MindIt

Summer vacations are here and being a parent, most of us are faced with the question of how to engage the curious minds of childrenIJ This can be a great time for you to experience new things with your child, grow in different ways and spend some fun time together as a family. So, this summer follow these ideas to channelise your child’s energy.

• Involve your child in individual or group activities. Do not let her watch TV or play video games all day. Instead, ask her to create a canopy, make a tree swing, make a scarecrow or create a collage out of old magazines etc.
• Help your child in thinking of some boredom busters. Check out some art and craft books and try some crafts.
• Search for the best summer camps around your city. Find out your child’s interest areas, fee-structure of the camp, location etc. and enroll her into a camp that helps explore her skills & talent.
• Explore some nearby fun destinations together. You may plan a short trip to a nearby hill-station, beach or resort and give your child an exciting and memorable holiday.
• Encourage your child to play a variety of games. You can play indoor games during day like scrabble, chess etc to boost her thinking power and outdoor games in the evening like volleyball, cricket etc to keep her physically fit.
• Appreciate the inquisitive mind of your child and encourage her to play problem-solving games & activities that require out-of-the-box thinking.
• Teach your child to eat right and develop healthy eating habits. Include fresh & juicy seasonal fruits, vegetables, yogurt etc in her diet. Make her avoid eating food in front of TV. Also, prefer steaming, boiling and baking rather than frying as a  means of cooking.
• Take your child for educational outings. Take her to museums, planetariums, historical monuments, amusement parks, zoos and malls and let her explore things she hasn’t discovered before.
• Activate your child’s mind with puzzles like Word Search, Sudoku, Tangram and Rubik’s Cube etc. and let her apply her brain. Also, challenge her friends to play the game to keep her interested.
• Stimulate her reading habits and give her some serious, funny, light-hearted stories that are inspiring and are fun to read.
• Expose your little one to colourful story books, fascinating fairy tales and encourage her to read aloud.
• Encourage your child to take up a sport of her interest such as soccer, basketball, volleyball, swimming, horse riding etc. You can also arrange for special coaching sessions for your child so that she can get better at the sport of her interest.
• Encourage your child to participate in fun water activities like water race, water basketball, water gun war, tug of war in water etc.
• Include some extra fun like asking her to clean and change/add something in her room, go on a walk together and let her take pictures of surroundings, look through old family albums, visit nearby charity or old age homes and plant some trees in the park.

let her choose some music and try simple poses to bring discipline, physical fitness, concentration and liveliness in your child.

Remember that while enjoying the holidays, do not forget about her studies. Help her in completing her holiday homework, make a regular schedule for studying and help her in revising concepts in a playful manner.

The writer is Meenal Arora, executive director, Shemrock Preschools & founder-director,  Shemford Futuristic Schools