Activities for Your Explorers, Creators, Learners, & Performers

Time to read: 2-3 minutes

Your explorer is running around in a pirate hat commanding the seven seas of macaroni and cheese. Your creator picks up the macaroni that has just washed up onto shore and begins to build a macaroni necklace. Your learner snatches the treasure away and sees how the pieces fit together before documenting their findings in ye ‘old scribbler. Your performer gasps at the sight of the scattered treasure before calling everyone in the house to act out the adventure.

Children fill their imaginations with wonder through different activities. Here are some stress-free ideas for you and your family to try for the last month of summer – and to infinity and beyond!

For Explorers

The naturally curious and always-moving explorer enjoys making discoveries. On the weekend or afterschool, explore one of Pickle Planet’s ongoing reviews of local parks and trails. Visit one with a plastic container and some tools in tow for leaves, bugs, and sticks that they discover to build a mini ecosystem! Exploring nature is hands-on learning at its best. Did New Brunswick grace you with sunny weather in the morning and change its mind to below zero and rain an hour later? Time to go inside! Get a few larger bins and fill them with different objects for your young ones to explore.

For Creators

Sometimes preparing for crafts and activities can be time-consuming and expensive, but they don’t have to be. From melting crayons on

rocks to create unique keepsakes to indoor and outdoor painting and science experiments, there are hundreds of summer craft and activity ideas waiting for you and your children to help them develop fine-motor skills. Have a little builder on your hand? Check out our building and construction board on Pinterest to watch your budding engineer grow.

For Learners

Step aside mom, dad, grandma, grandpa, auntie, uncle, brother, sister… “I want to try.” Whether your child loves learning, or you want to teach them to appreciate learning, involve them in daily activities such as baking, laundry, dishes, and gardening. Check Michaels, DIY Studio, public libraries, and other learner-friendly locations throughout the Greater Moncton area for workshops, readings, and opportunities to meet new friends. For school-aged children, one of my personal favourite ways to stimulate learning and conversation is to use a shared journal to learn more about each other and to keep communication open.  Just Between Us is a “no-rules” journal that has writing prompts and quizzes to openly discuss the journey of growing up. There is also Between Mom and Me. Not your learner’s thing? Maybe quantum physics or rocket science for babies is more their speed. Yes, that’s right. You didn’t read that wrong: quantum physics for babies. This book series is an easy-to-understand, colourful introduction for early learners to explore STEM. You’ll learn something too!

 For Performers

Pretend play is an excellent way to develop your child’s imagination, social, emotional, thinking, and language skills. You can expand on building these by asking questions about their play as well. Set up a make-believe produce store, vet, puppet show, café, exhibit, or carwash for hands-on learning at home. This helps your child discover all the different roles in the world and analyze the different ways to perform them. Does your child enjoy drawing? They could design their own menu. Is art frustrating? Consider purchasing a pre-created one with extras. This pretend play restaurant set on Etsy comes with menus, guest checks, item prices, and an open/closed sign!

School starts in less than three weeks (wow – when did that happen?) Thank you for peeking at our activities for different types of children. We do hope you and yours give one a go before school starts again. Join us again next week for our ‘Last Minute Back to School Feature!’ – complete with a more-fun title! ?

Photo credit (in order of appearance): ELCHC, Itty Bitty Camps, Artful Parent, The Asian Parent, Sweet by Candy