Educational Resources | Zone Unit Studies
Building Model Cities

Joe:
Building a model can be a lot of fun and help you to learn more about the real world, because you really need to focus on reality to make a model. Here are some ideas that we are developing in our discussion groups.

The original question:
Hello, we live in Africa. My son needs to do a model city for his science project. He is seven years old and I am trying to help him and we have made a couple of buildings out of paper but he needs some better interesting stimulation maybe to get his enthusiasm going - he chose the subject but has soon tired of the idea. Any suggestions would be wonderful / if anyone has made model cities he could perhaps view one on the internet to give him a better idea?
Thanks a million!

Internet Resources for Model Cities
From author Rebecca Rupp
A few alternatives for you model-city builders:

• Box City
  This is a "community planning" project for kids aged 7 or so and up; it comes with a curriculum guide, instructional video, and the raw material for building Box City (40 plain white cardboard boxes in three sizes, to be assembled and decorated by the kids; plus a sample Box City grid plan). Looks like a great group project, but you'll need to devote a room to it. From Crystal Productions; (800) 255-8629.
• "Block Building for Children:
  Making Buildings of the World With the Ultimate Construction Toy" by Les Walker
  More than you ever dreamed could be done with building blocks, illustrated with photos, diagrams, and detailed plans. Build a castle, a Greek temple, the entire Emerald City of Oz.
• Cut & Assemble Buildings/Villages
  Dover publishes many many cut-and-assemble models of famous buildings and historical villages - they're on cardstock, in booklet form; you cut them out, bend all the little tabs, and put them together. Colonial houses, Victorian houses, a New England farm village, American Indian villages, Frank Lloyd Wright houses, etc. For a catalog, contact Dover Publications, 31 E. 2nd St., Mineola, NY 11501.

Use clay for modeling
From: Gina
I would suggest some type of clay for building structures. When I was in 6th grade we made a moon scape using a compound much like paper mache but it was pretty messy. Clay is easier for younger kids to work with and there are many kinds available. With 5 year old we use a red mexican clay. It has a firm texture but is still workable. Also it dires nicely and painting is optional. We've had good luck at using modeling clay for various Christmas projects but it takes FOREVER to dry. I do agree that a whole city is pretty ambitious. Maybe a small neighborhood or village would be more feasible. > Good luck! > Gina

Making a "good" city and a "bad" city
From: Dr. Kain
Science Spiders Make Science EASY
We just did a similar project with our 8-year-old.  But we put a twist in it.  She modeled two "cities."  One was a "good environment" and one was a "bad environment."  In the good environment, houses, schools, stores, etc  were all close together so fewer cars were needed, there was more grass and trees (in the outlying area), even trash was less because packages did not have to travel far.  In the bad environment, houses were far apart, there was little grass and few trees (because of the roads), and there was
generally higher usage of all materials.

My daughter put these together all by herself so they were very unimpressive
to look at unless you read her background note on the good vs. the bad environments.   The houses, schools and stores were made of paper.  Roads were painted gray.   Grass was parsley sprinkled on glue.  Although the "look" was not that great, the thoughts were tremendous and she got rave reviews for doing her "own" project in her "own" way.

Another approach is to use some interesting architectural features that can be modeled.   What are the houses made from?  Make some out of popsicle sticks for wood buildings, paper mache for others, and sand-coated styrofoam for a third type.  Make just a few buildings but model the skyline with another sheet of cardboard roughly cut and painted to show the skyline.

Hope these ideas help!

Use recycled materials
From: Kevin Morkassel
For building structures you can use just about any discarded food or product container. Such as cereal, cracker, milk and facial tissue boxes. Just examine everything that you are throwing away. Recycling these products will save you on building time. It will allow your child to focus his imagination on finding unique ways to decorate or alter these structures.

Meet the Author
"The Complete Idiot's Guide to Homeschooling"
by Marsha Ransom
hosted by Joe Spataro
interview & FREE excerpt
Marsha Ransom, author of The Complete Idiot's Guide to Homeschooling, is the mother of four children, two of whom have always been homeschooled. She serves as a homeschool resource for her local library and writes articles for Home Education Magazine, The Link: A Homeschool Newspaper, Women's International Net, and Homeschool Dad Magazine. In this interview on the Zone, Marsha discusses how she came to write this book, developing your program, homeschooling on a budget, what is happening with her homeschooled children, her future plans and a FREE excerpt which tells you how to set up a homeschool cooperative.

Play Dough Galore
We have 7 terrific playdough recipes.   We have received many requests for playdough recipes .  This week we decided to feature five types of dough that we have collected over the years and have also added a recipe from "365 Days of Creative Play" and an offering from author Rebecca Rupp.  Have fun!!

Meet the Author
Mary Leppert
Co-author of "Homeschooling Almanac 2000-2001"
Interview & FREE Excerpt
She is a homeschool mom who along with her husband, Michael, have compiled a wonderful resource for homeschoolers. It is a resource guide for books, magazines, catalogs, prepackaged materials, cybersources, specific homeschooling methods, religious references and more. It also features over $1000 of FREE coupons which could easily pay for the purchase price. I have the opportunity to interview Mary and she took the time to share her views with us on the homeschooling movement and a bit about her personal life with her children. We are also featuring a very nice excerpt from her book which is entitled, What Kind of Learner is Your Child. I hope everyone gets a chance to look at closely and use this information to help you in your homeschool program. She is very frank and her answers and the excerpt are easy to read.