Summer Fun!

Need some activity ideas for your kindergarten aged learner? Here are some simple ideas:

• Keep little hands busy! Fine motor skills strengthen and develop with activities like gardening, digging in the sand, and rolling out cookie, pizza or play dough. Make pictures that require picking up small objects like small rocks, shells, beads, or macaroni, and then gluing them in place. Stickers are also great to peel off of a sheet and place on a picture. Cut out pictures and shapes from magazines, travel brochures, or summer photos, and glue them into a scrapbook. Collect colors, shapes or items of interest all through the summer!
• Play literacy games. Play “I spy” by finding objects that start with different sounds or letters. Draw letters in the sand, a pile of flour or in finger paint. Take turns guessing what letter you trace onto each other’s back. Think of rhyming words, and see how long you can keep the list growing. Start with easy word families like “_ig”, or “_at”.
• Sing songs together!
• Read together and investigate new interests through books. The Calgary Public Library runs a fun summer reading program for children of all ages, as well as ongoing story times and other unique activities. They offer “grab and go” bags of children’s books, an extensive DVD library, and an excellent selection of books on CD for summer road trips. Library cards are free! Visit www.calgarypubliclibrary.com for more information.
• Count and find patterns all around you. How many pieces/blocks/dolls do you have? How many boxes do we have in our shopping cart? How many red flowers can you see? How many trucks can you find? Make and find patterns: one little rock, two big rocks, one little rock, two big rocks…. Find patterns in the house and outside: repeating colors, shapes, sizes and items.
• Paint, crayons, markers and chalk along with a steady supply of paper, scissors and glue will keep your little ones busy and learning. You can use almost anything for craft materials, and making creations outside is a great summer opportunity for messy projects.
• The Dalhousie Community Association funds a free “Stay and Play” program (for children up to 5 yrs old) in conjunction with the City of Calgary. Dalhousie dates are the week of July 22 this year. Find information and other locations on the City of Calgary Website