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I’ll be blogging at MOTHERS Book Bag for MOTHERS and the National Association of Mothers’ Centers (NAMC) this week at The Big Tent in Denver during the Democratic National Convention. So, I will be too busy to blog here. However, I urge parents – no matter what their political affiliation – to watch the convention, read the newspaper and Internet coverage, and talk with your children about it.

There will be a lot of speeches of course, (click here for the schedule) so you may just want to save up your viewing time for Barack Obama’s acceptance speech on Thursday live from Invesco Field in Denver. (Rumor has it that Bruce Springsteen will be warming up the crowd.)

I’ll be home with Nathan and Lucie watching the hoopla and dancing to The Boss.

In the meanwhile, check out these children’s books on politics, presidents and elections:

• Presidential Elections: And Other Cool Facts by Syl Sobel for ages  nine to 12. Young readers will learn: Who can run for president? Who can vote? What is the Electoral College? What is a third-party candidate? What if something happens to the president? Some of the unusual facts they’ll discover include: Which Republican president had a Democrat for his vice president? How many candidates have won the popular vote but lost the election? You may learn some things, too.
• America Votes: How Our President Is Elected by Linda Granfield for ages nine to 12. Granfield breaks down information about the American electoral process into manageable chunks. Subjects range from qualifications for voting, the troubled history of voting rights, the Electoral College, campaign finance, and election fraud. Granfield delights devotes the chapter “Animal Farm” to animal metaphors, including the Democratic donkey and the Republican elephant, and “Pass the ‘Lection Cake, Please!” to foods associated with various presidents.
• If I Ran For President by Catherine Stier for ages four to eight, Six  children take turns explaining the election process as if they were running for president. They discuss their decision to run, campaigning, primaries and conventions, debating, being interviewed, meeting the public, voting, and being sworn in on Inauguration Day.
• Grace for President by Kelly Dipucchio for ages four to eight. Grace discovers that no women have ever been president, and decides she’ll be president one day. A teacher at her school decides to stage a school-wide election for president to teach the kids about the electoral process.
• If I Were President by Catherine Stier. This book provides an introduction to the responsibilities of the present for children ages four to eight. 
• Duck for President by Doreen Cronin and illustrated by Betsy Lewin. The book has been updated for the 2008 election:

Our fellow Americans, It is our pleasure, our honor, our duty as citizens to present to you Duck for president in 2008.

Here is a duck who began in a humble pond, who worked his way up to farmer, to governor, and now perhaps the highest office in the land.

Some say if he walks like a duck and talks like a duck, he is a duck.

We say if he walks like a duck and talks like a duck, he will be the next president of the United States of America.

Thank you for your vote.

It’s my favorite election book of all. See the video based on the Duck for President book.

Even though I was bookworm, as a child I spent time outside. I walked to and from school. I explored my town by bicycle. I also played in the backyard, catching fireflies at night, digging for rocks, or playing on our swing set.

Zoom ahead almost 40 years later and my children are driven to a school over three miles away. Our backyard is boring compared to a fast food restaurant play land or the play area at the local indoor mall. TV and computers beckon, too.

We try to find ways to get them outdoors. In the summer, they help mow and gather berries and vegetables in the garden. We go camping and fishing in the Colorado mountains. My husband also takes our children hiking in our national park.

The National Wildlife Federation (those nice people who bring children those Ranger Rick, Your Big Backyard, and Wild Animal Baby magazines) recommends that parents give their kids a “green hour” everyday - time for unstructured play and interaction with the natural world in a garden,  backyard, or park. To support this they’ve developed the Green Hour website rich in family-friendly content that hosts a supportive virtual community where families can learn, explore, and share their outdoor experiences and backyard adventures.

What’s going on at the Green Hour?

The first thing you should do at the Green Hour site so you can participate in their Member Spaces and Community Corner. Afterwards, subscribe to the Green Hour® e-Newsletter. The last issue I received featured 7 Ways to Spread the Green Hour Message from the Green Hour Blog.

The site also features a Parents’ Guide to help you find the best ways to make Green Hour work for you. It includes tips like discover nature together and be prepared by packing an explorer’s kit.

The Green Hour also features a link to NatureFind – just plug in your zip code or city and state to locate the green spaces in your neighborhood. I did and it gave me nearby state parks, museums and nature centers. Very cool! Finally, there are seasonal activity suggestions like Ice Sculptures or a Lazy, Hazy Reading Day.

Isn’t it time for you and your family to take a Green Hour?

It’s not too often that I get excited about cooking contests, but this one’s a winner. The Seventh Annual Jif® Most Creative Peanut Butter Sandwich Contest™ fosters creativity in children as they spend quality time in the kitchen cooking with their parents. Heck, even if you don’t win, you’ll have some good family fun trying.

• The contest is open to children ages six to 12.
• Entries will be accepted from August 4 through November 14, 2008
• Five finalists will win a trip to New York City for the live judging event.
• The grand prize winner will receive a $25,000 scholarship fund to help pay for college.
• Four runner-ups will each receive a $2,500 scholarship fund.

And the kids aren’t the only ones having all the fun. The Jif® Moms Voice Their Choice Contest™ gives moms (or those inspired by one) a chance to share their stories about the choices they make for their families. The writer of the winning essay will win:

• A 4-day, 3-night trip to New York City with a companion.
• A seat at the judges’ table at the Seventh Annual Jif Most Creative Peanut Butter Sandwich Contest final event.

For official rules and entry forms and to learn more about The Jif Most Creative Peanut Butter Sandwich Contest and the Jif Moms Voice Their Choice Contest, visit the Jif website. And while your there, check out the Jif recipe pages, their Cooking with Kids recommendations, and the Jif School Time Recipe Guide.

