Summer is the time when the house is full of life all day long because kids have holidays! They wake up late, munch on yummy snacks, watch the television, and play a game or two. In between all this, there are a few fights, a little misbehavior, and some loss of temper from your end. Well, that’s all good because that’s how a happy family is, generally. How about taking a step or two ahead from this same old schedule for the summer vacation and doing something fun with your kids? Quality time will help you come closer and bond. To help you with this, we have come up with a few creative ways to spend the summer vacation that you might find interesting:

Plan Picnics: If you are not planning on going on a vacation because of your tight work schedule, you can plan picnics during the weekends. Surely, you can take time out during the weekends for your kids! A picnic to the nearby park with some toys and snacks will also suffice. Your kids will enjoy and you will be able to breathe fresh air.

Engage in Gardening: You don’t need to have a huge garden to exercise this activity. Even a small space near your apartment or a few pots for indoor plants will suffice. Teach your kids the importance of plants and let them do the planting. Get seeds of flowering plants or, if space permits, fruiting plants, and engage them in the entire process. Teach them the weeding process and the nurturing process. They will learn and get extremely excited as they watch the plant grow slowly.

Play Board Games: In this technologically advanced world, only video games and online games prevail. Change that this summer by bringing the entire family together and playing board games such as carom board and chess. Make it interesting by adding rewards for the winners.

Play Science and Math Games: This is fun and you will love it as a parent because your kids will inadvertently learn a number of new things. Go online and look for easy experiments that you can conduct at home such as mixing baking soda and vinegar, and watch your kids get amazed!

Cook: Cooking alone may not be a lot of fun but cooking with your kids can make you and your kids very happy. Depending on your kids’ ages, you can come up with easy (and interesting) recipes such as brownies, cakes, and other snacks that your kids love. Supervise them at all times and keep them away from tasks that involve knives and the stove.

Museum Trips: Discover the heritage of your locality by taking your kids to the museum. Make sure you make the trips fun because kids can easily get bored.

Visit Orphanages: Teach your kids compassion and appreciation by having them spend time with the less privileged. Let them make new friends!
Read: Instead of having your kids read books, dramatize their favorite book! Narrate the stories, play with the characters, and have your kids dress up as well. Make this a weekly thing and watch your kids enjoy.

Read: Instead of having your kids read books, dramatize their favorite book! Narrate the stories, play with the characters, and have your kids dress up as well. Make this a weekly thing and watch your kids enjoy.

Have Them Learn A Sport: Cricket, football, basketball, hockey, volleyball, swimming, tennis – the choice is theirs. Give them an opportunity to get out and play!

Crafts: Girls will love this activity! Teach them embroidery or basic sewing or just painting. You will have fun, as will they.

Use the summer months to connect and come closer as a strong, happy family.

Rita Pierson: Every kid needs a champion.

Rita Pierson, a teacher for 40 years, once heard a colleague say, "They don't pay me to like the kids."

Her response: "Kids don't learn from people they don’t like.”

A rousing call to educators to believe in their students and actually connect with them on a real, human, personal level.

"Mathematics is a way of thinking. It's a way of solving problems."

An excellent video by Prof. Dor Abrahamson, Professor of Mathematics, University of California, Bereley.

Souce : Edutopia