The long summer holiday is a great opportunity to enjoy family activities that take advantage of the warm weather. With many of us spending more time working from home; a quick half hour at lunch picnicking in the garden turns into precious quality time – in other words: seize the moment!
Have a look at this list of ten top summer-inspired Montessori activities that nurture independence, creativity and hands-on, tactile fun:
- Fruit picking – book a spot at your local food farm and pick some fruit and veg straight from the source. Use your produce in some recipes that you can prepare together at home.
- Gardening/Planting – teaching children how to plant, water, weed, and pick fruit, vegetables and flowers nurtures a care for the environment, and is also great way to be productive outdoors. Allow your child to use ‘real’, appropriately sized garden tools rather than plastic ones.
- Home Made Ice Lollies – some fruit juice and fresh fruit, a bit of honey – in a lolly mould and into the freezer…hello summer!
- Picnics – this could be a day affair (take a trip to a beautiful garden or venue out of town) or spend time in a local park, or in your garden at home.
- Star-gazing – the nights are warmer and as a special treat you could allow the kids to stay up later and gaze at the starts; spotting satellites is also great fun!
- Camping – in your garden or at a campsite.
- Play with water – whether you take a trip to the seaside, a local swimming pool or put up the sprinkler in your garden, any water-involved activity is sure to be met with enthusiasm. Sand and water trays are fun and a blow-up pool in the garden is also a good way to take full advantage of the summer sun.
- Flying Kites – if you don’t have one, you could try and make your own and then take it out for a test run on a windy day.
- Nature weaving – this could be making daisy chains, plaiting grass or stringing leaves together with a needle and thread.
- Nature Collage – go on a scavenger hunt, collecting leaves, petals, twigs, feathers etc. and then stick on a big piece of paper to create a summer-time collage.
In a country where winter can seem like forever, embracing the summer is a must – and is as simple as going for walks and being outside. Enjoy!
Photo by Vitolda Klein on Unsplash