Summer vacations are possibly the days of the year that children enjoy most. Whether they go to summer camps, stay in the care of grandparents, parents, or other people, the routine they carry the rest of the year changes for more flexible schedules and more relaxed activities.
School vacations are not good for everyone. They are usually a headache for parents who do not know what to do with their children while they must go to work, but they should stop seeing themselves as a burden for parents and be aware that it is a period of rest deserved and necessary for their both physical and mental development. And also to learn. Because even if you don't believe it, on vacation you learn as much (or more) than at school.
It is a way of learning more relaxed and less directed as the traditional academic teaching they have in school, but that is why children, when experiencing it through their own experiences, assimilate the concepts in a more natural and vivid way.
They have within their reach a world of resources through which, without realizing, playing and exploring, they are learning. They also learn in the best way that exists, having fun. It's in us, parents, to help them find those learning opportunities in the things around them.
Teach your child about nature. If you go to the sea, teach him about the tides, why the waves form, why the water is salty, how the sand forms, talk to him about the animals that live in the sea. You can help them with books, magazines or videos on the subject. No matter how old you are, from the smallest to the oldest you can learn interesting things, always explaining them with words that they can understand.
For example, if you go to the mountain, show him how they are formed, what the parts of the mountain are called, how rivers, valleys, animals and people who live in that type of landscape are formed.
But to learn you don't have to go on a trip. If you stay at home, in the pool or in the park there are many things you can teach the little ones. I remember when I was a little girl at my grandparents' house watching a great anthill that was in her garden all summer. I learned a lot about how these laborious insects worked and organized.
Summer is also an ideal stage for discover new capabilities, explore other interests. Skills that the rest of the year may not have time or opportunity to discover as music, literature, theater, dance, painting, sports, cooking. Maybe your little one is a potential musician or painter and you didn't know it.
If you pay attention to your surroundings, there are lots of tools, games and activities that you can do with children this summer to learn by playing. The motivation is your own curiosity of the little ones. Teach him to observe nature and ask questions about the origin of things.
Stimulating vacations, better school performance
In addition, it is demonstrated by scientific studies that children who live stimulating experiences during summer vacations, return to school full of energy.
Children who perform varied and stimulating activities such as visiting museums, parks, zoos, libraries, doing sports, dance, music, traveling, going to the cinema or theater, reading, playing outdoors, improve your academic results. Children who had similar performance during the school year could show great differences upon returning to class.
These differences could only be explained by the type of vacation they had enjoyed. Those who had attended sports, artistic activities or other recreational experiences showed a much higher level of concentration, while those who had had a passive vacation lowered their performance.
For young children, the activities they do on vacation are key to learning literacy and math.
Remember that if they live and observe themselves, with the support and help of parents, surely in vacations will learn so much (or more) than at school in a relaxed and playful way.
Photos | seeareelem and Mr TGT on Flickr
