14 Best Activities For Your Little Ones to have a Sensational Summer
The past year has been a challenge for children and parents alike. Now that summer is here, children are at home with more time on their hands, and unfortunately stepping out is not an option. Parents, don’t let that bring you down, how about planning the most memorable summer for your little ones - indoors!
These summer activities are fun for adults and little ones, and will keep all your summer blues at bay. Use things from your own homes, upcycle different material, and have a sensational summer that your little ones will always treasure and remember.
Summer Activities based on Favorite things
Set up a table or a stool in a corner of your child’s playroom or room, and cover it with a nice bright cloth. Then have your child add his/her favorite things to that corner. It could be his/ her favorite toy, a plant, some shells collected on a trip to the beach - the sky's the limit! He/she can even add new things everyday. 
Look through picture books, old magazines and newspapers and find all the things your little ones love. Cut them out and make a collage with it all. You could also include pictures of family and friends, his/her favorite food, his/her favorite color etc. Not only does it help improve your child’s fine motor skills, but will also let your child look back at his/her favorite things when he/she grows older.
Similar to the collage, this favorite things mobile is a great addition to your little one’s room or play area. Draw, paint and cut out different ‘ favorite things’ of your child - food, vehicle, color, toy, activity, place etc. Punch a hole in the top of each cut out. Use strings and tie a piece of string to each cut out. Tie them all on a stick (collected from outside) or an embroidery ring works wonders as well.
Let’s Get Creative This Summer
This sensory bin can be made with any theme - nature, ocean, forest etc. Collect different items from around your home - shells, sticks, pebbles, sand, small beach bucket etc - put them in a tub or a big bowl, and have your little ones engage in fun, pretend-play.
Use any bottle at home. Collect different items that can go inside the bottle - craft sticks (paint them in different colors), pipe cleaners, small pebbles (painted or plain), beads - and put them in the bottle. Next, mix one or two drops of food color (if available) to some water, and fill the bottle with the water. It is an exciting summer activity for little ones in the age group of 2 to 6 years.
Watercolors, with sparkle, made at home! And the best part? You get to watch them make beautiful patterns as they melt. To make frozen paint, add some paint to water, add some sparkles to that and pour it all in an ice-cube tray. Once they are frozen, take different ice-cubes out and place them anywhere on paper (watercolor paper or thick paper if available). Watch in awe as they melt and make sparkly patterns.
Fill a tub or bucket with water, and collect different objects from around the house (make sure it’s okay for these objects to be in water though!). Sit with your little ones and experiment to see which objects float when put in the tub or bucket, and which ones sink. This is a fun experiment to teach your little ones the concepts of ‘sink’ and ‘float’.
Create a ‘messy area’ for your little one, it can either be in the balcony with a plastic sheet down, or place a large tub on a plastic sheet on a table. Keep a few sponges near the tub. Fill the tub with a little water and have a cup in the water. Your little one can fill the cup, splash a little water on the plastic sheet and use the sponges to see how they absorb water. Holding and squeezing the sponges help with fine motor development and grip too!
A toddler who’s stomach is full, is a happy toddler: Fun Summer Food Experiments
This summer, make healthy ice-cream with your little ones. To make the ice-cream, choose any fruit that your little ones love, cut half the fruit into very small pieces, and grind the other half in a juicer or grinder. Mix the fruit bits, the fruit juice and water in a bowl (one can add a little jaggery powder for extra sweetness). Put this in ice-cream moulds (or ice trays/ small cups) and place it in the freezer. Take it out of the freezer after a few hours, and enjoy a healthy, cold bite of freshness and fun!
Celebrate a Summer Salad Day with your little ones. Spend the morning together - peeling and cutting different vegetables and fruit. Then get out your fun colorful bowls and toss up a fun salad with vegetables - tomato, cucumber, lettuce, olives, onion (anything your little ones like); you can even peel and cut up different fruits for a fresh, delicious sweet treat.
You and your little ones each pick a fruit or ingredient (parents can set out a few to choose from, so you don’t end up drinking a banana-garlic-ketchup smoothie :D) and toss it all up in a blender for a quick healthy, delicious and filling snack.
Bringing the Outdoors Indoor, this summer
Summer vacations and taking a trip to a fun place is on everyone’s list, but unfortunately not a possibility this year as well. So why don’t we try and re-create outdoor experiences for our little ones, right in the comfort of our own home! These activities are sure to excite your children and help them have a summer to remember. Parents, this is also a great change to revisit your childhood and feel like a happy-go-lucky little one once again!
Set up a “campsite” at home and “go camping” with your little ones. How, you wonder? Grab some mattresses, sheets and pillows, use the sheets as tents - tie them to your chairs or make a make belief tent. Pop some popcorn, get some snacks, put all the lights off. Use torches for light and play board games with each other, or even better - tell each other different stories!
Get your picnic basket ready - sandwiches, juice, some treats and water. And unfold a big blanket in the living room or balcony. Lay the delicious snacks and food out and enjoy a picnic on a Sunday afternoon,
Have an arts and crafts day with your little ones, get messy, get creative and at the end display all the work that you have done together, and watch your little ones’ faces light up in delight. You can even hold a virtual ‘summer bazaar’ where you can send pictures of your little ones creations to family and friends.
Keeping toddlers occupied with productive work during the summer can be a trying task. Kudos to every parent trying to make summer vacation a memorable one. As always, remember to fill every activity with joy and have as much as fun possible while making the summer a sensational experience for your little ones.
At wonderLearn, we aim at making learning a joyful, exciting and memorable experience for little ones in the age group of 2-6 years. Our team of educators, through live classes bring to the children the wonders of the world around them. We have carefully curated a pre-school learning experience where toys and technology go hand-in-hand with live-classes so your little ones can have fun learning anytime, and from anywhere.
