August: Last Days of Summer – Play Learn Grow Together

Learning Together Joyfully: Last Days of Summer

As Summer rapidly draws to an end, it is a time to enjoy the last warm days and spend family time either on vacation or taking time for stay-at-home ‘cations. Children enjoy the relaxation of summer time when families can spontaneously go on a picnic, read books together, enjoy setting up some outdoor messy crafts, work together in the garden, take a walk, watch wildlife, blow bubbles, or play with shadows. These activities provide opportunities for children to practice mindfulness where they notice all that is in the present moment including their feelings, the sensations in their bodies, and the sounds, sights, and smells of the world around them. Mindful awareness helps students with self regulation, optimism, and planning and organizational skills.

1. Read and Sing together 📚

You and your child are invited to click on the links below and enjoy reading the following Summer and Mindfulness books or check out your school and public library or bookstore to buy or borrow the following recommended books.

SUMMER FUN:

Big Mama by Donald Crews. Crews, the Caldecott Honor artist writes of his own childhood experiences visiting his grandparents in Florida. Everyone will enjoy the memories of a perfect summer day in the country, exploring and playing, and the connections among family members across generations. Four children travel with their mother, and when the train arrives in Cottondale, Florida, the summer at Big Mama’s house begins! Donald Crews brilliantly evokes the sights, sounds, and emotions of a memorable childhood experience.

Enemy Pie by Derek Munson. Why, oh why, did Jeremy Ross have to move to the neighborhood and ruin everything? A perfect summer, now headed straight for the dumpster. Fortunately, dad has a plan for getting rid of enemies – his secret recipe for Enemy Pie. The strange thing is that part of the recipe includes spending an entire day with the enemy! This endearing story of turning an enemy into a friend will amuse and intrigue while teaching a lesson of inclusion.

Grow Happy by Dr. Jon Lasser. Kiko is a gardener who takes care of her garden with seeds, soil, water, and sunshine. In this story Kiko also demonstrates how she cultivates happiness, just like she does in her garden by using positive psychology and choice theory. This book shows children that they have the tools to nurture their own happiness and live resiliently. Just as Kiko possesses the resources needed—seeds, soil, water—to build a thriving garden, she also has the tools to nurture her own happiness—including social support, choices, and problem-solving skills. This book helps kids understand that they play an important role in cultivating their own happiness using resources at their disposal. It includes a Note to Parents and Caregivers with information on how our choices and paying attention to our bodies and feelings affects happiness.

New Shoes by Chris Raschka. Two-time Caldecott Medalist picture book creator Chris Raschka pays tribute to one of the most quintessential events of childhood often at the end of summer—getting new shoes—in this boldly illustrated and inspiring book for the youngest reader. When a young child discovers a hole in a sneaker, mother and child embark on a big childhood adventure—a trip to the store to pick out new shoes. From having feet measured and making a selection to finally showing off the new shoes to a friend, this momentous child moment is treated with respect, excitement, and page-turning energy.

The Field by Baptiste Paul. With shouts in both English and Creole, island children enjoy an exuberant game of soccer. A sudden rainstorm gives them pause, but they decide to kick off their shoes and “Play on!” in the mud. This story about out of school time shows students how even just a few brief sentences per page can still pack exquisite detail. (“Uh-oh. Shutters bang. Sun hides. Clay dust stings. Sky falls.”) They can also examine the vibrant summer-like illustrations to notice how pictures can add depth to a story, right down to the mouths open in jubilant yells and the tongues sticking out to catch raindrops.

Magnolia Mudd and the Super Jumptastic Launcher Deluxe. Meet Magnolia Mudd, an inventive girl who’d rather tighten a nut and a bolt than tie a ribbon or bow. For Magnolia Mudd, her Uncle Jamie is the very best grown-up. He always invents cool things with her . . . until the day he and Miss Emily announce their engagement – often a summertime event! That’s bad enough—but even worse, Miss Emily wants Magnolia to be a FLOWER GIRL! No way is Magnolia tossing petals. But it turns out that Uncle Jamie’s new bride-to-be may be more fun than Magnolia ever imagined.

