As the end of summer nears, ideas to keep children engaged, active, and prepped for school might be dwindling. Trips and vacations are almost over and camps are wrapping up, but there are still plenty of fun ways to keep your children busy while developing skills before school starts. And with the heat like it is, having a few indoor-friendly activities is a must. Below are some suggestions to help your kids learn and grow in the homestretch of summer.
Indoor Obstacle Course – You don’t have to have fancy equipment to make a simple obstacle course at home. Grab some pillows, use some painters tape, and pick a puzzle for this quick obstacle course set up. With the pillows, you can place them on the floor to have your child crawl across, prop together to make it a tunnel, or use them as very wobbly balance stones. Crawling is a fantastic exercise to promote arm and hand strengthening, work on coordination, balance and much more. With the painters tape, you can put down a few lines for kids to jump over – forwards, backwards, hopscotch style. Crawling and jumping both provide proprioceptive and tactile input for the child which can provide regulating benefits. Our proprioceptive system is how we process movement in our joints and muscles. This information is sent to the brain to provide information about our bodies positioning and movement. You can also place some puzzle pieces at the beginning of the obstacle course and the puzzle board at the end. Have your child complete the course to finish the puzzle, grabbing one piece at a time. Puzzles are a great way to work on visual perceptual skills. Visual perceptual skills involve the ability of the brain to make sense of the information that is received from the eyes. You will want to choose a puzzle that they can be successful with, not something too challenging. Want to add in another layer of challenge? Use “red light – green light” while on the obstacle course to work on impulse control and listening skills. For children who are working on executive functioning skills, have them create the obstacle course with a clear start/stop and path in between. Get creative!
Sensory Eye Spy/Regulation – This can be an activity to use indoors or outdoors depending on the weather. A fun way to engage the senses is to create a multi-sensory scavenger hunt. Select different items that correlate to the different senses around the house or the yard: sight, touch, smell, taste, and sound. Write a few items on a whiteboard for each of the five senses. For younger children, keep the items they are searching for very concrete. For older children, you can add in some descriptive words to make it a little more challenging (find something that is bumpy, find something that has a sour smell). This type of eye spy game also works on children’s visual perceptual skills. Short on time and need a grounding regulating activity? Take a few moments to help your child be aware of the environment. Go through each sense and name something that they can hear, see, smell, taste and touch.
Water Play – Lastly, a great way to beat the heat when your child has been inside for too long is to incorporate water play. Want to work on hand strengthening? Grab a small squirt bottle, some chalk, and set up a mini car wash. You can have your child use the chalk to color on plastic toys outside (for example, a cozy coupe car or a plastic outdoor house), then have the child clean the toys with the spray bottle. They will be amazed at how the chalk disappears with the water. Using chalk promotes visual motor skills. If your child is working on prewriting strokes or letters, have them practice drawing these with the chalk before washing off their designs. A spray bottle can promote bilateral coordination skills, hand strengthening, and praxis. Don’t have a spray bottle? Use a sponge to promote hand and grip strength.
Have a great end of summer stretch!