Summer is a wonderful time to build relationships with your school age children through teaching and learning moments. Children love to learn. For most, it is better than candy. Add your time with that and there couldn’t be a better gift. The activities listed below are meant to help develop a deeper relationship with your child as well as to help them prepare for everyday life. We try not to test our children. We feel that it can take away from the relationship, and make them doubt their own genius. We like to allow our children to grow and learn at their own pace, and we enjoy just being able to answer questions, and helping facilitate and even participate in that process. Here are fifteen of our favorite ways to supplement our children’s education. Enjoy.
- Make interest kits. – Observe what your child is interested in and buy “how to” books, print out Pintrest tutorials, or make your own instructions, gather supplies, and fill a box. We like to buy the banker boxes from Costco, and photo boxes work well too. You can also put science projects into boxes and pull them out when your child wants to do something interesting. Cleaning kits are fun to have on hand as well. Mild cleaners in spray bottles are a big hit in my house.
- Have your child help you cook. This is a great way to spend time together learning a life skill and it will give them an opportunity to use their math skills. Ways they can help in the kitchen include, reading the recipe to you while you make it, rinsing the fruit and veggies, emptying ingredients into bowls, and painting vegetables or bread with butter or oil. I love letting the children play with the pastry/basting brush. They also enjoy rinsing the measuring cups and spoons in a sink full of warm water. This is helpful because you will have them ready for next time, instead of waiting to pull them out of the dishwasher.
- Start a journal/planner. Just get a notebook for your child and set them free. They can plan, draw, write, or whatever they want. Periodically, you can give them a prompt or instruct them on an art entry or even write a little note for them in it. Have them keep it in a certain place at all times so they always have it available to them. One family I know has a coffee table journal that even guests can write in. Children can pick it up and write in it, you can write down special events, pictures, and all the things your family is grateful for. Children love reading and reviewing stories about themselves. Very small children can try to write and then tell you what they wrote and you can write it down for them. They could also draw a picture and you could ask them questions and write a little tidbit about the picture.
- Create popsicle stick boredom busters. – Take a bunch of Popsicle sticks and write quick things they can do that would help around the house. Work builds character and having mini chores can be interesting for your children and they will take pride in their work. Some ideas I have are: clean a window, sort the laundry, pair socks, clean off a counter or table, write your numbers or letters, read a short book or bible verse etc. I originally used them for extra chores when my children were out of sorts but I was so surprised at how much they enjoyed them. You can also do exercise sticks as well. Exercise is so good for the brain, prevents depression and is like a muscle that grows when you use it. Do ten jumping jacks, 15 arm circles, hop on one foot, etc. Service sicks like, read a story to your baby brother, do your baby sisters hair etc. are helpful because the brain feels loved when it shows love. Be sure to give them lots of love after they have completed the task and reported back and they will find enjoyment in the tasks of daily life.
- Familiarize your children with your life. Children love to mimic adults as a way to learn. Include them, when you can, in the paying of bills, in your correspondence (even texting and e-mailing), cooking, cleaning, gardening, shopping etc. Let them see you learning and reading. It is a wonderful way to spend time together and learn about life.
- Start a family book club.– You can read to your little ones, have the older ones read on their own if they rather and discuss the book, have a movie or a reenactment party after you are finished. We had a tea party after reading Anne of Green Gables, and we watched Pride and Prejudice after reading the book. The How to Train a Dragon Series was a wonderful read for our entire family.
- Involve your children in Family History. – Write and read stories about your family to your children. Have your children write stories about their life, and tell them stories about yours. Involve the children’s relatives and grandparents.
- Help your children understand how to use their time wisely. Get out your timer as much as possible to show them what a minute, five minutes, 30 minutes and an hour look like. Engage them in mini projects, divide it into tasks and show them how to complete them.
- Create a learning space for them with needed learning supplies. My children love having tape, scissors, glue and markers or crayons accessible to them. Show them how to stay organized. Take pictures of their creative works then file them away.
- Let Nature be their teacher. When possible take walks with them, pointing out things, asking them questions and answering theirs.
- Teach them what you know. Whether it be a finger play, or sing song that your grandparent or parent use to do with you, or a sport you loved as a child, or a game you played, or a marketable skill you have, teaching your child what you know, often comes very naturally. Usually, they will see you doing something and want to mimic you. These are beautiful teaching moments. Every once in a while let them teach you something they are interested in. My daughter has a very specific way of playing Barbies and it is very technical. Every time I play with her, I learn more and more about the Barbie life. She is six.
- Read to Them. Reading to a child expands their imagination, improves communication skills and develops their vocabulary and character. It is one of those simple things that makes a huge difference in their development. I like to read to my children in the afternoon before quiet time and in the evening after dinner. This is when we usually watch TV. I would hear my friends talk about how their children love being read to but to be honest, I haven’t really tried it until recently. I would read to my children sporadically but now that I have a consistent time reserved it has made a lot of difference. And they seem to like it. We go to the library on Tuesdays and we read the books throughout the week.
- Play math. Learning quantity, estimating measurements and basic math can be fun when it is slipped into the everyday. Tell your child how many fruit snacks you are giving them. Give them 5 fruit snacks and 3 goldfish and say which one is more? Have them guess quantities or ounces of snacks. Get out your tape measure and have the child guess the measurement of their hands and feet or distances to things. Tell them at dinner time, how many cups or tablespoons of what you are putting on their plate.
- Read the Random. Read road signs, recipe instructions, birthday cards, toy ads, DVD titles, Billboards, newspaper ads, notes, menus, door signs, decals, aloud to your child. This will help them start to notice all the words around them. When I was trying to teach my eldest to read, she didn’t quite see the need for it. One day I pointed out a road sign and told her that it is important to know how to read so that you can find your way. That made sense to her, something just clicked and away she went.
- Teach them how to tell stories. When something good happens in their life, have your child recall the event to their siblings or grandparents. Help them understand beginning, middle and end. Teach them to retell stories or nursery rhymes and put story pictures in sequential order. Teach them easy jokes that they can share with loved ones at family events. Finger plays, patty cake games and sing songs are also fun ways for children to learn recall. Memorizing verses is a great way for children to learn to recall as well.
