Summer is the season to be outdoors, exploring and interacting with the world. Whether this happens in your backyard, garden, the park, beach or on a camping trip, there are many opportunities for your primary child to practice skills and hone their senses. In the classroom, we have materials that target each sense so that children may become aware of the way their body takes in information, and how to organize that information. Summer is a great time to bring your child’s attention to what they are seeing, smelling, feeling, hearing and tasting.

Water is one of the great joys of summer, and here are some suggestions for activities with water: Notice the temperature of the water and how things look different in and out of water. Notice how some objects float and some sink. What kinds of things sink or float? Whenever possible, provide containers for children to practice pouring. Notice how water takes the shape of whatever container is holding it.

Sand is a perfect opportunity to practice writing letters and connecting words. Use a stick and show your child how to draw one letter or maybe their name. Filling and carrying buckets of sand is great work for strengthening your child’s upper body and core muscles. To practice control and coordination of the body, draw a long line in the sand to walk on with bare feet. Take a walk and look for creatures, shells or rocks that may be hiding in the sand. Notice how small a grain of sand is compared to the whole beach. Try to count ten grains of sand in your hand.

The garden is another area with tons of opportunity for learning, and here are some ideas for work: Counting and planting seeds – dropping exactly one seed into each hole. Collect flowers and arrange them into vases. Harvest fruits and vegetables, and prepare them to eat. Water the garden and discuss how plants drink from their roots. Feel the different textures of leaves and notice their different shapes. Smell flowers or plants – notice how things smell different after they have been watered. Clean shoes with a brush after working in the garden.