Welcome Readers :)

Welcome readers !
Thank you for visiting 'Inside the child' and hope that your time spend reading my blog is educational. It includes my thoughts and approach to a child, based on the Montessori educational philosophy that emphasize on independence, freedom within limits and learning concepts of working with materials hands-on, rather than by direct instructions.

My favorite quote by Dr. Maria Montessori “There is in every child a painstaking teacher, so skillful that he obtains identical results in all children in all parts of the world. The only language men ever speak perfectly is the one they learn in babyhood, when no one can teach them anything!”
As a Children's House Montessori teacher, it is my pleasure to share my experience with children of ages 2 1/2 - 7 yrs old, and how small little things makes a big difference. Enjoy reading. Thank you.

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Start early

I should mention this, that my teaching career was started with being an assistant infant/toddler teacher and this experience was an eye-opening experience for me. Unfortunately, I do not have my personal pictures to share with you but thank goodness for some beautiful blogs on Montessori infant/toddler training and Google that I can share my experience with the help of these pictures.

When I say eye-opening experience, it means that I had never seen a 6 month old drinking milk from a glass before, in fact, I never knew that it was physically possibly to carry a glass with those tiny little hands ! Yes, I witnessed it because I helped the child do it. Of course, we had everything to the size of all the infants, for example, little chairs, tables, utensils.

I think, it is the process you go through when you are living with your child and know your child. It was like, I was growing and learning with this particular child, we were like best friends. No matter if the child was just 6 months old, we were communicating with each other, there was a connection and that's what, I think, every child wants ! For me lesson learned - start early !

While I googled for an image of a child drinking milk, I found this image and this little girl looks exactly the little one I helped then. Image courtesy- Montessori ici

So, this experience opened my mind and made me realize that no child is too little to do anything. Thank goodness for the Montessori infant/toddler curriculum that they have it written, to start early with a child of 6 months old and above, with sitting on their cute chairs, stop drinking milk using their bottles and eat their food on the table. Well, it is a process, you have to believe in that this is possible.

I am emphasizing on the process because most of us expect results or look for results. This thing comes in our mind, say, "Hey, this happened with her child why not with my child!" We have to follow the child and we go through a phase or a time and that is also called a process. We are all growing and for every growth we need a motive/goal/dream/something to learn. I have friends and know some parents who have real hard time transitioning their children from bottle to the glass. In the end, they leave up to the school teacher to do that hard effort !!

I strongly suggest parents to try practising at home the same process too, by using infant size utensils and furniture, role modeling by giving examples of your self because they see you drinking milk from the glass. By the time, the child is 8 months old, s/he will be having fun being an independent and a happy being.

Start early !


Friday, June 24, 2011

When children are not 'listening' !

picture taken by me -  Walnut Park Montessori school

I have this trouble all the time, and I say to myself, "What do I do they are not listening?" And the idea pops out, "Why not make them walk on the line !" Aha ! This idea came as a blessing. This we can try after all the other ways we have tried on them as I mentioned on my blog 'Listening ears'. A walk on the line is not only helping them to listen but also, with co-ordination, order, movements, building up balance and knowing their body.

Children here simply walk on the line where you may be walking in the front. I make the walk more interesting by telling a story sometimes. If the children had been really loud then I gently ask them to walk on the line very quietly. We name it as a silent walk.

There are ways to make the walk interesting - walk with your hands on the side, hands next to your shoulders, behind and up OR, walk with a basket, tray or a plate in your hands. After 2-3 rounds of walk, you can  hop, jump, gallop, run and skip on the line. There are lots of music you can play while children are doing walk on the line activity. I came across with this website called Montessori Mozarts and it is great, they have sample music to listen too ! You can also play some folk music from around the world. Look here - a beautiful Around the World: International Folk Songs CD ! You can also play fun children's music or any of your favorite instrumental music.

ENJOY !

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Scooping


This is a good activity that you can use during the apple season. Look at the presentation, it is very important that an activity looks beautiful and attractive to a child. Apple bowls, matching red mat and the cute scooping spoon, are all so inviting. You can buy these apples from stores like Micheal's, Walmart, Target or any of your local art & craft store. These materials sometimes are seasonal, so make sure you visit one of these stores seasonally.


The child uses her dominant hand, scoops an apple from L-R, one bowl to another and back to the 1st bowl. Helps with managing an order, concentration, eye & hand co-ordination and independence.
 

