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Wednesday, August 11, 1999 By Karen MacPherson, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
These days, children often are so scheduled in the summer with day camps and sleep-away camps that they don't have the luxury of being bored.
But experts say parents can do their children a favor by ensuring they have a chunk of time that is theirs -- and theirs alone -- to fill.
Even if it leads to the chronic late-summer complaint of "I'm bored," don't give in, because boredom actually is a great way to spark children's imaginations. Nancy Blakey, author of "The Mudpies Book of Boredom Busters" (Tricycle Press, $8.95), believes that boredom "is a prescription for adventure."
"Boredom is an invitation to our own party of events," Blakey writes. "Not an instructor's or a parent's.... When we accept the invitation, something magical happens. Passions are born. Interests are developed. An inner fund of resources develops. The same resources we use for a meaningful life. Without this fund, boredom can push our children to self-destruction."
While parents should allow children to decide what to do with a chunk of free time, there's no problem with having some ready suggestions and the materials to carry them out. Here's a tried-and-true list of ways to help spark their imaginations:
Your child has a choice of materials: Playdough; clay that can be shaped but then re-used; air-dry clay that can be painted in bright colors when it dries; or a polymer clay, like Sculpey or Fimo, that must be baked in an oven.
Most children love to work with their hands and mold a malleable material. Your local library will have books with ideas on what to make, but children often have the most fun being guided by their imaginations.
If you've got the money, Klutz Press offers a great clay kit called "Create Anything With Clay" ($19.95). It includes eight differently colored packs of Sculpey plus a book packed with ideas of things to make. Some are easy, while others are complex. Klutz also offers an easy-to-use guide called "Arts & Crafts Recipes" ($4.95).
And don't forget to display your children's sculptures. They make great decorations for a mantel or desk.
Summer is the perfect time for doing the kinds of activities that just are too messy for the indoors. If you let them, you'll find your children will be surprised and grateful to be allowed to revel in mud, dirt and water with abandon.
It's a lot of fun to make mudpies or mix flour and water into creamy "confections," fingerpaint up a storm or "paint" the house with a brush and some water.
Children can also create art with various types of natural materials, from painting stones to gluing sticks on a piece of paper to make a design. You can even create singular frames from sticks or paint pine cones in colorful colors.
Just leave it to your children -- they'll know what to do!
Your children don't have to have any particular art talent to learn to express themselves artistically. The idea here is to learn to see art as a means of expression, not necessarily as a future career.
Try all sorts of drawing or painting materials -- crayons, pastels, oil paints, colored pencils, chalk. Then try different types of drawing surfaces, from paper to wood to rocks. The finished product will be unique and surprising.
The children's sections in public libraries are filled with books that offer step-by-step tips on drawing. The "Draw 50" series by Lee Ames ("Draw 50 Dinosaurs," etc.) is particularly good and easy to follow.
If you want to buy a learn-to-draw book, try "Drawing for the Artistically Undiscovered" (Klutz Press, $19.95). Written and illustrated by Quentin Blake (illustrator of the Roald Dahl books) and John Cassidy, this book is designed to make drawing seem like a lark.
It may seem like an overwhelming amount of work, but it's relatively simple if your children attack it a piece at a time. It's also a long-term project that can be done over several days or weeks to stretch out the fun.
Again, the library is a great source for books that can give you ideas of plays that could be fun to stage in the back yard or living room. A couple of new books also offer a step-by-step guide to putting on a play: "Drama School" (Kingfisher, $8.95) and "Showtime!" (DK, $14.95).
In "Drama School," authors Mick Manning and Brita Granstrom tell readers how to do warm-up exercises, offer an acting primer and give directions for setting up backstage.
Reg Bolton, author of "Showtime!", gives easy instructions for staging a variety of events, including a play, circus, mime performance and puppet show.
Even stage-shy children can enjoy this activity: Someone has to help put together the costumes and paint the scenery.
American families are so mobile that many children don't have much idea about their ancestors. But it can be both fun and inspirational to learn about the lives of those who have gone before us.
Youngsters can begin this project by interviewing various family members, especially grandparents, about their past and what they remember about their own grandparents. Children can use tape recorders or video cameras to record the conversations or just take notes. The notes can later be written up and included in a scrapbook with photographs.
Older children might have fun trying to trace back further generations of their family using the resources of the National Archives. Just check out the Archives Web site for information: http://www.nara.gov.
A good source of simple information about how to unearth family roots is a new book, "The Family Tree Detective" (Owl, $9.95). Written in an engaging tone by Ann Douglas, the book gives ideas for questions children can ask family members, recommends ways to find further information and just generally offers an entertaining look at the field of genealogy. (Ages 8 and up)
Children often think it's a chore to write, but it can be fun if they're allowed to write what, how and when they want.
Give them a journal in which to capture thoughts and drawings. A scrapbook also makes an interesting project, combining writing with photographs and other "artifacts," like ticket stubs, menus, etc.
For children who might need a bit more structure to get started on a writing project, Little, Brown publishers offers a great series of "Make Your Own" story kits. The kits come with stickers, ideas, a blank book and a poster that helps children plan out their stories.
Kits in the series include: "Make Your Own Adventure Story," "Make Your Own Fairy Tale," "Make Your Own Spooky Story" and "Make Your Own Space Story." (Ages 7-12)
Forget the computer and the television. Settle down at the table for a spirited, old-fashioned board game.
You and your children can play some of the classics, like Monopoly (or Monopoly Jr. for ages 5-8), Life, Scrabble, Clue, Sorry, Risk, Stratego or just chess, checkers or Chinese checkers. Younger children love games like Candyland and Chutes and Ladders or more recent games like Snail's Pace Race and Franklin's Treasure Hunt that don't require any reading.
Combine books with games in an interesting way with some of these new games, all from Briarpatch: I Spy Go Fish and I Spy Snap (both based on the popular "I Spy" books by Jean Marzollo and Walter Wick), a puzzle game called Where The Wild Things Are and a card game called The Wild Rumpus (both based on the Maurice Sendak classic).
If you like trivia games, Pressman has just released The Wizard of Oz Trivia Game, which features more than 1,000 questions about the movie, including special questions for younger players.
Don't forget card games like War, Go Fish, Hearts, etc. If you forget the rules, just head to the library, where you'll find numerous volumes giving directions on how to play various card games.
Like their parents, children often like to redo the decor of their rooms. Get some ideas from a wonderful new book by DK called "Change Your Room" ($14.95). It's filled with information and photographs about ways that children can add zest and zing to their living quarters.
While it offers ideas about painting the walls or furniture, there also are suggestions for tackling smaller projects to spruce up a room.
And before they know it, summer will be over, school will reopen and they won't be bored for another nine months.
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Play with clay
