Summer is chock full of opportunities for entertaining and enriching little kids’ development through new experiences and activities. Need some ideas for summer activities for preschoolers? Check out these ideas for summer activities for the 3-5 year-old set. They’ll come in especially handy during the dog days of summer, headed our way.
1. No-Stress, No Mess Water Play
Take advantage of a sunny day (or even a rainy one, provided there’s no thunder or lightning) to set your kids loose outdoors and let them burn some energy doing what all kids love to do as a summer activity – play with water. Fear not, city dwellers, simply set a big plastic container filled with water on whatever outside space you have and arm your tikes with any of the following, all which make for great water play for little hands:
Ice Cube Boat via Alpha Mom
Small plastic fish or animals
Barbie or Polly Pockets dolls
Sponges and a wash cloths
Small paint brushes for “painting” the sidewalk
Matchbox cars for washing
Boats – make your own Ice Cube Boats with nothing more than an ice cube molded in a plastic cup set with a drinking straw and flag for a sail. These boats are adorable, and perfect for hot days.
Plastic cups for pouring and filling
A watering can for watering plants
A garden hose
Pull out the inflatable pool and let them splash for hours.
2. Easy DIY Crafts Just for Kids
Every kid needs a creative outlet, not to mention a quiet, inside activity once in awhile. We’ve found loads of great summer crafts for kids of all ages, some that can be made in minutes and others that will occupy a preschooler for the full duration of his baby sibling’s nap. Check out our Summer Crafts for Kids Pinterest board for ideas, including these adorable and easy-to-make Flowers.
3. Explore a Good Book
Be sure to save time in your summer schedule for the simple pleasure of reading with and teaching your preschooler skills that will help him learn to read. You can encourage preschoolers to spend time with books by having them join older siblings in a summer reading program, whether it be one from a local library, Scholastic or a homemade incentive program. Encourage any form of reading, including pre-reading activities, like tracing or practicing their ABCs; “reading” to you or a sibling; or having a summer ritual of reading together as a family, perhaps a chapter of an endearing family-friendly favorite like Make Way for Ducklings, by Robert McCloskey, before bed. Scholastic has a helpful list of book recommendations for kids of all ages, including good picks for 3-5 year olds.
4. Get Your Groove On!
Another good hot summer activity is getting your groove on. Turn a playdate into a musical instrument making extravaganza (hint, hint, call in a babysitter to help!) and create the neighborhood’s next musical sensation. Check out Meaningful Mama’s fantastic list of 20 DIY Musical Instruments for Kids and see how simple and easy it can be to make anything from a bottle-cap tambourine to a full-on drum set.
DIY Musical Instruments via Meaningful Mama
5. Master a New Skill (and give Mom and Dad a helping hand!)
Teaching kids new skills helps develop their independence and shows them that they are an important, contributing member of their family… and eventually of the bigger world. Early childhood education experts recommend building skills by assigning chores, and believe that most preschoolers are capable of any of the following simple “taking care of myself and my house” chores:
Setting and clearing their place at the table
Making their bed
Sorting their clothes from the dryer
Picking up and putting away toys and art supplies.
After all the fun with these summer activities for preschoolers you might need a parents night out. Book an UrbanSitter and leave the entertaining to the sitter!
Every now and then, a kid stumbles upon some new information that delights him almost beyond reason. And so begins the pursuit to discover everything he possibly can about his latest passion—whether it’s machines, or artwork, or the stars, or an unfamiliar language. And although nothing can take the place of firsthand experience on a building site, or in a museum, or lying out beneath the night sky, or visiting another country, books come in a very close second.
Here we’ve rounded up seven volumes that explore themes that are sure to inspire kids who are fascinated by so much of what they see and feel and hear. Reading them along with your children, we challenge you not to learn something, too!
How Machines Work by David Macaulay. Kids who are enthralled with machinery know they’re in for something compelling just by looking at the cover of Macaulay’s latest opus, with its moving toothed-gear mechanism that’s operated by a determined-looking sloth. The premise of the whole book hinges on an escape from a zoo that’s orchestrated by two of its unhappy residents, which sets up the introduction of all sorts of simple machines (and shown to delightful effect with pop-ups and foldouts) they hope will get the job done…eventually. Pulleys, levers, screws, wheels—it’s all in here, and then some (ages 7-10, $20).
