See also
more topic ideas.
"Visualizations of the past" (series)
I think one of the subjects that is hardest to make comprehensible and interesting to little kids is history. This is partly because our interest in it is abstract and very complex (think why we study Athenian democracy, or the slave trade--now explain that to a two-year-old), but partly because the past is so foreign, different, and therefore puzzling. That's why I think we need a whole series of books that shows mostly in pictures, but also in well-chosen words, what the past
looked like.National and ethnic groups
Country (or countries), range of physical appearance, dress, languages, religion, etc., of just a few different peoples from around the world, to give children a notion of the diversity of peoples out there.
The intellectual powers
Perceiving (with all senses), thinking (in general), conceptualizing (forming concepts), reasoning (using logic), remembering, imagining. -- We have many presentations about feelings, because they're easy to illustrate in pictures. Challenge: illustrate the intellectual powers, which are just as important. The basic idea is to use examples, and let the kid learn the concept through the example. Examples are relatively easy to illustrate. You can't draw a picture of someone remembering, but you can tell a brief story showing how someone remembers something.
Weird words
After his interest in electricity, my boy actually listed out three different senses of the word "conductor": electrical, musical, and railroad. Use examples to illustrate the ideas of meaning, definition, and ambiguity. Introduce things like dictionaries (with their multiple senses), explaining what a word means, being puzzled or confused about what someone means, nonsense, etc. Sort of introductory semantics...
Making music
Tell the story (in pictures) illustrating the
process of making music. Cover things like sheet music, music cases, orchestra, practicing, music stand, etc.
Cooking
A presentation not about types of food, or food ingredients, but about the processes and using the tools of making food.
Games
Generally, cover concepts associated with games, including the concepts of the object of the game, a move or turn, winning, losing, having fun, being competitive, etc.; types of games like board games, card games, sporting games, etc.; also, give some examples of specific important games, like chess, checkers, poker, Monopoly, etc.
Balloons
Er, I don't know what to say about them, but my boy wants this one. Specifically requested: "I want a book about balloons!" Meaning blow-up balloons, not the kind you fly, but I guess it would be OK to cover those, too.
Make your own “song books” from common kid songs and nursery rhymes
Think "Clementine": "In a cavern [picture of a cavern], in a canyon [picture of canyon], excavating for a mine [picture of a mine]..." Very visual story. We have some paper books of illustrated songs, but it would be nice to have more. The "scripts" are already there. I know this isn't an original idea, but it would be nice to see more.
Grouping and dividing
I'd like to see more math presentations that take a creative approach to illustrating numbers by grouping and dividing them...for ideas, see kids' books about mathematics.
The four states of matter
Solid, liquid, gas, plasma. Examples of each, videos (or animated gifs!) of things melting, freezing, steaming, burning, etc. Could be simple or long and meaty. Doesn't have to be too complicated, you don't have to explain the science, just the examples of the general concepts are mainly what's needed.
Religion
The figures, symbols, and basic beliefs of different world religions.
Countries in general
Introduce these concepts: borders, passports, capitals, government, laws; people, businesses, schools; roads, rivers, mountains, forests. Basically, paint a picture of what "country" means.
Law
Illustrate these concepts: constitution, law books, courts, judges, lawyers, juries, police officers, breaking the law, punishment—prison
Reading a calendar
Biology - kingdoms
Give examples of animals, plants, fungi, and others like viruses to taste. Explain the differences, only if you can in a way that a small child can begin to understand, and with plenty of pictures. Don't use big long words unless you define them, please...
Politeness
Give examples of the proper use of please, thank you, you're welcome, excuse me, pardon me, sorry, pleased to meet you, sir, ma'am, and any others you can think of.
The virtues
There are many different lists of the virtues, but the Seven Virtues are perhaps the most famous. Aristotle's list is good too. There are many other popularly celebrated virtues that are not on those lists, though. I would approach this by showing examples of people who are practicing the virtues. You might have to tell a little story to do this--remember to use lots of pictures, more pictures than words.
See also
more topic ideas.
Digg
