Winter break is nearly among us, are we ready? The holiday season is a fantastic getaway from stressful routines of our lives by offering family celebrations and festivities, but what about the children? Sure they are excited to celebrate the holiday season, but is the lengthy break away from the classroom hurting their education? We offer a helpful guideline to parents who want to help their children not to completely lose focus of their education over the winter break.
Reading and Activities
Over break take the children to the library and let them browse the children’s section. Allow them to choose a couple books so you can read them together over the break. This is promoting reading, which is an excellent habit to teach young children as they begin to grow older and read on their own.
Coloring is an activity that will let your little artist unleash their imagination. What better way to encourage productivity than to display their artwork on the refrigerator? This tiny masterpiece on the fridge will now be displayed for all visitors coming to the house over the season. Setting the time aside for activities will keep children focused when it comes time to go back to school.
Learning in the Kitchen
You may or may not be the best cook. Every holiday season, cookies are an excellent snack. When it comes time for baking the cookies, allow the children to help with the decorating of the sugar, gingerbread men, and any other family tradition cookies. It can turn into a messy situation, we recommend keeping an eye on the little cookie designers. With unique designs, even the cookies that come out a little burnt will receive compliments.
Healthy Living and Exercise
Don’t let your children fill up on too many of those holiday cookies this season. We are all aware of the effects of too much sugar on children. Monitor what your children eat, and promote exercise over the break. Set aside time to go outside and enjoy the great outdoors. By being outdoors, children are encouraged to maintain healthy lifestyles rather than sitting on the couch all day. Leaving the warmth of your dwelling to enter Jack Frost’s outside lair can be uncomfortable for many. Make sure children of any ages are bundled warmly when outside for extended periods of time.
Keeping a Routine & Allocating Time
One of the biggest challenges for children coming back after a long break is falling back into a routine. Do your best at home keeping your children on a routine schedule when it comes to their eating and sleep schedules. When company is over, do your best to maintain bedtimes. When school nights begin, the child is already accustomed to the sleeping pattern. Same goes for the lunch times. Throughout the festivities, children are snacking all through the winter break and it will be difficult to adapt back to their scheduled lunch times. Pack healthy snacks to ensure your child is meeting all their nutritional needs.
It may be difficult to remove your child from their new gifts they received over the holidays, but when you set aside time from your day to spend with the child; it displays a care in their education from the start. The long-lasting effects of the gestures made when the child is young will continue to influence them in their future education goals.
At HAFHA we believe that parent involvement is the key to your child’s successful educational experience. Our goals are to build your child’s intellectual, social, emotional, and physical attributes. Winter break provides time to enjoy the festivities together, and we recommend following our helpful guideline to assist your child’s education development over this holiday break. Home Away From Home Academy is a private preschool Aberdeen, New Jersey. To learn more or to schedule a tour, give us a call.