Round is a Tortilla and Green is a Chile Pepper by Roseanne Greenfield Thong & John Parra. A welcome twist on the same-old shape and color books, these two rhyming texts offer a primer on rectangles and stars, purple and yellow—as well as introducing things that come in those shapes and hues that are common in Spanish speaking cultures, and in many cases, offering the words in Spanish, too. Thoughtful and full of heart, and centered around family and friendship, these books are certain to make children curious about cultures previously unknown to them, opening up whole new worlds of possibility (ages 3-5, $17 each).
Yaks Yak: Animal Word Pairs by Linda Sue Park & Jennifer Black Reinhardt. Nouns can also be verbs—an infinitely tricky concept to explain aloud, but one that is thoroughly sensical when illustrated on the page—especially when those illustrations are laugh-out-loud hilarious. Word-loving kids will be inspired to bad puns and possibly naughty doings by badgers badgering, parrots parroting, and hogs hogging (ages 4-7, $17available for preorder).
I, Humanity by Jeffrey Bennet. What we know about space and the universe increases, it seems, with each passing day. This photo book backtracks to explain the history of our understanding of such concepts as a round Earth and the pattern of the planets—and how it evolved through science. This is the second in the “Story Time from Space” series—log on to watch videos of astronauts reading to children from the International Space Station (ages 7-9, $15available for preorder).
Bowls of Happiness: Treasures from China and the Forbidden City by Brian Tse & Alice Mak. Every aspect of ancient Chinese art is laden with symbolism—even when that art is something as simple and seemingly utilitarian as a porcelain bowl. But colors and images all have meaning behind their beauty and this small and decidedly odd tome from the China Institute breaks it all down in a way that will appeal to visual-minded children, who after exploring its pages, will surely go on to look for greater meaning among the objects in your own drawers and cupboards (ages 5-8, $13).
Do Unto Animals by Tracey Stewart & Lisel Shlock. The more likely title for this book is “Do Unto Dogs and Cats,” since these are the house pets on which it mainly focuses (although some attention is paid to backyard and farm animals as well). But any child who’s a lover of creatures great and small will delight in the highly expressive illustrations, and thrill to knowledge that lets her become an expert in how to make animals supremely happy. Since this book is written for adults, it’s offered here as read-aloud material—all the better, since you and your tots can enjoy learning together (all ages, $20).
Having just released her latest book, an action-packed mystery for kids age 7-10 called Milo Speck, Accidental Agent, kid novelist Linda Urban took time out of her busy author schedule to chat with us about the importance of reading, writing, and building worlds on a page to allow kids to explore who they really are.
There’s a lot of talk about why picture books are so important for kids. But what’s so special about middle grade? When we’re in kindergarten, people say, What do you want to be when you grow up? And we can say, I want to be a fire fighter, or a doctor. And people say, That’s so great! In the middle grade years, when people say, What do you want to be and you say, I want to be a doctor, they say, Well you better start studying! Suddenly, the future has this weight that before was all play, but we want that play to persist. Middle grade novels let us figure out who we are and where we fit; they let us hold on to that childish imaginative past while also recognizing that the decisions we make might have an impact on the future.
My son, Jack, is about to turn 11. He reads adult-level physics books, but he also believes it’s possible that he’s going to get his Hogwarts letter. He both knows and doesn’t know, believes and is skeptical. That’s what so perfect about writing for that age and being that age. My daughter, Claire, is 13 and it’s harder and harder for her to hold on to that magic.
Many kids still love to be read to in the middle grade years. Are you hoping that will happen with Milo? Milo is written with a rhythm and I hope it will be read aloud with a parent or in a classroom. It also has a relationship between a father and son, and I hope a parent reading it aloud will get a connection with his kids as he’s reading to them.
Did anyone read to you as a kid? I have a memory of being read Charlotte’s Web in the 2nd grade by a teacher who was otherwise terrifying. She had a bad temper and was nearing retirement and could see it waiting for her outside the classroom door. But at read-aloud, it got very quiet and we all sat in what we now call criss-cross-applesauce on the green carpet in front of her chair. And her voice changed and her demeanor changed, and it was this magical bubble where we were all safe. At the time, I identified with Fern and Wilbur, but years later when I read the book aloud to my kids, suddenly I was Charlotte—I had never identified with her before. By the end of the book I was bawling and my kids were like, Mom she’s a spider and Wilbur’s fine!