Here, the child is repeating the scooping process. Notice that she scoops one apple at one time. This emphasize on concentration and order. The child is encouraged to use only his/er dominant hand. The second hand is used to pick the fallen apples only.


The child is patiently scooping the apples from one bowl to another bowl.


Now, scooping the apples to place them on the left bowl, as to make it ready for the next child. Remember, that the child has to always begin the activity from L-R. We read and write from L-R, the number line begins from L-R.

Control of error - scooping from left to right, tilt of the scooping spoon from the tip.

Variations-


these are candies, to my surprise children did not recognize this at all, but if they do you can direct them to work and not eat

Pink stones

Enjoy creating good activities !

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Order, Co-ordination, Concentration and Independence


A child pincer grips a bead and place it on the plastic pockets. See that he is picks up only 1 bead at a time. Helps to develop concentration and co-ordination. Notice that the child also picks the bead from L-R, this is order.


Number of bead are equal to the pockets on the plastic mat, which also adds as the control of error and reinforce concentration. When the concentration is re-inforced, encourages independence because the child gets to sit on this activity for a long time and is able to do it by himself without any help. If you start this activity at very early age like 2 years, a child will get familiar to these personality characters of himself/herself that early.


Now, the child pincer grips each bead and place them on a small white leaf saucer. This re-inforce order and co-ordination, for order - the child is directed towards the white saucer to place the beads. So, the order is from basket to the plastic mat to the white saucer and then to the basket again. In the next step, each bead goes back to it's place one at a time, this encourages co-ordination. Notice how neatly child is doing the activity. Children love to do this activity but sometimes because parents and teachers do not understand the benefit of the process of this activity, they discourage them to go in this area - Practical Life (see curriculum). I strongly encourage everyone to emphasize a 2-3 year child on this area for at least 4 months.


Child pours the beads back where he started from - the basket.

Activities that can help O.C.C.I ( order, concentration, co-ordination and independence) are squeezing, scooping, pouring, pounding, twisting, grasping and stringing. These activities are very easy to make at home. It will help your child to concentrate, co-ordinate, order and be independent. Try practicing at home for few months and you will see the difference right away.

Have fun !

Sunday, June 19, 2011

Jiggling rice


What fun when you jiggle rice and find a star fish, pine cone, cute eraser, a rock, and other cute objects. This is one other activity that helps a child's hand and eye co-ordination, develops independence and order. It also helps more control over holding objects and the develops hand muscles.

Materials - Plastic jar half filled with rice, some objects(could be your child's favorite things) and a cute bowl of your choice. All the objects are hidden inside the rice.

Procedure - A child tries to open the lid of the jar. You can guide him/er by telling to open from L-R, hold the jar tightly and roll the edges of the lid from L-R. Most of the times children are able to open this lid but if the child is petite then you may have to help by opening it half way, let him/er open completely. Place the lid on the side. Child puts his/er right hand and jiggle into the rice to find one object, place each object in the container on the side.
Note : The child takes only one object at one time.
Once each object is out in the bowl, child returns them back inside the rice in the jar and hides them. Close the lid.

Control of Error - Jar's lid open only one way L-R, Number of the objects.

Enjoy jiggling !!

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Enrichment of Vocabulary

Letter to picture. Activity shown in NEMTEC.
This activity assists us in getting to know the child, his/er vocabulary, thoughts and if the child remembers his/er phonetic sounds. We will show each picture to the child and  have a conversation about what a child thinks of the picture, if she remembers seeing it somewhere and so on.
Here, we have pictures of different animals but you can choose your kind of theme, it can be objects in the house, birds, picture of the nature or random pictures, whatever you can find. Make sure you have pictures for each letter from a-z. We have added wooden cloth pins to each letter.


For example - We take a picture of a tiger. We ask a child, "What is this?"; "Have you seen it somewhere?"; "What does this animal eat?"; "Do you see the black stripes on his body?" Most of the time a child may know about a tiger. If a child is new to an object then introduce it by giving examples from daily life or related to the object. Then, you try to connect the letter to the picture and say, "This is t t t tiger. Lets pick a cloth pin for this picture ! See every cloth pin has a letter on it. Which letter does the tiger begins with ?" Let the child find the cloth pin for the picture. Child pins the cloth pin. Use the same process with other letters. Try to keep the order of letters based on the concrete to abstract thinking or say easy to hard, for example -

a, m, t, s, c
e, n, j, p, v,
i, f, w , l, k
o, h, d 
u, g, b, r, q
x, y, z

Children of all the ages love to do this activity. 

