Sweet summertime! Have you heard any rumblings of “I’m bored!” from your little one this summer? Today’s post will help solve this problem! We were inspired by Glued to My Crafts to create this adorable floatie craft, along with 5 easy (and mostly free!) ways to entertain your little ones all summer long.
Items Needed:
- Glued to My Crafts free body printable
- Skin Tone Markers
- Googly Eyes
- Blue Cardstock Paper
- Dessert Plate
- Glue Sticks
- Any crayons or markers you prefer!
- Optional: stickers
Instructions:
- Download and print the free body printable.
- Design the person however your likes! Add googly eyes and cut out the shape.
- Take the small dessert plate and cut a hole in the middle (to look like an inner tube!). Encourage your child to decorate the inner tube- make it a fun color, design a pattern, or use stickers!
- Glue the person printable to the inner tube. Then, adhere the float to blue cardstock paper.
- Lastly, add any details to the water that your child may like, such as drawing waves, using pool-themed stickers (beach balls, sunglasses, etc), or creating another “floatie” craft to have multiple people in the water!
While completing a craft is always a fun idea, you may be looking for more ideas to keep busy! Read below for simple speech and language ideas that can easily be incorporated into everyday summer activities.
- Bubbles:
- Expand your child’s vocabulary and model a variety of words as you play: pop, big, small, open, up, down, more.
- Practice taking turns with the bubbles.
- Work on counting skills and count the bubbles they see- or pop!
- Chalk:
- Practice spelling words on the driveway.
- Draw family members or characters from books you read together this summer! Encourage your child to describe what they created using pronouns (i.e. “he”, “she”), adjectives, and more.
- Create categories: Draw a strawberry and apple and see if your child can draw two more items that belong within the category.
- Nature walks: Enjoy the great outdoors! Explore your backyard, around your community (i.e. park, a local creek), or vacation spot (i.e. beach).
- Bring a notepad and encourage your child to practice their writing skills. Have them document (or draw) the things they see!
- Work on answering wh-questions on the nature walk. For example, ask your child “Where can you go swimming?” or “What do we wear over our eyes on a sunny day?”.
- After your walk, have your child sort any items they collected (i.e. all things that are green, things that are hard vs. soft).
- Water: Cool down from the summer heat! Get out the sprinkler, water table, hose, inflatable pool, or even water the flowers.
- Discuss the concepts of “wet” vs. “dry” and “full” vs. “empty”.
- Work on following directions such as, “First water the red flowers, then water yellow flowers”.
- Encourage pretend play and create a restaurant. Have your child take your order and create your food or drink using the containers, water, and any other items they find outside!
- Garden: Enjoy all the multi-sensory experiences that growing a garden can offer!
- Vocabulary: expand your child’s vocabulary as they participate in hands-on learning. Talk about the different tools (i.e. shovel, rake, watering can) or parts of a plant (i.e. roots, stem) they see as you garden together.
- Work on sequencing skills with your child. Talk about the steps of growing a plant using the sequential words “first”, “next, “then”, and “last”.
- Harvest your hard work and find a recipe to make with your child! Work on descriptive language (i.e. colors, tastes, sizes) and following directions skills as you cook together.
We hope you are having a wonderful summer filled with fun memories that last a lifetime!