I came upon the book 50 Dangerous Things You Should Let Your Children Do last summer after hearing several people talk about it. Author Gever Tulley offers 50 activities that might get labeled as "too dangerous" for today's kid. All of the activities really are educational experiences, and they're all pretty damn fun too. Most of them aren't even that dangerous, really. We tried a few of them in the kindergarten summer camp that I was teaching at the time, but we barely even got our feet wet.
This year I have decided to teach a month long multi-age class (6 - 11 year olds) where we attempt to do as many of the 50 things as we can. So far we have: licked 9-volt batteries, microwaved strange stuff, spent a half hour blindfolded, climbed a tree, broken glass, made "bombs in a bag," baked "poison" cookies, and filmed dramatic sword fighting scenes. We talk about what makes each activity dangerous, and what we're doing to keep everyone safe (like using cardboard tubes for the sword fighting or having "guides" while blindfolded). Our only injuries so far have been a few scratches on the legs from tree climbing and a bumped head from the blindfold session.
For the most part, the children come to each class bubbling with excitement and enthusiasm, and ready to go. I've tried to extend the activities in various ways. For the 9-volts, we tested how much "juice" was in each battery by how strong the sensation on our tongue was. We drew before and after sketches for the microwaved objects (which included grapes, marshmallows, ivory soap, and CD's). We glued our pieces of broken glass and tile into weird sculptures. We added powdered tempera to the "bombs in a bag" to make colorful explosions on white canvas. Things like that. Art combined with science, math combined with physical exercise, drama combined with danger. All of it happening at once, and so quickly that we are always left wondering where the time went.
Next on the list: throwing spears, experimenting with dry ice, performing on the street . . .