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Feelings and growth

"Curiosity in children nature has provided, to remove
         that ignorance they were born with; which, without this
         busy inquisitiveness, will make them dull."
--Locke [1913 Webster].


You must have noticed, many times I mention that every child is unique or age does not matter when it comes to learning. Learning totally depends on each child.

There were times when I wondered, how every child could be unique and I do get my answer. It's the child's urge and the intense interest in a certain object that makes him/er unique. Not every child likes to read a book or play with the dolls. Some children may have similar interest and can form a group but still, it is every child's own essence, demeanor and psychic aptitude that defines a child's uniqueness.

By understanding this, will lower our expectations from our children, will help us step back and start to observe them. This will not only enlighten us but will let children recognize their capabilities, interest and sensibility towards an object. They may suddenly enjoy learning Math or Language or Science. It is not the competitive environment that encourages them to learn but it's the inquisitiveness, urge to know the unknown, the fun and passion in doing an activity makes them unique or for some people, makes them the best.

It's their moment to discover happiness in learning, sharing and growing. We should encourage them by creating an environment filled with love, security and compassion. Let not time be the limit but let the light of knowledge embrace your child. We should direct the child to feel the need of learning by giving an information about the world, people, community and nature. We, as parents and teachers should devote attention towards a child's feelings. Encourage them and be their strong support.

Blessings to all those nurturing hands !

Monday, June 13, 2011

Multiples of 5

Multiples of 5

Control of error- numbers on the white star.
At the seminar in June, 2010 at NEMTEC, I came across this activity by one teacher and I loved it. Such a good way to help a child learn the multiples of 5.

Materials - Choose any 11 felt color cloths. Cut ten different felt cloths into 55 stars where each color is equal to numerals 1-10 that indicates multiplier and shows how many times a multiplicand will be multiplied. Number 5 is the multiplicand and one star is equal to number 5. The 11th felt color has the numbers 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45 and 50 written on them, this will be our answer.

Aim - To learn and work with and understand the multiplication tables.

Age - I have done multiplication with a child as young as 4 years old so I would say 4 onwards. See, every child is unique. Some children learn multiplication by 6 only. And this is totally OK. They are more interested in other areas of learning. Some children just want to do Math or Language. It's their sensitive period towards that subject.

Control of error -
  • The multiplicand number 5 where one star is equal to 5.
  • The 55 stars in 1-10 different colors.
  • The numbers on the white stars.
  • When 1 star = 5 then 2 stars will make it 10; 3 stars will make 15 and so on.
Here, you tell the child that you are doing the activity named multiples of 5.  Place all the white stars with answers on top of the rug. Then, place one red star under 5 and say, "One star is equal to number 5." Carry on placing stars 2 - 10 under the following answer stars. Child by now is smart to figure how to find stars from numeral 1-10, i.e, which color has 2,3,4, 5...10 stars.
This is a point where a child has already learned the decimal system, i.e. the formation of complex numbers, addition and multiplication by the bank, the stamp box and the multiplication by the bead board. All these are the Montessori material activities. But if your child already knows addition then this is a good activity to introduce multiplication. It's more fun.

Enjoy !

Saturday, June 11, 2011

Thank you Readers


Just realized that it's been 1 month 2 days since I started to write this blog. And, I have got so much of support from all of you. I thank all of you readers, people who wrote comments and all my subscribers and followers. It feels great that I had been heard in just a short time. I feel so happy that my thoughts and feelings are acknowledged by the comments and subscribers. It feels good that I had been able to help some people with my activities. Thank you Henry Cate from http://whyhomeschool.blogspot.com/2011/05/carnival-of-homeschooling-memorial-day.html for making my blog what's important - age or learning ? so popular. Thank you so much.

I love being a teacher and it gives an immense satisfaction to my heart when I help a child see his/er inner capabilities and let them know that they can do any challenging work and see them blossom so well !

All your support is encouraging and motivates me to express my thoughts and share more activities. Thank you everyone :) I highly appreciate your support.

Friday, June 10, 2011

Weekend, vacation and Science !

