Hey! There. Hope you are doing well and sailing smoothly through the summer vacations? I asked that because long and hot summer days are really difficult to spend. With children home for their summer vacations, it is quite a challenge to keep them busy. You need to be on your toes and bursting with ideas to play the cool parent. Here are some ideas that may help:

• Morning Schedule: Daily routine goes for a toss once schools are closed. Even if your routine is running late by an hour or two on vacations, try to keep it functional. Plan some things ahead by the time your child wakes up and completes the morning routine of freshening up. Pre-decide an indulgent breakfast menu like Cheese Maggie, Chocolate Pancakes, or an Oreo Milkshake, and keep the ingredients ready. Ask your child to join you in preparing the treat. Later in the midmorning let your child accompany you for vegetable shopping. During vacations assign small tasks like watering the house plants, keeping water for birds around the house, or feeding a dog. Introducing basic home activities will keep them busy while inculcating valuable skills for life. Putting up a visual scheduler can be a great way for incorporating routines.

• Rotating “Work” Corner: A rotating “work” corner does not imply changing places every day instead it is a dedicated space that allows children to be involved using certain toys or activities for an extended time: E.g. Lego blocks, magnetic tiles, art and painting, magnet balls or books and pretend play. These work corners allow children to do various activities and their own “work”. This helps inculcate a routine and focus on extended play. Extended play helps children continue their play from where they left it the previous day like a project. If your child stops playing lego after sometime, then just leave the model as it is and encourage continuing the play the next time they return to this “work” corner. Open ended toys like blocks, bricks, pretend play, art, gardening, stitching or weaving are great to incorporate, depending on your child’s interests. Remember, to rotate this corner’s material after the child seems to be done and needs a change. This could vary from being a week or a month. 

• Outdoor sports: Early mornings and evenings are for outdoors. Enroll your child in an outdoor sport. Vacations are the times when your child can pursue a passion or a hobby. If there is a lack of passion, enrolling in a sport will help the child to realize hidden potential or passion. Football, cricket, swimming, and skating are all engaging sports while ensuring physical health and mental well-being. Plan for adventure sports on weekends for activities like trekking and rock climbing or just long nature walks.  

• Screen time: We want you to first and foremost accept that screens are inevitable in today’s times. You can’t evade them, but you surely can restrict screen timings and also plan on what you would like your child to watch during screen time. At least, twice a week plan a movie time in the afternoon. Watch a classic comedy, a horror movie, a documentary, or a wildlife movie. Spruce up some essentials like popcorn and homemade drinks. Involve your child in choosing the movie or any show they like. If your child is used to playing games on screen, try to bring it down to only once a week. 

• Summer camps: Every residential area is booming with summer camps for toddlers to teenagers. Check out the most interesting ones and enroll your child if the summer camp interests them. Also online classes related to singing, musical instruments, phonics or communication can be a big plus too! Whatever you plan for your child this summer, remember that consistency is the key and you will need to be totally dedicated to plans and activities for a gaiety vacation.

All the suggestions here are intended to spread cheer in your child’s vacation but before enrolling your child in any activity kindly consider the child’s age, safety, and habits.