We’re getting very excited – J will start school in September, proper full time school and he’s eager to go. To help him prepare and be ready to start we’re playing through the summer developing skills that he needs. One of the skills that will be essential in school (reception class in the UK or Kindergarten in the USA) are skills in sharing and turn taking and we’ve been focusing on them playing some very simple games that will help develop these as well as introducing rules as well.

We started to introduce some simple games from Christmas this year – things that need J to take turns and wait as well as ones that he has to share the counters, ball etc in as well. Here are our favourites

Four in a row/Connect four

A simple game and lots of fun to play – taking turns is essential and with the different colour counters we found it easy to get J to take turns first – it was almost as if removing it from J’s turn our turn to the white’s go and the red’s go he was able to take turns. With the added bonus of counting and problem solving it’s a fun game for you and your child to play together.

Soccer

Those little legs need an exercise and soccer is perfect for practising sharing and turn taking – kicking the ball to each other or even taking turns at aiming at the goal helps to develop a team spirit as well as prepare your child for starting school and games that they will encounter in the school day.

Pairs/Memory

Another fun game for taking turns – whether you buy a pack of flash cards, memory pair cards with your child’s favourite characters on or even make your own memory card game you can work on turn taking with your child choosing which cards to pick and waiting for their turn – there is many sitting on hand moments in our house when J knows which card is the matching pair and wants to shout out (another valuable skill for little ones to learn is to not call out).

Snap

We start off sharing out our cards – it’s a game we play often so there is a big temptation for J to share the cards out unfairly giving himself a bigger pile to put him at an advantage from the start but working on sharing out resources is another useful area for children preparing to start school and then take turns to turn the cards over. We tend to play with animal, letter or number cards that we have collected over the last year including ones that we have cut out from our favourite magazines.

Pop Up Pirate

We’re still fairly pirate mad after J’s birthday last summer and pop up pirate has been a great game for J to work on turn taking with him because it can be up to 4 players we’ve had fun with him and 3 of his friends playing together taking turns – again it has helped saying “red’s turn” etc…

Hide and Seek

Such a simple game add in the element of taking turns counting and hiding and you can have fun from both sides, it’s also been a lot of fun getting J used to the rules and the idea of the game – I don’t know how many times I have been told “Go and hide under the table Mummy and I will find you”.

With these simple inexpensive or free games you can start to prepare your child for Kinder or Reception year at school in a fun playful way.

We’re joining together with 6 fabulous blogs to help you Get Ready for K through Play over the summer – week 1 last week was all about developing language skills – pop on over to Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas and find out more as well as the links to ideas from Toddler Approved, Mama Smiles, Coffee Cups and Crayons and Mess for Less.

This weeks focus is all about Social and Emotional Skills needed for Kindergarten (reception year). Pop along and check out the other great ideas

Top 5 Social Skills for Kindergarten Readiness - Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas

Teacher Says: A Following Directions & Listening Game - Coffee Cups and Crayons

Social and Emotional Skills for Children - Mama Smiles

Helping the Shy Child Prepare for Kindergarten - Mess for Less

- Toddler Approved

 Check back next week to see what other fun playful ideas we will be sharing to help prepare your child and you for Kindergarten.

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Welcome back to another week of Tuesday Tots please link up you ideas for the under 5′s below. I can’t wait to see what you have been up to. We’re screen free until tomorrow so will then be seeing what fun you have been having. This post is scheduled ahead of time – if for what ever reason the linky isn’t working on Rainy Day Mum as normal then pop by Growing a Jeweled Rose, Learn with Play at Home or One Perfect Day to link up your ideas for the under 5′s.

The post Tuesday Tots – 18th June appeared first on Rainy Day Mum - Making Every Day Fun.

Welcome back to this weeks Tuesday Tots

We are currently screen free so this post is scheduled in advance. I really hope that the linky works and look forward to seeing your ideas linked up next week.

If for any reason the linky isn’t below then pop over to Growing a Jeweled Rose, Learn with Play at home or One Perfect Day to link up and discover who they have featured.

The post Tuesday Tots – 11th June appeared first on Rainy Day Mum - Making Every Day Fun.

