School Project Ideas

I’m sure some kids come home from school, get right to work on their school projects and never need help from mom or dad. Unfortunately, those aren’t my kids. Mine need a little nudging, creative suggestions and the occasional push.

I used to think school projects were just a way to drive parents crazy, but I'm starting to see the value in the process. Learning to present information is an important life skill. Additionally, it's important to learn how to break big projects down into manageable pieces. Like a tough math problem or learning a new musical piece - you want your child to learn to tackle huge projects section by section and to reduce information to its simplest form. At the same time, they need to put it all back together and make it their own.

I’ve learned to keep supplies stocked for those unexpected assignments. But, it also helps to have a few project ideas ready for your kids to mull over while they do their research. Below are some ideas that would work well for a book report, history project or, in this case, a geography assignment.

Decisions, Decisions

1. pick a topic
2. choose a theme
4. decide on the size and scope
5. start your research

Possible themes

• The Travel Brochure
• The Gift Box
• The Library

The Travel Brochure

Brochures come in many different sizes so your child can be creative. This one shown is an 11x17 inch piece of heavy art paper. Placed horizontally, each side is folded over approximately 4.25 inches so they meet in the middle. This creates a tri-fold display in a very manageable size. It's just large enough for your child to fit in all the required information (you don't want the teacher to have to get out the magnifying glass!). But, it's not so big that your child is searching for information just to fill the space.

Your child can decorate the front and each section of the inside. I’ve helped with a lot of cutting and placement just to get them thinking about how to display information. (Should you double justify or left justify? Center the text or use bullet points? Frame the information or not?) Some things may seem intuitive to you, but some kids need a little extra guidance.

For sure, the written content is all theirs. Making your child chose a theme in the beginning will help him with the written work. While he’s researching the capital of a country, he can start to think about what people like to do there, what do they like to eat, how do they work. These tidbits of information are usually required in a report, but it helps to put the information in some sort of context. It also makes the report more interesting for the teacher and classmates.

The Gift Box

Everyone likes to receive gifts! This is a box made from two pieces of 81/2x11 card stock paper. Holding the paper portrait style, fold it in half. Holding it landscape style, fold up two inches along the bottom. Still landscape style, fold in one half inch on each side. Use these half inch edges to tape the two pieces of card stock together. Cut along each corner where the paper is creased two inches. Fold these flaps and tape together to create the bottom of the box.

We used white paper, then framed the text boxes with blue. Any paper can be used, but card stock gives it a more polished look. Each side provides specific information about a single subject. For example, one side provides information about the history of the country and another side is about the economy. My child is not much of an artist so we used clip art and pictures found on the internet that were appropriate for the topic.

Now that you’ve decorated the outside with all the required information, the inside of the box provides space for something fun. We added cards with recipes and quotes from famous people. You could do one with language tips, cultural differences or shopping hot spots. Instead of informational cards, you could add a few store bought goodies from your local international store.

The Library

Using a tri-fold display board, create a library display with little books. Your child can decide what size book to create keeping in mind it has to fit onto the display board. Cut two pieces of card stock paper to your desired size - one for the cover and one for the text. Fold in half and staple down the middle.

Each of the “books” on this display provides specific information about a single topic. If your child is doing a book report, one book could be for the main character, another book can be about the setting and a third about the historical context of the story. Go a step further and your child can write about the food or dress during the time period of the story.

Each book is placed inside a strip of border paper that is stapled onto the display board. (Could it get easier?) Add a title and a few pictures to the tri-fold board and your child is ready to go.

Truthfully, I can think of a lot of ways I’d rather spend my weekend than helping with a cut and tape project. But, I don’t think they’re going away any time soon and if they did, I’d probably complain that there aren't enough projects. So, I try to think of school projects as preparation for future boardroom presentations or classroom lectures. It’s just another opportunity for kids to practice for real life.

Those school projects come home whether you like it or not.  Please visit my Hub about how to best prepare for those pesky projects.  http://hubpages.com/hub/Easy-School-Projects