Five Ways to enhance a summer holiday
Going on summer holiday with your child can present its own set of challenges. The phrase ‘sun, sea, sand and structure’ doesn’t really have an inspirational ring to it! However, ensuring your child remains stimulated, nourished and encouraged, even on holiday, will promote their continued progression as well as easing the transition back to everyday life.
An easy way to support children on a summer holiday is to give them a project to help motivate and enthuse them.
1. The Scrap book
First of all, go to your local pound shop and invest in a scrap book. The scrap book can become your child’s thoughts, feelings and experiences whilst abroad. It will enhance their holiday, and infuse every experience with extra purpose. Because going to the beach becomes about more than sandcastles, it becomes about searching for interesting shells and other fascinating flotsam, as well. Furthermore, sight-seeing becomes less about the heat and more about collecting leaflets and brochures to add to their holiday memory.
2. The Camera
Whilst mobile phones are making disposable cameras somewhat redundant, take a trip down memory lane and embrace some nineties nostalgia. Buy a disposable camera and entrust it to your child, in order to become part of their project. They are to look after it (making sure it doesn’t get lost, wet or ruined) and to take three photos a day. The responsibility and direction will give them a welcome sense of purpose.
3. The Language
Including a page devoted to simple words in a foreign language is an exciting way of introducing your child to other cultures. As a result, it will encourage them to engage with people, and to try to understand simple words. And if you are staying within England, how about a page on regional accents?
4. The Budget
Firstly, give your child a budget of a daily or weekly allowance for their project. It will empower your child and give them the opportunity to manage their finances and feel in control of their spending power. Furthermore, let them know the budget is exclusively for the project and that you will want to see their accounts at the end of it to see how they spent their money. Finally, accountant’s visors are also an extremely cute, although not an obligatory addition to this part of the project.
5. The Recipes
On a summer holiday your child will probably be exposed to a variety of new and interesting food. We’d be delighted to hear that someone under the age of 15 sampled turtle soup, snails or pineapple pizza but equally simple dishes like risotto, falafel and paella could be new additions to your child’s palette. Encourage them to ask chefs, restaurants and waiters for recipes to add to their scrap book. Finally, on returning home you can encourage them to try out their new cuisine, not only allowing them to bring the holiday home with them, but giving you a little sous chef for cooking dinner – and that is a whole other project.
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