designed the —_ GameSeries for you. rope andoffers dozens of rhymes and jumping techniques. Not to mention a terrific 7-foot cotton jump rope with wooden handles that becamean instant hit in my house. The Marble Book comes with 30 cat’s-eye marbles and two shooters in a drawstring bag. The book describes how to shoot a marble, then launches into pages of games you can play. Each of the books fits neatly into a back pocket so they can gp outside and play with their own- ers. Eachis $9.95. Andif all those fail, well, have they heard about summerschool? fore. No, he did not wantto ride his bike, go in-line skating or just explore outdoors on his own. With summer vacation half over,it’s a safebet thatall but the most resourceful of parents are beginning to run out of suggestions. Luckily, publishers — who can spot a profit in everything — have seen to it that children no longer have excuses for summer bore- dom. They've created parent-saving project kits crammed with opportunities for kids to learn as they have fun. Visit any local store that sells children’s booksor toys and you'll be confronted with an array of FOR A PRESENTS choicesin the activity zone. Many are a cross between reading and playing while others are offered strictly with funin mind. If you're considering buying one of the dozensof activity kits onthe market. keep in mind your child's interests and ability to work alone. Some activity kits that have lots of adult appeal also require generous amounts of supervision by a parent or caretaker. So, don’t count onjust handing i A T T R E S S igh es AT nes mT ane de/ fod ple a kit over to the kids and then leaving them alone to exploreit on their own. Dorling Kindersley publishes an array of high-quality activity packs designed to appeal to childrenof all ages. These kits go well beyond simply providing a diver- sion for an afternoon. But most DKkits requiresignificant parental stance in the beginning for grade-school children. After age 12, most children could do these activities independently. DK's “Family History” pack ($15.95) recognizes that a family story should be about more than simply recording namesand dates of births and deaths. This project would be especially goodif your family is anticipating a reurion this summer. If you're not, it may persuadeyou totry one next year Na ae OF 699° AND UP! The pack guidesa child or your whole family on an exploration of your family’s story, from developing a family tree to recording important information from your ownlife to pass on to future generations. This slick package even comes with a small camerato en- courage buyersto take pictures of their families and keep the historygoing for years to come. Parents might as well volunteer to participate with this one, because kids will be interrupting youall day to ask questions about grandparents and aunts and uncles. Two other DK packages worth exploring are ‘Puzzles’ and Castles” (each $16.95). “Puzzles” is not your usual crossword or jigsaw puzzle. This collection offers challenging but stimulating puzzles for teen-agersor a slightly Rya younger child whoeitheris gifted at working with puzzles or has generous amounts of adult guid- Br Piiaiaennlaiis ance. Consider a three-sided maze aoefies StZt or a logie puzzle that involves packing smali boxes, which you Rainbow Coalition in N. Ogden Home & Continued from E-1 seven brothers and sisters and that’s fun Garrett, one-eighth Blackfoot Indian, one-half African-American, and three-eighths Caucasian, proudly showed a school assignment he wrote on his “heroes.” In part, i “Myheroes are my momand dad. Theyhelp old people with food. Theytake real good care of us kids too. They adopted ali of us. Just a little while ago they adopted two more babies. I don’t know howthey do it. We are not ple, This is just build a famil said STORE aS! Monday-Saturday cultural events in Ogden, There it Le thing to do with how we b0 kids or their background,” L We take the kids te all multi- aren't many. 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