A Few Ideas to Keep Little Minds Creative this Summer

Summer is closing in, which (hopefully) means more family time!  And while the great outdoors is our classroom over the summer, it also helps to have some fun activities in our pockets that will stimulate those little minds until the next school year.  I hope a few of these ideas resonate with you too!

1.  Outdoor Lab or Mud Kitchen

One of the best things our kids can do is get outside and get dirty.  Especially after this past year of intense sanitization.  Studies show that kiddos who live in too sterile of an environment are more prone to developing allergies and immune issues.  Further studies show greater biodiversity in the gut microbiota (i.e. more good bacteria in the gut) in children exposed to soil.  And gut health is key to overall health.  There is actually a specific microorganism living in soil called Mycobacterium vaccae, which quells stress-related disorders, because it has an anti-inflammatory effect on the brain, and acts as a natural antidepressant.  So not only are our kids bolstering their immune systems by playing with mud, but they’re happier too!  And no wonder why mud baths are part of the relaxing spa experience.

“The idea is that as humans have moved away from farms and an agricultural or hunter-gatherer existence into cities, we have lost contact with organisms that served to regulate our immune system and suppress inappropriate inflammation.”

Science Daily

There are super cute mud kitchens out there, like this one, but they can also be made at no cost.  Our kiddos have a “lab” out on our deck made up of all sizes and shapes of empty containers, in which they make all types of potions and “food.”  They spend hours out there, and the dirtier they get, the better.

2.  Drawing and Creative Writing

For our littlest ones, writing may not be an option.  But, one thing my little one did this past year was keep a journal of drawings, and she would come up with a little story or description about it, which I would write for her beneath her picture.  This way she was not only drawing (and practicing her pencil grip! bonus!), but also getting creative and using descriptive language.  You can even prompt your kiddo with “can you tell me another adjective to describe your picture?” to get them used to hearing the real names of word classes.  We use this journal, which we really like.

For older kids, it’s fun to let them take drawing to the next level using draw-alongs.  My son loved doing all of the Mo Willems (Pigeon, Elephant & Piggie author) tutorials (check out Lunch Doodles with Mo Willems), as well as the Dav Pilkey (Captain Underpants and Dog Man author) draw-alongs (which you can find here).  There’s also a website called Art for Kids Hub, which has hundreds of drawing lessons.  And once your kiddo has created their masterpiece, they can make up a story about it!

3.  Build Your Own Board Game!

If you have a large box, you can cut it down to create a blank board for your kids to create their own board game! Or, if you want to get fancy, they have board game making kits, like this one, also.  If you have more than one child, this is a fantastic opportunity for cooperation and collective creativity as your kids make up rules and collaborate.  And then, of course, they have a finished product they can be excited about using in the future!

4.  Science Experiments

There are so many amazing learning resources out there.  One thing my kids like to pick up and get ideas from is a book called “Awesome Science Experiments for Kids.”  It has over 100 fun DIY experiments, ranging from the classic egg drop to “bending water” (using static electricity), and “lemon power,” using lemons to create a power circuit!  There’s also “Awesome Kitchen Science Experiments for Kids,” which focuses on food-based experiments like “solar-powered s’mores” and “spinach chromatography,” as well as “Awesome Engineering Activities for Kids,” which exposes kids to the hows and whys of engineering, and is great for fine and gross motor skills as they construct toothpick towers and marble runs.  All of these books offer amazing at-home learning opportunities disguised as pure fun.  Highly recommend.

5.  Geography and World-Knowledge

Last year my son started a journal about the United States, in which he researched for each state the capital, state flower, flag, and a unique, fun fact.  While his journal hasn’t gotten too far yet, it’s been a fun process.  We used Epic Books to look up books about each state, which is an app you can download for a pretty nominal monthly fee, and gives you access to thousands of books.  You can also expand this idea and start a country journal!  Maybe you use a printed map and mark each country you’ve investigated.  What’s great is your kids can be very self-directed in this process. 

For my littler one, I like to have her do “pin punching,” which is a Montessori activity.  You need a little pin puncher, like the one pictured here, a punching surface (we use a hand towel), and paper.  I have her trace around a state (from our United States puzzle) and then pin punch around the outline until the state is all “cut” out!  This is an amazing fine motor activity.  And once she’s done, we talk about that state and look at where it is on the map.  And again, this can really be done with anything!  You can trace and pin-punch animals, countries, objects, all which can spur conversation and learning about that topic!

6.  Jar of Ideas!

We’re all familiar with those moments when, surrounded by a million toys, our kids can find nothing. to. do.  But after we tell them it’s healthy to be bored, and some of the most life-altering inventions have arisen from creative minds being “bored,” should we point them in any direction?  Well, one thing we can have our kids do is make a jar of ideas.  They can fill it with pieces of paper on which they’ve written all sorts of things to do.  And the rule is, they pick one from the jar, and they DO it.  No going through the whole jar and still finding “nothing to do.”  It may not always work, but it’s a useful backup.  And after all, they came up with all those brilliant ideas!

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I hope one or more of these ideas will help inject some creative fun into your summer!  And please comment with any of your favorite creative activities! 

Cheers!