Summer Fun With Kids
Summer time is here again! Time to get outdoors and enjoy nature with your kids. Or stay inside on a rainy day and enjoy fun activities together. Summer is the time for quiet reflection, relaxing in the shade with a good book or floating along on a raft on a nearby lake. And summer is the time for special events, family gatherings or vacations, experiencing exciting Disney theme parks, family water parks and hotels, the county or state fair, or watching local parades and fireworks. Whatever your plans are for the summer, there is an opportunity to enrich and expand your relationship with your children. They are off from school and there is increased daylight hours, making more time for strengthening the family bond.
Some simple and inexpensive summer activities children and parents can do together include:
1. Visiting the local library and finding books to read together, as well as encouraging children to read on their own. There are summer reading programs going on now at your local library. Check it out! (I find the best way to get a child to read is to be a good role model and read books myself.)
2. Spending time in the great outdoors. This can include so many things, such as picnicking, camping, hiking, fishing, swimming, biking, planting flowers or vegetables, visiting the local playgrounds, flying kites, picking berries, etc. The list can be as long and as varied as your own family’s interests. Outdoor activities provide advantages. Family members can be away from phones, computers, televisions, and other distractions.
3. Playing games with your children. Card games (such as “Go Fish” or “Old Maid”) are always fun. There are also board games for young children (such as “Candyland”) and the games we make up to play in the car (such as the “alphabet” game, where you find something outside or inside the car that begins with a letter). “Simon Says” is a fun game to play with children. In case you have forgotten how to play from your own childhood, Simon is the leader and tells the other players what to do or say. However, if he doesn’t say “Simon says” first, then the players can’t perform the direction and whoever does it is then “out”.
These are just a few tips for making summer family interaction time more fun and special. Whatever you do this summer, make time for family fun.
Jill Phillips
ECFE Parent Educator
Summer Reading Program
The Virginia Public Library is offering several special activities. Most events will be held in the Library’s Auditorium on the lower level. For more information, please contact the Children’s Librarian, Dawn Heisel, at 748-7525. The events are listed in our events calendar.
Breast Feeding Support Circles
Virginia: 4th Wednesday of each month at 10 am
At St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 231 3rd St. So. Enter through the red door. Contact Briita @ 218-290-0496.
Hibbing: 2nd Tuesday of each month at 11:30 am
At First Lutheran Church, 2201 3rd Ave. E. Enter through south alley door. Contact Angela @ 218-940-7676
MinnPost: Who killed the Legislature’s bipartisan, leadership-backed early-ed initiatives?
For the first few months of the recently concluded legislative session, a handful of early-childhood-education initiatives enjoyed near-universal acceptance. Backed by stacks of research, requiring exceptionally modest funding or none at all and blessed with the endorsements of both political parties as well as a power-packed roster of business and civic leaders, the measures seemed the only likely shoo-ins of the session.
House and Senate GOP leaders weren’t crazy about aligning themselves with an issue high on Gov. Mark Dayton’s agenda, but the party was helped over its discomfort by the backing of the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce and current and former executives from Best Buy; General Mills; Cargill and the Cargill Foundation; UnitedHealthcare; Ecolab; Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi; Blue Cross; 3M; Medtronic; and Piper Jaffrey, as well as a host of foundations.
Still, in the wee hours one night in late March, the early-ed initiatives were stricken from the state House of Representatives’ omnibus education bills. With such controversial items as vouchers, an end to traditional teacher tenure and tectonic shifts in school funding also in the air at the time, their spiking generated scant notice.
Now, with dents made in their sleep deficits and a fresh round of sausage-making on the horizon, policy advocates, lobbyists and reporters have had a chance to ask, with seeming consensus about the importance of pre-K, just where did the opposition come from?
May 31, 2011 - 2011 End of Session: Government shutdown coming?
From Ready 4 K
On Monday, May 23 the 2011 Legislative session came to an end with the Legislature and Governor Dayton unable to reach an agreement on solving the state’s $5 billion budget deficit. The governor has been clear that he would not sign an all-cuts budget, which is what the Legislature proposed, and thus he vetoed all of their budget bills (see our end-of-session summary, including the vetoed early childhood provisions).
What does a government shutdown mean for early childhood?
A government shut down will have a direct impact on families and children. Based on the 2005 government shutdown, we know that it could mean the suspension of key services for child care providers and the families they serve, including child care licensing, training for child care providers, and quality improvement services provided by the child care resource and referral network.
To avoid these drastic measures, it’s crucial that legislators compromise on a budget solution that includes new revenue. Governor Dayton has already significantly reduced his income tax proposal, and thus far the legislature has not moved from their cuts-only budget. Your action is needed now!
1. Call your legislators and tell them it’s in the best interest of Minnesota’s future that a compromise be reached that includes revenue. Ask them to tell the leadership of their caucuses that compromise on a budget solution is in the best interest of Minnesota’s children and families.
2. Meet face-to-face with your legislators now that they’ve returned to their districts.
Click here to find your legislator.
Ready4K will continue to keep you updated as budget negotiations take place. Thank you for taking a moment to contact your legislators, and for your continued support of early care and education!