Summer Schedule and Activity Ideas

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Many parents are continuing to stay home with their children over the summer for a variety of reasons. A common request from parents and providers has been ideas for summer activities and schedules. Here are a few websites that have great activity ideas, free printable schedules, and screen time rules.

https://blog.birdyboutique.com/ideas-activities-learn-and-teach-at-home/

https://www.printablesfairy.com/summer-schedule-for-kids/

https://seacoast.citymomsblog.com/summer-camps/social-distance-summer-weekly-theme-ideas-for-summer-at-home/

https://www.chasingfoxes.com/10-ways-keep-kids-busy-backyard-summer/

https://www.fantasticfunandlearning.com/summer-activities-kids

Ice Activities for the Summer

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With the weather being hot, it’s always a good idea to have a few activities up your sleeve to keep your kids cool. Ice is a great tool for summer activities.

Tie Dye: you’ll need tie dye, ice, a piece of clothing, and a container/bin for this activity. Place your piece of clothing in the container/bin and cover the piece of clothing with ice cubes. Take your tie dye and cover the ice as generously or minimally as you like. As the ice melts, the dye will mix with the water and soak into the shirt to create a unique pattern.

Spraying Ice Cubes: you’ll need food coloring, water, an ice cube tray, a spray bottle, and a container. Prepare your ice cubes by filling your ice cube tray with water and drop food coloring into each ice cube section. Pop your ice cube tray into the freezer and wait for it to freeze. Once frozen, pull the tray out and dump the colorful ice cubes into the container. Fill your spray bottle with warm water. Use your spray bottle to spray the ice cubes and watch the colors mix together as the ice cubes melt.

Ice Cube Painting: you’ll need food coloring, water, an ice cube tray, popsicle sticks, and paper. Fill the ice cube trays with water and drop food coloring into each section. Put popsicle sticks into each section of the ice cube tray and pop the ice cube tray into the freezer. Once frozen, remove the ice cubes from the tray. The popsicle sticks allow you to use the ice cubes like you’re painting. This will create a watercolor effect.

Toy Excavation: you’ll need water, food containers (big enough to fit the toy you plan to excavate), and a spray bottle. Place your toy into the food container and cover with water, then pop into freezer. Once frozen, remove the ice from the container and put into a bigger container/bin. Fill the spray bottle with warm water. Spray the ice cube with the warm water to free the toy from the ice.

My Experience with Co-Sleeping

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Co-sleeping can be a controversial topic for parents to discuss. If you’ve ever considered it, I’m here to share my brief experience with it. Hopefully, it gives some insight if you’re on the fence about what’s best for you and your family.

I want to start by saying I absolutely LOVED co-sleeping with my baby. Let me back track to the beginning though. My daughter got all the sleep she needed in the first 72 hours of her life while we were in the hospital. Once we got home and up until she was about a year old, my daughter had suffered from a severe case of FOMO (fear of missing out). She was never a good napper nor did she want to sleep at night, I swear I tried everything.

Okay, back to when she was born and…

On top of not wanting to miss a single second of anything going on, my daughter also had a pretty strong startle reflex BUT also didn’t want to be swaddled. Great combination, right? I had read everywhere and always heard how dangerous it can be for a newborn to sleep on their stomach and that “back is best.” The only way I could get my daughter to sleep was for her to sleep on her stomach laying on my chest. She was finally sleeping for a few hours before waking up to eat. Her father and I took turns not sleeping to monitor her while she was on the other’s chest to make the situation as safe as possible. This went on for probably 3-4 weeks (remember she’s 2 ½ now, the newborn stage is fuzzy at this point since I was in survival mode). At around 2-3months old, we finally had her on some what of a normal sleep schedule. Once we got used to it, though, she regressed. We were back to her fighting sleep. I got to a point where I got so desperate that when she woke up, I would scoop her out of her bassinet and bring her into bed with me. She instantly fell back asleep and would sleep for most of the night until she woke up ready to eat. One week later she was probably laughing at me, saying, “Sucker!” I was hooked. I admit I definitely took the easy way out and went with the ‘quick fix’ but everyone was in a better mood because we were finally getting sleep. I let this go on for a solid month or two before finally saying, “Alright, I’m enjoying this way too much. Before I know it, she’ll be 4 and still sleeping in bed with me and that DOES NOT work for me.” *By the way, I am NOT judging if your child is 4 years old and sleeping in bed with you. I just knew that was not going to work for me and my family.*

