Beat the Heat

The weather people (who are often just guessing) are saying it’s going to be a scorching HOT week. We love you but we don’t want fried kids lying around the park. So this week only.... Discovery Park is both free and open anytime, any day. You can come early at 6 in the morning or 7 in the evening to beat the daytime heat. Please still register!

This will be an exciting week, a week to really spend time with your kids (probably a lot of it inside where it’s cool). This newsletter will be longer than normal, but it will be packed with ideas and some suggestions for “inside play” to make this week memorable.

BREAKFAST PICNIC

Drag your kids out of bed at 6AM and announce that we’re going to a park for a picnic. They can even wear their pajamas if they want. Pack a basket with cut up fruit, lemonade, muffins, Danish rolls, etc. No cereal or traditional stuff. See if they can make their fruit into a picture before eating it.

A fun thing to do outside is to download a free program on your phone called “Merlin”. It can listen to the birds singing and identify them. Their names will pop up on the screen. Then turn it into a game. Let them try to be the first to guess the name of the bird without seeing the screen. This is tricky because there may be multiple birds singing at the same time. This will sharpen their listening skills and maybe start an interest in studying birds. Did you know that Morning Doves take only two weeks to hatch? Dad sits on the nest all day and mom sits on the nest all night to keep the eggs warm.

While you’re listening to the birds, what do you smell? How does the breeze feel and can you tell its direction by the sun’s position? Study the morning dew on cobwebs and their intricate designs. Listen for frogs, especially bull frogs.

LIBRARY

You can see baby chicks hatching at the Brunswick Library on Tuesday and Wednesday this week! That is a truly memorable experience. Let your kids pick out an armload of books – their choice. You can ask the librarian to help you find award-winning books for each age child you have. The award winners usually have a gold or silver circle emblem on the cover.

Reading time is great after lunch. Do not push your younger kids to read! Focus on the joy of discovery through books. Read slow enough that they can visually paint a picture in their mind of what is happening in the story. If you go to the DiscoveryParkOhio.com website, there is a tab on the right called newsletters. Go to the archive page for 2023 and look up December 17th – Story Reader or Storyteller. There is also a link at the bottom of this newsletter. This past newsletter will help you take your story time to the next level. If there are older kids in the family, draw them into this. If you are reading a book that has multiple characters, let the older kids participate by adopting one or more characters. Maybe they will enjoy it so much they will become the “Family Storyteller”.

Challenge any older kids who show an interest in books, to try writing their own story. Suggest to them that most stories, including movies, spend the first 1/3 developing the characters. The next 1/3 is the adventure or problem. And finally, the last 1/3 is resolving the adventure or problem.

Older kids should also start learning to journal – even the boys! They will complain and call it “stupid”. Point out that writing your thoughts down on a regular basis will help them work through the issues of growing up. This should be done in a blank book, not a computer program. There is something about actual writing that will calm them down and be more reflective.

A NEW HOBBY

Stop at Hobby Lobby (closed on Sunday) or Michaels and let each kid pick out a new project to start. It has to be something they have never done before. Give them a price limit. Maybe it will be watercolors, pastels, drawing pencils, beading, jewelry making, T-shirt paints, leather work, plastic model building or even a big box of 64 crayons with some paper that has a tooth to it so the colors go on better. The goal is to get them to step out of their comfort zone. When we are constantly trying new things, we might discover new pleasures we had never considered. This challenge includes you! Pick out something you would like to try also.

PUZZLES

Grab some jigsaw puzzles and work them together as a family. Set it up on the kitchen table so the lighting is good and everyone can participate. Let the little ones even sit on the table so they can see everything. It’s a calming experience, but also allows questions and thoughts to be shared as you work. Tell them some of your funny recollections from when you were their age. Be somewhat intimate. Were you shy? Did you think you were nerd? Focus on the weaknesses so your kids will see you as a real person who struggled through the same issues they are feeling.

GAMES

Chutes and Ladders for the youngest. They don’t understand rules yet, so be patient as they try to go up the slide rather than down. Learning how to count and going the right direction on the board is the beginning of rules based games. Their mind may be ready, maybe not. Be patient and remember that it is not about winning, but enjoying the game. The older kids will enjoy Connect 4, Go Fish, Monopoly, Scrabble or even Twister. Challenge the older ones to make up some new rule. Maybe in Twister, you have to go over anybody younger and under anybody older. Monopoly, lets go the other direction around the board. In Scrabble, all words have to be displayed backwards.

CAMP OUT

Pitch a tent or use some old sheets and sleep out in the backyard. Make Smores, look at the stars (another free app is Stellarium), catch fireflies, read comics (graphic novels) by flashlight.

PRETEND POWER OUTAGE

No TV, no computers, no cell phones, no lights. WOW! What are we going to do? Have you ever tried reading a book by candlelight? Write a real letter to Grandma. Talk about what life was like before electricity and computers. This is a great opener to history concepts.

FRIENDS

Let them each invite a couple of friends over for the night for game playing or storytelling. Remind the older kids that any “gossip” is usually done by shallow-minded people. Pick an enforcer and if someone starts gossiping, it’s their job to stop it. Ask them to explore ideas that have depth or what they want their life to be as they grow.

Sometimes it seems hard to deal with a family with a wide gap in age. This is actually a benefit. Talk to the older ones about how younger minds aren’t capable of using rules, logic and strategy. But the younger ones are looking up to them as role models. Being mean or short-tempered will only aggravate family life. Remind them that someday they will be the adult – dealing with little kids. Maybe it’s time to hone those skills. And besides, your younger siblings will probably listen to you more than mom and dad.

This can be an exciting week for the whole family. Do things that aren’t the normal routine. This includes you! Always remember that you are the most important person in their life. You are the role model! You are the best parent on the block in the eyes of your kids. They want to be just like you.

Enjoy the heat wave!

It’s Fun Being a Kid Again!