What was the importance of books in your childhood? I grew up outside Detroit, a suburban existence in a subdivision—kind of a Judy Blume childhood. Although, I always felt uncomfortable reading her. I was such a late bloomer I would think, Is that going to happen to me? Am I supposed to be thinking or feeling that? Because I don’t!
But the books that made the biggest difference to me when I was young were all the Beverly Cleary books. I loved Ramona; she was so not like me. I was very well behaved and wanted to please. The audacity of Ramona was just so appealing to experience on the page. I loved the Little House books, too, and I was Laura Ingalls for many a Halloween. I also was child of the bicentennial year, which was so formative. I read every revolutionary biography that there was. I begged to stay up late to see the Bicentennial Minutes on CBS. It made me wish I was an East Coast person, so I could be truly a patriot.
But after 4th grade, I went to a Catholic school where the library was locked all the times unless there was a volunteer, and most of the books were 30 or 40 years old. So when you did get to take a book out, it was about a girl who was deciding whether to become a nurse or just get married. I kind of stopped reading then. But when I did read, I liked a book that saw me in one way or another, and that’s what I want to do for kids—write about small things that matter in a big way to them. Milo Speck is an exception, because it’s an action adventure, but even then, Milo is a small boy in a big world who’s in over his head. That is how I felt often.
We’re sitting today in BookCourt, a great independent bookstore in Brooklyn. Do you think it’s important to bring kids to places like this? Very early on, kids learn by watching us what things are important to us. I lived with my parents near Detroit during a recession and there wasn’t a lot of disposal income around. But when my parents had the money, we got a book. That said to us, This is a valuable thing, and we value you enough to give you this thing. It can be hard at the picture book age to spend $17.95 on a book that has 32 pages that may or may not become that favorite book the kids reads over and over. But when you get one of those for your kids, you’re telling them, This is where our priorities lie. My own kids know I never say “no” to books and art supplies.
Your son is about Milo’s age. Does he identify with him?Milo was actually written for Jack. My first three books are very introspective and, even though I don’t believe in girl books or boy books, they have girl protagonists and they’re quieter. But my son came to me and said, Your books are pretty good but I want you to write something for me. I said, What’s that? And he said, I want HAM. I said, Like lunchmeat? No, like Hero, Action, Mystery.
As I was writing, Jack was reading and he would tell me when he didn’t understand something and he’d laugh at the good jokes and squint at the not-so-good jokes. He was incredibly valuable to me. As far as identifying with Milo, Jack is not as mechanical as Milo is, but he liked that Milo could look at the internal workings of a dryer and figure out how that would work and how you could ruin it, and foil the plot. For Jack, that whole idea of “even a kid can make a difference” was really, really appealing.
Everyone has their own answer to the question, Why is reading important? What’s yours? On a hard day, my daughter can go to the stairs to the attic, where we keep our picture books, and she’ll take down some of her favorites from when we were little, like Miss Rumphius, and some that I didn’t even know meant something to her. She’ll grab those and will be in her bed with them for the evening. It’s a total comfort.
But I think one of the best things that books do is they allow you to say, What would I do in that situation? What would I do for my friends? What skills do I have, abilities, weaknesses? Am I strong enough to say “no” in a terrible situation? Both my kids are really good at “what if.” They don’t always make the right decisions, but they’ve practiced through stories to think outside what everyone else is doing. And that gives them power.
Ross and daughter Callaway enjoying the sunshine out on the Books and Cookies turf.
By Lela Nargi
On a low-slung strip of street halfway between the skate shops of Venice’s Muscle Beach and the boutiques of downtown Santa Monica, Chudney Ross has opened her kid-centric outpost, Books and Cookies. Twice.
Aiming to provide what she calls a “literacy-based experience” for the area’s burgeoning young family population, in 2011 Ross fell in love with a storefront that was wedged in among the area’s myriad coffee shops and palm trees, even though she knew the space was much too big for what she had in mind. “I had positive aspirations!” she laughs.
Books are arranged at toddler height, so kids can easily select their faves.
Those aspirations began even before Ross was a mom herself—to daughter Callaway, now age two. Back then, she lived in Venice (as she still does, with Callaway and fiancé Joshua Faulkner), rode her bike “everywhere,” and was writing her first children’s book at a nearby branch of the Coffee Bean. Wherever she looked, she says, “I noticed there was nothing at all for children. There’d be moms in the Coffee Bean but it was just a place for them to meet up with each other and chat before going for a walk somewhere else with the kids.”
