Fern Michonski / Fern’s Music
Pre-School Music Education Expert: The Children’s Advocate for Love and Kindness, Inspiring Creativity and Joy.
June 13, 2012—The Last Day of School!
In my area, today is the last day of school and summer vacation is about to begin! The kids are so excited it is almost palpable. At the same time that I see smiling, joyous children, I also notice the parent’s faces. Many have looks of concern, almost trepidation. I’m sure the parents are thinking, “What am I going to do with these kids all summer long?” Some parents choose to put their children in summer camps, however, this costs money, and in some cases, lots of it! Other families don’t have a lot of money they can spend on camps. So then what?
When my kids were young I was always trying to think of things we could do that didn’t cost money. I wanted to get them outside into the fresh summer air. We went on bicycle rides on various bike trails, we hiked in the woods and we spent a lot of time playing in the stream and pond behind our house. I also took my children to the local library for regular, weekly visits. Many schools have a summer reading program, which is great, but I wanted my kids to be excited about reading just because books are fun. We have many happy memories of trips to the library, filling up paper bags with books to see how many books each child could read in one week!
One of my kid’s favorite summertime activities was painting outside on the fence in the yard. They just loved it! I had big rolls of plain, white paper that I would roll out along the fence and then used clothespins to attach the paper to the fence. Next I put water in plastic bowls along with a few drops of dishwashing bubbles. Then I would add various colors of nontoxic tempera paint to each bowl. I purchased small sponge paint brushes (very inexpensive), put the kids in their bathing suits and sent them outside in the yard to paint to their hearts content. Any paint that got on their bathing suites washed right out, thanks to the dishwashing bubbles, and the children became little Picasso’s and Monet’s in an instant. They remember this simple, inexpensive activity to this day. On top of that, their creativity was inspired and their imaginations ran wild. I had the prettiest fence in town!
I wish you a wonderful, fun filled summer, full of creative activities that don’t hurt your wallet, create memories and encourage time spent together. These special summer days when the children are little will fly by before you know it. Enjoy! 