We’re sharing 10 ways to learn at the beach this summer stopping the summer slide whilst having fun at the beach for your kids no matter what their age. As you may have gathered if you are a regular reader that Summer is my favourite season and just thinking about it gets me enthusiastic like no other seasons does. I love the beach and the sea and for the two years that I lived more than an hour from the beach my heart just wasn’t in the place. If you are heading to the beach for the summer it doesn’t mean that learning has to stop or the fun – instead you can extend and introduce new ideas so here goes my 10 suggestions of ways to learn at the beach this summer.

1. Learn about the environment

This is my top one – the beach provides a unique environment for kids to explore that they won’t easily find at home, there are many creatures that will be unique to your area of the world however they will be some that won’t be native and will have found their way there on the tides. Walk along and see what you can find! Look at the back of the beach are their dunes, marsh, town if there is a town are there any hints of what the beach was like before hand? What sorts of plants are there on the beach if any? How about the shells do they tell you anything about the sort of environment below the waves? Even the colour of the sand will tell you a lot about the environment – is the sand white – there will be coral reefs close or there was in the past, yellow sand lots of sedimentary rocks and shells broken up to form it, black sand – volcanoes nearby.

2. Rock Pool exploration

If your beach has some rock pools then these are a perfect way to explore “under the waves” in a child friendly manner – all you need is a simple net and a bucket – you’ll commonly find small fish especially flat fish that live on the sea floor their fry try and stay in the rock pools as it’s safer, shrimps, anemones, crabs,  molluscs like snails and bivalves like mussels. The best time to explore is after the tide has gone out or even more exciting after a storm when lots of new creatures will have been deposited in the pools.

3. Strand Line Discovery

The strand line is the point where the tide comes up to – depending on the beach that you explore this maybe close to the sea letting you paddle a little as you explore or it could be a long way away – it proves a great discussion point with children on how it is formed. The strand line will be a mix of natural and man-made items. The natural items maybe local to your beach but things like coconut’s can be found in the Antarctic where currents have taken them. A word of warning – the strand line could contain items that are dangerous like syringes always encourage a look but don’t touch if that is the case.

 4. Shells

I think shells deserve their own category – on the beach who doesn’t love collecting them – take a bag with you and collect them to bring home – then the learning at the beach can continue at home. Whether you want to use the shells in a nature study categorising them and identifying them – look out of spotter guides for shells from your area to help you do this and add them to a nature table or how about using them to do some Maths like these symmetry patterns from The Imagination Tree or some literacy with these story shells from Crafting Connections from May’s mini magazine which you can get free till June 11th by signing up to their newsletter.

5. Writing in the sand

Hands up who still does this write messages in the sand – it’s a fantastic for your little ones – whether they are toddlers who love to scribble the damp sand is best and a stick they can scribble brush over and start again – like their own magnosketch on a large scales. If you have kids that are learning to write or have mastered letters and moving onto words and sentences then give them a stick practice what they have been doing this year on a large scale – lots of kids learn by doing and moving so it’s perfect to reinforce what happens in the classroom.

6. Tides

Where you are in the world will depend on how much of a tide that you will see – we live near beaches where the tidal range is easy to see as the beaches are gently slopping the sea can go out for almost a mile with a low tide and a day at the beach we see the difference easily. If you are unsure about the tides on the beach looking at the strand line will give you an idea of where the high tide point is – look for the strand line that is most dense this is the normal one – higher up the beach you will find a high tide or storm line but there won’t be as much on that strand line. Observe the tide changes, record them and then discover what causes them with your child. If you are staying for longer than a day make it into a project for the holiday – combine it with a look at the strand line recording what gets deposited at each high tide.

7. Visitors to the beach

Yes I admit it you would be very lucky to see a Leatherback Sea Turtle at the beach this summer – but it’s not impossible. However, you may see signs of a turtle visitor when you walk along the beach – look out for tracks coming from the sea and returning in a u shape with a nest at the top – see if you can research or ask around what species of sea turtles nest on the beaches where you are. Sea Turtles won’t be everywhere but there are plenty of other visitors to the beach – does the beach have seals that visit, how about the shore line birds they will all leave tracks that you can discover and explore.

