Every month at Emerald Sunshine Dot Org, a contest is held for children from ages four to eighteen. This monthly contest is based upon different medium and themes in various combinations so that it is something fresh every time.
The mediums input into the random generator this month were: drawing, sculpture, collage, painting, story, poem, song, computer graphic, film, photography, printmaking, model. The themes were: chemistry, medieval to early renaissance history, art, language arts, math, music, outdoors and environment, food, late renaissance to early modern history, life science, ancient history, foreign cultures (foreign to your own), physics, activities and crafts, modern history, earth science and astronomy, holidays.
Here’s the dish for January:
Theme
Take a photo highlighting chemistry in some manner. In this case, the theme chemistry encompasses the interactions of matter and energy and the science of chemistry. Picture ideas could include chemical reactions on an academic-scientific level (think beakers), on a food level (think of bread rising), or any other level that could arguably highlight chemistry. Please do not feel limited to the items that I have listed. If you are concerned that your project may not work under these guidelines, please feel free to e-mail me and ask.
Rules
1. During the time period of 16 December 2010 to 15 January 2011, submissions can be made for this contest to emeraldsforeyes@gmail.com.
2. One submission can be made per child. This means that if your family has three children, three projects may be submitted.
3. Age limit: 4- 18 years old.
4. Parents may help their children plan and execute the project, but they should not be doing all the work. This can not effectively be policed, so please use integrity.
5. You do not need to be a homeschooler or a secular homeschooler. The project must be submitted by a child between the ages of 4 years and 18 years. That’s it.
6. Submit 1-3 photographs (please, no photographs of your children or identifying information such as a house address) to the above e-mail address. Include a brief description of how the project was completed and describe how it relates to the theme. If you got the idea for the project from a book or website, please feel free to include that. You may also include your website and your child’s first name. Please include your child’s age. If you have a blog or website, the project will be linked back to your blog or website (unless you request otherwise).
Categories
Categories will be judged on age ranges: 4-8 years old, 9-13 years old, 14-18 years old. If I get enough submissions, I will create more categories and post them. If I get less than 4 submissions per age group, it will be collapsed with another age group.
Judging
For this contest, I will be the sole judge. In the future, I may look into creating a panel of judges. Judging is arbitrary and at this time, there are no set criteria (although that may change in the future). Popular vote will be considered and as such, each submission will be posted as it’s own blog post to this website during the time period of January 16th – January 20th. Winners will be announced on January 24th.
As I am the judge, while my children may make a submission, they will not be entered into the contest portion.
FAQ
Feel free to ask questions in this post and I will update to include the answers.
1. Can I use Photoshop or something similar? You may not, but if your child wishes to do so, that is their choice.
2. Is there a size limit? No. As long as you can take a picture of it, it can be any size you want.
3. Can I donate an item to be used as a prize? Sure thing! If it is kid appropriate and educational, we would love to have items donated to use as prizes. Of course, we will link back to you and give you heaps of praise.
4. How will future contests be created? I will ask for a suggestion of type and theme from every person who makes an acceptable entry into this months contest. Then, I will use a random number generation to pick the type and the theme. The next contest will be announced on January 16th.
Prize
The winner of each category will receive a $25 gift certificate to Usborne Books and More (link to my website). Any cost that you accrue over $25 will be your cost (yes, this includes shipping and handling). For full disclosure, I am a consultant for Usborne Books and More. If you live out of the contiguous United States and win the contest, we will discuss shipping. It will take longer for you to receive your prize (as I will not be able to directly ship the book to you).
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Oh how fun! What a neat idea for you to do this. I may have to find something for Mister Man to do with this. Chemistry is so up his alley. But he’ll have to take the photo with the point and shoot. Mean Mommy, I can’t let him use my brand new DSLR
We would love to have you participate! I don’t let my children touch my dSLR either… I try not to even let my husband.
Egads! I’ve missed another one! Okay – according to your site, new contests should post around the 15th of the month – therefore, I will be here next week to see what contest you have decided upon!
I added a third homeschooler to my house last week, so I’m VERY excited about this opportunity.