Participate in the County Fair this summer!

 You do not have to belong to 4-H to participate in the local fair.  There are a huge variety of entries. I entered goods in one fair.  I had no idea how strict the requirements were and bombed badly!   Do your homework!  Start soon!  Locally, Stafford County has a fair—without a permanent home.  It does have a home-making category and the fair isn’t until October.  This type of fair is ideal for your first foray.  No pressure!  

When we lived in Winchester, VA, there were several local fairs: Warren County, Berkeley County, Jefferson County, Clarke County, and the Shenandoah County Fairs.  I toured all of these, except Berkeley County’s fairgrounds.  (We used to volunteer at a Pro-Life Booth at Jefferson County.)  We were spoiled.  I like old-fashioned, county fairs.  What is the process?

1.  First, look at the  fairground’s website, such as Frederick County Fairground.  Read the rules! Some, such as Prince William County’s General rules are lengthy and have a fixed cost.  Are exhibitors given a free pass?  

2.  Review the entries, such as Agriculture/Crafts.  Read the Judging Criteria.  Youth Baked Goods’ criteria are equally specific.  Some fairs offer Education Exhibits, which are open-ended, but often agricultural.  There are loads of other categories: Hobbies and Collections, Fine Arts, Canning, Horticulture, Sewing, and Photography.  Yes, growing food or flowers, understanding photography, baking bread, or creating an educational exhibit all have scientific merit.  

3.  Look over any special events, such as the Youth Pet Show or a  Farm Animal Costume Contest.  I think a chicken in a costume is hilarious!

4.  Livestock at any fair is a special category and takes planning.  However, Rabbits and Chickens might work.  Take a look at the Poultry Requirements.

5. Read the Livestock Regulations thoroughly. Note this fair requires YOCA Youth for the Quality Care of Animals Training.  Check with the local Extension office for information.  Typically, youth who exhibit livestock are members of FFA or 4-H.  

Now is the time to get organized if you want to take part in your local fair.  You need ample time to complete forms, grow produce, practice recipes, or contact a vet.  Kiddos like to work with a purpose or goal.  Work as a family to decide which entries you want to submit. Make plans!  This summer is going to be so much fun!  

Summer Camps

All of us need a break.  I’m no stranger to summer camps.  I’ve hosted any number of science camps, both at my church and at schools where I taught.  Not all the campers were from the private school.  I’ved enrolled kiddos in camps.  First VBS is a week of camp.  Some churches offer summer camps.  Just look at St. James list of summer camps.  (This church is in WV.). The same is true of Sacred Heart’s summer camps in Winchester, VA.  BTW Summer Camps can be hard to join. In our area, outside Quantico, camp slots fill quickly in February.  Our favorite county camp is Multi-Sport, a different sport every day.  What if the county camps are full?  Check local private schools to see if they are hosting camps, such as this Art and Drama Camp. Sylvan Camps for openings.  We tried a Sylvan, STEM camp at the local fitness center one time.  The instructor used LEGO STEM kits.  Sadly, she just read the instructions to the kids.  Not the most fun. I’m sure some instructors are better at making STEM fun.   Some of the Catholic High Schools offer Sports Camps.  What about library, summer programs? Yes, mainly these are reading programs; check for special events.  Try Museums or Colleges, too.  Hey!  If these options are too expensive or unavailable, plan a cousin camp!  

Plan an outreach project!

 Project Based Learning or PBL is really a process.  Let me walk you through an outreach project, Apple-ka-dabra, a kindergarten, outreach program.  At the time, Musselman High School, where I taught, were the Applemen.  Everything was about apples—hence Apple-ka-dabra!  The outreach was a hands-on science program.  High School volunteers picked and prepped hands-on science experiments.  These teens hauled all of the materials to a neighboring school and spent the morning doing hands-on stations with the entire group of kindergarteners, and cleaned up after. We did this outreach for a friend’s private school once, too.  Later, the Co-op teens led an outreach to Head Start kiddos, who met in the Knights of Columbus building.  There are pix from Apple-ka-dabra at bottom.

1. Here is the list of activities, books, and materials we used.  We had a coloring station.  We just copied sciency coloring pages and had a basket of crayons on hand.  We usually had a reading station with sciency books.  

2. Planning involved selecting hands-on activities.  Our list has time-tested hits for kiddos aged 4-6. BTW color-changing nail polish is a huge hit.

3. Once you select your activities, determine how many kiddos will be in the group.  This is essential to budget.  Our groups had between 50-150 kiddos participating.  You need to determine the costs!

4. Prep before the event.  It takes time to prepare all of the solutions, sort, and box materials.  Be sure to filed-test every experiment.  Save loads and loads of bottles for Cartesian divers and Tornado bottles; one or two liter bottles work well.

5. Set up early.  Have plenty of tables to act as stations.  We set up a station outside near a hose for tornado tubes, which inevitably leak.  Save grocery bags for the kiddos to put their goodies they make.  We sought t-shirts from thrift stores and our homes for the kiddos to wear over their clothes and take home.  Have extra baggies available to take home instant snow, magic sand, slime, etc.  Everything goes in the grocery bags.  

6.  Enlist extra help for clean-up.  Plan to mop the floor and wipe down tables and chair.  Someone needs to box all of the materials, too.  

7. Meet with the entire group afterwards to debrief the event.  What could you do differently?  What was a hit or a miss?  Were there any snags which could be avoided?  Be sure to thank everyone!  Outreach projects are enormously rewarding.  The teens learn leadership skills.  You won’t believe how excited the kiddos get after a few hours of fun!  