8. Learn to swim

So not always possible depending on your beach – but the sea provides an added advantage for your little ones that are learning to swim or even older ones that are perfecting strokes the salt content means that you float easier. Calm seas that are safe for swimming – check to see if there are any dangerous currents or other things that mean that it wouldn’t be safe if it is then get in with your children and make this the summer they learn to swim or perfect their front crawl or back stroke.

9. Discover what lives below the waves

Last year we took our children hand Shrimp netting for the first time – a net with a strip of wood at the bottom pushed along the top of the sea bed as we walked along in the waves meant that we got a look at what lived on the sea floor. But you don’t just have to do that buy a snorkel and mask and float along the top taking a peek at what lives below the waves, combine with some spotter cards – buy them locally or for the area you are going to before you go and you can identify what there is – what is the environment like, is it sandy, are there sea grass patches, or even kelp, is there coral reefs or evidence of one being there.

10. Fossils

Beaches are fantastic for finding fossils in – if the beach is backed by cliffs chances are that the rocks will have fossils in them, but you aren’t restricted to that – check along the pebbles on the beach are there shark tooth fossils to be found or have others been washed up. If this is something that you are interested in – research the area that you are going to first on the net find where the best beaches are and get a hammer and chisel sorted out that the children and you can use – always take care especially near cliffs and look for advice from the area experts but it’s great fun and discoveries can be made.

If you like our Top 10 ways to learn at the beach this summer – then pop by and check out Erin’s from The Usual Mayhem Top 10 ways to keep kids learning about nature.

This post is part of a School’s Out a top 10 series by KBN – whether you are on your summer break or about to start the winter break there are ideas to stop the slide that happens over the long vacation. Check out the other co-hosts from this week.

Sunday ~ This Reading Mama | The Educators’ Spin on It | Kitchen Counter Chronicle | Rainbows within Reach | Kindergarten & Preschool for Parents & Teachers |

Monday ~ Train Up a Child Learn as We Go | Housing a Forest | Royal Baloo | Living Montessori Now |

Tuesday ~ Toddler Approved | Play Trains! | 3 Dinosaurs |

Wednesday ~ The Outlaw Mom | Teach Beside Me | Hands On as We Grow |

Thursday ~ JDaniel 4′s Mom | All Done Monkey | Fantastic Fun & Learning | KC Edventures | Playing with Words 365 |

Friday ~ Teach Mama | The Usual Mayhem | Nature and Play | True Aim Education |

Saturday ~ Creative World of Varya | Craftoart | My Buddies and I

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Have you noticed how many outdoor posts we have on Rainy Day Mum – although somehow I have become known as a “craft” blogger – if you actually looked at our day you will see that we spend a large proportion of the day outside enjoying the free playgrounds around us and in our garden but it would seem that we are somewhat of a minority so much so that The National Trust (a UK charity that works to preserve and protect the UK’s historic places and space for ever and for everyone ) have complied a list of 50 activities to do before you turn 11 3/4′s (yes the 3/4′s is vitally important or so I am told by parents with older kids) outdoors and as a family.

To help you on your way they have created a website you can join – we have – to tick off the ideas, if you are in the UK or are visiting the UK they have suggestions of places that you can visit to do some of the activities, but believe me these are activities from our own childhood that can be done around the world. You can download and print the PDF but to make it easy for you to see here is the list.

