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Learning Together Joyfully: Summer Play, Sun, and Fun

Welcome back educators, parents, care-givers and grandparents! Now that school is out and summer is here, parents/care-givers are at the front line making sure that their children continue to keep their minds and bodies active. Summer is a time to relax and recalibrate. Kids need time for play, movement and fun. The more laughter the better. If kids are emotionally sound when they return to school in the fall, learning and the educator’s job will be far less challenging. During the summer, open-ended free time for children to relax and explore at will is optimal. Summer is also a great time for children to deepen friendships as they play and interact with others. Encourage games and activities that involve cooperation and socializing with siblings and friends. Playing outdoors with friends and taking a break from screens, promotes curiosity, initiative, and creativity…as you play, learn and grow together joyfully!

1.  Read together about Summer Fun 📚 

Reading to a child has so many benefits. As you maintain your routines, please continue to instill positive associations with reading as there is no need to push too hard over the summer. Stories are often about people or animals and their relationships and interactions. They provide opportunities for discussions with children about friendship or feelings and how best to cope with conflict when they do face real life socializing challenges. Consider adding these recommended titles to your home library or take the list along to borrow from your local public library.

  • Piper Morgan Summer of Fun Collection Books 1-4  by S. Faris & L. Fleming. (Piper Morgan Joins the Circus; Piper Morgan in Charge!; Piper Morgan to the Rescue; Piper Morgan Makes a Splash) Heroine Piper Morgan—a spunky eight-year-old who is always on the go—and her mom explore the circus, the pool and more in this new series available together in a boxed set!
  • How to Be a Friend; A Guide to Making Friends and Keeping Them by Laurie Krasny Brown and Marc Brown. Fun dinosaur characters teach young children all about friendship–the value of friends, how to make friends, and how to be a good friend.
  • Super Summer; All Kinds of Summer Facts and Fun by Bruce Goldstone. Summer is a season of plenty—plenty of sun and fun with people on vacation and plenty of activities in and around the water. Get ready to explore summer’s amazing abundance through vivid photos and creative craft ideas!
  • All You Need Is a Pencil; The Wild and Crazy Summer Fun Activity Book by Mark Shulman.  How to keep your child busy on a road trip!
  • The Berenstain Bears Summer Fun! by Stan and Jan Berenstain.  Summer is a time to relax but it’s also the perfect season to go outside and play. This collection of three Berenstain Bears books celebrates baseball, soccer, and camp! These humorous and heartwarming stories can be enjoyed during a long car drive or a rainy summer day!
  • The Couch Potato by Jory John,  Pete Oswald  The Couch Potato has everything within reach and doesn’t have to move off his couch cushion until the electricity goes out. Couch Potato is forced to leave the comforts of the living room and venture outside. Could fresh air and sunshine possibly be better than the views on screen? Readers of all ages will laugh along as their new best spuddy learns that balancing screen time and playtime is the root to true happiness.
  • Room on Our Rock by Kate and J. Temple and T. Baynton. When read from front to back, the group of seals firmly believe there is no room on their rock for the parent and child seal who are seeking a place to rest. The book can be read again, from back to front, revealing a welcoming message where the seals make room for others and share their rock. What a clever way to share the idea that there are two sides to every story. 
  • Not Me by Elise Gravel  When dad asks who made this mess by leaving socks all over the place, a brother and sister insist that it was “Not Me.” Dad surmises they are not telling the truth, until he is introduced to the actual Not Me, a creature who in turn accuses Not True, who exposes the real sock bandit, the ever-complaining Not Fair! What a clever, humorous and relatable story as it manages to slyly address the blaming and excuse-making that often happens in families.
  • You’re Called What? By Kes Gray & N. Dyson.  Laugh-out-loud and learn some fun creature facts in this tongue-twisting treat about real animals with very unusual names such as the Ice Cream Cone Worm, Monkeyface Prickleback, or Pink Fairy Armadillo. You’re called WHAT?!

READ ALOUDS: Click on the links below as you read and enjoy these books all about fun-filled summer activities.