How do you develop meaningful projects?

 I am no stranger to developing projects for kiddos.  The most successful projects are meaningful and have a purpose.  In another life I wrote grants at the school where I taught.  The grants were based on projects the high school kids wanted to do.  We had a huge club.  What did we do?  Projects took a variety of forms: prom dress closet, hands-on science outreach to kindergarten, planting hundreds of trees, hydroponics, raised beds—even a green roof.  

For a few years, schools went all-in on Project Based Learning or PBL.  (Bucks Institute has a host of projects.)  Instead of making all of your instruction projects, be selective.  What project would your family  enjoy?  

Let’s walk through some steps using Design a Playground as the project.  Let’s limit the new play space to your own backyard.

1.  Identify a problem.  In this example, the Killarney School wants to improve their playground equipment.  They identified a problem.  They also are using photos to document the issue with their playground equipment.  This is a good place to start.  If you are designing an ideal playground for your yard, take photos documenting the existing space.  Go further and take measurements.  Create a graphic or plan of the yard.  You are constrained or limited by the space in the yard.

2. If money were no object, what would your ideal space be?  Brainstorm ideas.  Make a list of play equipment, fencing, garden areas, forts, etc.  Circle the most practical ideas.  

3. Form a plan.  Create a plan.  Use commercial guides or Map Your Playground suggestions.  

4. Create a budget. Brainstorm costs.  Here are estimated costs for a commercial playground.  Your backyard might be perfect for a Natural Playground.  What do you already have?  What would you like to add?  Where can you find it?  How much would it cost?  Use a spreadsheet.

5. Do you want to fundraise?   The Killarney School is accepting donations.  Instead, what can your family do to fundraise for the playground?  Yard sale?  Mow yards?  Sell stuff on eBay?  I’ve found yard sales to be excellent sources of funds, especially if you have a good location.

6.  Install the playground.  Be sure to document the entire process.  Take photos, include the plans, maps, spreadsheets, and photos.  I like to make a slide deck of the project.  How many hours did you invest in the project?  Who participated?  What were their roles?  What would you do differently?  Answer these questions in a final report. 

7. Add this project to your digital portfolio.  Identify all of the components and skills: budgeting, planning, permits, math, etc. involved in the project.  Does this type of project take more time and effort?  Absolutely!  However, the results are commensurate with the effort.

Go to the Park! Design your own playground!

 The weather’s too nice to stay inside.  Go to a park with a playground!  Here is some playground physics for tykes. This webpage has more about the physics underlying playground equipment.  Here is a Simple Machine Playground Challenge.  This article, Swings and Slides has more about the physics underlying swings and slides.  Go play!  Go home and Design a Playground. Discuss the physics, forces, and simple machines at the playground.  Create a model.  How much would the play equipment cost?  Is it safe?  Is it accessible?  Most of all, is it fun?  Would you like to design the ideal playground for your home or dream bigger?

Decide if you want to make this project a math challenge, a mini-model, playground physics, or a civics proposal.  Your family may have strong ideas about renovating, adding, or creating a new playground.  What are you thinking?  Your home, your neighborhood?  Your town?   You might ask your neighborhood HOA to sponsor a tot lot.  (Ours has a slide, set of two swings, two bouncy toys, and a picnic table.  Our tot lot is fenced—which might make an excellent small project.). 

 Make it a big project for your family.  Use a spreadsheet to compute costs.  Use software below to create scaled graphics.  Create a slide deck with sample images or inspirational photos.  Write your proposal.  First, visit several playgrounds for personal experience and inspiration.  Willowmere Park, Stafford recently renovated their play area.  The cost was nearly $400,000.  The budget included a splash pad.  Dream big!  There is no reason your family can’t submit a proposal to the local council or Board of Supervisors.  Wouldn’t a playground project make an excellent elective?  Think of all the fun doing the research!

Resources:

1. Natural Playground Toolkit and Nature Based Playground Equipment

2. Playground Ideas

3. BYO Recreation

4. Kaboom! DIY Toolkit.

5. Commercial Playground Equipment

Here is an accessible park for inspiration, too! 

Honor Bakery

 Wow!  There are so many honor bake stands on social media.  It’s inspiring! Read What is an Honor-System Bakery?  Near us are honor flower stands, egg stands, and watermelon.  We’re too urban for farm stands.  What a great summer project for your family! Make it an advanced, home economics project.

Plan Summer Projects: Let’s try Food Fads, Trends, and Classics!

 Do you love cooking shows and contests?  I sure do!  It’s time to plan summer projects.  Start writing ideas on craft sticks and put them in a lidded container.  Pull out a craft stick when the kiddos start to get bored this summer.  You need ideas!  Today is for bakers.  Baking is both fun and practical.  Take picture and add this project to your digital portfolio as an Economics, summer, elective course.

1. Focaccia Charcuterie Board and look for Food Network’s reel: Focaccia Bagel Board on social media apps.  More trends are available at Puratos.

2. Sourdough Starter is trending again.  Sourdough recipes never go completely out of style.  I buy instant sourdough  yeast because I do not want another pet or commitment.

3. Make Mookies—muffin cookies.  Try different recipes for Mookies.

4. Try the Dubai Chocolate Desserts.

5. Go classic with Southern Living Magazine’s 12 Baking Projects or these classics.

6. Create your own Baking Bucket List. 

7. Try past viral hits: Cronuts, Piecaken (and its variations), Cherbumple, Baked Dumplings, or The Top Cake Trends for 2026.