As the dog days of summer move into back to school days, you’ll find a wide variety of activities to enjoy.
Monthly observances can give you everything from ideas for activities to service projects.
Steps
1. August printable.
Download the Enrichment Project printable of August monthly observances in the United States. These are observances that occur all month long. For August, these include:
- American Artist Appreciation Month
- Architecture Month
- Audio Appreciation Month
- Children’s Eye Health and Safety Month
- Children’s Good Manners Month
- Food Health Month
- Get Ready for Kindergarten Month
- Motor Sports Awareness Month
- National Back to School Month
- National Golf Month
- National Inventors Month
- National Literacy Month
- National Parks Month
- National Water Quality Month
- National Watermelon Day
Review the printable to find what monthly themes you can incorporate into your own activities.
2. Your own list.
Start your own list of August monthly observances, including ideas to help celebrate them. Expand on the list provided or create your own from scratch to meet the needs of your audience or group.
3. Theme.
Any monthly observance can be a theme for your meeting or event. August has a lot of themes you can incorporate with outdoor activities such as visiting parks and enjoying a picnic. Starting a new school year is another theme you can use. How can you build a theme around your chosen observance?
Start planning
4. Meetings, parties and events.
You can plan a meeting, party or event based on a monthly celebration theme. You might want to do one or more activities based on your observance. You may choose to focus an entire event around it. Don’t limit yourself to the stated themes. For example, starting back to school can allow you to get ready for school by doing overviews of what families need to do or diving into a single grade like Get Ready for Kindergarten Month.
5. Create and design.
Use the August observances as a way to focus your creative energy. When you’re stuck for an idea, these can give you a jumping off point to start brainstorming. Some things you might create include:
- Art
- Blog posts
- Club activities
- Crafts
- Ebooks
- Games
- Gifts
- Podcasts
- Printables
- STEM
- Videos
6. Education.
Create your own curriculum and learn the way you want to . . . use nature and the outdoors instead of being stuck in a classroom. You can also bring the outdoors in to explore American artists or create a few of your own. Find support for your chosen observance.
7. Sharing.
Sharing your ideas with others not only encourages participation but may bring greater variety into your activities. You can share:
- Cultural observations
- Hobbies
- Interests
- Recipes
- Religious observances
Explore ways to share with others in your community or group.
8. Service.
You can plan service around a monthly observance. For example, use National Water Quality Month to look critically at your water supply and how you can support it through environmental efforts. Look through the observances and find one or more that allow you to bring service into your monthly activities.
9. Communicate.
Use monthly observations in your communications. You can share your thoughts and ideas to move people to action. From blog posts to emails to newsletters, keep your communication fresh by incorporating these observances in your writing.
10. Brainstorm.
Brainstorm ways to incorporate observances into your own community or group. This might be a one-time event or a series for a group, club or community.
Continue the search
11. Explore offerings online.
Pick a monthly observance (or more) and start your online research. What is available online that you can download and use? Be sure to keep track of where you get the information so you can refer back to this resource.
12. Search for even more!
How have other people celebrated the month theme you chose? Talk to them to find out what they did. Ask about what worked, what didn’t and what they might change to make it better.
Can you incorporate their ideas into your own project? If not, what adjustments can you make?
Supplements Available
NOTE: If you have additional observances you’d like added, please let me know.
Sites to Explore
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:August_observances
- www.butlerwebs.com/holidays/default.htm
- giftedkids.about.com/od/Monthly-Observances/a/Month-Long-Observances-In-August.htm
- www.nsc.org/news_resources/Resources/Pages/NSCSafetyCalendar.aspx
- library.thinkquest.org/2886
- www.brownielocks.com
- www.thenibble.com/fun/more/facts/food-holidays.asp
- www.gone-ta-pott.com
- www.tfdutch.com/foodh.htm
- www.welcoa.org/observances
- www.holidayinsights.com/moreholidays
- www.mhprofessional.com/templates/chases/index.php
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