School’s out, but that doesn’t mean that learning has to be put on hold during the summer months. Keep your child’s mind sharp by including some fun and imaginative activities this summer.
Book Clubs
Offer to hold a once-a-month book club at your home. Sit down with your child and choose a few interesting books to read; then invite a few of your child’s friends to read the same books on their own. Schedule a day to meet together to discuss the book, have refreshments, and do a couple activities to go along with the theme of the book. It’s a great way to get kids excited about reading. You can also check with your local library – often, they have summer reading programs.
Learning Projects
Let your child choose something he would like to learn how to do. Maybe he would like to learn to bake cookies or build a birdhouse. Provide supplies and instruction (or a mentor to teach your child if it is something with which you aren’t familiar). See how many new things your child can learn how to do over the summer. When he has mastered his new skill, have a get-together with friends or relatives and let him share his new talent. Maybe he can invite the grandparents over for a meal that he cooked by himself, or give a presentation on birds that might visit the birdhouse he’s built.
Field Trips
Who says that field trips are only a school activity? Think of some places that might be a jumping off point for your child’s curiosity. When my oldest was six years old, he was fascinated with bees, so I found a local beekeeper and arranged a visit. We invited a few of his friends and had a great learning experience. Maybe there is an interesting, but small museum to explore. Don’t overlook opportunities to go on nature walks and learn about the native plants and animals.
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School’s out and the kids are home for the summer, which means it’s time to stock up on snacks. I find that when my kids are home, they always are looking for something to eat. Instead of filling the pantry with potato chips and the fridge with soda pop, consider some of the following options for healthy summer snacks (and the best part is, you don’t need to turn on the oven!):
Veggie tray – Chop up a variety of vegetables and place in various bowls or in a sectioned dish. Place the veggie tray in a spot where the kids spend a lot of time – perhaps in the kitchen on the table or counter top. You also could set it on the family room coffee table. My kids eat a lot more vegetables when I put them out for snacking than when they are a side dish for dinner.
Juice pops – Get some popsicle molds and fill them with 100% juice. You also could make your own fruit slush popcicles by blending some frozen fruit with a little bit of liquid. Then freeze the mixture into popcicles. It’s a lot healthier than the ones you buy at the grocery store!
Popcorn– You don’t need potato chips to satisfy the need for something to crunch on. Pop some popcorn in an air popper (hold the butter!) and eat it plain, or with a splash of healthy oil, such as olive oil or melted coconut oil, and add a sprinkle of your favorite seasonings. I like to add olive oil with salt, pepper, chili powder, and garlic powder.
Fruit – Eating fruit is a great way to satisfy a sweet tooth. Set out a large bowl with a variety of fruits. You could try bananas, apples, kiwis, and pears. Also, you could fill a bowl with chopped melons with a box of toothpicks nearby for easy snacking.
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Have you ever just wanted to entertain a group of kids, but you don’t know how?
Well, I have a solution for you. This trick is one of the easiest I’ve heard of, but, if you do it right, you can entertain your crowd for as long as you’d like! This trick also requires little to no practice, memorizing of steps, or prep work; isn’t that perfect!? The point of the trick is to get your audience to think that you can guess the next card in a deck without looking at it.
Alright, so here’s what you’re going to do. In order to prepare for the trick (don’t let the audience see you do this!), pick up a deck, place it number side down, and flip the top card on the deck so that both sides of the deck now appear to start with a number or face card. Now, hold the deck straight out in front of you so that the card that you flipped can be seen by your audience. Notice how you can see the last card of the deck? Well, your audience thinks that you can see the back of the deck.
After glancing at this card at the bottom of the deck, bring the deck behind your back (careful, you don’t want to make it look like you are looking at the back of the deck; try to see the number out of the corner of your eye). Once it is behind your back, take the card you saw at the back and flip it so that it is at the beginning of the deck. Make it seem like you are trying to figure out and guess what the next card will be. Hold the deck out to your audience and state your “guess”!
Don’t forget to take a peek at the next card for your next “guess”!
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