{"id":59987,"date":"2018-06-20T05:45:10","date_gmt":"2018-06-20T10:45:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/?p=59987"},"modified":"2018-07-06T09:30:45","modified_gmt":"2018-07-06T14:30:45","slug":"5-simple-summer-activities-for-kids","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/parenting\/5-simple-summer-activities-for-kids\/","title":{"rendered":"Five Simple Summer Activities for Kids"},"content":{"rendered":"

I am so glad that summer is finally here. Summer to me is sunshine, flowers in full bloom, warm weather, watermelon and ice cream; lots and lots of ice cream. <\/span><\/p>\n

This is the time to get outside and enjoy nature. Time in nature has tremendous benefits. It is a surefire way to decrease stress in adults and kids. Nature is the best way to help everyone relax. Kids (and even adults) who have attention issues can find relief after being outside. Research has shown that adults and children are able to concentrate better, complete tasks and are more able to follow directions after they\u2019ve spent time in a green setting. <\/span><\/p>\n

Spending time in nature does not require travel or expensive camping equipment. All you have to do is just step out of your front (or back door) to get started. Here are 5 simple summer outdoor activities for kids:<\/span><\/p>\n

1. Do nothing:<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Daydreaming is a lost art in our modern world, where we value productivity and achievement. However, most experts agree, that our brains need a break. Children and even adults can concentrate for just so long and then they need to space out. Not only that, goofing off or spacing out helps in fostering creativity in adults and certainly in our children. Summer time is the perfect time for absentmindedness.\u00a0 <\/span>Gazing at the clouds, sitting barefoot in the grass, and watching bugs or birds, can help us refresh ourselves, reduce stress and get our minds working again. <\/span><\/p>\n

2. Take neighborhood walks: <\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

There is so much to see in our neighborhoods. We are usually too much in a rush, or in our cars, to actually take note. Children view the world in a unique way, every rock, bush, police car and construction site can fascinate them. Take the time to see your neck of the woods through their eyes. Let them take the lead in showing you how to stop and appreciate your surroundings. <\/span><\/p>\n

3. Blow bubbles:<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

There is no child that does not love bubbles. It is a sure crowd pleaser. It is obviously best to do it outside so no one gets upset about the inevitable spills. <\/span><\/p>\n

4. Paint rocks:<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

My kids loved this activity. I would buy some washable paint and we would collect rocks and then paint them. Even very young children can do this. Have some water on hand so you have an instant way to wash off and stay cool at the same time. <\/span><\/p>\n

5. Vegetable gardens:<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Kids love to tend a little plot of land and can help get your kids outside everyday, watering and weeding.\u00a0 <\/span>Planting seeds and watching them grow is one of the simplest ways to appreciate G-d\u2019s world. If you are a newbie to gardening, you might want to plant some vegetables in large flowerpots. Tomatoes, cucumbers and squash plants grow pretty quickly, so your kids can easily see the fruit of their labors.<\/span><\/p>\n

There you have it. 5 simple summer activities that will get you outside in no time.<\/span><\/p>\n