1. Climb a tree
2. Roll down a really big hill
3. Camp out in the wild
4. Build a den
5. Skim a stone
6. Run around in the rain
7. Fly a kite
8. Catch a fish in a net
9. Eat an apple straight from a tree
10. Play conkers
11. Go on a really long bike ride
12. Make a trail with sticks
13. Make a mud pie
14. Damn a stream
15. Play in the snow
16. Make a daisy chain
17. Set up a snail race
18. Create some wild art
19. Play Pooh sticks
20. Jump over waves
21. Pick blackberries growing in the wild
22. Explore inside a tree
23. Visit a farm
24. Go on a walk barefoot
25. Make a grass trumpet
26. Hunt for fossils and bones
27. Go star gazing
28. Climb a huge hill
29. Explore a cave
30. Hold a scary beast
31. Hunt for bugs
32. Find some frog spawn
33. Catch a falling leaf
34. Track wild animals
35. Discover what’s in a pond
36. Make a home for wild animals
37. Check out the crazy creatures in a rock pool
38. Bring up a butterfly
39. Catch a crab
40. Go on a nature walk at night
41. Plant it grow it eat it
42. Go swimming in the sea
43. Build a raft
44. Go bird watching
45. Find your way with a map and compass
46. Try rock climbing
47. Cook on a campfire
48. Learn to ride a horse
49. Find a geocache
50. Canoe down a river

So there you go there are the 50 things to do before you turn 11 3/4 pop over and sign up and start ticking them off – why not make your Summer bucket list this year an outdoor one.

If you are joining in and ticking off some of the 50 things to do before you turn 11 3/4 then why not come and join us on Twitter or Instagram use #naturalchildhood or #50things  sharing the things from the list that you do over the summer months and into next year.

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We love doing some simple science at home (maybe more to do with my background than J and T’s interest) and a great idea for some very simple science observation and recording at home is monitoring weather.

We created a simple rain catcher last year which worked well and we were able to observe the rain fall. This year though we have adapted it further and created an even version but added in our own “Weather man” to help record the rainfall. We are still using the free downloadable sheet to record the rainfall (see the simple rain catcher to download).

To make the rain catcher I used a 1 litre bottle and cut it 2/3rd up so that the top will fit in the bottom to produce a funnel collecting the water down. The “weather man” is a wooden spoon – we added yarn for the hair stuck on with some PVA (white) glue and a quick face drawn on. J placed a ruler against the spoon and drew marks at each centimetre interval (or as he said each time there was a number).

Each morning T or J go out and dip the “weather man” into the rain catcher take it out and record how high up the spoon handle the rainfall goes.

We recently took part in a Google Hang out on Science at Home with the theme of the weather – Maggy at Life at the Zoo shares the ideas and some other fantastic Weather Activities for some Science at Home.

If you are looking for more science at home ideas like this monitoring weather check out our -

Raising Tadpoles

Exploring Plants – transpiration

Back to Basics E is for Experiments

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Some of my fondest memories of my childhood are from cooking with my mum and grandmothers from seasonal feasts to meals being in the kitchen the heart of the home made memories for me. I started with J and T from under 2 and now both will grab steps and join me baking, mixing, chopping and preparing things in the kitchen – I will admit that at the moment most of it is baking but we’re starting to via towards some “real” food with the idea that it will help J to try new food something that he is reluctant to do.

So this week I’m sharing 5 fun ideas for kids in the kitchen that were linked up to Tuesday Tots last week as well as where you can find some other amazing recipes, tips and tricks for “Cooking with Kids”.

First is Crystal’s Tiny Treasures and a spicy fries recipe – this is something that I love – it’s an Andean recipe and having visited Peru during my time before kids it’s a favourite from travelling that I am going to try with my kids.

Something a little more healthy from B-inspired Mama with a Fruit and Yogurt Parfait – incorporating all things that my kids will eat we will have to make these this week to try.

Linking books and cooking – you really can’t get better and Reading Lists has a guest post from Ashley at Life with Moore Babies has done it with a recipe from the Little House with some Maple Candy – doesn’t it just sound delicious.

As we currently have 10 Courgette (Zucchini) plants growing in the garden seeing this Zucchini Bread Recipe from Seedlings Nursery School is perfect as it’s something that I will be able to make with the kids in a couple of weeks and sounds delicious.

Mummy Musings and Mayhem has a fantastic idea for encouraging fussy eaters to try new things – Croissant Crabs with secret hidden vegetables – would be perfect if you are exploring an ocean theme with your tots soon or have a fussy eater.

If you are looking for recipes that you and the kids to cook, bake and make together then check out my Ultimate Guide to Cooking with Kids.

For even more ideas I have cooking with Toddlers – ideas, tips and recipes to cook with your toddlers.

