The first idea for boys is paring this non-fiction picture on Everything Ancient Egypt from National Geographic Kids with an outing. I found several. The Museum of Science in Boston has a virtual tour of Ancient Egypt that might be fun to incorporate. For a road trip, there are these other Egyptian exhibits around Boston:
- An ongoing exhibit at the MFA.
- Conservation Project: A Monumental Egyptian Gateway in Boston.
- The Semitic Museum at Harvard University also highlights Ancient Egyptian artifacts.
National Geographic Kids Everything Ancient Egypt: Dig Into a Treasure Trove of Facts, Photos, and Fun by Crispin Boyer
Another fun project might be to mummify an apple.
Picture Books That Teach Compassion
Another advanced picture book idea that I have been DYING to do is based on One Hen which is a TRUE STORY about the power of micro-loans in Africa. I would donate a hen through Heifer International to make this idea real for the boys. A flock of chicks is $20. I wonder what information we will get from Heifer International to make this gift something that kids can relate to.
One Hen – How One Small Loan Made a Big Difference (CitizenKid) by Katie Smith Milway
If the boys are motivated, they could even donate money to co-purchase another animal. My son earns allowance so even $5 (he makes $7/week) from each boy would be enough to buy another flock of chicks. A flock of ducks or geese is also $20. Honeybees are $30 (and another great book club topic!). I am excited to introduce multicultural picture books to the boys.
Donating a Flock of Chicks
A flock of chicks can help families from Cameroon to the Caribbean add nourishing, life-sustaining eggs to their inadequate diets.
The protein in just one egg is a nutritious gift for a hungry child. Protein-packed eggs from even a single chicken can make a life-saving difference.
Heifer helps many hungry families with a starter flock of 10 to 50 chicks. A good hen can lay up to 200 eggs a year – plenty to eat, share or sell. With Heifer recipients’ commitment to pass on the offspring and training, the exponential impact of adding chickens to communities in poverty is truly a model that helps end hunger and poverty.
Because chickens require little space and can thrive on readily available food scraps, families can make money from the birds without spending much. And chickens help control insects and fertilize gardens.
In Tanzania, Omari and Kulwa were struggling to raise a family on just 50 cents a day. With the training and chicks they received from Heifer, egg sales have boosted their daily income to $2, so they can now buy food and still pay school fees. Now, through passing on the gift, all of the children in their village are going to school.
——————-
Mimi’s Village And How Basic Health Care Transformed It by Katie Smith Milway and Eugenie Fernandes
The Citizen Kid series is such a wonderful way to make the world a little smaller. These advanced picture books help kids learn empathy as well as open their eyes to the world all around them. We are fortunate to take clean drinking water for granted here in North America but Mimi and her little sister who live in Kenya have to walk miles filled with dangers in order to bring water home. When Mimi gives her little sister water that has not been boiled, she becomes dangerously ill. Fortunately, they are able to take her to a clinic an hour away to get her medical help. Mimi wonders why her village can’t have its own medical clinic and with the help of her community, her dream becomes a reality.
One idea for a book club around Mimi’s Village would be to read the book and then talk about the importance of safe water. I like the idea of brainstorming ideas to raise money and then perhaps executing one of them as the activity for the book club meeting.
The non-profit P&G Children’s Safe Drinking Water Program provides clean drinking water to children and families in need around the world. P&G scientists invented the P&G Purifier of Water technology while attempting to clean dirty laundry water. The innovation became the foundation for the CSDW Program. With only a bucket, a stick, and a clean cloth, this small packet, engineered to be a mini water treatment plant, purifies 10 liters of dirty, potentially deadly, water into clean drinkable water in only 30 minutes.
Team building, leadership, entrepreneurship, empathy, salesmanship, and creativity are all areas that would be tapped and even raising as little as a dollar to donate would feel like a huge contribution!
I’d love to do a book club based on endangered animals. My son has always loved tigers. He read the non-fiction picture book Tigers and loved it, but it is probably too easy for the other boys who are in 2nd and 3rd grade. The chapter book below is probably a better fit.
National Geographic Kids Chapters: Tiger in Trouble!: and More True Stories of Amazing Animal Rescues (National Geographic Kids Everything) by Kelly Milner Halls
I’m not sure how to tie this in so that kids feel that they can help tigers in a way that feels significant. I found this website that had great advice. I am not sure if the boys would want to do this, but writing a letter to their congressperson was advice from that site that they could do:
Write A Letter – You can write a short letter to your U.S. Senators and Representative, the people who are in charge of the Endangered Species Act, the U.S. law that protects endangered species. Write in your own words how you feel about endangered species and when you think it is important to protect them. You can use the information on our endangered species web pages for ideas. In your letter, you might select a species that is of particular interest to you and discuss why you feel so strongly about that species. Letters like yours help senators and representatives know how people in the districts they represent feel about endangered species protections.
Addresses:
To a Representative: | To a Senator: |
The Honorable (name) | The Honorable (name) |
U.S. House of Representatives | U.S. Senate |
Washington, DC 20515 | Washington, DC 20510 |
To examine any of the items listed, please click on image of item.
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p.s. Related posts:
How To: Create a Great Kids’ Book Club (Activity and Book Suggestions)
3rd Grade Book Club with Science Activity
Percy Jackson Book Club for Boys
Book Club for Boys: Percy Jackson and The Lightening Thief
Book Club for Boys: The Boy Who Changed the World
Book Club for Boys: Navajo Code Talkers and Secret Code Scavenger Hunt
Update on Boys Book Club: What Worked and Didn’t Work
The Lost Boys and Girls of Sudan: Book Club for Kids
3rd Grade Book Club for Boys and 6th Grade Book Club for Girls
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My books:
Amazon / Signed or Inscribed by Me
Amazon / Signed or Inscribed by Me
Food for the Future: Sustainable Farms Around the World
- Junior Library Guild Gold selection
- Massachusetts Book Award Long List
- Selected as one of 100 Outstanding Picture Books of 2023 by dPICTUS and featured at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair
- Starred review from School Library Journal
- Chicago Library’s Best of the Best
- 2023 INDIES Book of the Year Awards Finalist
- Green Earth Book Award Long List
- Imagination Soup’s 35 Best Nonfiction Books of 2023 for Kids
Amazon / Barefoot Books / Signed or Inscribed by Me
Amazon / Scholastic / Signed or Inscribed by Me
These are such great ideas! Love them and I really would love to read One Hen – thanks!!!
To Ann,
We have a school presentation on One Hen next month. I’ll post again when we do that book for book club. I am really excited about it as well!
These look like wonderful books, and I love your ideas for bringing them to life for your boys by getting them involved!
Hi Leanna,
I’m experimenting with a little boys’ book club to see what works for them; they are so much more active than the girl book clubs I’ve done. I’m excited that they like non-fiction and hopeful that if we expose them to the world around them via books, it will leave an impression somehow to make them better world citizens.
What a wonderful opportunity to teach your children about giving to others. I love that! The books you chose are great. I have to look for each of the at the library.
Thank you for linking to Read.Explore.Learn. I have just started a Facebook page for Read.Explore.Learn and will be featuring this post on it this week. Here is how to get to the Facbook page http://www.facebook.com/ReadExploreLearn.
Hi JDaniel4’s Mom,
So nice to meet you as well! Thank you for coming to my blog! I will check out your Facebook page too! I am hoping that these kinds of books and experiences will help my kids realize that they live a privileged life and make them think about the world as place they can impact with their thoughts and actions.