Summer Activities for Kids

It's summer-time! It's a great time to just relax and enjoy our kids. No school. Not as many plans or activities. But, do you ever worry that these months without all that could affect their learning?

Experts say, you are right to be thinking about their development and growth during the summer, too. And, there are things -- fun things -- we can be doing to make sure they stay on track while school's out. Depending on the age of your kids, you can look at anything from camps to summer reading programs to mommy and me classes.

Tabitha Olzinski is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, and a Mom of two girls. She says the idea is to keep our kids engaged, and keep those mental juices flowing. Tabitha explains, we should be doing "a little bit of everything -- you're really got to know your child. But, you want to keep the more active, physically, obviously. And, then you want to mentally challenge them by doing some science activities. The Exploreum does some science camps, or you can just get bubbles and soap and play in the skink at home. If your child is more artistic, you can let them go outside and play with chalk on the ground."

Tabitha says there are five-developmental areas:

• Gross motor. You can help your kids in that area by just getting some exercise. Play outside, swim, take a gymnastics class, that kind of thing.
• Fine motor skills focus on the smaller muscles. And, depending on your kids' ages, you can do things like handwriting and cutting. You could also look at art classes or crafts.
• Social development is important over the summer, too. You just want to make sure your kids still interact with other kids. Camps or play groups are a good option.
• Cognitive and speech development. Tabitha suggests things like summer reading programs, science camps, stuff like that.

For more summer learning ideas, click here   or here .