That vision of a klatsch of moms-without-a-base stuck with Ross. And so it was that when this former teacher and youngest daughter to legendary Motown singer Diana Ross opened Books and Cookies in its first incarnation, she already knew that she wanted to create an environment that was welcoming and nurturing, not just for children, but for their parents as well. It’s an environment she likens to the ’80s TV show Cheers, “Where everybody knows your name,” Ross says.
Art time at Books and Cookies!
The old place, like the new, significantly more manageable place—which Ross opened across the street from the original locale just this past September—was conceived as part bookstore, part event space. Parents could shuffle in for Books and Cookies’ ever-popular storytime, order up cups of strong hot coffee for their own bleary selves and some home-baked cookies for their kids. Then casually spend the morning hanging out with like-minded moms and dads who were elated to have a safe, fun place to park their strollers and veg out for a while. If they were feeling slightly more ambitious, they could drop in for a Mommy & Me yoga class or a craft-making event. Above all, says Ross, it was a place where “parents could bond.”
It’s been a work in progress since its inception. Says Ross, “Originally I thought of it as three separate businesses: a bookstore, a café, and an enrichment center.” Re-conceiving it as an all-in-one destination not only streamlined her original concept; it helped her create a place that is not quite like any other. “There are a lot of baby classes in LA that teach parents how to do all kinds of things. I’m not trying to teach parents anything—I’m learning everyday myself. What I know how to do is make reading fun.”
The fun starts when you walk in the door of the new narrow but bright space. Right up front is Ross’s continuously revolving and highly curated selection of books for kids of all ages, within easy reach of even the smallest of mobile tots. “We may not always have exactly the book you’re looking for, but we’ve got unique bestsellers and classics from when I was young,” says Ross. Certain titles are always on tap, like James Dean and Eric Litwin’s Pete the Cat. “It’s got singing, and fun colors—basically, it’s a good read for all the age ranges we see in here,” says Ross. Infants and toddlers dominate the morning; toddlers on up to kids around age 6 show up after nap time and stay well into the afternoon.
Whether or not to keep such tender merchandise within grabbing and gnawing distance was a matter of some debate. “People cautioned me from letting families pull down books,” says Ross. “But for me it was more important for them to spend time reading. And our families are pretty good about buying a book that has a bite mark in it, or a cover that’s a little mangled.” Ross also set up a bargain bin near the cash register—one of many unique solutions Books and Cookies adopted right from the get-go.
Another is found in the small details that turn up all throughout the shop, which welcome children to stay. And stay. And stay. Says Ross, “I found a picture of an amazing bookstore in Hong Kong, where kids could climb into holes in the walls and sit in there with pillows and books to read. I didn’t have the resources to recreate that, but Mimi Shin, who helped me design the space, made shelving structures you could climb under, and a hammock up front the little ones can sit in.” Also inviting intimacy with reading material is the teepee in the shop’s turf-topped, 600-square-foot outdoor playspace.
Sneaking a peek.
Since babies and toddlers often prove to be such fickle and short-attentioned visitors, that playspace, which was tiny and indoors in the old location, was an unexpected boon to the business. “People love it—they walk in and say, ‘This is awesome!’” says Ross. Kids can run amok and burn off energy in the almost-always-balmy So-Cal weather—including Callaway, who Ross says used to be content to sit in the shop, propped up by books, but who now “tears the store up.” And parents don’t have to worry about losing a toddler, since the area is enclosed. It doubles as a party space for the myriad birthdays the shop hosts.
Although literacy always remains a focus. Says Ross, “A lot of times when they come in to book a party, people will say, ‘Oh we don’t need to do storytime—our four-year-old won’t like that.’ And I say, ‘Please give it a shot.’ Their kids always wind up loving it. They see us read with enthusiasm.” More often than not, they’re excited to bring that positive energy home with them.
Ross says it was simple enough to reinstate all the old favorite classes from Books and Cookies’ old outpost to the new. Although storytime remains the shop’s most popular recurring event—it happens four mornings a week at 9:30AM, led by one of Ross’s personally-trained staff members—there is also toddler yoga, and sensory playtime, and various music classes, run by a cadre of local kid specialists. But even these activities contain a subtle literacy bias. After all, says Ross, “We can also story-tell thorough our bodies, and through music.”
