COLUMBIA, Mo. (July 1, 2015) — Have you hit the summer doldrums? Try incorporating these activities into your summer routine.
1. Get Outside!
Plenty of outside time helps head off behavior challenges brought on by restlessness.
- I Spy: Pick different categories to spot, such as “things that move” or “friend’s houses”
- Get Crafty: Find free supplies outside to make crafts like leaf rubbings, dandelion garlands, or rock friends with painted faces
- Map It: Go hunting for treasure (familiar items) in your yard
- Local Artist: Make the sidewalk your canvas with sidewalk chalk and a spray bottle filled with water as an “eraser”
- Play Tic Tac Toe or hopscotch
- Challenge Course: Set up a race or obstacle course appropriate to your child’s development, and invite your neighborhood friends
2. Get Sensory
Build a roster of sensory activities that can get messy!
- Coat a surface with foam shaving cream and use it to mold shapes or practice early writing skills
- Jello hide and seek: Hide small objects in jello molds of varying colors and discuss what they discover
- Fun with Math: Count or measure quantities of sand while building shapes or structures, or follow a pretend recipe for a familiar dish, shaping
- Pantry band: create instruments with “found” items, empty containers and dry goods like rice or beans
3. Rainy Day?
Inclement weather is a great time to focus on quiet work.
- In the Kitchen: Make homemade play dough, and mix up the colors and scents by adding food coloring and fragrant cooking extracts or essential oils
- Math activities, like using a simple recipe to practice fractions
- Color Mixing: Fill glasses with water and color each with a different food coloring. Use an empty glass to experiment with mixing colors and get practice with fine motor skills.
- Homemade instruments: Use beans, popcorn kernels or rice to fill jars or empty containers and make a homemade band to play along with your favorite songs or make up your own!
4. Household Help
Kids enjoy making meaningful contributions. Give them an opportunity to earn some well-deserved praise.
- Simple Cleaning: Offer a spray bottle and rag for your child to practice wiping surfaces while you work on more complicated chores.
- Laundry: Sorting by color and practice with folding helps maintain routines while supporting motor and sensory skills.
- Organizing: Sorting toys or other items by season helps keep rooms orderly and keeps kids busy with a helpful task.