Customer Questions
Question:
Help! I need some ideas for at home over the summer to do with my five year old son and three year old daughter. I have a lot of free time to fill and am trying to avoid spending a lot of money. Any suggestions?
Answer: That is an excellent question and one that we have received repeatedly. This whole issue will be dedicated to activities you can do at home, spending little or no money!!!
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Messy Play Idea
Salt Art
Some common household items we can make a mess with are shaving cream and dish soap. Use shaving cream as if it were finger paint. On a tray or piece of aluminum foil spray some shaving cream and with your fingers practice drawing shapes, writing letters and numbers, drawing pictures. Make a mistake and just wipe it away and start over. You can draw a maze and have your child follow it with his finger or a small toy, then it’s their turn and you follow it. If you don’t want to use shaving cream you can use whip cream, thick yogurt, sour cream or pudding; this can be a great alternative for younger children, or others that may mouth the shaving cream or get it in their eyes. For some picky eaters, or those that are very sensory sensitive, it can be way to expose them to new smells and foods. Play first, and then encourage a taste or two!
Summer was made for bubble play! Simple dish soap and water makes great bubbles. Mix about 3 cups of water to ½ cup of dish soap in a large bowl. Give each child their own small cup or bowl of bubble juice, and with a straw practice blowing into the mixture to make bubbles. If you are playing outside, maybe pick some of the bubbles up and start a bubble fight!!
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Writing Corner
Do you have a family member or friend that lives far away or even if they live a few miles away- to a child that may seem far! Why not start writing letters. Remember back before computers and emails, there were pen pals! Start the first letter with what the child love’s to do in the summer, then ask the relative or friend about some things that they liked to do, either now or when they were younger. Grandma will love it!!
Make writing a little more interesting and tape the paper to a wall or lie on their stomachs, with the writing paper on the floor or on top of a firm book as a writing surface.
Back to Basics:
New Uses for Old Favorites
 Household Items!! We have decided to focus on activities for the summer that you can do at home. Most families do not have swings and trampolines at home but that doesn’t mean you can’t have a sensory gym in your house. Some fun ideas with items around the house are:
1. Couch cushions or pillows
- Take the cushions off the couch, pile them up on the floor and have your child jump on them as if it were a trampoline or crash mat. You can sing the ABC’s, or count while they jump
- Turn the cushions into an obstacle course- lay two on the floor to jump over, then one to hop around, and three in a row to walk across.
- Pretend the cushions are stepping stones- lay them on the floor making a path, walk across “the river”. You can place objects on the floor for them to squat down and pick up along the way. It is a great way to work on balance.
- Use cushions to provide some deep pressure- sandwich your child between two cushions and give a little squeeze. Pretend they’re a hot dog and the pillows are the bun or use a blanket and roll them up inside to make “kids in a blanket”.
2. Laundry
- Have your child push/ carry the full laundry basket to and from the machine/dryer
- Once the laundry is finished they can help match and fold each item. This is a great visual perceptual task.
3. Old magazines and newspapers
- Before you throw them in the recycle bin, let your kids cut them up. They can help you cut coupons, cut out items with a theme and make a collage (some example themes are “things they like”, “Summertime” “Things that smell good”) , or just cut away until you have confetti!
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Use the paper to play a basketball game- crumple and shoot to a can or laundry basket; add in some writing and math practice and <more>
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| These materials encourage the use of touch to learn about objects and the environment as well as to help build an understanding of the body and its relation to the world around it. |
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Our Critical Thinking products are selected to help provide focus on building one's ability to analyze, organize, classify, and then generalize information so that meaningful conclusions can be drawn. |
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