One thing that didn’t quite make the full transition: the cookies that comprise half the shop’s name. In the old space they were hand-baked daily on site. But in planning for the new space, Ross says, “I met with some of our regulars and asked what was the most important part of Books and Cookies for them, what would they be sad to find missing? Mostly they said they liked the sense of community, the classes, the varying array of books for kids in a broad age range. No one said food.” Which was lucky, because the new space had no room for a full kitchen. So, the cookies and a whole array of healthy snacks were taken off the menu. And Ross discovered that even without a health permit she could have 100 square feet of pre-packaged food available for purchase: cookies and muffins, mostly. But she says customers noticed a difference between store-bought and homemade, which are “baked with love.”
Coffee for the parents had to go, too. And although Ross admits that’s something of a problem, despite the profusion of coffee shops in the neighborhood—“People like to stop once”—bringing it back is beyond her capabilities. But she is working on resurrecting the homemade cookies. The week she spoke with UrbanFamily, she was trying out deliveries from Jojo’s Dozen in Inglewood. “We’re experimenting with having multiple kinds of homemade yumminess,” she says. “The cookies will be small, so you can mix and match: maybe one oatmeal raisin and one red velvet. We’ll get new deliveries of different kinds of cookies every two days. Our books rotate; why shouldn’t our cookies rotate, too?”
Kate Talbot has built her successful career by using digital storytelling to empower communities at brands like Kiva and Virgin America, as well as scale early-stage startups for growth. In her free time, she writes for online publications like Social Media Examiner and KISSmetrics, educating small business owners and entrepreneurs on how to successfully use millennial social media platforms like Instagram and Snapchat to build their brands. Recently, she published a book on the topic of Snapchat Marketing. Of course, like any city girl she was at the Dry Bar downtown on a recent Monday morning getting glam for an important event and ran into UrbanSitter CEO Lynn Perkins (whom she babysat for years back) and they got to chatting…
Here, Kate shares with us her experiences with UrbanSitter, what it’s been like having written a successful book, and more insight into her career and life.
Can you tell us a little bit about how you know UrbanSitter CEO and Co-Founder, Lynn? For me, I am all about the side hustle. SF is expensive and any avenue in which you can use technology to create multiple revenue streams is important. My girlfriends and I (as many of us) have babysat since our tween years, and after business school in 2012 we all signed up for UrbanSitter. This was a great way to supplement our job incomes off the bat.
I learned from my friend Lisa, who is a babysitting all-star, that the best way to build your babysitting profile is to reply to jobs right away and babysit on a Saturday night. From doing so, I ended up replying fast to a query and booked a job during the 2013 holiday season for Lynn. I had a wonderful time babysitting for her son and she was highly supportive of my own story and helping me succeed. We connected on LinkedIn, and I always loved following all the news about UrbanSitter; especially this amazing feature in the First Round Review on Lynn and UrbanSitter. As fate happens, I ended up running marketing for a First Round Capital company—which also funds UrbanSitter—so at a dinner roundtable I met Daisy [Downs, Co-Founder of UrbanSitter] too! I let the other attendees know that even though I was in the tech space, I also was an UrbanSitter babysitter, which delighted everyone.
You mentioned going to business school, where did you study? I went to the University of San Francisco, where I focused on Marketing and Entrepreneurship.
I grew up in Moraga in the East Bay —I have lived in New York City, too—but I knew I wanted to be in the Bay Area long-term. My dad and brother both went to USF for law school, so I knew I’d be getting a great education.
Can you tell us a little bit about what you’re doing now? I have my own consulting firm where I lead growth marketing for early stage startups—whether that’s influencer marketing tools or cybersecurity technology—it really runs the gamut but I love it all.
I also write on the side. I do that because it’s a passion of mine.
In fact, when I babysat I am able to write when the kids are asleep. One of my favorite articles I wrote on Snapchat was written in a Pacific Heights apartment overlooking the Bay, while babysitting for a great family.
You just wrote and published a book about Snapchat, what was the process like? I combined the writing which was already published on the topic and leveraged my community. I’m extremely fortunate to have contacts across all industries at big brands and media entities, and they were able to provide case study insights into their own execution of the platform. My mentor, a VC from Onset Ventures, who encouraged me to write the book, wrote the foreword about the future of enterprise marketing and Snapchat.