Magnolia Mudd and the Super Jumptastic Launcher Deluxe

Unwrap your Dreams by Amy Beeman. A great summer bedtime read for children. They learn that when you drift off to sleep and unwrap your dreams there’s no limit to the wonderful places you can go and astonishing sights you can see—magical animals, underwater experiences, dancing fairies, flights to faraway lands. Whatever they can imagine can happen. When they lay down their head and close their eyes, the adventures begin.

MINDFULNESS: Mindfulness is one strategy to incorporate Social Emotional Learning (SEL) into the classroom and home and is a great way for children, especially those who experience anxiety, to focus on their self-management, patience and happiness. Mindfulness is a technique that can help teach and strengthen those abilities over time. With practice, it helps children to slow down and focus on right now rather than thinking about the past or future. Books and follow-up discussion about mindfulness helps build self-awareness, awareness of others, and awareness of the world. It’s about being fully present, paying close attention to the moment we’re in. Mindfulness practice can help alleviate stress, worry, and anger, and can improve focus and sleep – particularly for those who are anxious about school beginning.

Sitting Still Like a Frog: Mindfulness Exercises for Kids by Eline Snel. Even kids have anxieties and worries. Sitting Like a Frog presents mindfulness practices in a simple, kid-friendly way to help children learn concentration, deal with anxiety and stress, and handle demanding emotions. The book also contains practices that are focused on certain common scenarios to help youngsters get a grip on their feelings, manage anger, become more aware, and exercise patience. Along with the book is a 60-minute audio CD of guided exercises. This lovely book is the perfect introduction to mindfulness meditation.

Mind Bubbles: Exploring Mindfulness with Kids by Heather Krantz, MD. Children today are engaged in a fast-paced, media-driven, competitive society that can lead to increased stress and stress-related problems such as anxiety and depression. Mindfulness is a way to deal with this stress and can help children calm themselves and focus their attention. Mind Bubbles presents an easy way for young children to work with their breath while noting thoughts and feelings passing and popping like bubbles. The book provides a clear and concise explanation of mindfulness.

I Am Peace: A Book of Mindfulness by Susan Verde. The book teaches mindfulness essentials to help your kids manage their emotions, fight feeling overwhelmed, make good choices, and learn balance and empathy, all while making time to enjoy the beauty of the world around them.

What Does It Mean to be Present? By Rana DiOrio. Join a group of friends in this interactive book as they navigate through childhood in school, at home, and at the beach. Follow their experiences as they learn how to be in the present, such as waiting patiently for their turn, focusing on what is happening at the moment, and noticing and taking action when someone needs help. For parents and teachers, this book is a great tool to help children start mindfulness early and set the tone for their lives.

Breathe Like a Bear: 30 Mindful Moments for Kids to Feel Calm and Focused Anytime, Anywhere by Kira Willey. A lovely collection of illustrated mindfulness exercises, This book teaches children techniques for managing their breath, body, and emotions. It is filled with imaginative and playful ideas children will love and help them better connect with themselves. What makes it even better is that the simple and short mindfulness practices in this book can be performed anytime, anywhere.

SONGS: Songs develop a child’s listening skills and auditory memory. During action songs they need to listen to perform the correct action at the appropriate time. They also need to listen to the chorus especially when prompted to join in. Listening and singing to the words of songs improves a child’s auditory memory. Both of these skills are excellent for developing reading skills and building their concentration.

MINDFULNESS – You may wish to work with children on paying attention to their body and the sensations around them to help with focussing and self-regulation. The following guided videos may be helpful at home or in the classroom to encourage children to focus and be aware of how they feel..

3 Minute Body Scan Meditation
Mindfulness Meditation for Kids
What I Am Will.i.am – Growth mindset for children to learn how to express themselves.
Exercise Song for Children | Movement Songs for Kids 43 mins.
I Can Still Be Me | SEL Movement Song for Kids.
Stop and Go – game that encourages control.

