If your child loves…

• Adventure
• American Indians
• Ancient Egypt
• Animals
• Archaeology
• Art
• Battles
• Biographies
• Boating and fishing
• Comic books and graphic novels
• Detective stories
• Explorers
• History
• Knights and medieval topics
• Music
• Robots

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Adventure

Consider a kayaking lesson for the whole family. Go fossil hunting or spelunking. Walk through underground caverns. Sit by a waterfall.

Inspirational titles

• The Golden Compass, Philip Pullman
• A Wrinkle in Time, Madeleine L'Engle
• BFG, Roald Dahl
• Five on a Treasure Island, Enid Blyton

American Indians

Attend a powwow or festival that celebrates Native American heritage. Investigate the foods our country's first inhabitants ate and forage for them in the woods with the help of a qualified instructor.

Inspirational titles

• Arrow to the Sun, Gerald McDermott
• Island of the Blue Dolphins, Scott O'Dell
• Kaya: An American Girl, Janet Beeler Shaw
• The Girl Who Chased Away Sorrow: The Diary of Sarah Nita, Navajo Girl, Ann Turner

Ancient Egypt

Visit ruins and archaeological finds at a museum. Sketch some of the structures, then re-create them at home with a pile of cardboard boxes or tent poles and sheets.

Inspirational titles

• The Magnificent Mummy Maker, Elvira Woodruff
• Ancient Egypt Revealed, Peter Crisp
• The Egypt Game, Zilpha Keatley Snyder
• Ms. Frizzle's Adventures: Ancient Egypt, Joanna Cole

Animals

Join your child in volunteering for a morning at the animal shelter. She'll find our just what's involved in keeping the pets clean, happy, and well fed. Or head for a thoroughbred horse farm or racetrack; some have trackside restaurants that serve breakfast during morning workouts.

Inspirational titles

• A Cricket in Times Square, George Selden
• The Story of Ferdinand, Munro Leaf
• Babe, the Gallant Pig, Dick King-Smith
• Clifford the Big Red Dog, Norman Bridwell

Archaeology

Take a trip to a sandy beach. Ask the kids to cover their eyes for a few minutes while you bury "fossils" (painted rocks) in the sand. Then hand out small shovels and paintbrushes to dust off the sand, and let the kids unearth all the treasures. Depending on where you live, there might be an actual dig going on in your area, where children can participate or observe; check with the science department of your local college or look for an archaeology camp.

Inspirational titles

• A Bone from a Dry Sea, Peter Dickinson
• Bones, Bones, Dinosaur Bones, Byron Barton
• The Field Mouse and the Dinosaur Named Sue, Jan Wahl
• Fingerprints and Talking Bones, Charlotte Jones

Art

Visit an art museum for half a day, then bring the kids to a paint-your-own-pottery place to reproduce some of the same colors and ideas you saw that day.

Inspirational titles

• Chasing Vermeer, Blue Balliett
• No Good in Art, Miriam Cohen
• Leonardo, Beautiful Dreamer, Robert Byrd
• Van Gogh, Mike Venezia

Battles

Visit a battlefield to see a historic reenactment, or even participate in one. Another option: Explore a battleship that's now in dry dock.

Inspirational titles

• Love Thy Neighbor: The Tory Diary of Prudence Emerson, Ann Turner
• Slave Dancer, Paula Fox
• The Secret of Sarah Revere, Ann Rinaldi
• L'il Dan, The Drummer Boy: A Civil War Story, Romare Bearden

Biographies

A day trip to the house where a famous person was born is always fun, especially when that person's books, papers, and personal effects are still on display. (A trip to the gift shop afterwards is mandatory!)

Inspirational titles

• Sojourner Truth, Ain't I a Woman, Patricia McKissack and Frederick McKissack
• Of Beetles and Angels: A Boy's Remarkable Journey from a Refugee Camp to Harvard, Mawi Asgedom
• Heroine of the Titanic: The Real Unsinkable Molly Brown, Elaine Landau
• Promises to Keep: How Jackie Robinson Changed America, Sharon Robinson

Boating and fishing

Visit a fish hatchery. You can also take a fishing trip or a riverboat cruise. If you're lucky enough to live near a canal, rent a boat and take a leisurely ride through the locks. Watch the water rise and fall as you travel from place to place.

Inspirational titles

• All Dads on Deck, Judy Delton
• True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle, Avi
• Jim Davis: A High-Sea Adventure, John Masefield
• The Young Man and the Sea, Rodman Philbrick

Comic books and graphic novels

Have your child adopt his favorite character's identity for the entire day, whether you're on a trip or just staying home. This is a chance to try on a new name and identity and use the customs and manners of another place and time – even the future!

Inspirational titles

• Captain Underpants and the Perilous Plot of Captain Poopypants, Dav Pilkey
• The Adventures of Tintin, Herge
• Meanwhile…, Jules Feiffer
• Just Annoying, Andy Griffiths

Detective stories

See if an investigator at your local police department would be willing to tell your child how he does his job and share a tale or two. You can also visit a magic shop and buy some "surveillance" equipment like binoculars, a walkie-talkie, a fingerprinting kit, and a magnifying glass, and send your child off on their own benign spying missions.

Inspirational titles

• The Westing Game, Ellen Raskin
• Encyclopedia Brown, Boy Detective, Donald J. Sobol
• Miss Nelson is Missing, Harry G. Allard
• Olivia and the Missing Toy, Ian Falconer

Explorers

Find out which ones ventured through your area. Plan a journey that replicates the experience. Even if Lewis and Clark were nowhere near your home, reading an excerpt from their journal and re-creating some measure of one day's journey in a nearby park can give your child a sense of the magnitude of the endeavor. Mark a trail through the woods and walk it carrying a backpack, and perhaps some of the equipment the explorers brought along. Or go tubing down a river that figures in your child's reading; just for the day, call it the mighty Mississippi, even if it isn't.

Inspirational titles

• Lewis and Clark: In Their Own Words, George Sullivan
• Encounter, Jane Yolen
• To the Edge of the World, Michele Torrey
• Finding the Titanic, Robert D. Ballard

History

Invite a few of his friends to take a group cooking class focusing on that period's cuisine. A local culinary school, a living history museum or plantation, or a restaurant in a historic setting may be willing to do this for you.

Inspirational titles

• Little House on the Prairie, Laura Ingalls Wilder
• Out of the Dust, Karen Hesse
• Ben and Me, Robert Lawson
• The Witch of Blackbird Pond, Elizabeth George Speare

Knights and medieval topics

Visit a museum with an armor exhibit; eat a meal with your hands at Medieval Times restaurant (there are eight across the country); attend a medieval festival on a summer weekend. With music, sporting events, and competitions, all performed in historic dress, your child will find himself fully immersed in the period.

Inspirational titles

• Crispin, the Cross of Lead, Avi
• The Midwife's Apprentice, Karen Cushman
• Knight's Castle, Edward Eager
• The Castle Builder, Dennis Nolan

Music

Budding musicians might enjoy a visit to a factory where guitars are made. Or get tickets to a film or music festival that focuses on a particular country or composer.

Inspirational titles

• Zin! Zin! Zin! A Violin, Lloyd Moss
• Duke Ellington, Mike Venezia
• When Marion Sang, Pam Muñoz Ryan
• The Muffin Fiend, Daniel Manus Pinkwater

Robots

Engineer a trip to a factory where things are assembled.

Inspirational titles

• Ricky Ricotta's Mighty Robot vs. the Mecha-Monkeys from Mars, Dav Pilkey
• Robots Rising, Carol Sonenklar
• Snowie Rolie, William Joyce
• Not Quite Human: Batteries Not Included, Seth McEvoy