is bogus - Kiwanis Kids

Kiwanis K-Kids Official Publication
Spring 2010
Boredom
is
bogus
Let the fun begin
CAN-DO KIDS
News
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I
BOREDOM BUSTERS
doorknob art
I
SAFE SURFIN’
b
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School’s out! Moving on to middle school?
Keep up the service and fun! Step up and join
Builders Club. Find out if your new school has
a Builders Club—or get one started.
“Makera
e.”
c
n
e
e
f
f
di
Virginia
, West
y
e
r
ff
e
—J
with 41,000 other
Builders Club members
Go to www.kiwaniskids.org and click on
www.buildersclub.org
“Kiwanis Family Store” at the
bottom of the page.
Or call 800-549-2647, ext. 411. And don’t forget—you can personalize it!
What’s in this magazine?
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Boredom is bogus
Let the fun begin
Can-do kids
K-Kids do well at
doing good
10
14
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Volume 7, Number 2
Spring 2010
Safe surfin’
Kid-friendly Web sites
The scoop
Happy space
doorknob hanger
!
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We
Dear K-Kids
How are you going to spend your
vacation? Sleeping in? Going to
camp? Vacationing with the family?
Whatever you do, don’t get bit by
the boredom bug. Check out the
“boredom busters” on page 4 and
beat the summer blahs. Also in this
issue you’ll find out about some
cool Web sites and read about other
K-Kids like you. Enjoy!
Lisa Pyron
cialist
K-Kids Spe
anis.org
lpyron@kiw
M A G A Z I N E S TA F F
EDITOR
Lisa Pyron
EXECUTIVE EDITOR
Dick Isenhour
art director
Maria Malandrakis Demko
ConTENT MANAGER
Alyssa Chase
Contributors
Carla Blackwell, Eileen Dennie,
Shanna Mooney
K-KIDS OFFICE
3636 Woodview Trace
Indianapolis, Indiana, USA 46268-3196
Phone: 800-549-2647 or 317-217-6168
Fax: 317-879-0204
Web address: www.kkids.org
Boredom
is
bogus
4 ways to beat the summertime blahs
1. Send snail mail. Write a letter or an e-mail to someone you
met at camp, a cousin living in a different city or a classmate
who moved away. It’s fun to get mail, and you may just learn
something about another person or place.
TIPS: www.readingrockets.org.
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K-Kids Zone Spring 2010
2. Bond with your bro or sis.
Yep, you’re stuck with ’em,
so you might as well make the
most of it. If your brother or
sister is about your age, you
have a built-in game player.
Take turns choosing what to
play and everyone’s happy.
TIPS: www.thekidzpage.com.
3. Build something. Raid the
pantry for a “canstruction” project
(knowing that Mom will have
to destroy your creation come
dinner time) or the linen closet
for a pillow-and-blanket fort.
TIPS: www.chocolatecake
moments.com.
4. Write a book. Tired of
reading books? Create your own.
How? Here are some tips:
• Pull together a cookbook or a
menu list of your favorite foods.
• Make a scrapbook including
your favorite projects and
memories of this school year.
• Write and illustrate a picture
book for a younger kid.
• Collect ideas about what makes
you happy and write them
down in your own happy book
(see Make a Happy Book in the
box on the right). Break it out
whenever you need a reminder
about what’s good in your life.
Make a Happy Book
Feel good
What makes you feel good?
The color yellow?
A fuzzy pillow in your room?
A photo of your family on
vacation?
Even thinking of these
things makes you feel
happy, right? If you write
down a list of things that
make you feel good about
yourself, just reading
through your list should
bring an instant smile. That’s
the idea behind creating
your own Happy Book.
The happy lists in your book
could be about “people who
care about me” and “things
I’m good at.” When you need
a lift, take out the book and
read through the pages. It’s
like having a pep talk in
your pocket.
TIPS: www.kids-space.org.
On the Web
Put a smile on! Create your own Happy Book using the K-Kids
template at www.kkids.org/happybook.