Click here for a round up of Olympic themed children’s book activities and children’s cooking activities.

Just in time for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, PBS Home Video is releasing Muhammad Ali: Made in Miami. The movie examines the time Ali spent in Miami after he returned from the 1960 Rome Olympics. It was a crucial time of transformation for him, not only from an amateur boxer to a pro, but his personal journey from being Cassius Clay into the legendary Muhammad Ali.

Though original footage and interviews we see Ali’s life in Overtown, the African-American side of Miami that was considered the “Harlem South” of its day. We learn about his training at the famous Fifth Street Gym in Miami Beach from the people he worked with like his trainer, Angelo Dundee. The movie also explores Ali’s relationship to the Nation of Islam, his friendship with Malcolm X, and his refusal to be drafted and fight in the Vietnam War.

It’s amazing in a time where a presidential candidate’s Muslim sounding name stirs up so much prejudice to realize how influential Muhammad Ali was and how loved he still is today. Ali’s story reflects so much going on in the early ’60s - the fight for civil rights, the black separatist movement, and the resistance by so many young people to the Vietnam War.

Muhammad Ali: Made in Miami is an amazing documentary. I just wish it was longer. Also, it is appropriate for older children, but does deal with adult subjects like prejudice, the assassination of Malcolm X, and shows some fairly brutal boxing footage. For more information on the DVD, see Richard Marcus at BlogCritics review.

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I recently watched the History Channel’s Life After People on DVD*, which combines visual effects and interviews with leading experts to show what happens to the planet if humans vanished. It’s basically the story of how civilization would decay, and how Mother Nature would reclaim and renew the Earth. The thought provoking documentary made me wonder what kind of children’s science activities could you do - besides watching the Life After People DVD of course - to explore the concept of decay. And what kind of children’s cooking activities could show you how you preserve food?

What decays?

• Build backyard compost bins or indoor vermicomposters (worm composters) for food and yard waste and watch the decomposition.
• Walk outside in the woods, the beach, or a park and look for evidence of natural materials like leaves, dead trees, and cut grass which are decaying. Even rocks break down into pebbles and sand. Contrast with man-made waste like glass and plastics that do not decay. Find some man-made materials that do decay like metal (rust) or paper.
• If you can stomach it, visit a local taxidermist to find out how the flesh is removed from animals. You can see the defleshing process online, but you may not want to share the pictures with the kids. Pretty graphic, but some kids love the gross out factor.
• Put a few food items on the counter and watch them decay – bread gets moldy, fruit turns into rotten mush, and if you’ve watched Super Size Me, you know that McDonald’s french fries don’t decay. (Don’t let this experiment go too long or you’ll have a smelly room full of fruit flies.)

And how can we prevent decay?

• Take a piece of untreated wood. Cover half with a some sort of deck sealant and the other half without. Leave outside for a few weeks in the sun and rain. Observe how to the two halves look compared to each other after being exposed to the elements. Theorize how the sealant prevents the wood from weathering and decaying. What do you think is more harmful to the wood – the sun, freezing and thawing, or getting wet and drying? (Probably all three.)
• Talk about the different ways we preserve food – salting, smoking, cooking, drying, freezing, canning, pickling, and refrigerating. Even cheese, ice cream and yogurt making are just ways to preserve milk. To explore this further, here’s a children’s food preservation science activity link. For cooking activities you could: 
  • learn how to make fruit leather 
  • make some pickles under three hours
  • make some homemade yogurt with a yogurt machine or make yogurt with a without a yogurt machine

(*Thanks to Attention!PR for the review copy of Life After People.)

My Home 2.0 is a TV show that gives families technology makeovers . You can catch season one’s episodes online. Also, they’re interviewing families in Ft. Wayne, Indiana for the next season’s batch of shows until the end of July 2008 at Verizon stores.

The My Home 2.0 website is full of techno-helpful tips and DIY projects. Many are eco-friendly like How 2.0: Make a Solar Cell Phone Charger. The project takes one hour and uses an Altoids Tin case, 2 mini solar panels, soldering equipment, a wire stripper and a cell phone charger (either for the wall outlet or car).

I reviewed this project online with it’s step by step pictures and helpful directions, and it seems doable as long as you’re fairly handy and know how to use a soldering iron. They also caution to use an extra cell phone charger or to get a cheap one at Best Buy. This would be a great project for a teenager or maybe for an adult with a child assisting. Having a solar cellphone charger is a must for anyone who hikes or camps, too, and this would make a cute present for the “greenie” in your life.

There are also several projects that are much more challenging but are fun to watch, like “Hack a Bat.”

How 2.0: Hack a Bat - the Ryan Howard Speed Test from My Home 2.0 DIY on Vimeo.

You never know, a TV show like My Home 2.0 may inspire some of the inventors at your house.

From Lobster Press comes Come on, Mom! It features 75 activities mothers and daughters can do together like making perfume or bread-dough clay to playing radio reporter or playing goofy golf. Each activity includes easy-to-follow instructions and a materials list if supplies are needed. This girls-only guide will create memories that will last. For girls ages 3 to 9 and their moms.

Not to fear, there’s a father/son version, too - Come on, Dad!: 75 Things for Fathers and Sons to Do Together. For boys ages 3 to 9 and their dads, sample activities include Personal Pizzas, Paper Air Force, Time Capsule, Family Story Collection, Math Olympics, Obstacle Race, Recycled City, Personal Place Mats, and Backyard Camp Out.

Not only are these books great for parents, they’ll be helpful for new stepparents, volunteers in big brother/big sister type programs, and babysitters.

I like how these books have their share of pretend play, physical activity, mental activities, and cooking. Speaking of cooking, another great activities to do with your kids on your next camping trip is to make Campfire Pies. Grilling dessert over the campfire? Sounds like wholesome family fun.

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