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Building a Future
Gifted children
enjoy busying themselves with interesting and thought
provoking projects. With the summer upon us why not
entice them with a long-term project that they themselves
are in charge of? All that you need to do is provide some
materials and a little supervision.
In school
children rarely have the opportunity to truly be creative
and build. Thus, a building project would be something
new and interesting. Furthermore, such a project could
create friendships, strengthen academic skills and
increase self-worth.
 My
suggestion is to call a “gifted meeting” where the
instructor gives the project idea to the children. For
example, tell the children that this summer they will have
the opportunity to work together as a group to accomplish
a building project. What they decide to build is
completely up to the children. However, they will only be
given specific amounts of materials. They can use what is
provide and anything above and beyond the provided
materials is up to them. This way the project does not
get too costly. (After all, gifted children do tend to
have very creative imaginations!)
The children
should be required to design their project on paper with
specific measurements. Furthermore, you should approve
the project. You don’t want anything dangerous. Once the
project has been approved, materials will need to be
gathered. I would first ask for donations. A lot of
fathers will have scraps of this and that lying around.
Secondly, major stores will often donate if you write a
letter with your letterhead at the top. I would also
suggest allowing the children to write the letters and
perhaps call a few places (with supervision of course!).
As for tools
you will probably need a hammer, a rubber mallet, wood
glue and perhaps a saw. It is up to you and the level of
your children as to how often, or if at all, the children
get to use items like the saw. Whatever you decide, make
sure proper safety measures are followed such as wearing
protection on the eyes.
 Once
all of the materials for the project arrive I would
designate specific time periods when the children are
allowed to work on their projects. The time period
should be a specific time when you know supervision can
occur. Perhaps the children could work during naptime or
reading time when your help does not need to be in several
places at once. A designated time is also important for
gifted children because otherwise they would constantly be
working on the project. This could have negative effects
because you don’t want to single them out for an entire
day for an extended amount of time. Gifted children need
to interact, play and have down time just like all of the
other children. This is a summer project meant to be fun;
this project is not meant to be stressful for the
children. If at any time you or the children are stressed
about the project, then a break from the project should be
taken.
Giving your
gifted children the ability to build and create something
will have a lasting impression on the children. First,
they will feel a sense of accomplishment and pride. They
will feel good about themselves as well as the group.
This project could bond friends. Secondly, this project
enables children to use all of their academic knowledge
and push them to be creative with it. This will be a new
experience for most. The challenge will help to define
and fine-tune their skills. And thirdly, the children
will learn by completing this project. A building project
offers the children a new activity that they are
completely in charge of.
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