May 2023: Make Time for Play This Summer
May 2023: Make Time for Play This Summer
Embedded Files
We hear a lot about the "summer slide." It may feel that there is quite a bit of pressure to keep your children engaged and learning throughout the summer and you might dread the battle of getting your child to read or do a math workbook or flashcards. Battling the "slide" doesn't have to be a battle. The best way for your child to stay engaged is to focus on the topics and activities they love.
Strengthen Executive functioning skills
Free play, solo or with friends, is the best, and most fun, way to strengthen executive functioning skills. Building materials, make believe, matchbox cars, digging in the dirt, playing in nature, etc, are activities that with little adult direction, will allow your child time to practice these skills and can increase your child's ability to regulate emotions, manage time and materials, organize, plan and initiate.
Establish Routines
Summer is a great, low-stakes time to establish routines. This practice also allows children to strengthen executive functioning skills.
Think about tomorrow and lay out clothes the night before.
Set the table or establish other daily chores that get done without nagging (a written list in the morning with choices is often helpful)
Fold laundry
Make lunches for a special outing.
Making the bed
Help make dinner
Family Game Night
Games are a great way to improve executive functioning skills. And FUN too!
Pictionary (flexibility, time-management)
Distraction (attention, self-control)
Clue (organization, taking turns)
Blurt (self-control, meta-cognition)
Scrabble (planning, organization)
5 Second Rule (time-managment, task initiation)
Boggle (organization, time-management)
Quiddler (organization, flexible thinking)
Chess (self-control, planning/strategy)
Risk (self-control, planning/strategy)
Operation (self-control)
Monopoly (planning/organization, self-control)
Sorry (self-control)
Make Reading and Writing Fun
Audiobooks - For the reluctant reader, this is a great choice to keep kids engaged in literacy. Consider those long car rides, think about a family story you could all engage in. Talking about the story together wonderful comprehension practice.
Use speech to text to "write" a story. Have a personal story read aloud night. Or verbally record your child making up a story. This is a great keepsake for grandparents who are far away. Perhaps you create a play out of a story and perform it together.
Final thought: Be one with nature
Feel the wind on your skin. Notice how the music from the babbling stream changes as you walk by. How many different bird sounds do you hear? Taking time to experience the world this way is a great coping skill, it's free and it lowers stress and anxiety. When our brains have this kind of down time, we can more easily handle emotional upset, which is great for everyone.
Final-final thought: Be bored
Boredom is great! Well, it doesn't always feel great not to have anything to do, but it does allow us time to be creative. Sit with boredom rather than grab a screen. Wait for the creativity to percolate. You might consider creating a boredom tech-free tic-tac-toe at the beginning of the summer. Kids could choose from some of their pre-determined creative ideas.
Page updated
Report abuse