Make Summer Count by Nurturing Independence & Knowledge

Grab a plastic squirt bottle and add liquid, some paper towels or cloth and pick up a window wiper at ACE Hardware, The Dollar Store, CVS, or Rite Aid.  Grab whatever glass cleaner you like and put all in a carry case for ease.

Teach your son or daughter how to squirt the plastic bottle. Start with water. Help them count each time they squirt. Have them aim at specific objects and spray that object 2, 4, 6 or 8 times.

Discuss the concept of dirty and clean. Show them dirty windows and then clean windows. Model for them. Then have them help you with the first step. Grab all items in the carry case and bring to the window. 

Then add steps. Pick up spray bottle, squirt left to right, top to bottom. Put bottle down. This is how we read. Then add pick up window wiper. Start in left corner and move wiper from top to bottom, left to right. You could add a green DOT, (go) (paper, tape) in the left corner and a red dot (stop) in the bottom right corner of the window.

This same process can be done when wiping a table off.  Squirt, let to right, top to bottom.  Dry left to right, top to bottom.

As the days get longer and, in most places, warmer these are great activities too: Making ice cream and then holding an ice cream party and inviting friends and families. Set up a tent in the backyard, for some outside, quiet, and alone time for your son or daughter.

Let them put things away. There is more free time in the summer. Tell them to put things in the closet, in the drawer, in the garbage, on the desk, next to the TV, between the forks and spoons, below the table, on the bottom shelf, under the sink.  Then ask them, “Where did you put the _____?” And repeat after them “Oh, you put the __________, (under, over, in, on) the ________. “

Play, hide, and seek or treasure hunt an item. Then ask them, where did you find it? (In the closet, in the cabinet, on the top shelf, below the milk, next to the bike, in the basket). This works on following directions.

Play games outside with balls.  Kick the ball into the net, throw it over the net, toss it into the basket, hold it above your head, roll it towards me or throw it across the line. This works on motor planning.

Cook with them, have them set the table and clear dishes. Give lots of directions to follow: Put the turkey between the two pieces of bread. Put the fruit under the water so we can rinse it off. Place the napkin next to the plate. Put the dirty dishes in the sink. Turn on the cold water and make sure you turn off the hot water. This increases language comprehension.

They can learn prepositions by cleaning up their room during the summer. Encourage them to hang their jacket up, put their pillow on the bed, put their red shirts next to their blue shirts, look under their bed to see if you can find anything. Have them turn on you light while we work and now turn off your light as we are done.

Set up an obstacle course for them to learn prepositions: Give directions to walk around, over, under, on, next to different objects on the course.

Empty the dishwasher helps them following directions and learn prepositions. Have them take things out. Put items in draws, place different items next to others in cabinets. Place plates on plates. Place cups next to each other. 

They can give you directions. Make it a game. Tell them to give you one direction at a time, then two different directions and finally three directions. Tell which words they must put in the direction.

Summer can be the time to pull out that old deck of playing cards, or make a quick trip to the nearest Safeway, Rite Aid or CVS or just use your Amazon Prime. Matching, counting, adding, subtracting, concepts of smaller, larger, put in order and of course the game of WAR or Fish can all be implemented with a deck of old playing cards.

Find all the twos in the deck. Let us count by twos. Show me hearts. Let us count by fives.  How many hearts do you see? How many diamonds to you see? Can you add up all the hearts and diamonds?

Let us put the cards in order from two to six. Can you count forward? Can you count backwards?

Let us do some subtraction problems; 10 spades minus 8 spades are ____. Let us do some addition problems; 3 spades plus 2 spades are ____.

Find the letter K, find the Q, find the letter J. Now, find the Queen. Find the King? Find the Jack?  Point to the one that is wearing an orange crown or a yellow crown.

More Summer Activities

Take walking tours (name things, find things, point to things, follow directions)

Sketch life seen outdoors.

Write in journals.

Take photos and make a story.

Map different areas of the house.

Create clean-up projects around the home.

Plant flower or vegetable gardens and take care of them.

Collect things out doors and sort and match and describe and talk about size and shape and texture.

Individuals could become bird watchers, train watchers, airplane watchers and then discuss those topics.

Individuals could grow things from scraps in the kitchen (mushrooms, garlic, potatoes, onions, carrots, celery all grow themselves if planted in soil)

Kids could cloud gaze and then draw or talk about weather.

Using measurement items to discover size, width, height of trees, bushes, walls, pathways.

Gather sticks and make shapes, add, subtract, create structures.

Plant seeds and measure growth.

Use a stop watch to measure how fast vehicles go in the community after making an estimation.

Sort leaves found by color and shape.

Feel textures with hands and feet (barefoot). 

Put objects out and draw their shadows. 

Do exercises against a tree (stretches).

Be read to outdoors.