1. Cook dinner together. Show your child how to measure 1 cup, 1/2 cup, and 1/4 cup.

2. Practice writing words with sidewalk chalk. Use a watering can as an eraser!

3. Plant a flower together. Talk about what plants need to grow. (Sun, water, etc.)

4. Watch a thunder storm. Be excited! Talk to your child about dark clouds, thunder, and lightning.

5. Let your child write a letter to someone, then let your child purchase the stamp and mail the letter at the post office.

6. Grocery day? Take a list and let your child help read the list and locate items.

7. Play outdoor games. Teach your child to play jacks, hopscotch, or marbles.

8. Share an umbrella! Walk in the rain together. Look for rainbows, frogs, and count puddles.

9. Make ABC cupcakes. Using a decorator bag, let your child draw letters on them. Don't forget the sprinkles!

10. Go for a walk on the beach, or by a nearby lake. Take pictures of wildlife, and make a book at home.

11. Visit the pet store. Talk about animal varieties, foods, care items, and responsibilities of pet ownership.

12. Housecleaning day? Let your child help! She can dust, clean windows and more. Start a chore chart.

13. Go to the library for story day. Be sure to bring home books. Keep it up all summer!

14. Get a kids' cookbook and make recipes together. Using words and pictures, let your child help read instructions.

15. Discuss good nutrition habits with a food pyramid. Start naming the food groups when you serve them. Soon, your child will learn them.

SORTING AND STACKING -- Teach classification skills with dinnerware. Ask your child to match and stack dishes of similar sizes and shapes. Also have your child sort flatware -- forks with forks, spoons with spoons. This is like recognizing the shapes of letters and numbers.

TELEPHONITIS -- Give your child practice in reading numbers left to right by dialing a telephone. Make a list of telephone numbers your child can read -- for relatives, friends, the weather bureau -- and have your child make a call or two.

LET 'EM EAT SHAPES -- Cut bread into different shapes -- rectangles, triangles, squares, circles. Make at least two of each shape. Ask your youngster to choose a pair of similar shapes, then to put jam on the first piece, and to place the second piece on top to make a sandwich. This is a snack plus a game to match shapes.

DRESS ME -- Increase your child's vocabulary. Teach the name of each item of clothing your child wears -- shirt, blouse, sweater, sock, shoe when your child is dressing or undressing. Also teach the body parts -- head, arm, knee, foot. Then print the words on paper and ask your child to attach these papers to the clothes in the closet or drawers. Make a pattern of your child lying on a large sheet of paper. Tack it up. Ask your child to attach the words for the body parts to the right locations.

HIDDEN LETTERS/WORDS -- Build reading observation skills with this activity. Ask your child to look for letters/words on boxes and cans of food and household supplies. For example, find five A's or three C's, or any number of letters or combinations on cereal boxes, soup cans, bars of soap. Start with easy-to-find letters and build up to harder-to-find ones. Then have your children write the letters on paper or point out the letters on the boxes and cans.

DISAPPEARING LETTERS -- Promote creativity and build muscle control with a pail of water and a brush. On a warm day, take your children outside to the driveway or sidewalk and encourage them to write anything they wish. Talk about what they've written.

COMIC STRIP WRITING -- Use comic strips to help with writing. Cut apart the segments of a comic strip and ask your child to arrange them in order. Then ask your child to fill in the words of the characters (orally or in writing).

AND THAT'S THE END OF THE STORY -- Improve listening skills and imagination. Read a story aloud to your child and stop before the end. Ask the child how the story will turn out. Then finish the story and discuss the ending with the child. Did it turn out the way you thought?

LAUNDRY MATH -- Sharpen skills by doing a necessary household job. Ask your youngster to sort laundry -- before or after washing. How many socks? How many sheets? And you may find a lost sock as well.

NAPKIN FRACTIONS -- Make fractions fun. Fold paper towels or napkins into large and small fractions. Start with halves and move to eighths and sixteenths. Use magic markers to label the fractions.

WEIGH ME -- Teach estimating skills. Ask your children to guess the weight of several household objects -- a waste basket, a coat, a full glass of water. Then show children how to use a scale to weigh the objects. Next, have them estimate their own weight, as well as that of other family members, and use the scale to check their guesses. Some brave parents get on the scale, too.

ICE IS NICE -- Improve observation and questioning skills by freezing and melting ice. Add water to an ice cube tray and set it in the freezer. Ask your child how long it will take to freeze. For variety, use different levels of water in different sections of the tray. Set ice cubes on a table. Ask your child how long they will take to melt. Why do they melt? Place the ice cubes in different areas of the room. Do they melt faster in some places than in others? Why?

FLOAT AND SINK -- Encourage hypothesizing (guessing). Use several objects -- soap, a dry sock, a bottle of shampoo, a wet sponge, an empty bottle. Ask your child which objects will float when dropped into water in a sink or bathtub. Then drop the objects in the water, one by one, to see what happens.

WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO GROW? -- Teach cause-and-effect relationships. Use two similar, healthy plants. Ask your child to water one plant and ignore the other for a week or two, keeping both plants in the same place.

At the end of that time, ask your child to water the drooping plant. Then talk about what happened and why. Plants usually perk up with water just as children perk up with good words and smiles from parents.

Kids' Turn Central - Summer Fun

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