Did You Know: Summer activities to keep kids interested

Are you looking for some fun ways to keep learning this summer? Check out some of these great opportunities below!

ASL and Cued Speech

Practice Your Fingerspelling!

ASDC just released a new fingerspelling program on the web that uses hand-tracking to help you practice your fingerspelling skills. It is really neat! https://fingerspelling.xyz/

Learn ASL for Free

Check out ASL University, a part of Lifeprint, for free (pre-recorded) interactive video classes. Looking for just a few specific signs? Check out Handspeak's ASL dictionary or follow @thefamilyvocab on Instagram to learn unique signs that don't have "official" or well-known signs (yet!).

Learn Cued Speech for Free

Looking for a visual communication mode that is different from ASL? Cue College offers free cued speech classes for families.

CODA Brothers

YouTube channel that includes true CODA stories told in ASL featuring the CODA brothers and voiceover provided.

ASL Videos

This YouTube channel has many great (very bright and colorful!) videos for young kids that include ASL. Looking for more videos with ASL? Check out this playlist.

Academics

Get a Library Card

The St. Paul Public Library and Ramsey County Library are great resources. You can rent books, ebooks, movies, and even CDs from the library. Sign up for a free library card here: https://sppl.org/library-cards/

Popular Podcasts

Check out some popular podcasts for kids here. If you listen on your computer, you can make it extra accessible with the automatic closed captioning from Google Chrome!

Start a Journal or Blog

Keep up your writing with a journal or blog. It's always fun to look back on what you've written in the past, especially as we are living through such interesting times with this pandemic! Blogger is a great and safe option for student blogging that can be restricted by parents.

Free E-Books with Epic!

Parents can sign up for a free account with Epic! Books and set up an account for their child to access TONS of great E-Books, audiobooks, and videos.

Make an Experience Book

Early learning research has reinforced that sharing books and reading aloud will help children in language and literacy development. Research has also emphasized that narrative development, which is the ability to tell about yourself and your experiences descriptively, requires meaningful conversation practice. Experience books are a great way to help your child become a confident conversationalist! These homemade books are put together by you and your child to capture what’s happened in their life. These books feature your child as the main character to help them relate their experiences after the event has occurred, like a trip to the zoo or a daily routine such as getting ready for bed.

Practice Listening Skills

Phonak and Advanced Bionics website The Listening Room provides fun activities and resources to support speech, language, and listening skills for people of all ages with a hearing loss.

Learn more about STEM

Follow Atomic Hands on Facebook (or their website) to learn more about STEM through ASL. They also offer events and camps, but currently they are full. You can request to be added to the waitlist if interested!

Self Advocacy

Connect with a MN Hands and Voices DHH Guide

Minnesota has an awesome program for deaf and hard of hearing students to connect with a diverse group of DHH adults who can serve as role models. The program has no cost and students that have participated have made wonderful connections with adults who have gone through many of the same experiences as them.

Play Deafverse

Deafverse is a choose-your-own-adventure online game created just for deaf teenagers, where they can learn important skills for success in high school and beyond. Players get to make their own choices, stand up for themselves, and build confidence and skills they can use in real life. Students that I know that have played it have LOVED it! The second "world" is being released this fall!

Connect with a Deaf/Hard of Hearing Penpal

Hippkids is a pen pal program and advocacy program specifically designed to bring children and teens with hearing loss together to foster friendship, inclusion and community. Even though hearing loss is one of the world's most common disabilities, you might not know another young person or adult with hearing loss in your local community. Through Hippkids, you can be connected to other children and teens so that you can express yourself, share experiences, and increase your reading, writing, and vocabulary skills in a fun, inclusive environment. Make life-long friends and connect with others from wherever you are in the world!

Camps

Sanneh Free Summer Soccer Camp for DHH Youth

Come join the Sanneh Foundation to learn new soccer skills, make new friends, and most importantly have fun. This camp is August 16-19, 9:00-11:30 at Phalen Rec Center in St. Paul. Register here.