Adina Soclof is a Parent Educator, Professional Development Instructor and\u00a0Speech Pathologist working with children in a school setting. She received her BA. in History from\u00a0Queens College and her\u00a0MS. in Communication Sciences from\u00a0Hunter College.\u00a0Adina\u00a0is the founder of\u00a0<\/i>ParentingSimply.com<\/i><\/span><\/a>. She delivers parenting classes as well as professional development workshops for Speech Pathologists, Teachers\u00a0and other health professionals.\u00a0You can find her text based CEU courses at\u00a0<\/i>PDResources.com<\/i><\/span><\/a>\u00a0and video courses at\u00a0<\/i>Homeceuconnection.com<\/i><\/span><\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/i>SpeechPathologypd.com<\/i><\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I am so glad that summer is finally here. Summer to me is sunshine, flowers in full bloom, warm weather, watermelon and ice cream; lots and lots of ice cream. This is the time to get outside and enjoy nature. Time in nature has tremendous benefits. It is a surefire way to decrease stress in<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":720,"featured_media":60018,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-59987","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-parenting"],"yoast_head":"\nFive Simple Summer Activities for Kids - OU Life<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Gazing at the clouds, sitting barefoot in the grass, and watching bugs or birds can help us refresh ourselves, reduce stress and get our minds working again.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/parenting\/5-simple-summer-activities-for-kids\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Five Simple Summer Activities for Kids - OU Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Gazing at the clouds, sitting barefoot in the grass, and watching bugs or birds can help us refresh ourselves, reduce stress and get our minds working again.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/parenting\/5-simple-summer-activities-for-kids\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"OU Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-06-20T10:45:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-07-06T14:30:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/summertimelife620.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"909\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"605\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Adina Soclof\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Adina Soclof\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/parenting\/5-simple-summer-activities-for-kids\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/parenting\/5-simple-summer-activities-for-kids\/\",\"name\":\"Five Simple Summer Activities for Kids - OU Life\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/parenting\/5-simple-summer-activities-for-kids\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/parenting\/5-simple-summer-activities-for-kids\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/summertimelife620.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-06-20T10:45:10+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-07-06T14:30:45+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#\/schema\/person\/e1d662e1b99b4cb9d5268c1a8111a03a\"},\"description\":\"Gazing at the clouds, sitting barefoot in the grass, and watching bugs or birds can help us refresh ourselves, reduce stress and get our minds working again.\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/parenting\/5-simple-summer-activities-for-kids\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/parenting\/5-simple-summer-activities-for-kids\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/summertimelife620.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/summertimelife620.jpg\",\"width\":909,\"height\":605},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/\",\"name\":\"OU Life\",\"description\":\"Everyday Jewish Living\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#\/schema\/person\/e1d662e1b99b4cb9d5268c1a8111a03a\",\"name\":\"Adina Soclof\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/Adina-Soclof_avatar-96x96.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/Adina-Soclof_avatar-96x96.png\",\"caption\":\"Adina Soclof\"},\"description\":\"Adina Soclof, MS. CCC-SLP is a certified Speech Pathologist. She received her master's degree from Hunter College in New York in Communication Sciences. She works as a Parent Educator for Bellefaire Jewish Children's Bureau facilitating \\\"How to Talk so Kids will Listen and Listen so Kids will Talk\\\" workshops as well as workshops based on \u201cSiblings Without Rivalry.\u201d Adina developed TEAM Communication Ventures and conducts parenting, teacher and clinician workshops via telephone nationwide. Adina lives with her husband and four lively children in Cleveland, Ohio. You can visit her at website at www.parentingsimply.com.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/parentingsimply.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/author\/adinasoclof-me\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Five Simple Summer Activities for Kids - OU Life","description":"Gazing at the clouds, sitting barefoot in the grass, and watching bugs or birds can help us refresh ourselves, reduce stress and get our minds working again.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/parenting\/5-simple-summer-activities-for-kids\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Five Simple Summer Activities for Kids - OU Life","og_description":"Gazing at the clouds, sitting barefoot in the grass, and watching bugs or birds can help us refresh ourselves, reduce stress and get our minds working again.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/parenting\/5-simple-summer-activities-for-kids\/","og_site_name":"OU Life","article_published_time":"2018-06-20T10:45:10+00:00","article_modified_time":"2018-07-06T14:30:45+00:00","og_image":[{"width":909,"height":605,"url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/summertimelife620.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Adina Soclof","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Adina Soclof","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/parenting\/5-simple-summer-activities-for-kids\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/parenting\/5-simple-summer-activities-for-kids\/","name":"Five Simple Summer Activities for Kids - OU Life","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/parenting\/5-simple-summer-activities-for-kids\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/parenting\/5-simple-summer-activities-for-kids\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/summertimelife620.jpg","datePublished":"2018-06-20T10:45:10+00:00","dateModified":"2018-07-06T14:30:45+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#\/schema\/person\/e1d662e1b99b4cb9d5268c1a8111a03a"},"description":"Gazing at the clouds, sitting barefoot in the grass, and watching bugs or birds can help us refresh ourselves, reduce stress and get our minds working again.","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/parenting\/5-simple-summer-activities-for-kids\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/parenting\/5-simple-summer-activities-for-kids\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/summertimelife620.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/summertimelife620.jpg","width":909,"height":605},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/","name":"OU Life","description":"Everyday Jewish Living","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#\/schema\/person\/e1d662e1b99b4cb9d5268c1a8111a03a","name":"Adina Soclof","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"http:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/Adina-Soclof_avatar-96x96.png","contentUrl":"http:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/Adina-Soclof_avatar-96x96.png","caption":"Adina Soclof"},"description":"Adina Soclof, MS. CCC-SLP is a certified Speech Pathologist. She received her master's degree from Hunter College in New York in Communication Sciences. She works as a Parent Educator for Bellefaire Jewish Children's Bureau facilitating \"How to Talk so Kids will Listen and Listen so Kids will Talk\" workshops as well as workshops based on \u201cSiblings Without Rivalry.\u201d Adina developed TEAM Communication Ventures and conducts parenting, teacher and clinician workshops via telephone nationwide. Adina lives with her husband and four lively children in Cleveland, Ohio. You can visit her at website at www.parentingsimply.com.","sameAs":["http:\/\/parentingsimply.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/author\/adinasoclof-me\/"}]}},"acf":[],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59987","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/720"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59987"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59987\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":60121,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59987\/revisions\/60121"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60018"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59987"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59987"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59987"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}