Summer Without Summer Camps
19th May is the beginning of 6 weeks long summer vacation for kids in North India. Vacation means lots of free time and parents desire to keep kids engaged in activities other than the TV.
They need something to keep their mind and body busy during vacations. I don’t prefer sending kids to summer camps as they again fall into the routine of getting up and leaving home at fixed times. At home, I have planned to keep them engaged in following ways.
Studies–Vacations are good times to revise the topics covered in school and also anything additional you want your kid to learn. In normal routine days, I just get enough time to get the homework done. So during this vacation I have planned to revise all the topics which she needs to understand thoroughly. For some time we will do associated craft and for others different worksheets and handwriting practice. In other words making up for the time we don’t get in routine school days. You can give HW of 1 or 2 sheets to your child, which they can do either independently or with the help of a grandparent as per their age.
Books – My daughter has started reading “Beginner Reader – Level 1” Books. So, I have given her a couple of books to read this summer.
Water Play – My both kids love to play with water for hours. They just don’t seem to get enough of bubble bath and pretend to play with bath toys. Sometimes princess takes all her pet animals to the ‘water park’ and they all enjoy a rain dance in the shower or writing their names on the bathroom tiles with bubbles. As there is no rush to reach school or summer camp, bath time has been blissfully extended. I really don’t want them to miss this joy of water play because of summer camp.
Drawing– My daughter loves to draw with all kinds of colors. Sometimes, I give her sheets from Susan Striker anti-coloring book. It gives her clue and she loves flying on her imagination and creating masterpieces 🙂
Nani’s House – Summer vacations are a good time to spend some time with the grandparents. I am going to send my daughter to my parents house for a few days. It’s the best time for kids to play with their cousins and get pampered by their grandparents.
Scrapbooking – It’s the best way to keep busy for hours and encourage creativity. You can give them some old pictures and let them creatively arrange it in a scrapbook. They can also put their craft work and their current handwriting sheets or favorite story from the magazine. In addition to this they can click their own pictures from surroundings, nature walk and get them printed and pasted in a scrapbook.
In and Around my own city – I have planned to take a couple of days off this vacation and take them to nearby places. There are lots of historic places which we normally don’t visit. Summer vacation is a good time for those long forgotten lanes and good time for kids to know their history.
So how do you plan to spend this summer vacation with your kids?
Rashmi Sehgal is the mother of two adorable kids, 4 and 1-year-old fondly known as Angel and Lil prince on her blog. She wears the dual hat of mother and IT Professional who juggles between work and kids trying to maintain balance between both worlds . She is a voracious reader , avid blogger , Shopaholic, love to experiment different way of learning and unlearning things with her daughter and take pleasure in reading books to her daughter. She writes at rashworld.wordpress.com
