Fun Ideas for "Back to School"
Tips to Get Into New Routines for the Start of the New School Year
Aug 25, 2009
With the days still long and warm it is hard for many families to return to a school routine with early bedtime. Here are some simple tricks which will help the children to get back on track.
Say Goodbye Before Starting Something New
To start something new, it is important to say goodbye to whatever has passed. A good way to bid farewell to summer vacation is to make a box in which everybody in the family can collect pictures, tickets and other memorable of the summer. Find a big plate or tray to display some of the summer-objects, some sand, seashells, pine cones, and beautiful stones. This way there will still be a part of the vacation in the house when the school year starts.
Establish a Routine
Next establish a fun evening routine. Get the whole family together and do something you all enjoy, be it playing a game, watching a favorite movie, or making a super ice cream sundae. Also use these evenings to think back. Look at the pictures taken during the summer. Get out the scrapbook or play with the summer-memory-tray you made to get creative. Use the objects to tell each other stories about favorite summer-events, and pack them away in the box dedicated to the past summer.
Little Steps Make it Easy
Now that the family started to say “good-bye”, introduce the routines for the upcoming school year. Start setting a time when everybody has to be in bed to get up in time. If this is too hard, and the kids stay up much too late, try getting them in bed 15 minutes earlier every day.
Create a “Back-to-School” Calendar
Make a back-to-school calendar. Simply write the countdown on a piece of paper, which the kids can decorate. Cross out the dates or use stickers. Another idea is to make a kind of back-to-school "advent-type" calendar. Every day children receive a little present, including little things which they will need for the next school year. Simply number little packets and arrange them. Presents can be simple and include necessities like crayons, a nice pen, fancy glue-sticks, a super eraser, a new pencil case, a cute lunch-box, or name stickers.
Find Things to Look Forward To
Also think of giving them vouchers for fun things to do when the school year has started. It is much easier to get back to something, which might not be that exciting, if there are things to look forward to. Let the kids write some post cards to friends, inviting them to some of the fun events, which can be as simple as a picnic on the playground after school or a trip to the ice cream parlor, or farmers market
Ways to Make Writing-Practice Fun
By letting the kids write those invitations they also get some writing practice in. Also try these fun ideas to encourage your child to practice reading, writing and math. Make it fun to get back to a school-day routine and encourage to think about the positive things: Being together with friends, learning new things - and, of course, looking forward to the next vacation.
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