As preschool was wrapping up this spring, I started getting nervous about how to fill Nora’s time during the summer, and keep things fun but structured without making a lot of work for myself.  I got some good advice from my mom, and with a little assistance from Pinterest and these two sites, I came up with a decorated jar full of tongue depressors, with an activity written on each one.

When Nora finishes her regular jobs, if we don’t have something else planned and she’s looking around for something fun or unusual to do, she can pick two sticks out of the jar and choose which one she wants to do.  The rejected stick goes back in the jar.  Today, the stick she picked was this one:

“Find 5 facts about the President.”  Nora was pretty excited about doing some research and writing down what she found, so we went to the official Obama campaign website and started digging.  I read facts out loud to her, and Nora picked her favorites and painstakingly wrote them down.

In case you can’t decipher Nora’s handwriting, here are the winners:

5 Facts About the President

• Barack Obama is the 44th President
• He was raised by his grandpa and grandma
• He has a dog named Bo
• He worked at Baskin Robbins
• He collects comic books

So, yup.  Still the best kid.