If you’re struggling with ideas for what to do with your infants this summer, our blog has you covered! Naturally, we are biased towards football and sports activities, but we promise in this blog we’ll list activities for a range of hobbies. Read on and we guarantee you and your family will have a summer to remember.
Activities For Outdoors
Gardening
The 6-week holidays are a great time to get the garden back to its most glamorous form. Considering your little one has the time to spare, they might as well get stuck in too! Not only do you get a set of helping hands and home-grown veggies, but there are also many benefits to gardening for infants too.
Gardening brings children closer to nature and instils an environmentally conscious mindset, which, in truth, we could all use a bit more of. Also, in growing their own produce, gardening encourages healthy eating! It’s a rewarding activity that teaches our little ones that hard work pays off.
Park Picnics
Heading to the local park with a picnic and a football for a kickabout is quite literally the perfect afternoon (in our eyes at least). Did you know that, on average, a child only spends 16 minutes a day outdoors? And less than 25% of children meet the recommended level of daily exercise. Now is the time to change those numbers!
For some, heading to the park for an afternoon doesn’t take much planning, but it can still be a memorable day. Bring along their outdoor toys, such as a dolls pram, balance bike or football to keep them entertained and having outdoor fun for longer. Getting the family involved and starting your own mini-tournament breeds healthy competition and ensures your little one stays active over the summer.
Water Play
This one really gets the whole family involved. Water fights are in a lot of ways the highlight of summer. It’s a great way to cool down and be silly about it, which, at the end of the day, is what it’s all about! There is nothing better than seeing your little one laugh, and for some reason, throwing water balloons at family members is always 10/10 comedy!
Activities For Indoors
Creative Play
In child development, creative play can help significantly impact their mental and physical progression. When it comes to boosting your infant’s individual confidence, creative play is a great place to start.
In creative play, whether it be painting, making up characters, or a dance routine, your child will explore the depths of their imagination. In all ways, creativity is a form of self-expression. Your little one will also practice concentration and hone their fine motor skills. You can read more on the benefits of creative play here.
Baking
Now this can sometimes get a bit messy, but that’s all part of the fun. Baking at home with your infants this summer is a perfect activity for a rainy day, which unfortunately we get a lot of over here!
Baking as an activity is highly gratifying (who doesn’t love fresh, warm brownies), and requires focus and concentration. Following a recipe can be calming and is believed to provoke mindfulness. It is also a great way to sharpen your infants’ senses, from the right textures for dough to the delicious smells that will fill your home.
Living Room Obstacle Courses
Creating a mini obstacle course in the living room is always a great way to still be active while indoors. Even with space limitations, you can invent your own ideas and get the little ones involved with creating obstacles from household items. Get creative with it!
Obstacle courses help improve your little one’s gross motor skills, like balance and coordination. It is also a great way to introduce skills required in football, which is what we’re all about. For more ideas, why not check out our blog 3 Fun Ways To Introduce Football For Under 5s At Home?
Importance Of A Summer Routine For Infants
As summertime comes around, it can be quite a daunting time for parents. It’s wonderful to spend so much quality time with our children, but also, a year has been spent pinning down a day-to-day routine. The summer holidays require a rejig of the routine, which will take a minute to adjust to and can be hard to establish with no set plans.
A solid routine provides us with some much-needed structure. For children, routines instil a sense of security and promote well-being. While the summer holidays grant us more freedom, it is good to still have some set activities in the calendar. That way, nobody loses track of time!
Join #TeamOrange With Your Infants This Summer
We hope this blog has given you plenty of ideas for what to do with your infants this summer.
As we were saying, having something in the diary every week is ideal for maintaining a routine in summer. And, in our eyes, what could be better to go to the calendar than weekly Kixx football lessons?
Unlike some other children’s football academies, we stay open throughout the holidays! We welcome everyone, no matter their skill level or experience. We offer age-appropriate lessons for children between 18 months to 11 years old. Follow this link to find an academy near you.
We are big advocates for football, not just because we love it, but for how football for infants encourages development. If you feel like you would like to know more about the positive impact football can have on your child, check out our blog 5 Benefits Of Football For Infants.
If you have more questions or want to ask about our football lessons, please contact us today. We look forward to you joining us at #TeamOrange!