I also mentor at Stanford for an undergraduate course in media and technology. From this class, I was able to hire a recent graduate to design all the creative assets. That was probably my favorite part, because we had so much fun thinking outside the box and what would help the audience understand the platform from a visual perspective.
What interested you about Snapchat enough to write about it ? I’ve always been really in tune with the millennial, and now Gen Y, audience on what the next trends will be. As a user myself and talking with my 22-year-old god-sister and her friends, I realized the power of Snapchat as an authentic way of telling stories and connecting with friends. Since I’d already been writing about social media for Social Media Examiner, I pitched the topic of Snapchat for Business. I was one of the first writers to do so, and it’s led to amazing opportunities speaking at business schools and conferences. I figured next steps, why not write a book!
What has the reception been like for your book? It did amazingly well! I felt so thankful for my community that downloaded it. During the 5-day free promotion, it went to the #2 spot in all of Business Marketing and Sales on Amazon. It was also #1 on Amazon for Advertising and Professional Development and #1 on Product Hunt books.
To wrap up: If you could give advice to sitters using the service, what would it be? My advice would be to think of your profile as a personal brand. Fill out your profile in the best light possible. Also, remember parents are really looking forward to their date night or event they are off to, so be as professional as possible and always make sure you are doing your best! I know it can be tough sometimes, but keep trying to babysit more and more even if you get overwhelmed.
Babysitting in SF is a great way to explore the different neighborhoods—I didn’t know about all the parks that were out there—and connect with the families! If I hadn’t followed up with Lynn, I wouldn’t be in this position. You never know what will happen!
Most school-aged children are required to read as part of their daily homework. It’s typically not much, 15-40 minutes of reading, but busy families with limited after-school time can have a tough time squeezing it in. It’s difficult to find time in their busy schedules and convince tired kids, especially early readers, to hit the books each night.
Rather than fighting with your little one to get the work done, why not help by making reading a family affair? After all, there’s no disputing how important it is for new readers to get consistent reading practice. Here’s how to help your child clock the time by doing it together as a family and by expanding his reading materials beyond the books he brings home from class. You’ll be surprised at how much your child enjoys the time and how quickly the reading minutes add up.
Tips for Logging Reading Time:
Read a recipe and cook something together. Check out the UrbanSitter Cooking with Kids Pinterest board for delicious recipes that are just right for cooking with kids.
Make sure the books you have at home are the appropriate reading level. Experts suggest using the five-finger rule. Open a book to a random page and ask your child to read it to you. Put one finger up every time your child does not know a word on the page. If you have to put up more than five fingers before turning the page, the book is too hard for your child.
Play a board game together. Start by having your child read the instructions aloud. Fun, educational options include Scramble Junior and Boggle Junior, but any board game with cards to read will work.
Take a family trip to the library and have your child choose books that appeal to his or her interests. A reluctant reader may change her tune when she dives into a story she can relate to or that piques her interest.
Create a comfortable spot in your home for lounging and reading, and hang out there together as a family. No electronics allowed.
Have your child help you make the grocery list and read it aloud to you if you are shopping together.
Task your child with reading the menu at a restaurant.
Keep plenty of reading materials in your home, including books, magazines, newspapers and comic books. Make it a habit of having your child grab something to read while in the car or while waiting at an appointment or at his sibling’s soccer practice.
Commit to making bedtime stories a regular part of your nightly bedtime routine. Even older grade schoolers enjoy being read to and appreciate hearing a story they may not be able to tackle on their own. You might take turns reading, switching every page or every chapter.
The next time you have a sitter, be sure to share your reading tips and requirements and encourage her to read with your children and to supervise independent reading time. How do you encourage your kids to read each and every day? We’d love to hear your tips!
Summer is all about unwinding and taking a break from the routine and demands of the school year, but it shouldn’t be an excuse to take a vacation from reading. Experts tell us that kids lose core reading skills and are at risk of falling behind when they don’t read over summer break. Reading keeps them sharp and improves skills to prepare them for the next school year, and it helps to foster a life-long love of reading and learning. Whether it’s scheduled quiet time for toddlers or emerging readers to look at a book, young readers to read alone, or for a parent or sitter to read to a child, time with books is time well spent.
