Summer is Here ! Here are three tips paired with fun activities to help your children can learn and play in the community!
Summer Sun Fun Tip #1:
Wash your hands – This is our best line of defense ! Washing your hands with soap and water is always the best
choice but when unavailable hand sanitizer will work well. Having some hand sanitizer in your pocket readily available provides an instant opportunity to reduce contamination especially with high touch points like doors, handles, light switches and such. In order to teach your kiddos about germs and how they spread here is a fun activity by the “Simple Parent”. Please note if your child has OCD or is particularly anxious about germs or the spread of germs this activity is not recommended.
Activity:
Fun Visual Germ Spreading Activity – Sometimes kids have to see it to believe it. Have the kids use edible glitter (better for environment) to demonstrate how germs contaminate surfaces. Apply glitter to the kiddos hands and watch it spread. You can touch their shoulder, arms and hair to demonstrate spreading the germs. This might be a fun activity to play an outside game of catch with the family. Start by “contaminating” one member and seeing where it goes from there. You can always follow up with a run through the sprinkler or tarp slip and slide to reduce glitter bombing everything.
https://thesimpleparent.com/glitter-germs-activity-for-kids/
Summer Sun Fun Tip #2:
Have a picnic! Children with feeding challenges might find delight in helping
prepare a basket of foods and work through the food hierarchy in an outdoor setting such as a park or open field. Bring some extra disposable paper plates and forks to make crafts at the end. Disposable items such as plates and forks can have a double use with creating arts and crafts.
Activity:
Paper plate craft activities: Fine motor skills and coordination can be developed by making animal designs and characters with a little imagination.
Make a lion’s face as you see above using paint, crayon, colored pencil.
Summer Sun Fun Tip #3:
Take advantage of empty fields/ parks/ school yards –
Open fields can provide a canvas of opportunity for activities like softball, soccer, races, frisbee, catch, tag, treasure hunting, giant bubbles, etc. Be creative as a family unit. Let them run around, use some sunscreen, grab up a lawn chair and soak up some rays!
Activity:
Giant Bubbles– this can be an oral motor strengthening exercise (if using small wands) or also an upper body strengthening activity if using a large rope and dowel wands as shown above. Watch the kids’ eyes light up as they form large tubes of bubbles big enough to jump into.
What you’ll need:
- 1 bucket
- 2 Tablespoons of baking powder
- 2 Tablespoons of cornstarch
- 4 Tablespoons of glycerine ( this is the secret to having large tube like bubbles) – KY brand of glycerine works the best.
- 2 cups of dish soap
- And half gallon of distilled water
- ( Prepare the night before for best results)
Grade up/ Make harder: Test the kiddos upper body endurance with seeing how big they can make their bubble tube with varias upper body movements meant to expand the tubes size all around their body.
Grade down/ Make easier: have the adult form the bubble and have the kiddo chase it down to the end of the bubble tube before it pops.
Just a few fun ideas for staying safe, learning, and having fun this summer to help your child be their best selves.
Sources:
https://www.hgtv.com/design/make-and-celebrate/handmade/how-to-make-giant-bubbles
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/daily-life-coping/visitors.html
https://thesimpleparent.com/glitter-germs-activity-for-kids/
https://www.thisgrandmaisfun.com/paper-plate-crafts/