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Your kids may be pining for summer
vacation right now, but once it arrives, it won't
take long before the dreaded phrase, Im bored!
escapes their lips. Soon, they'll be tired
of sleeping in and couch-surfing. But,
believe it or not, you don't have to be a magician
to keep your kids meaningfully engaged all summer
long. Try these tips for taking advantage of
the resources around you.
Touch base with teachers
and school friends before the year
ends. Call your child's teacher and
ask for summer activity ideas. Find out what
your child needs to work on in order to start off
strong in the next grade. What skills and
topics will kids be exploring? What did your
child have trouble with this past year? What
activities did your child enjoy the most?
Knowing these things will help you set and achieve
summer learning goals that will boost your child's
confidence for back-to-school. Also, make
sure your child gets the phone numbers of his or
her school friends before the last day. Talk
to parents about getting your kids together for
teacher-approved activities and just plain
fun. The more contacts you have, the more
play date options you'll have.
Discover
new ways to play in familiar places.
As much as kids love the beach, the pool and
family camping trips, these places can lose their
luster without a little variety. For younger
children, make a splash with delightful water
toys
that teach early learning concepts. Get
them excited about camping with play
sets that put them in charge of everything
from the canteen to the nature hike. Let
older children discover wildlife on land, sea and
air using unique
exploring tools.
Take advantage of
community resources. Museums and
community centers often host summer programs and
performances for kids. Get a program
schedule from each place. After an event
that your child enjoys, ask one of the organizers
for related activity ideas you could do at
home. Do the same with summer camps: ask a
counselor for ideas for adapting their best-loved
activities for home play. Also, most public
libraries offer a free summer reading club.
Sign up, or encourage your child to start his or
her own reading club with friends. Know what kind of games to
play with different groups of kids.
Challenge kids who are the same age with
skill-based games, from board games to card games
and electronics. For groups of children of
different ages, choose games of chance or strategy
games that don't exclude players who haven't yet
learned certain skills or facts. It's always
nice to have games that feature multiple levels of
challenge: younger children can play at lower
levels while older kids can play at higher
levels. Plus, multi-level games offer kids
the opportunity to make the transition from
lower-level to higher-level game play over the
course of the long summer break. Finally, mat
games provide the perfect active play solution for
preschool-age children who aren't yet old enough
to join summer sports teams like their big
brothers and sisters. Check out our Games
Buying Guide for more information.
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