SUMMER FUN:

2. Create together: Puzzles, Crafts, Drawing and Constructing 🧩

SUMMER FUN:

Interested in more scissor cutting practice for young children – consider downloading the following templates:
- Apple tree cut and paste.
- Ladybug cut and paste.
- Paper dolls and Clothes for summer and spring – Scroll to the bottom and sign up.
Work with your child to create a A Straw Rocket STEM activity –
- Follow these Directions and download this Template.

MINDFUL ACTIVITIES:

Mindful Coloring. Colouring is a good activity for children to help them manage their anxiety or anger. You can use any coloring pages for this quiet activity at home during the summer. After gathering pages to colour, children can then choose their favorite pages, crayons, colored pencils, felts, flair pens, or gel pens. Encourage children to quietly color on their own and if they make a mistake, just to breathe and move on. Mindfulness is about just letting the experiences pass us by without making judgements about them. The following are some free downloadable pages to start your collection:
Introduce crafts such as weaving, knitting and beading which are simple and repetitive, making it easier for learners to give them a try. These processes are also meditative and mindful. Materials are typically inexpensive and available at the local dollar store. After finishing their mindful practice, children often enjoy having an actual product to feel proud about.
- How to Knit for Kids.

3. Explore, Engage & Interact together 🌍

SUMMER FUN: Encourage children to feel grateful for their relaxed summertime and all the family activities they have been able to enjoy. Ask them to share their ideas with you:

Consider downloading this Summer-themed activity packet that includes fun mazes, crossword puzzles, short stories, fun facts, and coloring,
Kids learn better when they’re having fun, consider adding different seasonal games for kids into their routine or even at their summer birthday party.

MINDFUL ACTIVITIES:

Listen to music. Check out the songs included above or play nature sounds, classical, or any acoustic music while kids are doing something independently or during quiet time so they can relax while mindfully listening to the music.
Make and play “do-it-yourself” musical instruments. Making musical instruments is a fun way to build fine motor skills and address auditory processing skills too. You may wish to make these instruments with your children:
Teach Dragon Breathing. One component of mindfulness is learning how to control our own breathing. A way to get younger kids to buy into this is making it fun. With dragon breathing, kids will sit up straight, breathe in, stick their tongue out, and breathe out like a dragon. It might feel super silly at first, but it helps to bring the idea of deep breathing down to their level! This is a great activity to do before tests or after recess or at home during stressful times..

Play Mindfulness 5-4-3-2-1. (Pathway2success.com) Children find five things they can see, four things they can touch, three things they can hear, two things they can smell, and one thing they can taste. By the time they get through listing all of those, they will be more present and calm.

4. Healthy Living: Movement & Nutrition 👭

Summertime is a time for action and enjoyment of the outdoors. It is a time for children to help out in meal preparation and be an important contributing member of the family. These simple recipes are easy to make and might even keep kids entertained as they help out in the kitchen. Who knows? You could be raising the next Gordon Ramsay, Julia Child, or Emeril Lagasse, and cooking with you this summer could make all the difference to their future careers!

NUTRITION: The season’s bounty of fresh fruits and vegetables make for deliciously healthy dishes kids will enjoy.

With fresh peaches in season what could be better than a Peach Pie Smoothie for breakfast.

Consider making a Fresh Fruit Pizza.

For dinner or cold for a picnic lunch consider Spiced chicken and grape skewers.

Make an Easy Broccoli salad to accompany dinner.

And for dessert, Rainbow Fruit Skewers with Chocolate-dipped Strawberries will be a hit.

NUTRITION and INDIGENOUS LEARNINGS:

As we include more Indigenous learnings in the classroom and at home, consider sharing:
- Happiness is Bannock. Watch this video by Nathan who loves bannock and shows how to make this delicious treat. This video can serve as a model for “how to” writing and could be followed up with students creating their own “how to” texts. Here is the recipe Nathan used for Fry Bread. As a follow-up activity after viewing the video try making bannock at home or in the classroom.

MOVEMENT: