Fun and Easy Ideas for Kids’ Summer Learning

BOONE, N.C., June 27, 2009—School is out, and many parents are looking for opportunities to keep their kids learning throughout the summer.  An international children's project run by Samaritan's Purse offers a lesson in giving and a unique opportunity to impact the life of a child a world away.

Operation Christmas Child is a year-round kids-helping-kids project that uses simple gift-filled shoe boxes to show millions of hurting children in 100 countries that they are loved and not forgotten.  

Kids and families wrap and pack empty shoe boxes with simple items most people take for granted, including toys, school supplies and toothbrushes.  Operation Christmas Child collects the gift boxes and hand-delivers them to hurting children around the world using whatever means necessary - sea containers, trucks, trains, airplanes, helicopters, boats, camels, even dog sleds. 

Anyone can participate in Operation Christmas Child right now.  The project is a massive year-round effort, requiring months of organization and preparation.

Ideas for summer learning:

• Teach children that in these times of economic challenges in the United States, many kids overseas are also struggling.  Educate your child about the basic needs of children around the world, such as Chinese children abandoned at birth.
  
• Take kids shopping and let them pick out items for their shoe box gift.  Help them think about what necessity items a needy child might want and pick out toys that would give comfort and joy.  Watch a video about how a pair of shoes changed the life of a Bosnian child who received them in a shoe box gift.
  
• Wrap the shoe box with colorful paper and pack it with gifts.  Step-by-step packing instructions are available at www.samaritanspurse.org.  Ask kids how they think the child who will receive the shoe box gift will feel when they open it.  Talk about how simple items can be meaningful to a child who has very little.
  
• Write a note of encouragement to the child who will receive the shoe box gift.  Consider including a photo and an address, inviting the shoe box recipient to write back.
  
• Look at a map and discuss which of the 100 receiving countries may be the shoe box's final destination.  Then register the shoe box gift using the EZ Give donation form.   Operation Christmas Child uses tracking technology that allows donors to "follow your box" to find out the destination country where it will be hand-delivered to a child in need.
  
• Make a video about Operation Christmas Child and submit it on ShoeTube.

Operation Christmas Child, a project of the international Christian relief organization Samaritan's Purse, is the world's largest Christmas gift project.  Since 1993, Operation Christmas Child has hand-delivered more than 69 million shoe box gifts to needy children in more than 130 countries.  In 2009, the project hopes to collect and deliver 8 million shoe box gifts.

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