June’s Odd Holidays = School Readiness Fun and More!

The month of June is full of fun ideas for activities for you and your grandchildren of all ages!   Here are some different celebrations you may never have heard of, yet they offer lots of fun for a summer day, creating wonderful childhood memories.

June 1^{st :} Flip a Coin Day 

A day when making decisions is as easy as flipping a coin. This tradition dates back to Julius Caesar. Caesar would take a coin and flip it to make decisions where the right choice was unclear. The correct answer was “heads”, which of course carried his image on the coin.

1. Flip a coin all day to make decisions about everything you do today.
2. Conduct a science experiment. The prediction is your specific belief about the scientific idea: If what I think is true, then I predict that ‘heads’ or ‘tails’ will come up more often. The experiment (flipping coins for ‘x’ number of times) is a tool that you design to find out if your ideas about your topic are right or wrong.

Have your grands make a prediction about which side of the coin –  heads or tails – will come up most often, when they flip a coin. Take turns ‘flipping’ and keeping score about heads vs. tails.  See whose prediction was correct.  http://www.sciencemadesimple.com/scientific_method.html

June 3^rd : Repeat Day

An opportunity to do things over and over again. Repeat Day is an opportunity to do things over and over again. (ha, ha!)

1. Engage your grands in planning what to do. Make this fun by choosing to repeat things you enjoy doing. Eat the same foods and snacks all day long.  Or pick an activity, game or sport and just repeat it all day long.  Good excuse to eat what you like and do what you want all day long!
2. Make a game of it!  When it is time to repeat everything, use a bell or other instrument to signify the time to ‘repeat’!  And, don’t tell anyone else when the next ‘repeat’ will begin.

June 6^th : Yo-Yo Day

A good excuse to play with your Yo-Yo and a chance to acquaint your grands with a no battery operated toy, a childhood classic from days gone by.  Its origin is hard to prove. Many believe that the Yo-Yo originated in China as early as 500-1000 B.C. There is some evidence, however, that it was first used in Greece even earlier. The Yo-Yo was made popular in America by businessman Donald F. Duncan Sr. He manufactured the “Duncan Yo-Yo” in the early 1900’s.

Yo-Yo Trivia: The world’s largest Yo-Yo weighing 256 pounds is on display at the National Yo-Yo museum.  In 1992, Jeffrey Hoffman took a Yo-Yo into space aboard the shuttle Atlantis.

1.  Buy extra yo-yo’s so each of your grands and the adults can learn some of the most popular tricks, ‘Walk the Dog’ and ‘Shoot the Moon’.
2. Very young grands can enjoy watching your performance; then show them in slow motion some of the tricks.

http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/easy-yo-yo-tricks.htm

 June 17^th: Fresh Veggies Day

A great day to start eating healthier. Enjoy some quick and easy cooking with your grandchildren, assigning tasks based on age and ability. Everybody helps!

1. Add pureed fresh vegetables into spaghetti or tomato sauce or even meat loaf ahead of time.  This is a great way to get young children and even fussy, older folks to eat their veggies without turning up their noses. (This worked great with my widowed, aging mother who  was not eating healthy on her own.)
2. The local farmers market or grocery store has lots of fresh veggies now.  Involve your grands in selecting which vegetables to buy and choosing easy recipes to make together.

http://www.nursingschools.net/blog/2010/10/100-nutritious-delicious-vegetarian-recipes-for-picky-kids-husbands/

http://www.recipe4living.com/articles/15_easy_veggie_recipes_our_top_5_veggie_tips.htm

June 18^th : Go Fishing Day

A day to go out and bring home a healthy, tasty meal. Fishing is hard work.  There are options, here!

1. Plan ahead, purchasing bait and a child’s sized fishing rod and gathering equipment, if fishing is your hobby. Focus on having fun, rather than ‘doing it right’.  Count on spending less time fishing, if you have little ones and be sure to slather on the sun lotion and reapply it.  Wear protective hats, too.
2. Purchase or make a ‘fishing game’.  If you ‘go fishing’ indoors, it can be enjoyed for a shorter period of time.  Play or buy the ‘Go Fish’ card game or make ‘fish shapes’ and a do-it-yourself fishing pole.

http://voices.yahoo.com/free-printable-go-fish-cards-5758494.html?cat=25

http://www.projectsforpreschoolers.com/make-your-own-fishing-game/

June 20^th Ice Cream Soda Day

A great way to cool off from the summer heat.  Choose your flavor of ice cream soda. Chocolate and vanilla are the most popular.  Make custom ice cream sodas by experimenting with different flavors of  ice cream and soda.

1. Go straight to your local ice cream store or, better yet, the old fashioned soda fountain drug store, if your town has one.
2. Find recipes on the internet to make your own at home.

Note: Scooping ice cream on top of the club soda or seltzer won’t create the same “foaming” effect as pouring the club soda or seltzer on top of the ice cream.

June 20^th : Summer Solstice (A different way to celebrate the 20th or do both!)

The longest day of the year. The amount of daylight only goes gets less from now on….for the next six months. Summer Solstice is the meteorological start of summer. Time to enjoy everything summer!

1. Make a sun catcher from leaves, flower petals, feathers and other flat nature treasures. Arrange them on clear contact paper and cover with another piece of clear contact paper. Press and smooth out air bubbles. Trim the paper into a sun-shape (a circle). Punch a hole in the top; thread ribbon through the hole; and hang in front of a window where the sun will shine through it.
2. Mark the official first day of summer with a picnic.  Have your grands help plan your picnic with lots of summer favorites (food, games).  Use a theme; make everything the same color; or ‘pretend’ the picnic is at the beach with everything you would take to the beach.
3. Be a kid again yourself! Play outdoors with your grands all day with no schedules and lots of protective sun lotion and hats.  Remember the games of childhood?  Playing with the neighbor kids ‘til dark? Start with Red Light, Green Light; Red Rover; Four Square; Capture the Flag; Hide and Seek; and Hopscotch.

http://www.dogonews.com/2011/6/21/happy-summer-solstice

June 24^th: Swim a Lap Day

A  good day for your health. It’s a perfect time to enjoy going to the pool and all that summer has to offer… fun and fitness!

1. Everyone swims one lap, whether it’s lengthwise or across the width of the pool. Let children swim a ‘lap’ any way that works for them … even stopping midway or with the help of an adult.
2. Make your own ribbon or medal awards and give one to everyone who swam at least one lap.  Everyone wins and everyone gets in on the fun.

http://www.ehow.com/how_8347941_make-own-ribbon-awards.html

These activities foster development/improvement of a variety of school readiness skills, including fine and gross motor development; pre-reading and reading; vocabulary and reading comprehension; communication, organization and problem solving; pre-math and math; cause and effect; listening and taking turns.  Yet, all your grands will know is that they had a fun time with you!