For most of you, it is a beginning of the summer vacations. I am so glad that summer is here finally after 6 months of long long winter !

Summer is a good season to do outdoor science activities, for example, exploring plants, insects and doing living and non-living activity is so much fun! The activity which I will show you now is a multipurpose activity. So, it has living and non-living objects and enhances vocabulary. It is nicer to do this activity with a group but it could also be done with 1 or 2 children.

Like I had said that presentation is very important. For this activity, we need paper bags equal to the number of children including yourself, colors/crayons, art paper and a pencil. Give away some paper bags to children which they can color as they like, to make it more interesting add some craft materials like sequences, glitter, stickers etc.  When the bags are ready and looking pretty, we will try to create a suspense. So, whisper, " Do you know what we will do with this bag? " Children will think and share their ideas. Say, " We will all walk outside, remember - 'walk', and pick up anything you see on your way. When I call everyone, we will have a circle time with your things in your bag kept safely. Do not open your bag !" Children will ask you questions, and fun begins.

Here, the pictures I took are from my training at NEMTEC. We girls got all sorts of things. I did this with children too and we had lots of fun !
So, we are in the circle, and teacher says, " In my bag I have a twig ! I can do anything with a twig. It does not eat, sleep or walk. It does not need air and water.  So, it is a non-living thing. If you have a twig or a branch keep it here." pointing at a column and label it twigs. You can also label them as Living and Non-living things as a variation. Follow the same step by taking things, talk if it is a living thing or a non-living thing, and label them. For a living thing I would ask questions like, " Does it breath ? Does it walk ? Does it need air and water ? Do they reproduce ? " So, I have to make a child's mind think and wonder, and s/he should be able to give the answer. If they do not give any answer then I would compare a living and a non-living thing in front of them. Ask questions gently, and let them think.
there is everything in here.

Counting how many children got that object

Somebody found this big mushroom. Children will get different insects too, so a good place to do this activity is outside in a garden or a park.

Children sometimes get their favorite objects from the garden like my favorite object is a rock. And I share this with them. I tell them," My favorite non-living thing is a rock ! What is your favorite non-living thing ?" So, I am playing a game with them keeping the non-living and living things in my mind. We talk a lot about living and non-living objects while playing. I give some important information about a rock formation or how the leaf gets it's color or anything I would know at the back of my mind.

You can also read a book on living and non-living things. Some books are :
By Elizabeth Rose
What's Alive? by Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld explains how to tell the difference between living and nonliving things
by Carol K. Lindeen
What is a Living Thing by Bobbie D. Kalman
OR, you can sing a Am I Living ? song ( Tune : Are you sleeping ) !!!!!!!!

Am I living, am I living?
Yes I am, yes I am.
I need food, air, water.
I do reproduce, I do have young.

Am i living, am I living?
No I'm not, no I'm not.
You don't have to feed me,
Air and water aren't needed.
I don't reproduce, I don't have young.

Have FUN !!!!!!

Thursday, June 9, 2011

Sounds - Spirits of the Alphabets

The following is a list of letters and the phonetic sounds made by each, as represented in a phonetic word. Sounds, not names, should be taught very early in the Montessori classroom.

A as in ant said as 'ah' with your mouth stretch as if you were smiling.
B "   " bat    "   "  'b-ah'
C "   " cat    "   "  'c-ah'
D "   " dog    "   "  'd-ah'
E "   " red    "   "  'aeh'
F "   " fun    "   "  'ph'
G "   " gas    "   "  'gh'
H "   " hat    "   "  'hh'
I "   " it     "   "  'eh'
J "   " jump   "   "  'jh'
K "   " kiss   "   "  'kh'
L "   " lost   "   "  'el'
M "   " mud    "   "  'mm'
N "   " nest   "   "  'n'; it is not 'na', as I have seen lots of teachers presenting this way, yes, one has to remember the region as every country has it's way of speaking sounds. Still, I strongly think teaching correctly is very important. So, I say 'n' with the tip of my tongue touching the roof of the mouth right behind the teeth, let it stay there and make a sound 'n'. I do not leave my tongue until the sound 'n' is made, then close your mouth.
O "   " ox   said as  'oh'
P "   " pot    "   "  'p-ah'
Q "   " queen  "   "  'k' ; stretch your mouth as if you were smiling.
R "   " run    "   "  'rr'
S "   " sat    "   "  'ss'
T "   " top    "   "  't-h'
U "   " up     "   "  'uh'
V "   " van    "   "  'v-ah' ; stretch your mouth.
W "   " wet    "   "  'vh'; half mouth opened.
X "   " x-ray  "   "  'ks'
Y "   " yes    "   "  'y-ah'
Z "   " zip    "   "  'zz'