5
Can-do
kids
K-Kids do well at doing good
What makes K-Kids like
you so special? It’s the
way you act and the
things you do. Check
out the qualities that
make K-Kids great:
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K-Kids Zone Spring 2010
Acceptance
When you are kind to everyone,
even if they’re different than
you, you show acceptance.
How it works
Members of the K-Kids club at
Rockwell Elementary School in
Omaha, Nebraska, were ringing
the bell for the Salvation Army
last December when a boy
with disabilities had trouble
dropping coins into their bucket.
The kids helped him and told
him to take his time. (They were
very understanding and his
mother thanked them for saying
kind things to her son.)
Empathy
When you share the feelings
other people have and want to
help them, you have empathy.
How it works
The Central Elementary School
K-Kids club in Nevada, Iowa,
was visited by Ashlie Duit, a
young woman with kidney
disease. She told them how she
had been fighting the illness her
whole life and that she needed
a new kidney. The kids felt so
sorry for her they decided they
would help her by having a
dinner to raise money.
The K-Kids did all of the
advertising, collected food and
donations and helped serve the
dinner. More than 500 people
came to support the effort
and the club raised more than
$12,500 to help pay Ashlie’s
medical costs. (The K-Kids got
to feel the joy of giving and
helping her.) Compassion
When you do something special
for someone because you know
they’re sad, that’s compassion.
How it works
Eight years ago, the K-Kids club
at Eastside Elementary School
in Brooksville, Florida, built a
Memory Garden as a way to
remember the people who were
killed on September 11, 2001. Each
year, club members decorate the garden,
pond and waterfall, and place flags nearby.
“We wanted to remember those who died
and those who helped save them,” Arianna
Minnie, the club’s president said. (Minnie’s
dad is a firefighter.)
Charity
When you do things for other people instead
of doing things for yourself, that’s charity.
How it works
About 35 students from Wilson Elementary
and the Tosa School of Health Science and
Technology in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, meet
once a week during their lunch time to plan
and do service projects. They are members of
a K-Kids club. They give up time they could
be spending with friends to do things for
other people.
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K-Kids Zone Spring 2010
The club has collected mittens, hats and blankets for children of
families in need, provided blankets for kids who live in a shelter,
and sold candy and Valentines to raise money for groups that do
good things for children.
Enthusiasm
When you do something for somebody with a lot of spirit and
energy, that spirit is called enthusiasm.
How it works
Thousands of people in Haiti were left without homes and
food after an earthquake there this past January. Because so
many of those in need were children, the K-Kids club at Center
Grove Elementary School in Greenwood, Indiana, decided to do
something to help them. The club quickly planned a Change War
and asked each grade to collect money. The grade that had
collected the most money would win a prize, but the real winners
were children in Haiti.
To keep students fired up
about the project, K-Kids
wrote scripts and read
them each day during
announcements. In
less than two weeks,
the club raised more
than $5,000.
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:-)
surf verb 1 : to look for something that
interests you on the Internet or on TV
(Example: My teacher told me to surf the
Internet for Web sites about sharks.)
15 members, 14 of you
have a computer at home with Internet access, 10
own a cell phone, 10 have a TV in your bedroom and
7 of you have a video game console hooked up to it.
And while only 4 of you of have rules about how much
time you can spend watching TV or playing video games,
almost 100 percent of you have rules about using the
If your K-Kids club has
computer, especially when it comes to surfing the Internet.
That’s because your parents know there are sites on the
Internet that are not safe for kids.
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K-Kids Zone Spring 2010
Don’t be afraid to go online, though. There are lots of
kid-friendly sites where you can have fun and learn
something too. Here are a few. (Be sure to ask your
parents first.)
Animal Planet
animal.discovery.com
Explore
animals by subject, learn more about your own pets and
play fun games.
The Gorilla Foundation
koko.org
Watch
live video of Koko, the famous gorilla who knows sign
language, and learn how you can help save her species.
eNature
enature.com
Learn about more than
5,500 species of animals and take part in games and quizzes.
