Summer Literacy

• Social-Emotional
  • Encourage your child to try new things
    • Sensory activities like cooking together, making slime/playdough, playing in the sand, making mud, digging in the dirt/gardening
  • Give your child opportunities to play with other children their age
    • Have play dates with neighborhood children and/or future classmates at a local park or in your backyard
    • Go to the library and join the weekly story time and/or check out books
  • Establish daily routines
    • Take pictures of daily activities (e.g., potty breaks, outside time, snack time, playtime, lunch, rest time, etc.) and have them put them in order every morning on a Morning Schedule Board.
  • Paint, draw and write
    • Use extra-large paper to foster motor skills—these are great ways to manage and express big emotions like disappointment or sadness.
  • Play music
    • Freeze Dance, Achy Breaky Bottom
    • Jump around and “act out” music
    • Create music with materials around the house
• Cognitive (learning, thinking, problem-solving)
  • Science
    • Do experiments
    • Make predictions
  • Math
    • Count and add
    • Recognize shapes and patterns
  • Literacy
    • Pre-Literacy skills are critical to your child’s reading performance in the future. Early literacy development includes awareness of books and print, hearing and playing with sounds in words, the relationships between letters and sounds, vocabulary development, story comprehension, and more! A few fun literacy activities are:
      • READ, READ, READ!
      • Visit your local library.
      • Storytelling (Picture books are great to use for storytelling. Storytelling is a fantastic activity for children to learn new vocabulary and how to construct their messages, sharpen memory, and improve listening skills. Encourage children to describe what they see.)
      • Blocks (Build castles, houses, farms. Once your masterpiece is built, create stories out of your play with animals and people.)
      • Acting out Stories (Read a story/rhyme together and discuss which characters you each want to be. Consider the props you might want to bring to this story alive.)
      • Treasure hunt (Use a tray or a toy box and throw a bunch of toys in it. Close your eyes and go on a “treasure hunt.” You can do this activity in a sandbox too. Bury toys in the sand and then go on a treasure hunt. As you and the child take turns pulling toys out of the box, encourage them to create a story from what they find. Storytelling is an important skill for oral language development.)
      • Crocodile Circle (Create a bin with a crocodile face on top, filled with letters and surprise cards. Pass the crocodile around the circle, singing, “Crocodile, crocodile down by the lake; I’m going to reach right in and see what (letter) you ate.” The person holding the crocodile then pulls a letter and calls it out. Start with the letters in your child’s name. Emphasize the sound of each letter!)
  • Hold something in one hand while using the other hand (e.g., hold a container and take the lid off)
  • Try to use switches, knobs, or buttons on a toy
  • Play with more than one toy at the same time (e.g., putting toy food on a toy plate)
  • Puzzles with 25-50 pieces
    • This work fosters:
      • Concentration
      • Spatial awareness
      • Shape recognition
      • Fine motor ability
      • Hand-eye coordination
      • Problem-solving skills
      • Language
  • Visit a local museums website, plan a day trip, and participate in their scavenger hunt
• Physical / Core Strength Building (movement, fine motor, gross motor)
  • Swimming
  • Jumping on a trampoline
  • Climbing on playground equipment
  • Walking/Moving like a bear, crab, or other animals
  • Practicing yoga
  • Riding a bike

Spontaneous and Structured Play
Summertime is filled with many great opportunities for play, both spontaneous and structured. Continue to implement a consistent structure and routine for your child. This will allow them time to foster independence and autonomy.

You will be your child’s primary playmate during these months—practice turn-taking and flexibility. For example, your child can choose what they would like to use, and then you can choose what will be next. We want children to continue hearing and accepting other people’s perspectives while implementing empathy and responsiveness.

• Explore the Outdoors!
  • Have fun with bubbles.
  • Play with water and sponges.
  • Play hide and seek.
  • Collect rocks, wash, and paint them.
  • Toss water balloons.
  • Decorate a bike or scooter.
  • Paint a cardboard house outdoors.
  • Paint a mural outdoors. Go on a bug hunt.
  • Plant seeds in a garden.
  • Play with a water table.
  • Have a toy car wash.
  • Make a nature collage. 