Now, I'd like to say that every child comes from a different family, with parents from different regions. Accent generally does not come from the way you learn the sound but the way you hear a complete sentence/word. There are parents with concerns for a child forgetting his/er regional accent or language. And, I always tell them that it's the environment that effects the accent not what or how the child is learning a sound. What I am trying to say is that one should not impose on a child to speak one way or the other. Let the child feel comfortable with his/er language. Create a happy and loving environment for a child and you see how quickly a child grows academically, physically and emotionally. Follow the child, observe him/er and then give directions with appropriate methods of learning.

All these sounds are presented with the Three Period Lesson, one by one. DO NOT rush to teach the sounds. Let the child have fun while learning. Check the lesson plan of presenting the sounds in my blog Language learning is FUN !

Have fun with sounds !

Sorry for adding this video last minute. It is a great song for children to learn letter sounds ! Enjoy !




Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Tracing

Tracing is one of my favorite activity for the beginners, say 2-3.5 yrs old children. It involves lots of fun while learning to hold a pencil, control over writing, improve hand and eye co-ordination, independence, concentration, order, drawing a straight line, forming letters in future and creating a work log. Tracing is also a part of fine motor activity curriculum.

Lots of children love to take their work home, and it's nice to give them some paper work once a while, to show off. Tracing activities fulfill all the purpose. Some classrooms have the privilege to use the tracing table as shown in the picture, while others use laminated pictures into cards and clip the tracing sheets over, that's fun too. Whatever works for you !

I, most of the time suggest tracing activity to a child who has concentration difficulties and cannot sit at one spot for more than a minute. Tracing, as I mentioned above helps in developing concentration which is also fun to do. So, it helps an active child to devote his/er energy in creating an object that s/he dreamed of, later, take home to show parents and family. It encourages the child to direct his/er mind towards creativity and learning new forms of objects, lines and printing letters. Most importantly, for all the children, it helps them to learn to write from left to right.

For a quite child too, I love this activity because it helps him/er to communicate, co-ordinate, concentrate and work with other children. They do tracing activities and then show their creativity to their friends in the classroom. It builds their confidence, helps to socialize and work together.

To help you,  you can print printable sheets from : http://www.lilbunnyhops.com and http://www.kidzone.ws/

Enjoy !

A hug a day keeps tears away

copyright - Divya Jain
True, hugs can be magical. Some children love to be hugged all the time while others when they do a challenging work. It's interesting to notice how children can be so unique. One child will give you a hug every day, other will need a hug when s/he is sad and other will just simply hug you because you look beautiful. Wonder, if you noticed that hugs are so natural with children as compared to us, the grown ups !

We should not forget that we have a child or children around us. Children who are so pure, innocent, fragile, tender, and naughty at the same time. They need to know all the time that they are not alone, and the hard work they are doing has been done with others too. It's like that there is a solution to every problem and the hug gives all the answers. It is an old saying that "your heart knows it all." What we have to do is be connected to our heart and let the mind, heart and body be in sync. This sync somewhere motivates to focus, stay calm and think again. And, we get our solution to our problems. But somebody should be there to hug, to tell that it's ok.

Children have curious minds and they are always learning from their environment. And there will be moments when they will need a little direction, help, guidance and limits, it's like how we have road signs on the road to tell us when to turn right/left only or a speed limits. The same way we create an environment around children by giving directions and forming limits. Both ways, they need a hug. Limits frustrates anyone, children too and they need a hug to tell them it's ok, and that's how we learn and help maintaining discipline.

A hug tells it all. It gives children strength, hope, smile, happiness and there life suddenly becomes beautiful. So, keep your hugs always ready for your child/ren.

Friday, June 3, 2011

Getting ready for the first day of preschool - Part 2

image taken by me and while I was clicking, I simply thought of children. Aren't children like these buds ?!
In part 1, I talked little bit about how to help older children get ready for their preschool. Now, I will share my experience with younger children or children who had never been to school before. Yes, it is their literally the first day of preschool. 

