Exercising Children's Minds

On June 28th, my grandsons will attend their last day of school for this year. Two months loom ahead when, after the first week or two, they will be bored out of their minds.

Since I care for my grandsons while their parents work, I will be with them every morning five days of the week. I know that some of their behaviors are caused from boredom. A couple of years ago, they were fighting all the time during summer break. Each time this happened, we got out of the house and did something that helped them burn off their excess energy. Since that time, their mother, my daughter, makes up a summer schedule. This week the schedule for this summer was posted.

First thing in the morning when it is cooler out, there is outdoor time. They can ride their bikes, go to the park, play baseball in the backyard, or do whatever they like - as long as it is outside. This will encourage them to use their imaginations while playing. The outdoor time runs from 8 am to 10 am.

At 10 am, we take a break for a snack and a drink and then head out for nature time. We can go for a hike, walk in the woods, collect leaves, go fishing or do whatever we like as long as it has to do with nature. On very hot day or cool, rainy days, we will stay in the house and sort leaves, pinecones and other things of nature that we've found on previous days. We can use leaves to paint, draw pictures of nature, go online and learn something about nature, or write a nature story. I'm encouraging the boys to start a nature journal. Nature time is also the time we can watch a nature show or video. Both boys enjoy watching Animal Planet. However, this won't happen too often, as we are trying to keep the boys' screen time at a minimum.

At noon, we will have lunch and take an hour's break. Then, there will be reading time. The boys can take turns reading to me and each other, read silently or let me read to them. They can read whatever they like unless there is a specific assignment that they have to do for the summer program at the local library. Each year they join the reading program. They spin a wheel to get their reading assignment for the week. It might be fiction or non-fiction. When they read the book, they fill out a chart and answer a couple of questions about the book they read. When they take the chart back to the librarian, they get a small prize. This encourages them to finish their weekly assignments and keeps them reading all summer long.

On certain days we will do a creative project, such as art, crafts or invent something. Last year they each created a futuristic automobile. They both turned out great and it made them think about what transportation will be like when they are fully grown.

Every other afternoon, there is an hour's free time when the boys can do anything they please. They can watch tv or play one of their many game systems. We do encourage doing other things, but games are something they are both passionate about. I'm looking for games for Game Cube, Playstation 2, DS and Game Boy that are educational. It's a good way for them to learn something new without realizing it.

Each afternoon they are also required to have a half hour quiet time. They can again do anything they like as long as they are quiet.

I have two projects planned for the summer. The boys protested when I told them this. However, when I explained there was no deadline as long as they were done before they returned to school they changed their minds.

The first is a project about something that they'd like to learn more about. The older boy, who is eleven, said he'd like to do a project on dolphins. The younger one is going to do his on lions. It's a good way for them to learn about their favorite creatures.

The second project is a speech. They each have to write a speech about something to do with history. They haven't given me their choices on this one yet. They told me they needed time to think it over. I'm hoping that writing a speech and presenting it to Mom & Dad will give them confidence in their writing and public speaking abilities.

We will have lots of fun during the summer even though the boys are on a schedule. We wil go fishing, hiking, bike riding and play baseball. They will spend lots of time outdoors, yet will get to do all of their favorite things. We will play board games, hide and seek and rock, paper, scissors. We'll be silly. We'll laugh. We'll enjoy the summer and all the while the boys and myself will be exercising our minds. Me by thinking up things to keep them busy and encourage them to learn new things and the boys by taking part in a wide range of activities. The most important object of all the things we'll chose to do is to have fun, fun, fun.