Here are helpful tips for encouraging kids to stick with the books this summer:
Schedule time during your day, at least an hour, for kids to spend with books. The quiet time will be a welcome break for all of you.
Be a good role model. When your kids see you read, whether it be a newspaper, magazine or a book, they see that reading is enjoyable and rewarding.
Ask your sitter to spend time reading with your child.
Have kids keep a reading journal. Keeping a record of the books they’ve read will give them a sense of accomplishment, which is a great motivator.
Join a library story hour or reading group to make the time social and a good way to connect. Many libraries have parent/child story time or book discussions or programs for older kids to read to younger children.
Make a visit to the library or book store a regular part of your summer routine. A weekly visit allows you keep your selection fresh.
Encourage (and incentivize!) older siblings to read to younger siblings. They’ll both benefit from the time.
Start a book swap with neighbors or friends so kids to share favorites and expand their reading choices. They may discover they enjoy genres they never would have chosen on their own.
Join an online summer reading program or challenge to motivate kids. There are several good national programs, or find one locally: Barnes and Noble Summer Reading: Read 8 books, record them in a journal and win a free book. Scholastic Summer Reading Challenge: Kids Read for the World Record, enter sweepstakes to win fabulous prizes, and earn digital rewards when they complete weekly reading challenges. Scholasic provides an excellent app for recording reading time.
Make sure books are easily accessible throughout your home. Make it as easy to grab a book as it is to turn on the TV or reach for the iPad.
Make a habit of packing books to read on road trips and vacations, and keep a few in your car for easy reading while traveling. Many parents swear by audio books for car trips.
Keep your Kindle or iPad well stocked with books for each of your children, and encourage them to read or look at a book, rather than choosing a game.
Keep up the bedtime routine you have during the school year, including reading together at the end of the day.
Spend some time exploring books that are age-appropriate so your child has choices that are engaging and a bit challenging, without being too difficult and frustrating for early readers. Amazon provides a good list of summer reading picks, divided by age groups starting with the baby – age 2 set.
We’re betting these tips will help even the most reluctant readers and the busiest toddlers learn to appreciate the joy that comes with reading a good book, even when the summer sun calls!
What are your tips for getting kids to read? Share them in the comments!
UrbanSitter asked Susan Kundhart, children’s book buyer for Book Passage, an independent book store in Corte Madera and San Francisco, CA, to share with us some of her favorite new children’s books with us. Enjoy!
Book Passage
You Were the First, by Patricia MacLachlan, illustrated by Stephanie Graegin, $17.00, ages 2-5.
Plenty of new-sibling books aim to persuade young children that they will learn to love the new baby, or to take comfort in being able to do things the baby cannot. This lovely new picture book from a beloved author affirms every child’s feeling about a new sibling: Hey, I was here first! “You were the first to cry. You were the first to smile. You were the first to lift your head, to look at the trees and flowers and sky.”
Lots of kids are obsessed with trucks and trains, but these kids love trains so much they keep them as pets. Written like a manual for pet ownership, this helpful book gives advice on selecting, naming, training, and caring for your new friend. The illustrations showing full-size engines rolling over on command and snuggling in for a bedtime story contrast hilariously with the straightforward “instructions.”
From a true genius storyteller comes the story of Flora, who resuscitates a squirrel that has been sucked into a powerful vacuum cleaner. The squirrel awakes with superhero powers: he can fly, he has super-strength, and he even writes poetry on a typewriter. Newbery-winning Kate DiCamillo’s own super-power is, in the squirrel’s words, to “make the letters on the keyboard speak the truth of the heart.” This human-animal friendship ranks with that of Charlotte and Wilbur.
If anyone can make a case of head lice fun, it’s David Shannon. He humorously captures and normalizes the panic, embarrassment, and tedium of this common school affliction. Even the mom’s reactions—first panic, then phantom head-itch, then mountains of laundry—are perfect.
You can visit Book Passage any time online to purchase the above books or just browse their fantastic array of staff picks, new book analysis, and other juicy tidbits most avid readers can’t get enough of. Happy reading!
The beloved children’s author and illustrator, Dr. Seuss, was born March 2, 1904. Children around the world celebrate his birthday by reading his treasured books and spending time in school and at home doing fun activities that reflect his brilliant work. Don’t miss out on the chance to have some fun with your kids!