When my daughter was closer to 6 months old, her father and I decided to try our version of sleep training. I thought she was ready for trying to cry it out. I basically had to chain her father to his chair and set a timer until he was able to go in and comfort her. He endured beautifully though, knowing it was best for us at that time. It surprisingly did not take long for her to get the hang of it and fall asleep on her own. Since then, she has sleep regressed at every milestone they tell you babies will regress. Now that she’s a little older, she still occasionally fights a nap, but she sleeps through the night every single night, just about 11-12hours a night *KNOCK ON WOOD*

Remember, this is just my experience and how I felt about co-sleeping. For more information on safe and healthy sleeping habits for infants, toddlers, and young children, please visit the American Academy of Pediatrics at AAP.org.

Social and Emotional Learning

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Many parents and childcare providers have been voicing their concerns about how to teach their children social skills during a period of social distancing. For preschoolers that were already struggling with social and emotional development what can be done to help support them and prepare them for that transition to Kindergarten? I provided links below to resources that can be used to help teach social and emotional skills in a group setting or at home. Many of the activities can be improvised so they are developmentally appropriate for various age groups and needs.

https://www.kiddiematters.com/100-social-skills-activities-preschoolers/

http://www.littlestscholars.com/2013/06/teaching-social-emotional-development.html

https://www.encourageplay.com/blog/10-engaging-and-fun-social-skills-group-activities-for-kids

https://biglifejournal.com/blogs/blog/5-fun-mindfulness-activities-children-breathing-exercises?utm_source=pinterest&utm_medium=social

https://confidencemeetsparenting.com/personal-space-activities-for-kids/

https://www.sesamestreet.org/caring

https://sesamestreetincommunities.org/topics/emotions/?activity=feeling-faces&utm_source=SS.org%20Caring%20for%20Each%20Other&utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=Caring%20for%20Each%20Other

3 Item Crafts

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Colorful Butterflies

Use coffee filters, food coloring, and pipe cleaners to create colorful butterflies. Open the coffee filter, drop some food coloring on the coffee filters (optional: use a little bit of water if you want to spread the food coloring), pinch in the center, and use the pipe cleaners to wrap around the center and create the butterfly’s body.

Popsicle Stick Rainbows

Use colored popsicle sticks, cotton balls, and paper to create popsicle stick rainbows. Cut a cloud shape out of your piece of paper then glue the cotton balls onto the white paper to create your fluffy cloud. Arrange your popsicle sticks into a rainbow and glue the cloud onto the top of the popsicle sticks.

Balloon Farm Animals

Use construction paper, balloons, and glue to create balloon farm animals. Draw out the features of your animal’s face on your construction paper, cut out the shapes, arrange them how you want them, then glue them together. Blow up your balloon. Glue your animal’s face onto the balloon.

Sensory Bottle

Use water, food dye, and glitter to create a sensory bottle. You can use an old water bottle or juice bottle for the sensory bottle. Pour in your glitter, add the water, and add food dye to change the color of the water. You can also use sand, beads, a little bit of oil, or tiny rocks. For safety, you can glue the lid onto the bottle with super glue or hot glue.

Paper Plate Snakes

Use a paper plate, paint, and construction paper to create paper plate snakes. Paint your plate whatever color you’d like your snake to be. With pink or red construction paper, cut out a tiny triangle or rectangle for the snake’s tongue. With black construction paper, cut out two small circles for the snake’s eyes (optional swap: use googly eyes or a marker). When the paint is dry, cut the plate into a spiral. At the very end (the center of the plate before you cut it), glue on your snake’s face.

Cardboard Flower Stamps

Use cardboard, glue or rubber bands, and paint to create cardboard flower stamps. Roll your piece of cardboard up tightly (like when you’re rolling up a rug or a sleeping bag), and use either glue or rubber bands to secure it. Now you’ve made your stamp! Dip it in paint and stamp it onto a piece of paper to create flowers. With green paint, you can paint the stems of the flowers.