A Back-to-school Message from Dr. Melissa Merrick
In this video, Dr. Melissa Merrick reinforces the importance “to create the safe, stable, and nurturing environments and relationships that enable our children to succeed and thrive.”
Playing is how children learn about the world, and during the summertime there are tons of activities to keep kids busy. From riding bikes to playing tag with neighborhood friends, there are a lot of different ways for young kids to learn through play. This Parenting Tip has some ideas for activities you can do with your kids that will not only get your kids outside but can help you track developmental milestones as well.
Developmental milestones refer to specific moments that help keep track of a child’s growth. Examples include taking a first step, displaying empathy, and more. Taking the time to play with your child is critical to their development. Not only does this help you form a lasting bond, but it also helps you teach your child life skills and allows you to monitor their development.
Tracking your child’s development is also important for another reason. In case your child is experiencing delays, you will want to bring anything you notice up to your pediatrician as soon as possible. While all children develop differently, there are general rules of thumb that can be useful for parents. The CDC has put together a great resource called Milestones in Action—this resource can help you visualize these milestones and give a rough idea of a time frame to follow.
Below are some suggestions for activities you can do with your children this summer and how to use them to monitor developmental milestones. Some of these activities can be done with you and your child alone, whereas some might require a few more people.
Hold a scavenger hunt: A scavenger hunt is a great activity for several reasons: not only can you easily adapt a scavenger hunt to suit the age of your children, but it helps you track several milestones at different ages.
Play hide-and-seek outside: A long-time favorite of children, hide-and-seek is easy to play and a great game to determine how well your children are doing on milestones such as spatial awareness and following directions.
Have a group play date: Help another parent out by giving him/her a break and hold a group play date. Group activities can help you see how well your child is doing on milestones such as cooperation, creativity and imagination, or wanting to please friends.
For some more suggestions of activities and how they relate to development, view and download the “Go Out and Play!”toolkit.
What other activities will you do this summer? Let us know by tagging us in a tweet (@PCAAmerica) or leaving a comment on our Facebook page!