With Memorial Day just around the corner, it’s time to start thinking of your preschooler’s summer vacation. The several months away from the classroom can be critical for just about every school-aged child, but especially those entering preschool or kindergarten in the fall. Chances are that you’ve seen a combination of physical, language, intellectual, and social/emotional development in your child. But you don’t want that progress to lose momentum just because he or she won’t be around a teacher for an extended period of time. In this blog post, we will explain how you can make this a fun summer for your child while also setting them up for success at the next level.

As we mentioned, your child undergoes development in a variety of ways at this age. Remember that even without their daily preschool education, they can continue their learning with fun summer activities.

Physical Development

We hope that you and your child will be able to spend plenty of quality time while playing outside. Activities such as running, jumping, throwing, kicking, and climbing all aid in your child’s gross motor development. However, don’t forget about the importance of fine motor development at this age. Try to incorporate some time each day for your child to cut, color, draw, paint, puzzle play, etc.

Language Development

This is where your child will probably see a stark contrast from being at school. As opposed to being around teachers and friends the majority of the time, they’ll be around mainly parents and siblings. Our preschool teachers recommend that you make it a point over the summer to continue asking your child “open-ended” questions to boost the development of higher order thinking skills, letter/sound recognition, etc.

Intellectual Development

At our child care center, we emphasize the development of color recognition, numeracy concepts, shape recognition, problem-solving, remembering/recall, thinking abstractly, etc. Try to keep your child’s intellectual development fresh by playing shape and number games, as well as games involving problem-solving and memory.

Social/Emotional Development

The classroom is an ideal spot for your child to begin grasping concepts such as sharing, helping each other, taking turns, and conflict resolution. That doesn’t necessarily have to change when they’re at home or playing at a friend’s house. There’s no question that some summer days can get hectic, however, do what you can to provide clear, consistent rules and predictability to your child’s day. With social/emotional development, the overall goals should help your child manage feelings, establish positive relationships, and follow expectations.

Summer Camps for Kids at Tiny Turtles Preschool of Jupiter

Are you in need of a fun, safe, loving, and educational environment for your child during the summer? Our staff is proud to announce another year of summer camps for kids ages 5 to 10. With field trips, creative activities, water play, cooking projects, and other exciting items on the weekly agenda, we’re certain that your child will love coming to our preschool.

Make this a summer of engaging days and memories of a lifetime for your child. Contact us today for camp registration information.