Reinventing Childhood days

Reinventing Childhood days this Summer

At home, I am surrounded with myself .Sometimes with my toys,games and dreams.Sometimes, with mum,granny ,dad ,cousins,friends ,aunts and some more family members.Sometimes ,with color,sound  and work I like to do.Some days ,I cycle freely,sing loudly ,dance merrily and watch time stop
......would be words from a child's diary on how she/he spent her  Summer Holidays

   
Make the Most of this Summer Break by giving them that freedom they so long for.
The obvious questions are : What do I do with the kid ? How will my child not hook onto TV ? How do I let my child not demand my time?

For now, Handy tips on what you can do with your child to help him excel this Summer

( for children between 4.6  to 10 )–

1. Rhythm and Rituals :  Set up a flexible time table in Summer  and stay disciplined .Keep changing it time to time understanding what works and what does not.

Time table includes free play time /study time /art time/outdoors/stories/reading/Hand Writing/creative writing /clay /singing /lego/stitching/cooking/games/puzzle making and playing/cleaning up rooms/ T.V time / chat time / bird watching time / quiet walks / Math Rhythm /meditation/Experiments / home visits /Cooking and so on .Also, make it a habit to ask each other how was your day before sleeping.

2. Story Telling everyday: As Albert Einstein Rightly said, “If you want your child to be intelligent tell them stories and if you want your child to be more intelligent tell them more stories “. Stories develop attention span, vocabulary, moral science, problem solving , reasoning skill and  most importantly , the warmth and the healing it brings.

3. Reading: In order to improve your child’s academic standing, we need to jump start in this area. There are a wide variety of literature available .Other Reading include map directions, writing out road directions, You can write out simple task and let your child read like Grocery bill basket, Simple daily habits and so on. Finding Facts and information from books. Looking for advertisements  in the newspaper, Encourage reading an interesting article, Signboards and so on. Tell them to find numbers of friends  on the phone before handing over dictionary to help reading in alphabetical order .If children are already into the habit of reading ,plan to read one story this Summer and read it to live it the characters ,the setting ,the feeling and review it.Favourite quotes and lines can be written with beautiful handwriting.

4 .Free Chats: When the academic year is over ,it is time to look back  .Do not ask big questions like ;How was this  year ? Instead ask specific questions such as how many games you played this year? What were your best  moments with friends ? let us list down Your favourite stories  this year. Did you enjoy Play Practices ? What did  you enjoy ? And then ,soon  you will hear the heart pouring with different emotions and body moving with excitement of the year that passed by.Create a Mind Map and Scrap notes of the year.
  Also ,share things to do with your day. Some days ask children some questions just to come up with some ideas. What do you think the Giraffe eats for breakfast? What if fishes decide to make friends with the birds? Or what will happen if you leave your shoe lace open? And so on

5 Build vocabulary ; Scrabble is a must in every household .Reading extensively builds vocabulary and regular exercises like finding words that sound same  ( amazing,surprising,wonderful ) Playing word games and making word banks.Some days, build games around  feelings  words like hesitant,nostalgic,refreshed /magic words like astounded ,guided,miracles.

6  Uninterruped Writing:Make writing a habit throughout summer . Keeping a journal on dreams, on feelings, free writes,writing  songs and poems .Writing dialogues ,like writing down the way of telling the same thing in different way and acting out .And laughing over it :)

7. Cooking : Involve children in the kitchen and also in your visits to the Super Market Nothing can replace Experiential learning and what best than with Mom around.Play Pretend Plays on Designing a Restaurant in the house ,Name the restaurant ,make Menu Card ,Cook together ,Setting table and family eating with some invisible characters around .Make bill and share comments on the restaurant in a notepad with xyz names written.

8. Crafty time and Role playing: Always keep basket full of recyclable, organize stationary, and craft materials within the child’s reach .Also ,one basket full of dupattas, bags, binoculars, magnifying glass and creative stuff. Let children come up with their ideas and create machine , boxes , houses or any set up.

9 Nature Walks are integral part of childhood. Instead of malls, visit parks and beaches .During this time, you can play a lot of games and explore observation skills .Like asking the child: What do birds eat? child might say Birds eat berries then take walks to find out what they eat /watch birds and write ‘’The Bird landed on the tree ‘’.
Plan some Science Experiments on Humidity , Weather , Butterfly garden .Some Local geography on Routes around ,Treasure Hunt ,Maps

 Tell your child to feel a tree and then ,make a chalk mark . Afterwards,Blindfold him and ask to find the tree .Keep inventing games to bring children to nature .Exercises like Gardening will be fruitful too.Read Immerseinnature@reinventiningchildhood.blogspot

10 Last but not the least, Celebrate every moment of childhood as you will miss it soon .Find reasons to have a get together .Invite Grandparents, aunts and cousins on occasions for example,Family gathered to plant seeds orThe  last Mango MilkShake party .Involve Children in the planning like making list ,games ,chats,cooking

       With so many occupying and engaging events in the little time of childhood .Hopefully, we still have the power to reclaim childhood .Hope these practical ideas work in a healthy and wealthy way.

Secret Passages holds regular   workshops for Parents,teachers and therapist

Love and light on the Path of Secret passages

Geetanjali

9665036987