Summertime and the living is easy. That is unless you are a parent trying to figure out how to occupy your children over the long summer recess.

If you are a working parent, you likely have the nagging concern about who will supervise your children and what they’ll be doing while you are at work. For parents who are home with their children, the concern can be how to motivate them to keep active and involved.

Following are some suggestions that families of elementary-age children have used with success during the summer months to keep their children supervised, active and learning.

• At the beginning of the summer, sit down with your children and talk about the types of fun activities they would like to do. Gather up summer arts and music schedules, information about local sporting events, pamphlets about local points of interest and day trips (all available at local malls, supermarkets, libraries and chambers of commerce) to jump start your discussion. If there is preplanning involved, enlist your children’s help in gathering necessary information, making reservations, preparing lists and shopping for supplies.

• Make reading part of your children’s summer routine and try making a trip to the library a regularly scheduled part of your week. While at the library, find out what exciting, enriching and free summertime opportunities are available for your children.

• Start a summer scrapbook. At the beginning of the summer, give children disposable cameras and notebooks for recording information about summer activities (vacations, camp, time spent with friends). Set aside a regular date (one afternoon/evening each week) to create a page or two of summer memories using their photos, text and any other mementos they have collected. Inexpensive scrapbooks and other supplies (stickers, colored paper, glue and other adhesives, photo corners) are readily available at craft and discount stores. Scrapbooking is a wonderful way to help children preserve their own history, to express themselves creatively and to practice such skills as writing and drawing.

• Keep the learning going. Just because it’s summer doesn’t mean learning has to stop. There are many local colleges and service agencies that offer a wide variety of programs for elementary students during the summer. Academic enrichment programs range from sports camps or outdoor adventures to journalism, music, art, computer skills, science and math programs and more. For some great summer academic enrichment programs, visit the "Summer Programs at New York Colleges for Kids 8-18" online at www.summeroncampus.com or inquire at the local YMCA, Girls Incorporated, Boys & Girls Clubs and other community agencies about the types of summer programs they offer.

For permission to reprint this article, please contact the Capital Region BOCES Communications Service by e-mailing dbushsuf@gw.neric.org.

<back