News You Can Use

Books offer homebound adventures for kids during spring break

University Relations
News Bureau (662) 325-3442
Contact: Abby Barber
Feb. 28, 2003

STARKVILLE, Miss.—If you can’t take the kids to far-away locales during spring break, consider books as a way to launch adventures of the mind.

“Spring break is an excellent time to read, start a collection or explore your own backyard,” says Nancy A. Verhoek-Miller, a curriculum and instruction professor at Mississippi State University. “Children can enjoy many fun activities right at home.”

Start with the local library. “If you can’t go to the beach, travel there by reading books about the beach to your children,” she says. “Look up maps on the Internet or correspond with a city’s chamber of commerce to learn more about an area you and your children have always wanted to visit.”

Other tips Verhoek-Miller suggests for spring break fun at home include:

--Have children develop their own dramatic presentations, either from books or their own imagination. Let them create props and costumes, and make invitations to send to family and friends. Design programs to give to each visitor.

--Start a collection with your child, whether it is teddy bears, race cars or books by a favorite author.

--Keep a written or photographic journal of what you do each day of the break. Older children can help their siblings with the journals, which can become keepsakes for years to come.