Discover Fun Summer Activities to Keep Your Kids Entertained
Over the past two years, the pandemic has restricted us in many ways. While this makes our everyday tasks less convenient, it’s also limiting our fun and entertainment. This is especially harsh on the children who need entertainment more than anyone. Having enough playtime is vital for any child’s development – both physical and mental.
Play deprivation can lead to isolation, depression, and poor resilience in a child. In these troubling times, when we’re forced to spend more indoor time, children mostly resort to screens for entertainment. As we all know, this can have similar consequences. Even in times when a global pandemic is raging, there are plenty of creative ways to entertain your child. Leave out the smartphones and tablets and opt for books and backyard toys instead!
Summer Fun in the Backyard
This isn’t an ideal period to frequently visit public playgrounds, where there are tons of kids mingling close to one another. However, this doesn’t mean that you should completely avoid the outdoors. Playing outside provides a lot of benefits for your child:
- Improves motor skills: When they’re outside, children have a bigger space to run, jump, swing, and throw.
- Improves overall health: The physical activity that comes with outdoor play reduces the risk of diseases such as asthma, diabetes, sleep apnoea and heart disease. On the other hand, the sunlight exposure improves their mood and strengthens their immune system.
- Improves brain function: Studies show that lush plant life does not only provide clean breathing air, but also helps improve our mental function. Researchers say that green spaces improve the children’s mood and memory, as well as their attentiveness and performance in school.
For your child’s outdoor play adventures, more often than not, you will need a quality kids backyard toy that is child–safe. Balls are the most common type of outdoor toys. They’re fun, easy to play with, and aren’t a choking hazard, which is beneficial for younger children. But what to look for in play balls for kids?
To lower the risk of accidental injuries, the ideal kids playing ball should be lightweight and shouldn’t contain any harsh materials. For the summer, it’s best to go for an inflatable ball that will bounce around like crazy. These garden toys come in rich vivid colours that make playtime even more enjoyable for the kids.
Hot summer days are also a great time for outdoor cooling off activities. Sadly, not all of us have convenient access to the beach all the time, but this doesn’t mean that you and your child should completely skip out on the summer fun.
Try an outdoor water slide! This type of kids backyard toy offers your kids unlimited fun. It’s equipped with a water spray system and two long slides that let them race with their friends. These slides have a crash pad to ensure your child’s safety and prevent them from sliding off.
Go for a Picnic
The warm weather brings a lot of opportunities for fun family gatherings outside of the house. Why spend a fortune in a high-end restaurant when you can organize a fun picnic in nature? Picnics are easy to organize and provide entertainment for both you and your kids. Pack a few outdoor essentials, a blanket and few simple foods and you’re ready to go.
When prepping food for a picnic, it can often be tempting to create picture-perfect dishes. However, simple is always the best! To save time and energy, go for dishes that are easy and low-prep, while still providing a lot of nutrients to power your kids and their day of fun. Some good options are kid-friendly pasta salads, sandwiches, and chicken roll-ups.
On the topic of refreshments, pack plenty of water bottles so that everyone is well-hydrated. Try to steer clear of the processed, sugary drinks, as these are harmful for your children’s health. Instead, opt for alternative drinks, such as lemonade, orange sparklers or fruit-infused water. Apart from food and drinks, don’t forget the following picnic essentials:
- Hand sanitizer.
- Wipes.
- Sun-protection: To protect yourself from the harsh summer sun, remember to pack plenty of sunscreen, hats, sunglasses, and an umbrella.
- Extra plastic bags or containers (littering is not – and will never be cool).
- Outdoor entertainment: Pack up your portable speakers, their favourite kids backyard toy, be it balls, frisbees, jump ropes, or any other equipment for outdoor fun that they see fit.
Read to Your Kids
Your kids’ indoor entertainment during the summer doesn’t have to revolve around technology. A fun and beneficial activity you can try is reading to them. Having story time once a day can greatly expand their horizons and offer them many benefits, such as:
- Parent-child bonding time.
- Improvement of their listening skills.
- Assistance with their cognitive and language development.
- Expansion of their vocabulary.
- Increase of their attention span.
- Reading to your kids can improve their creativity: Children have vivid imaginations. Reading can feed their creativity even further, which is vital for developing their interests and ideas, and fostering their emotional health.
- Life lessons: Books talk about real-world situations. Age-appropriate books model children in various every-day situations. Reading this type of targeted books will help your child to not feel alone when dealing with something new.