Ideas on school projects while at WDW

[JJ&JSMOM]

We're going to WDW May 07 for one week and we'll be taking our DS7 out of school for that week - hes in the second grade. I'd like to do a project with him that he can take back to his class. His teacher really hasn't suggested anything in particular just suggested if I had time w/the 3 kids to have Josh do a type of educational project to bring back to school.

I found some ideas in one of my disney books like... taking picture(s) of animals at AK and writing a few sentences on his favorites when we get home, having him "budget" his souvenir money and track the balance, perhaps an ABC book and finding things that begin with that letter (this may be too young for him although spelling is mostly what hes doing in 2nd grade but could do for DD4). Or keep a day to day journal of what we did/favorites and a picture or two to show.

Just wondering what anybody else has done. I'd like to make it fun and flexible not a pain on our vacation. I thought if we did the journal if he didn't feel like writing that particular day he could jot down a couple of things to help remember and then when we get home put it all together when the pictures come back.

Thanks for any suggestions. I'll ask his teacher again - I think they'll be doing some reading series in May so hopefully he can do that on the plane. I think as May gets closer she'll hopefully have some suggestions.

Thanks in advance.
Joanne

 

[joemo]

Hi, last trip when DS was 6 we did a 'geography' project at Epcot. I brought him the Epcot passport, which has a couple of pages for each country and stamps to add in.

The CM at the Kidcot station then stamps his passport and (if you are lucky) has a little chat too.

He really loved this and we spent ages talking about flags, languages and the location and special things about each country.

The thing that made me laugh was that every CM asked his name (its Joe) and then wrote that in the book. One CM managed to spell 'Joe' wrong.....his country? The UK!! (we live in Scotland).

 

[1Prince2Princesses]

I like the geography project idea. That really does sound educational! It sounds like the teacher is pretty flexible about the project idea. Maybe your son could collect all the maps from each of the parks when you go, and track your progress throughout the park. Circle each stop with a sharpie or pen and connect the dots to make a route that shows where you went. He could use different symbols to note different activities... a star where you stopped for food, a double circle where you saw a show, etc. When I take DS to the parks, I make him plan our route with a map and lead the way. Well, now that he's 12, he knows them by heart, but it really did help him learn to use a map!

 

[JJ&JSMOM]

Thanks for the ideas. I also did a search on this forum and found a link to the Mouse for Less and theres some ideas on there as well as a journal to download and print. The geography is a great idea - I'm not sure how much time we'll be spending in Epcot though. Also like the map idea - DS7 loves maps and does navigate when we go on other outings.

I might change our itinerary around to accomdate more time in Epcot. We'll see - we're doing the DDP and have suppers scheduled at Epcot but not sure how much time that will allow us to visit the World Showcase.

Thanks again!

 

[InstImpres]

One of the other fun things at the Kidcot stops is to pick a particular word and ask each country to write and say it for you. We have done things like vacation, Mickey Mouse (not Mickey everywhere) and more!

 

[lmjacobs]

The kids books are EPCOT are a great suggestion as was the animals at AK.

You could also do something on Presidents while at Magic Kingdom.

 

[Vannah]

Like another poster said, the passports in Epcot are a good idea. The Presidents idea is another I like, but I'm not sure what you could do with it. You'll probably think of something good by the time you're ready to go.