Big Idea Fun
bigideafun.com
Read interactive
stories and play games like Donut Hockey, Veggie Pile-up
and the Silly Song Matching Machine.
Watch live
video of
Koko,
the famous
gorilla
©2010 Galloway
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Discovery for Kids
kids.discovery.com
All
the fun, games and videos you’d find on the Discovery
Channel—and a whole lot more.
Yahoo! Kids
yahooligans.com
Play games and
read the jokes of the day. (Here’s one: What happens when
dogs play in the snow? They become slush puppies.)
Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus
ringling.com
Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls,
children of all ages can go here to meet the stars of the circus,
including lions, tigers and clowns.
Storyline Online
storylineonline.net
Members
of the Screen Actors Guild read your favorite stories, like
My Rotten Redheaded Brother, The Night I Followed the Dog or
The Polar Express.
KidsCom
kidscom.com
Make new friends, listen
to what other kids have to say and say what you think.
CRAYON
crayon.net
Create your own newspaper.
Play Music
playmusic.org
Hear orchestras
play and go behind the scenes to roam around a virtual
concert stage.
Little Planet Times
littleplanettimes.com
Read
poems, stories and movie reviews written by kids just like
you—or write your own and send them in.
Ask your
parents
before
visiting
new sites
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K-Kids Zone Spring 2010
Have fun
online
and learn
something too
Your Yucky Body
yucky.com/body
Finally, a
place to talk about boogers and ear wax.
Cool Math 4 Kids
coolmath4kids.com
An
“amusement park” of math and more, designed for fun.
Extreme Science
extremescience.com
Where is
the deepest spot in the ocean? Which creature is the strongest?
Find the answers to these and other scientific record-breakers.
Imagine Station
markkistler.com
Take online art
lessons—even learn how to draw in 3-D.
Smithsonian
smithsonianmag.com
A one-stop
site where you can learn just about anything about just about
everything.
National Geographic for Kids
kids.nationalgeographic.com
Jam packed with videos,
games, stories and pictures, this is a great place if you’re
interested in people, places and animals around the world.
The Mint
themint.org
Activities, games and
challenges to help you become money smart. (It makes
perfect “cents.”)
Amazing Space
amazing-space.stsci.edu
Interactive activities where you can learn about black holes,
collect solar system trading cards and more.
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the scoop
Move up to Builders
If you’re getting ready to move
on up to middle or junior
high school, there’s no reason
the fun you had serving your
community as a K-Kids member has to stop. Keep it going
by joining Builders Club. You
can find out all about this
exciting group at www.buildersclub.org.
We’re going digital
Spotlight your club
Share your K-Kids club
story and write to us about
your favorite service project.
Remember to give the name
of your club, the title of the
project and the date it took
place. Send your story and
photographs by e-mail to
kkids@kiwanis.org or mail it
to K-Kids magazine, c/o Lisa
Pyron, 3636 Woodview Trace,
Indianapolis, IN 46268, USA.
When you read the online
edition of K-Kids Zone, you
can go directly to all of the
Web sites you discovered in
the articles in this issue. You
can also have your friends
who are not K-Kids read it
and they’ll see all the fun
they’ve been missing. You
can find it by going to
www.kkids.org and clicking
on the K-Kids Zone button.
Are you a winner?
Keep checking online for
results of this year’s K-Kids
contests. You’ll find them at
www.kkids.org.
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K-Kids Zone Spring 2010
Doorknob hanger
o
p
e
e u
t
K
Carefully cut out
this doorknob hanger
and use it to let
people know when it’s
OK to come into your
room. Use the white
space to draw your
own picture.
I’m in my happy space.
www.kkids.org
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Doorknob hanger
We want to
know what you
think. Please
take our parent
survey at
www.kkids.org.
e
m
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n
Hey
Parents!
C
Don’t miss the new
digital edition of
K-Kids Zone. Look for
it at www.kkids.org.
Let’s do something fun!
www.kkids.org
A Key Club International
program of
Kiwanis International
www.kkids.org