Play Hard, Stay Healthy
by Shelly Bokman

As parents, we have two major challenges before us this summer—to keep our children active physically and mentally. Their tendency is to want to “just hang out,” and who can blame them? That was exactly what we wanted to do with our summers back when we were kids.

Keep those Minds Working
Each fall teachers begin the school year by re-teaching much of what kids learned the previous year. That’s because those lessons are just forgotten after those slacker months of summer. So here are some ways you can keep your child’s mind engaged this summer:

Check out your local parks and recreation departments or YMCA for short-term classes and camps. These are usually fairly inexpensive and offer everything from art to archaeology to reptile classes.

Make use of your local library; most libraries have great reading programs that offer kids incentives to read. Or you can invent your own—create a giant tree trunk on the wall (crumple up paper bags for the trunk) and let your child decorate a huge leaf with the name of each book he has read. By summer’s end your tree will—hopefully—be covered with leaves! Or make a big wave and place a surf board with the books name on it in the “water.” Use your imagination.

Create a special place to read—hang a hammock in the shade, or pile pillows in your playhouse.

Seize opportunities to practice math skills every day. Talk about fractions when cooking, use trips to the grocery store to help kids learn addition or estimation. Start a graph to track the temperature each day, measure all the rooms in your house and calculate the area. Play educational games. Even card games by the pool encourage math skills.

Limit TV time just like you do during the school year. The only difference is you may want to change the time of day. The heat of the day could be the best time to watch a favorite movie or TV show that you recorded the day before. Then in the evening when it cools off a bit, kids can get outside to play.

Take advantage of local museums, nature centers and historic parks. Go to SacramentoParent.com, click on Calendar then Places to Visit & Storytimes for lots of cool, and educational, summertime destinations.

Encourage your child’s hobbies or interests. If your child is into computers, help her do some research on the history of computers or find an old one she can take apart. If skateboarding is what your pre-teen lives for, suggest he create a skateboarding zine—he could include reviews of local parks, pictures of his friends skating, news of who has mastered what new trick and where the local competitions are.

Get those Bodies Moving
Even if your child doesn’t now fall into the much talked about category of childhood obesity, the activity habits our children establish now will last them a lifetime. New research also indicates that exercise significantly improves brain function and mental performance—that’s good news for body and mind! Here are some suggestions to get them moving:

Buy or make a slip ‘n slide for your backyard, or play games with your sprinkler. When you combine water with physical activity, kids of all ages will play outdoors for hours.

When 100 degree days hit, resist the urge to stay home by looking for healthy indoor activities. Take your kids bowling, or go to an indoor gym, rock wall or skating rink.

Make use of local pools, public and private. Water slides, water games (like Marco Polo) and swim relays are a great way to cool off and get some exercise.

Plan physical activities as a family: take a walk to the park, play badminton or a game of tag after dinner, or go for a bike ride.

Encourage your tween or teen to start a running club, suggest their friends gather for a game of homerun derby or a jump roping marathon. Lots of activities are more fun in groups.

Summer is the perfect time to try something new: a dance class, kayaking for a day, horseback riding or tennis lessons.

Walk instead of drive. If you need a quart of milk, grab the stroller, the dog and the kids, and walk to the store instead of driving.

There are an endless number of ways to keep your kids’ minds and bodies active this summer. It just takes a little imagination and a family commitment to healthy fun.