Here are some fun, fan-seussical activities to do with your kids:
READ
The National Education Association has chosen Dr. Seuss’s birthday for its Read Across America Day, a nationwide reading celebration that shines a spotlight on the importance of reading to children. The obvious activity of choice for the day – read to your kids! There are 46 Dr. Seuss children’s books to choose from!
Dr. Seuss books are ideal for reading aloud to children, even infants who will be mesmerized by the rhymes and preschoolers who will get big kicks out of the nonsensical nature of the stories. Early readers get a boost of confidence from tackling “Hop on Pop,” or other beginner favorites.
The official Dr. Seuss website by Random House is chock full of activities for kids to do on their own and a Parents section to provide tips on maximizing both the quality and the quantity of reading time in your home. The website’s Books section provides a search tool to help you select Seuss books by your child’s age, a favorite character or series, and other criteria.
CREATE
Create a Reading Chart to track reading time and progress. The blogger of Mom Endeavors crafted a simple DIY chart centered on a favorite Seuss quote:
“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.”
Use these free printables to have kids color and create bookmarks that encourage them to read well beyond today’s festivities.
Make and play with Oobleck. This ooey, gooey not-quite-liquid-not-quite-solid play gunk is inspired from the strange stuff that falls from the sky in “Bartholomew and the Oobleck.”The non-edible recipe: Mix together 2 cups cornstarch, 3 drops of food coloring and up to 1 cup of water in a medium sized bowl. Add water slowly as you may not need entire cup.
Dr. Seuss – “Bartholomew and the Oobleck” via Amazon
Record your early reader reading “Green Eggs and Ham.” This handy app makes it fun and easy to record and the accompanying games and activities will hold your child’s attention long enough for you to create the matching game listed above.
Host a playdate or a movie night (or afternoon) by popping some popcorn and showing a Seuss classic. “Horton Hears a Who” is entertaining for little kids and “The Lorax” is tops with older kids who can appreciate the environmental message, as much as the characters and cool animation.
One Fish Two Fish Matching Game via Just Paint It
EAT
A celebration isn’t a celebration without food! If you aren’t up to tackling The Lorax cake pictured below, there are many other simple treats to make the day even more memorable and fun.
Truffula Trees – Adorable mini cupcakes you can create with a cake mix, pretzel sticks and cotton candy, along with a few extras to make them look like the trees from The Lorax movie.
Do You Like Green Eggs and Ham? Here’s a Green Eggs and Ham recipe that will be just as appealing to adults as kids (and it doesn’t involved icky food coloring!). Try it, try it, you will see!
Lorax Cake via Diamonds For Dessert
And, for those with wee-little ones who shouldn’t miss out on the fun, how about this photo opt for the baby book?!
Dr. Seuss Inspired Hat and Tie from Sweet Pea Toad Tots via Etsy
Need a few more ideas to help you celebrate Dr. Seuss’s birthday with your kids? Check out the ultimate Dr. Seuss Links Collection. If you run out of time (or steam!), find a babysitter to lead the charge.
Come February, with the cold, dreary days of January behind us but spring still a bit too far away, we can all use something to celebrate.
How about Groundhog Day!?
Remember – if Punxsutawney Phil comes out of his burrow on February 2 and sees his shadow, he’ll quickly duck back into his hole, foretelling six more weeks of winter. If he does not see his shadow, it will stay above ground predicting spring is near. Regardless of the outcome, you can have some fun celebrating the day with your kids. Here are a few fun ideas, including free printables:
We found this cute craft on a UK learning site. Groundhog Day is an American tradition, but even the Brits are looking for something to celebrate this time of year! Your kids will love the outcome of this simple craft made from craft foam – a cute googly-eyed groundhog that peeks out of its own burrow.
The instructions are here – In short, simply cut two ovals out of brown foam paper – one for the head and one for the body – and glue them together, add two paws and some teeth, glue on googly eyes and finish off the features with a Sharpie.
Have fun drawing your own groundhog, and why not dress him for Spring or Winter (depending on whether he saw his shadow) – scarf and hat for winter, sunglasses and swim trunks for spring.
We found several groundhog cookie cutters you can purchase on Etsy, and no shortage of groundhog cookie recipes. If you are able to get your hands on a cookie cutter before Groundhog Day, try this recipe for Groundhog Cookies for a tasty treat.
If you don’t have it in you to tackle these fun activities, find a babysitter on UrbanSitter who would love to get crafting, cooking and reading with your kids!