Come and follow our Cooking with Kids Pinboard – find recipes, tips and fun for cooking with kids year around

The post 5 Ideas for fun in the kitchen for kids appeared first on Rainy Day Mum - Making Every Day Fun.

Welcome back to this weeks Tuesday Tots – 165 ideas linked up last week inspiring us to play with our tots – I’m in awe of the imagination and creativity of everyone that links up and the childhood memories that you are creating with yours kids.

Check back later to find out what activities we will be featuring this week to inspire you with our favourites.

If you are linking up for the first time then please check out the guidelines – there really aren’t many at all basically keep it suitable for under 5′s.

Tuesday Tots can also be found on Growing a Jeweled Rose, Learn with Play at Home and One Perfect Day – pop over and see if you have been featured this week

If you are linking up via Rainy Day Mum I would love you to mention that you are linking up – so others can find Tuesday Tots and link up as well.

The post Tuesday Tots – 4th June appeared first on Rainy Day Mum - Making Every Day Fun.

Summer heat means that kids need a simple snack to cool down I have pinned and coverted lots of ice pop recipes (or ice lollies as I call them) as finally have brought some moulds but wanted our first to be ever so simple and that J and T can help me make.

We need something that I can easily refill and stock up on as my mould only has 4 slots and with 2 kids that means we could easily run out.

So here it is – what you need to make Ever So Simple Ice Pops to keep cool this summer

Ice Pop Recipe for kids to make themselves

Juice/Kool Aid/Concentrated Juice
Water if needed

The kids mixed up some diluted juice in a large beaker and then poured in the moulds – it was a fun way to get them measuring out we used our cups and measured out 1/4 cup of juice and 6 1/4 cups of water and stirred, then they poured it in the moulds and froze overnight ready for the next day

I did say that they were ever so simple to make and great for busy Mama’s and little kids to do together. J and T loved them – they kept us cool and were refilled straight away back in the freezer and ready for tomorrow which is meant to be as hot if not hotter than today. I also loved the little bit of Maths and fine motor skills that the kids were able to get in as well. And they tasted great which is even better.

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Whether your summer has already started, about to start or like us in the UK a long way to go yet it does mean a change of routine to family life – this is even if you have got kids at home full time like we do lots of activities and groups stop, the weather changes and where your once empty during the day park and playground is filled with the noise of children playing and interacting but bigger kids.

If you have a preschool about to embark on Kindergarten or a school child there is the fear of the summer slide where children forget some of the stuff that they have learnt in the last year at school. So it’s time to plan for activities to do during the day with your kids making sure that you have the resources that you need in advance and have some sort of plan of what is going to happen – I’m not saying that a lot of time in our house won’t be spent running around the park and garden but there will be rainy days and the hottest time of the day where we seek the shade and the peace that activities can bring. I’m sharing with a few places to get inspiration for your summer.

First off come and join us on the Virtual Book Club Summer Camp – even if your Summer Vacation doesn’t start until the end of July you can still get the emails and use the amazing ideas and activity planners to plan ahead with 5 themes it’s perfect for your toddler through to school age kids to join in with based around books it will keep summer fun and stop the summer slide just sign-up and we’ll do all the hard work for you.

A Mom with a Lesson Plan is a Mum after my own heart and has shared Making a Summer Schedule, it was on my to do list but now no need she’s got it as a download and I’ve downloaded and printed out and I’m starting to fill with extra ideas isn’t that absolutely fantastic.

Got lots of ideas but like me have kids that like some sort of routine then this FREE printable from ReMarkable Home with the Super Summer Schedule is absolutely fantastic – we’re adopting it and I hope that it will mean after a couple of week no more “What is happening today”.

 

With so many amazing sites out there producing content and ideas I’ve started a Summer Bucket List Ideas and Inspiration board on Pinterest sitting at around 100 ideas at the moment I’ll be pinning to it throughout the summer giving you ideas from around the world to inspire you to make everyday fun over the summer.

So over to you – I would love to hear your ideas for Summer and if you have a Summer Planning Pinterest Board or Post please leave a URL in the comments and I look forward to popping over and seeing your ideas as well.

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