Camp Sertoma

Brainerd Lakes Area | July 11-16 | $150

Camp Sertoma is a place where Deaf and Hard of Hearing children come and meet people just like them, without communication barriers. Some of the Counselors are Deaf or Hard of Hearing themselves, they are excited to work with deaf campers; they know how important camp is because of their backgrounds. Camp helped enrich their lives and now they are eager for the chance to enrich the lives of the campers. Many times, campers and counselors create ever-lasting friendships and memories. Register here.

Gallaudet Summer Youth Webinars

June 21-25, June 28-July 2, July 6-9 | Middle/High School | Free

Three virtual sessions presented by Gallaudet. The first session is for middle school and about designing webinars or for high schoolers learning more about ASL and culture through immersion. The second session is for high school and about exploring and embracing identity. The third session is also for high schoolers and about finding your passion and pursuing it.

Camp Onamia: Deaf/Hard of Hearing Camp

Onamia, MN (~2 hours away) June 21-25 | $100+

Intergenerational family camp for Deaf and Hard of Hearing kids/ teenagers ages 0-18 years and their HEARING parents, siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins is truly a wonderful opportunity to meet and connect with other families with DHH children/teens from all over Minnesota. Come and enjoy a week-long ASL immersion experience, learning about resources available to families, enjoy guest speakers, lots of fabulous outdoor activities and FUN! ALL levels of ASL welcome!!! ASL interpreters provided. Watch a video from camp in 2019 | Register Here

MN Hands and Voices Family Event: Reading and Finger Puppet Fun

June 26, 10:00am-11:30am | Online

DHH Guide Janie Barlow and Parent Guide Suzanne Iwainat will read the book "Ranvir Cannot Hear" - a book that celebrates our unique abilities that are to be celebrated. They will also model some strategies on how to enjoy reading with your young DHH child. Teacher Chelsea Paulson will also share some tips on reading fun.

Register by June 14th and we will send you a copy of the book and finger puppets to finish as a group. We can use the finger puppets to act out the story and chat about what makes each of us special.

Family Focused Virtual ASL Immersion Weekend

June 5-6 10:00am-1:00pm

Free

Virtual Field Trips

As we are just entering a new "phase" of this pandemic, you may still be choosing to stay home or not travel out of caution. Or maybe you are looking for something to do on the weekend that doesn't require you to get out of your jammies. There are many awesome virtual field trips available for FREE! Check out the pandas at the San Diego Zoo or explore the surface of Mars on the Curiosity Rover.

Parent Resources

Scholarships for students who are DHH

Check out this list of scholarships for students who are deaf and hard of hearing.

Minnesota Hands and Voices

has some fun upcoming events. Check them out in the activities section below and register if interested. Also check out the Hands and voices parent newsletter at https://www.mnhandsandvoices.org/news-events/focus-newsletter

Deaf/Hard of Hearing Guide

Many students who are deaf and hard of hearing have never met someone just like them and may be struggling with their identity as a hard of hearing or deaf person. Would you like to connect with a DHH role model in your area that could meet with your child outside of school and help them learn about things like peer friendships, using technology, self-esteem and identity, and thinking about the future? Lifetrack in Minnesota offers a program that you should take advantage of! Learn more about the program HERE and read about the guides in Minnesota.

Lifetrack Deaf Mentor

The Deaf Mentor family program is offered to families who have a deaf or hard of hearing child. They work with families and use research-based curriculum to promote communication and language skills. For more information about the program click HERE.

Book Recommendation

Maddie's World Series

by Maddison N. Davis

Dive in as we explore the thoughts of 5-year-old Maddie who has conductive hearing loss. As a pre-k student predicting what she thinks kindergarten will be like, she has common concerns like will she make friends, and what her new teacher will be like. However, Maddie also considers the intricacies of her disability like others not understanding her when she speaks, asking clarifying questions when she mishears someone and managing her hearing equipment. Daily she wears 2 behind the ear hearing aids and uses an FM system to help her hear in and outside of school. Journey with us into Maddie's World!

Upcoming Activities