Remember the feeling of joy you had as a child when summer break finally came?  Freedom!

As a parent, though, you might be worried about the “summer slide.”

This year surprise your child with these summer gift ideas for kids that they will not only enjoy, but will also help avoid the summer slide and keep them learning over summer break.

And be sure to check out our summer crafts and activities for more fun ideas for summer.

Affiliate links have been provided for your convenience.  

Your child has worked hard all school year.  They deserve a break from worksheets and spelling quizzes, but you also don’t want them to lose all those skills they’ve worked so hard on.

These gifts will keep them thinking and learning all summer so they are ready when school resumes in the fall.  

For more fun educational gift ideas, check out these gifts for homeschool families.

End of the Year Gifts for Kids

Journal:  A blank writing journal and some colorful pens (or pencils) is perfect for inspiring your child to practice writing skills this summer.

Buy a new journal before that family vacation and collect ticket stubs and pictures to add to the journal as they write about the places you visit.

Or, use the journal to write letters back and forth with your child.  Leave a short note thanking them for helping clean up the dishes (or for playing nicely with siblings) and be sure to ask a few questions for them to answer in their next journal entry.

Games and Puzzles:  There are so many fun and educational board games available.   Check out Brain Quest Smart Game .  It has questions that that focus on science, math, art, reading and the world.

Work on spelling and vocabulary with Scrabble or similar game.   And we love these math games; so fun they won’t even know they are learning.

For preschool-aged children, check out my list of preschool games they will love.   Plan a weekly family game night (even if it’s just half an hour) and make memories this summer having fun and learning together.

Kids Cookbook:  Cooking together is a great opportunity to work on reading skills, following directions, fractions and more.

Let your child choose a recipe early in the week and write out a grocery list together for the ingredients needed. (Sneaking in a bit of writing and spelling.)  Then have fun creating a yummy dish for the family to enjoy.

Magazine Subscription:  Kids love getting mail!  Imagine the smile on their face when they see their name on their very own magazine.  Not only will they be working on reading skills, but most kids magazines also have a variety of puzzles to solve and keep them thinking.

S.T.E.M. Toys:  There are so many great toys on the market that foster science, technology, engineering, and math skills.

• Younger children will love exploring how gears work.
• Remember Tinker Toys?  Your child can design all kinds of things, take them apart, and build again.  Both of mine love the set of Tinker Toys we have that belonged to my husband as a child.
• HexBugs are super affordable and are a great introduction to simple robotics.   Your child will can spend hours engineering hex bug mazes for them, all the while learning.  
• Snap Circuits  give your child a chance to learn about basic circuitry while building things like flashlights, sirens and other fun simple technology.

STEM Kit:  Going along with the whole S.T.E.M. idea, your child will love their own STEM kit you can create with items for the dollar store .

For close to $20 you can gather the supplies to do tons of fun science experiments with your child. Put the items in a plastic tub, stick a bow on it, and watch their face light up as they try their hand at some kitchen science.

Tinkering Kit:  By gathering up items you probably already have in the house and storing them together in one spot, you will be providing them endless hours to build and get creative.   Not sure what to include?  I love the ideas provided in this DIY Tinkering Kit.

Summer break is coming.  

These end of the school year summer gifts for kids will keep your child learning while having lots of fun, too. 

You may also like:

• DIY Gifts Kids Will Love
• Awesome Gifts for Kids That Love Mermaids
• Make Your Mark — Encourage Your Child’s Love of Writing

The post Gift Ideas to Keep Kids Learning This Summer first appeared on There's Just One Mommy.

I remember loving the books as a child and I thought I had read all of them, until I stumbled upon the book Wacky Wednesday.

The book quickly became a favorite in our house. 

We love it so much, in fact, that we have fun with Wacky Wednesday activities every year as part of our Dr. Seuss activities in March. 

The silliness in this book will delight kids of all ages.

You can easily have fun with these ideas for Wacky Wednesday any time of the year.  It doesn’t even have to be on a Wednesday!   After all, what could be wackier than having Wacky Wednesday on a Friday?   

Don’t forget older kids love getting wacky, too!  Check out these Seuss activities for older kids.

Dr. Seuss Wacky Wednesday

Prior to celebrating your own crazy day, take time to read Wacky Wednesday aloud to your child.  

The book is full of hidden pictures of silly things taking place.  Encourage your child to scan the pictures and look for the strange, crazy, and out-of-place items.  

Each new page will tell you how many items to look for.  Can your child find them all?  

You can continue the fun with a few of the ideas below.  

Wacky Wednesday Activities

The night before you plan to celebrate Wacky Wednesday, prep your house for a wacky wake-up in the morning.  

I suggest starting with ideas from the book itself. 

In the book the silliness all starts off with a shoe on a wall. 

You can do this quite simply.  If you have pictures hanging on the wall, take one down and use the hook in the wall to hang one of your child’s shoes.  

I love to go a little crazy with this, and use every shoe I can find. 

Start by hanging a few on the wall.  Then try putting them on top of curtain rods, hanging them from door knobs, balancing them on top of lamp shades…. 

Of course you don’t have to just use shoes.  Feel free to get wacky in other ways, too.

Try flipping over tissue boxes, a kitchen chair, and some toy cars.  

What about turning all the books around in the bookcase?

When the kids get up, it won’t take long for them to notice things are a little crazy. 

