Backyard Fun

Are you looking for fun outdoor activities to do with the kids this summer? Here are a few ideas:

Magical Garden
Head to your local dollar store to find some inexpensive lawn decorations. Then have your child gather other items around the yard like sticks, wood, rocks, leaves, etc., to make a magical garden. This is a great activity that you can add to throughout the summer.

Bugs are always fun
Make a homemade terrarium out of an old shoebox with dirt and rocks with holes punched in the top. Have the little ones search for bugs in the back yard and collect them in their homemade terrarium.

Scavenger hunt in the park

Make a list of things that you find in the park. Determine how simple or difficult the list of items will be based on your children’s ages. Have them find a flower or a type of rock. You can also use this opportunity to teach children about nature, science and history.

Create your own Water Park
Get the sprinklers out, baby pools, water slides, plastic toys and gym sets and have the kids create their own water obstacle course. Through in some water balloons and water toys and your kids can cool off on a hot summer day.

Make sure to supervise your kids activities to keep the safe and happy this summer.

Summer Safety Tips

Now that summer is in full swing I thought it was a good time to share an article with you about Summer Safety. The American Academy of Pediatrics offers some great tips on keeping kids safe in the water, around those pesky bugs, fireworks and many other tips. Click here to read the full article.

Preventing Summer Brain Drain

Summer fun means that studying goes right out the window. Studies show that kids can lose up to three months of learning over the typical summer vacation. In fact, math skills suffer the most loss over summer vacation. How do you help to protect your kids from summer brain drain?

Here are a few steps you can take to keep the loss of learning to a minimum.

Frequent trips to the local library – the more children have access to new and interesting books the more they will pick them up and read them. Your local library can also keep kids active in learning through free educational events and activities. So pack up the car and take the kids to the local library.

Some libraries and community centers offer educational camps where children can stretch their math, science and reading muscles. So try substituting an educational camp in place of a sports camp.

Try to concentrate on math – it’s hard to keep children interested in math so jazz it up. For younger children try board games or card games like go fish. These can keep basic counting, subtraction and addition skills sharp over the summer.

Take a Summer Trip Centered

On Education - Virginia has so many educational and historical areas. Williamsburg offers an excellent opportunity to have fun while learning about our country's rich history. Ask your child to read about colonial times before they go to Williamsburg to make the experience even better. Take a day trip to Washington DC. With so many museums, you’ll really be flexing your child’s science, math, reading and history muscles.

Take an active role in preventing summer brain drain and your children will thank you for the summer fun and through better grades this fall.

Managing Your Toddler's 5 a.m. Wakeup Call

It’s the weekend and your toddler has decided to wake up before 6am. What is a parent to do? Do you keep them up later at night? This article offers some great suggestions on how to deal with you early riser. Click here to read the article. 

Keeping the kids hydrated

With summer vacation starting and the temperatures rising, your kids will be spending more time outdoors. It’s very important to make certain they do not get dehydrated.

In general, kids are even more susceptible to dehydration than adults. This is mainly because children don't cool down as efficiently. Here are some precautions you can take to make summer more fun and safe and to help avoid dehydration.

Proper Fluid Intake

• Preparing Before They Play – As a general rule, children should be taking in about 5 ounces of fluids for every 20 minutes of strenuous play.
• Keep Them Hydrated During The Day – The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that children drink six glasses of water on an average day.

Now you’re probably asking yourself what drinks provide the best hydration.

Water

• All natural
• No additives or sugar
• Best for routine hydration

Sports Drinks

• Great tasting
• More appealing to children
• Can increase the amount of fluids children will take in
• Can be high in carbohydrates and calories
• Replace electrolytes lost through sweating
• Limit their use to strenuous play and sporting events

Popsicles

·         Great tasting

·         Cool

·         High water content

·         Great alternative for hydration particularly with smaller children

Heat Exhaustion: If your child shows signs of heat exhaustion (fever, nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, headache, and dizziness), get them medical attention as soon as possible.

Teaching Your Child About Strangers

Every parent's fear is how your child will deal with strangers when you are not around.  You don’t want them to think everyone is bad, but you also don’t want them to be overly friendly to people they don’t know.  This article gives some great advice on how to teach your kids about strangers.  Click here to read the whole article.

Water Play

With temperatures and humidity on the rise, many of us are looking for ways to keep the kids cool and entertained. There are so many things your child can learn through experimenting with water at home.

Here are some items you will need:

- different size pots and pans

- containers of different sizes and shapes

- funnel

- scoops (use big plastic serving spoons)

- wine corks (they float)

- a small water toy or an empty shampoo bottle

- tongs (try to find ones covered with plastic or rubber as the metal ones can be quite sharp)

Obviously, water is going to get messy with all the splashing, otherwise it wouldn't be so much fun! Choose a play area carefully where you can easily see and supervise the children. During warm weather days setting up outside makes cleanup easy.

Work on your child’s coordination skills:

• fish floating objects out with a scoop, tongs, or fingers
• count floating objects when they are place them into a container
• fill up and squirt water with a shampoo bottle

Work on your child’s color and observation skills

• use containers and funnels to move the water to different containers.
• add food coloring to the water and learn about colors while you are playing. Mix colors to make it even more interesting.
• play wash the dishes to learn about household chores
• give dolls a bath and wash their hair to discuss cleanliness

So go on, start splashing.