5-4-3-2-1 Early Childhood Tips for Today: Summer Fun Ideas

• Make reading even more fun in the summer by setting up an indoor/outdoor reading “tent” with just a blanket and some chairs, creating your own books and stories in your home language with personalized drawings and pictures, or pointing out letters and words at the grocery store or other outings.
• Visit the library for free fun in the summer. Kids can explore new books, participate in free age-specific story times and art activities, and even get a chance to earn lots of great discounts or benefits to other places within the community.
• The summer weather can lend itself to great opportunities to incorporate outdoor sensory and development activities. How about popping bubbles with your nose, finger painting outdoors, drawing with sidewalk chalk, or even creating your own water table with some toys, cups, and a tub for some outdoor fun?
• Take a walk with your kids. Talk in your home language about what you see, hear and smell as you walk around your community.
• From vacations, to camps, or even a switch in childcare curriculum, the summer is bound to introduce some variations to a child's routine. Amidst these changes, kids can still benefit from the sense of safety and predictability a consistent schedule can provide. Something as simple as providing regular morning and evening routines can help to provide a sense of stability in a season known for some changes.

• "Pete the Cat: Pete at the Beach" by James Dean (FCPS | Public Library): Pete the Cat is one groovy cat at finding shells and building sand castles at the beach. But when it gets too hot, there’s only one way to cool off—jump into the ocean! Except Pete might be a scaredy-cat when it comes to the water.
• "And Then Comes Summer" by Tom Brenner (FCPS | Public Library): When the days stretch out like a slow yawn, and the cheerful faces of Johnny-jump-ups jump up . . . then it’s time to get ready for summer!
• "The Sun is My Favorite Star" by Frank Asch (FCPS |Public Library): There are many stars in the galaxy. But only the sun wakes us in the morning, helps us grow, plays hide-and-seek behind the clouds, and paints pretty pictures in the evening sky.
• "The Night Before Kindergarten" by Natasha Wing (FCPS |Public Library): It's the first day of school! Join the kids as they prepare for kindergarten, packing school supplies, posing for pictures, and the hardest part of all--saying goodbye to Mom and Dad. But maybe it won't be so hard once they discover just how much fun kindergarten really is!

• Zero to Three: A Year of Play
• Fairfax County Public Library: Calendar of Events
• Fairfax County Arts in the Parks: Details and Program

Points to Action Research

• Harvard Graduate School of Education: Summer Learning Happens at Home
• Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics: Reading Aloud, Play, and Social-Emotional Development

Sesame Street: That's the Way I Read
Do like looking at the pictures in books or spotting words you know? Prairie Dawn, Telly, and Zoe all have different ways to read the same book but still enjoy it all the same!