Providing opportunities for children to use their senses through sensory play is extremely beneficial for brain development. Sensory play builds nerve connections, promotes problem-solving and creativity, and enhances children’s scientific minds. Here are a few quick and easy recipes:

• DIY Chalk Paint
  
  • 1 cup Cornstarch
  • 1 ½ cup water
  • Food coloring or washable paint 

1. 1. Let their imaginations go wild with this vibrant and easy recipe. Provide them with paintbrushes. They will have a blast painting sidewalks and driveways.

• Honey Slime
  • 1 cup cornstarch
  • ½ cup honey

1. 1. Heat the cornstarch and honey in the microwave for a few seconds
   2. Then add 3-5 tbsp oil.

• Cloud Dough
  • 1 cup cornstarch
  • ½ cup hair conditioner (any kind will do)

1. 1. Begin by adding the cup of cornstarch to your bowl. Then add your measured 1/2 cup of hair conditioner. Add it gradually to the bowl and mix both ingredients until you get a thick mixture. Continue stirring until it is soft and fluffy.
   2. Make sure you have a clean and flat surface to work on for this step!
   3. Grab the mixture and knead it for about one minute or until it is soft.
   4. Play with the cloud dough immediately and store it in an airtight container when done. 

• Playdough
  • 2.5 cup water
  • 1 ¼ cup salt
  • 1 ½ tbsp cream of tartar
  • 5 tbsp of vegetable oil
  • 2.5 cups of flour (all-purpose)
  • Food coloring or watercolors

1. 1. Place all the ingredients minus the food coloring together in a large pot and stir until somewhat smooth. It will be lumpy. Not to worry, the dough will get smoother as it cooks.
   2. Place the pot on the stove and cook over low heat. Stir frequently with a large spoon. The water will slowly cook out of the mixture, and you’ll notice it starts to take on a sticky dough appearance. Keep mixing until the edges of the dough along the side and bottom of the pan appear dry. Pinch a piece of dough. If it’s not gooey, the dough is ready.
   3. Place the dough on a countertop, baking sheet, or large cutting board that can withstand a little food coloring.
   4. Knead the warm dough until it’s smooth, and then divide it into the number of colors you’d like to make. If you don’t want paint-stained hands, you could wear gloves for this step.
   5. Play with the dough immediately or store it in a large Ziplock bag or sealed container. Unused, it’ll keep for months.

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Opportunities for Reinforcement

• Literacy
  • Have a scavenger hunt (e.g., find the letter, find the letter sound)
  • Visit libraries
  • Read books and ask open-ended questions (i.e., “How..,” “What do you think…,” “Why...”)
  • Visit museums
  • Make cards for friends
  • Trace shapes and letters in sand or shaving cream
• Math
  • Have a scavenger hunt (e.g., find this number, what has four legs)
  • Cook together (e.g., making playdough, making fruit kabobs, measuring)
  • Sort things (e.g., group leaves, rocks, and sticks; sort by size)
  • Make shapes (e.g., wiki stix, pipe cleaners)
• Physical
  • Outdoor
    • Climb trees
    • Swim
    • Have a wheelbarrow race
    • Ride bikes or scooters
    • Have a scavenger hunt (e.g., nature)
    • Blow and/or play with bubbles
  • Art
    • Use sidewalk chalk
    • Paint with brushes and water
    • Practice finger painting
    • Hide things in playdough
    • Make a treasure map
    • Practice using scissors
    • Do a puzzle
• Social and Emotional
  • Practice self-help skills to build autonomy (e.g., opening containers and bags; putting away toys/belongings)
  • Play cooperative games (e.g., Peaceable Kingdom)

Opportunities for Reinforcement:

Language, literacy, and math skills are playfully woven into each part of our day in our Kindergarten classrooms. These Summer Work Calendars are intended as springboards for fun and exploration throughout the summer months. Whether you complete every activity or choose only those that interest your child, please view the calendar as a chance to prompt your child’s inner mathematician, scientist, and creative thinker!

Recommended Summer Reading