  • The Truth about my Unbelievable Summer by David Cali ( 3:46 mins.) What starts out as a day at the beach turns into a globe-spanning treasure hunt with an outrageous cast of characters including one very mischievous bird!
  • On the First Day of Summer Vacation by Tish Rabe (4:19 mins.) When school is out, it’s time to celebrate and have some summertime fun! From catching fireflies to going to the zoo to learning how to swim are all activities to enjoy during the summer. You can even sing this book to the “Twelve Days of Christmas”. 
  • The Night Before Summer Vacation by Natsha Wing (3:55 mins.) A little girl and her family are trying to get ready to go on vacation and ensure they pack everything they will need.  There’s bound to be something overlooked, and what that is provides a funny ending to this meter-perfect “twist” on Clement Moore’s classic.
  • How I Spent My Summer Vacation by Mark Teague (4:01 mins.) In a wildly funny twist on the annual “How I spent my summer vacation” school-essay ritual, Mark Teague shakes up a dull classroom with a young student’s imaginative account of his adventures in the Wild West. 
  • OLIVIA Opens a Lemonade Stand by Kama Einhorn (10:45 mins.) Olivia’s lemonade stand is losing customers to her competitor Francine! Olivia decides to rethink the lemonade stand and turns hers into a full-scale backyard restaurant. 
  • Barnacle is Bored by Jonathan Fenske (2:21 mins.) Barnacle is stuck on the underside of a pier where every day is exactly the same. Life is boring and he wants something  EXCITING to happen. Then one day Barnacle learns that exciting is not always better!
  • A Camping Spree with Mr. Magee by Chris Van Dusen (7:39 mins.) Mr. Magee and his trusty dog, Dee, are off on a camping trip when many things go wrong and home starts looking like a good place to be. 
  • Magic Beach by Alison Lester (3:54 mins.) Visit Magic Beach full of adventures where you can swim, surf, splash in the waves, build sandcastles, beachcomb, explore rock-pools, fish from the jetty, and build a bonfire under the stars. 
  • Teddy Bear Picnic by Jimmy Kennedy. Enjoy this classic favorite story with delightful illustrations as you prepare for your family picnic! Enjoy listening to the Teddy Bear Picnic sung by Anne Murray (2:38 mins.)
  • The Bears’s Picnic by Stan Berentain. Father Bear says he knows the perfect spot for a picnic, but each ideal location turns out to be a complete disaster with the family running off to find another spot to lay down their red-and-white checked tablecloth in this giggle-filled escape.

SINGING: After moving, singing, and enjoying this set of summertime songs, you may also wish to organize a game of musical chairs where there are rules to follow and the children learn more about losing and winning graciously.

2. Create together: Puzzles, Picnic Snacks, Crafts, Board Games, Drawing and Constructing 🧩 

Sensory play is a fun activity that children often love to do together. Whether they are picnicking at the beach with family and friends or playing with water, mud, or sand there is much sharing, negotiating and cooperating. As children sit together and engage in creative activities such as drawing, painting, cutting, pasting, playing games or moulding playdough, opportunities arise for them to further develop their social skills. They problem-solve, take turns, and converse with each other. Organizing playdates helps children to make connections with others, allows them to build and practice their social skills and ultimately these special times can be the start of lifelong friendships.

3. Explore together 🌍

Children learn about socially acceptable behaviour by watching adults and especially their parents and care-givers. No doubt you have observed that they often learn more from watching than listening to adults. Being playful, understanding the importance of play, and organizing play-based activities develops children’s social skills. Children experience delight when playing. Engaging in different activities, such as the following, encourage children to be flexible, adjust to changes that differ from their day-to-day routines and hopefully will delight them!

“We should be able to go into a child care room and see and hear a kind of talk and laughter that creates a feeling of joy. We should all strive towards creating a climate of delight.” Dr. Rachel Langford, Ryerson University

4. Engage and Interact: 👭

Parents need help around the house and children need variety, so take this summer as an opportunity to show your kids how to pitch in and be a contributing member of the family. Cooking, cleaning the car, watering the plants—these all give children a sense of purpose and new skills they’ll need as they grow towards independence. The following are some playful and engaging activities to do with your child:

5. Reflect: Thoughts of the Day about Summer Play and Fun 💭

As children progress through the stages of play remember these are approximations as each child develops at their own pace. Keep in mind as children age that some of the best socializing and learning occurs naturally when they are involved in free play. When older children play together they learn together.

(BC MOE Handbook – Play Today P.38.)