As I mentioned before that it is the hardest part of being a teacher, to develop that trust in a child at the first sight. I think it was easy for me as I strongly believe in the love and I had that privilege to be in it with some children. It is so true that a child is all about love, trust, purity and most of all communication. I had always seen in a child's eyes the thirst to express and talk. It's hard to see this though because every child is unique, for example - I remember once, it was also my first day as a teacher, one child would not leave his mom and come inside the classroom. He was fine on the orientation day but like I said, 1st day of school is always special. It was hard to get him into the classroom. What worked with him was my low and gentle voice with loads and loads of trust

Some tips that can possibly help children transition from home to school are communicating, reading, loving and building trust trust and more trust. It's a long life you have go with them. Unfortunately, for us - teachers, we have to save every moment spend with them. Those memories are like jewels saved for life ! I love and cherish every moment spend with all my students. It is hard because then they leave or sometimes I move to a different place, I guess, there is something called just do your karma. No, I just don't do it but cherish each moment of it! I think that's the beauty of life and living it - beautiful memories !
During the summer time, when you get that chance to be with your child, talk about different places to visit, for example- cabins, beaches, museums and then come school ! I am sure most of the parents must be doing this. It is nicer to keep talking about this, since you are building the curiosity in their minds. You can talk about everything about the world and they'll love it.

Read them books about school, friends and learning new things. This link will take you to all those books that can be a great help communicating your message. I personally love 'The Kissing Hand' by Audrey Penn, the must must have book in every home. And, I have seen lots of mothers doing this with their children before they leave, it seriously works ! 

The transition is tough only for that moment, and it becomes much easier gradually. One thing that helps is when parents and teachers connect with each other. See, the logic behind this is simple, children trust parents, it is a bridge of trust that is build between the teacher, school and parents, or I should say it's a flow of trust and children are in it

Children are very good observers. They notice the gate of the school, how they feel it, the other teachers, all the students of the school, everything. They are curious minds, remember, so they want to be in this environment, you have already communicated them about school, friends and learning. So, they want to be here. It is just that moment. Once that moment is clicked in the child's mind, then, you did it ! There will be a day when your children will not want to go back to home. Cherish each moment !


Thursday, June 2, 2011

Getting ready for the first day of Preschool - Part 1

image taken by me

Seriously, it is the one and only day when I cry with the children. It's the most challenging part of being a teacher. It is also a day when I am very excited and look forward to. Some students come straight from their mom's shelter, for some it's their 2nd year while for others it's their last year. So, it's a mixed emotions time. And everyone help each other a great deal.

Summer time is a good time for preparing children for the next year or for their 1st day of preschool. Although, most of the schools have an 'orientation day' before the school starts, then, we have a week open only for our senior students, or for our old students, still, it's nicer if children do not get a big change in their schedule after summer vacations. So, to keep their emotion up to date it's nicer to have more organized and a planned summer.

In this part 1, lets start with the older children. I strongly suggest parents of the older children, to keep up with their reading schedules daily, for example, children should read Bob books daily or give them a small paragraph to read from any book, basically spend more time reading different kinds of books. The sleeping hours and nap time should be same ALL the time. I mean around the year. Parents should keep a good check on their eating and drinking milk habits. It is easier to maintain the sleeping and eating schedules with a older child. So, you can give him/er the rest of the time to work with some fun activities, for example, making things with Lego's, some science activities, start a challenging puzzle, or spend some good time in the library.

The most important thing parents can do is to keep them in touch with their school friends. Talk to them about friendship, good behavior, respecting elders and lastly, but not the least, how they can be a good helping hand to their younger friends, siblings and elders. We do the same in the school. In the group circle time we do lots and lots of talking by giving examples, reading books or while playing. 'I spy'  and a 'Detective' game are good games to play with children.

What I am trying to say is, keep the environment at home which motivates them to learn, for example, if you talk about values, science activities, friendship or math or reading, they will be curious and would like to know the methods to learn. In other words, be their role model. You must be thinking why during summer vacations only. Of course, you will be their role model for the whole life but you get an opportunity to spend more time with your children during the summer vacations, that's now ! Your children and you get to see each other now, as compared to the rest of the year. So, why not make the good use of it. This will give them an energy/motivation
to look forward to go to school in September, or they may encourage you to send them to a summer session.