Planning a summer full of learning activities for your children can be overwhelming. We've found some great ways to help you create a "summer to remember"! Learning + Summer = Fun!
As we enter the carefree days of summer, it is a great time for children to be playing outside with their friends. It is also a time when the rules may become a little more relaxed, and children can find themselves with less adult supervision. Encourage the children to do innovative and useful activities , so that it will help them in their gorwing process.
Create a Summer Journal: By simply writing on binder paper, older children can jot down all their summer adventures, their favourite eat out, picnics; including dates, times and a brief description, of all the special events over the summer. Younger children just need paper and pencil, to jot down or draw, all the exciting moments they've encountered during their summer months at home. As a net result their valuable work can be compiled together at the end of Summer, to create a wonderful diary of the "Summer 2001".
Send postcards to friend and relatives- Children can make their summer colorful and bright by making postcards at home and sending them to all their friends and relatives. The postcards can be made out of old greeting cards or can be painted on small cards and then sent. The list of friends and relatives can be made with help of Parents. One valuable tip: On the last day of school, children can exchange addresses with their classmates to make this tip a great 'summer hit'!
Again this is a great way to review; spelling, writing, grammar and language. If children get ambitious, they can create a database with the mailing addresses of all their friends and later, they can make labels to be printed out from their home computer to attach to the postcards. This is a great way to practice wordprocessing skills and learn about printing labels.
E-mail friends and family about the summer: Have your children (with their parents permission) e-mail at least one person a week during their summer vacation. If they use some of the free e-card services, they can really create some exciting e-mails for their aunts, grandparents, close friends, cousins ,etc. There are many free e-mail service directory which be found with the aid of the search engines. Kids love to use the computer! Here's yet another way to review spelling, language and grammar, while having fun!
READ, READ, READ: All teachers and Parents agree...this is one of the most important skills a student can practice during the summer months! Before the school year ends, be sure to help your children by making sure that each one of them has a library card from their local or city library. Most librarians will make the effort to either give you library applications for your children or will sometimes come to your school to have them fill out forms, while they are there. Also, be sure to ask for a student/kids summer reading list from your local librarian. How about asking your children to research their favorite authors? Many authors have their own websites and enjoy hearing from their young readers! Another great "academic plus" for making reading fun!
Educational Programs on Television: Make sure you make your children watch award winning documentaries, health programs, illustrative or educative programmes on television during the entire summer months. You can obtan a list of upcoming programmes from the daily newspaper or from the cable channel guide. The Discovery Channel, The National Geographic Channel, The Disney Channel, etc. are some of the great educational channels which are available on most cable networks.
Haven't made any plans yet? Have your children check out all kinds of travel information for their families!
Many parents would love to know about summer deals for families. They can even explore the cost for air, train or bus travel, so that parents can see what options are available and help them decide.
Special Tip! Parents... when camping in the great outdoors, hiking, walking trails in the woods, etc., make sure your child has a whistle on a string around their neck! In this way, should they become lost, teach them to "hug a tree" and start whistling! Sound carries a long way, and this can help them be located!!
Also, if you are planning to stay home this summer, how about learning a new skill? Be sure to have your children check out, "Learn How To Do Just About Anything!" Students will find information on sites that offer to teach skills from, "how to cook" , "how to play cards", "how to play piano", "how to make a portable radio" and much, much more!
Have a great summer!!!
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