Getting Ready for Summer Break: Tips and Tricks for Preschoolers

Read a couple of interesting tips and tricks you can use to plan the summer break of your preschooler.

Summer break is right around the corner for many students and this is the time that parents should be thinking about how to entertain their children. Many parents work full time but if you are a stay at home parent or a working parent, there are still some great tips and tricks for preschoolers to keep them busy and learning all summer long. Preschoolers are very curious and love to learn new things to do. You also will be helping them build their skills and motor skills in new fun and interesting activities for the summer. The weather is warmer and little children are also looking for nice and cool food to eat and drink, so if this is your first child or your fifth child, there is always something new parents can do to entertain their preschoolers.

Tips for Summertime

Any change in routines when you have children has some challenges and here are some tips for transitioning into summer break for preschoolers. When school is beginning to end for the summer, parents and their kids can be looking towards summer break because it’s vacation time for a few months. The challenge of routines is to know how to transition smoothly from preschool routines that are well structured too, a much less structured routine. These summer routines can change weekly, depending on what you have planned for your kids. Changes for some special needs children can be difficult if your child has autism and learning disabilities including a short attention span.

Think about the Plans you have made so far

It’s always a good idea to go over the first set of plans you created for the summer. If you find too many gaps, use your thinking skills and start brainstorming some ideas for gaps and create a separate calendar.

Rewrite Plans

Parents can always change the plan but don’t dismiss them entirely, especially when it comes to your preschoolers routine. Daily routines are good for kids because they have a sense of security from structured activities. Preschoolers normally don’t have homework, but some of their school year tasks can be dropped for the summer. This way parents can fill those gaps with lessons like swimming, library time such as story reading and going to the park more frequently is always a great gap filler.

Calendar for Summer

You can put up the family calendar for summer where the family can read it. If your kids are preschoolers, use some stickers that display the activities for that day on your calendar. Use a bolder marker for the fun things like day camp, vacations, work schedules, etc. Make sure the little ones can easily see the calendar and ask them if they have any good ideas. Parents can work together with their youngsters so you are can remind each other of special dates that are coming up. Some examples are “4th of July”, pool opening for the summer, family picnics and let your child write this on the correct dates on the family summer calendar.

Spontaneity

Parents should be ready to be spontaneous. Make a list and keep it handy for the different places you plan to see and the people in your family’s life that you are planning to visit. Do this in your spare time and remember, times and plans can be altered. Summer is a good time to visit the zoo, go to the beach, hit some good museums, go for bike rides and take the kids to festivals in your city or town so they can go on the rides and enjoy some music.

Routine

If your family works together better with a structured routine, mater the routine and put this right on your calendar for summer. Your routines might be changing quite more frequently, so help your preschoolers transition as smoothly as possible by preparing them early for the changes. This might be as easy as changing bedtimes on certain nights and waking up an hour later in the morning. Parents should start informing their preschoolers a week before the change occurs so everyone is ready.

Ask for Help

Don’t be afraid of asking family members and friends that don’t live in your home for help if you are preparing to drive your preschoolers to activities. All kids need supervision on their days they have off from activities, so see if you can work something out by ride sharing and watching each other’s children with family members that are parents and parents with preschoolers in your area.

Include your Preschoolers

Parents should make sure they always include their preschoolers when planning family vacation trips and other interesting activities. You can introduce your child to a map and show them the route that you chose and talk to them about the climate and see if they understand what clothing and gear would be appropriate to bring along. Preschoolers can help with the list because they love stickers so pick up a bunch of different stickers that pertain to family outings and have your child stick them next to the activity.

Encourage Preschoolers to Learn

Just because summer has arrived, this doesn’t mean your preschooler isn’t going to learn about new ideas, activities, love and great memories. Vacations help your child learn about history, geography, and nature. Look for those times when you can teach them something new. If you are traveling and see a bald eagle, explain the importance of the eagle and what it means to your country if you are living in the United States. Make sure your child is listening to everything that appears to be a learning moment. Don’t stop reading to them, let them take some pictures too, teach them to send a postcard and keep a nice journal so when your preschooler graduates from high school, you can give them a nice journal from birth to graduation of family memories, how they grew from a baby into an adult, some special poems, stories, and artwork they made you and write in their journal with them as they grow.

Preschoolers are quite a bit of fun because they can walk longer, talk to you and their minds are constantly taking everything they learn in. They are starting to become grade schoolers eventually, so parents can also learn a lot from small children. Enjoy the time you have with them when they are small because life goes by so fast and they are ready to either go to college or move on with their own lives. Your preschooler will mimic everything parents do and remember these routines when they have families. Don’t forget to set a good example so you raise a child who is happy and healthy and smart.