Dr. Toy's Rx for Summer: Strive for Learning, Activity, Creativity, Balance, and Plenty of Fun

Check out Dr. Toy's Vacation Playtime Pointers

Summertime provides your child with a perfect opportunity to unwind, stretch mind and muscles, explore the backyard and nature, discover new places, and fully enjoy a change of pace. This is an important season for children to continue informal learning while they play both indoors and out.

Children work hard in school and need balanced time for healthy development, including activity for physical growth, creativity for expanding imagination, and learning to keep young minds alert. School requires concentration and energy, and so does playtime.

Through play, the "work" of children, they learn and practice essential skills in every season, but especially they benefit from summertime. Summertime is best spent far from the electronic circuits of TV and video games. This is perfect weather to use the child's "natural circuits" for even more creativity, activity and learning. It's the perfect time to explore nature, engage in hobbies, practice music, and exercise the mind with games that are played interacting with others.

Indoor play can involve creative arts and crafts like painting on a flat surface or with large sheets of paper on an easel; or making simple things like collages from cut-outs, using stickers like Colorform sets, or paper dolls, or engaging in a favorite hobby. Many creative activities can be easily combined with listening to music for added value and relaxation.

Building projects are always fun and an extension of creative play. Consider some of the construction products suggested by Dr. Toy using a varied materials. Our web site features many excellent construction products for wider use of this valuable activity that helps to improve tactile skills, eye-hand coordination, problem solving, and social cooperation and experience.

A good portion of time should be spent outdoors in age-appropriate play. Outdoor activities can take the form of walking, skating, jumping rope, bike riding, swimming, hiking, walking along nature paths, playing sports like baseball, tennis, golf, basketball, skating and the many other activities that allow for the further development of physical skills and the improvement of coordination of minds and bodies.

Exercise is more important than ever before. Varied outdoor playtime is important for all children of all ages every day. Being safe and having fun outdoors gives an essential balance that complements everything else they're doing. Playing outdoors brings children into activity that they greatly need for their developing bodies, and helps them in other ways such as keeping physically fit and socializing with their peers.

Many excellent product choices are listed to assist you in selecting playthings for a productive and fun-filled summer vacation. You will want to search for the right products when you are planning a vacation so your child has plenty of worthwhile activities while traveling. Create a travel bag for each child filled with fun small things they can enjoy while en route anywhere and when you get to your destination. Pack a jump rope, Frisbee, audiotapes, and books. Being happily engaged reduces stress and makes the trip and time away more enjoyable.

Playing helps to expand children's outlook, imagination, and interests. They thrive if given a chance to develop stories with puppets and dolls, figure out new puzzles like the amazing "Scramble Squares," discover the fun of reading different books, playing games, or constructing something new.

The diverse list of products in our award winning selections include details about age range, play categories, and price to assist you in finding just the right products.

Children have plenty of questions to ask you at home and on the road; they want to have conversations; and, most of all, they want to play, discover, and explore to their fullest potential. Take along a map when you travel and let them locate sites en route to your destination so they can more easily follow the path to learning and fun.

Here is Dr. Toy's Rx Checklist for wholesome summertime vacation playtime to help parents and grandparents make the time more balanced and fun for the children in their lives:

• Select a good variety of challenging products appropriate for a child's age and interests.
• Arrange toys and playthings so they are easy to access and easy to store away.
• Plan play activities to be varied, interesting, and enjoyable.
• Take time to do creative and fun projects with your child.
• Visit your local public library so your child continues to read and appreciate the value of books.
• Create a good blend of indoor and outdoor play.
• Remind children that they should drink plenty of water during the summer time to avoid dehydration.
• Make sure all children use sunscreen and wear a hat or cap on their heads.
• Assure children get needed rest, eat healthy snacks, receive safety awareness instruction, and engage in safe play. For example, children who cannot swim should not use floating devices in the water as these can slip away. Better to learn to float and swim and gain the confidence needed for water play. Check on YMCA or Red Cross Swimming Classes in your area.
• Supervise your children to assure they play with age appropriate products and play safely to avoid accidents.
• Teach children to prepare simple recipes, including making sandwiches, scrambled eggs, or simple, healthy snacks.
• Encourage children to make something useful like a craft project, or to assemble a puzzle.
• Gather an assortment of creative projects and various materials in a storage box along with easy-to-follow directions.
• Keep an assortment of paper, glue, safety scissors, and magazines to easily cut pictures for a collage or scrapbook in an accessible box.
• Consider projects that involve planting, weeding, and nurturing pets.
• Express your admiration for each accomplishment. Children thrive when their talents are recognized and nurtured.

Plenty of great play ideas and products are available for all ages, interests, and skills. Dr. Toy's assortment of Summer Products for 2010 gives you many good suggestions available from many excellent companies. See my book, Smart Play/Smart Toys, for plenty of good and inexpensive ideas to enrich your child's play-and-learn summer. Have a fun summer and let us know what you discover about the importance of play and play products.

Let's Play!

Stevanne Auerbach, Ph.D., Dr Toy