Announce that it’s Wacky Wednesday and send them on a scavenger hunt of sorts — looking for all the wacky things that are out of place.  

Wacky Wednesday Ideas

What other wacky things can you do that day?  

Make it an all day activity by trying a few of these fun ideas.  

• Try serving breakfast under the table.   You might even find yourself getting a little Seussical, “Eating under the table, well that shouldn’t be.  Things left that are wacky, there are now 3!”

• Dress silly!  Wear your shirt inside out or backwards.  Will your child notice?  Or try wearing 2 different colored socks.
• Eat dessert before your main meal.  
• Give each other crazy hairstyles.
• Try walking backwards or in different animal walks to get around your house.  
• Have a pet?  Our dog even got in on the action by wearing one of my husband’s t-shirts.

Wacky Wednesday Activities for Kindergartners

Looking for some educational activities to go with the book?  

These ideas will work in a classroom or at home.  

• Whack a Word —  Preschoolers and kindergartners will have fun with this early reading game.  
• Wacky Elephant Toothpaste — Mix a little science into your day with this wacky, foamy experiment that kids love.  
• Mixed-Up Hundred Chart Game — You can easily adjust this game to the level of your child.  Mix up the pieces to your hundred chart and challenge them to put the pieces back in the correct order.  Perfect for kids learning to count to 100!
• Dancing Frankenworms — Can you make a gummy worm dance?  This silly science activity will get kids excited about science. 

Wacky Wednesday Crafts

Craft time is the perfect time to get a little silly!  

• Silly Creatures — Inspired by another Seuss book, these silly creatures are perfectly wacky and wonderful.  
• Wacky Painting — Discover some wacky painting ideas that will inspire your child to get creative.
• Popcorn Faces — This silly craft is perfect for toddlers and preschoolers.  
• Wacky Wednesday Hat — Print out this template and create your own hat to go with the book.  Or, create your own silly hats to wear!

More Dr. Seuss Activities:

• Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You? Printable Activity 
• Yertle the Turtle Math Game
• Seuss Inspired Sight Word Game
• Paper Plate Cat in the Hat Craft
• I Can Lick 30 Tigers Today — Craft

The post Simple & Fun Wacky Wednesday Activities first appeared on There's Just One Mommy.

Hmmm….  Good question.  I honestly didn’t know; after all, they don’t tend to put buttons on the younger kids’ clothes anymore, so he really hadn’t had an opportunity to practice.

That got me thinking, if he doesn’t want to use one of those “learn to dress dolls,” what other ways could he practice those skills?

Yes, I could have him button up a sweater while I wear it.  (But do I really want to sit still all that time while he does that?)  Or I could put the sweater over the back of a kitchen chair, but honestly I don’t think my active 3 year-old son is going to think that is any fun…

Nope, I needed something to catch his interest.

And it came to me one night while I was singing him to sleep.  (Surprisingly I come up with some of my best ideas that way…)

I have plenty of felt.  (Cloth that sticks to itself and doesn’t need a hem to keep from unraveling?  Just awesome.)  I remembered something I had seen on Pinterest:   plain squares of felt with buttons on one piece and a button hole on a second piece for kids to practice buttoning skills.  But I wanted to jazz it up a bit, make it something that would really grab his interest from the start.

I considered doing something with cars…  But decided to go a little simpler – bugs!  After all, he has been known to love bugs. 

I chose 3 bugs that are pretty simple to draw:  a bee, ladybug, and spider.  Then I drew each of them something to sit on:  a flower, leaf, and spiderweb.

Since, I didn’t want the button to show up on the bug’s back,  I sewed the button on the backside of each bug. 

The result?

He was really excited with his new “friends.”  I showed him how to maneuver the button through the button hole and back out again.  He caught on to the buttoning part fairly quickly; unbuttoning the pieces was a little trickier.  

I’ve put the “button bugs” in one of the quiet time boxes we have (which is something I hope to share with you all soon), so he can practice with them each week. 

And next time the doctor asks if he can do a button?  I’ll be able to say, yes!

Shared on some of these family-friendly link up parties.

The post Buttoning Skills with Button Bugs first appeared on There's Just One Mommy.

We know the truck section at the library by heart.  One of his favorite truck books he checked out this summer is I Am a Backhoe.

Once we had read the book several times, it just seemed natural to act out all the trucks the little boy in the book acted out.

Using our hands we pretended to be backhoes – scooping up dirt and rocks.  Then we reached way up high on our tippy-toes and were cranes.

With our hands together and facing out, we pushed “dirt” like bulldozers…and then he spotted his red step-stool and decided to add it to the fun – making it the shovel for the bulldozer, and later it was on his back like a dump truck.

(To make it even more fun I crumpled up some paper “rocks” for us, too!)

I wanted a little craft to go with our book, so we decided to make construction vehicle puppets.

There are several sites where you can find coloring book pictures of cars/trucks.  Print out the picture both
facing right and left.  (Crayola.com has a few where they are already facing both ways!)  Color the pictures and cut them out and then glue them together over a popsicle stick.  So simple!(We made a dump truck and a bulldozer, which are in the book, but my Monkey HAD to have the fire truck, too!)

Have a little guy (or girl) who loves trucks as much as mine does?  I highly recommend checking out this book!

The post I Am a Backhoe – Book Activities first appeared on There's Just One Mommy.