With summer coming to a close, parents are working hard to reel in the summertime festivities and prepare their children for the first day of school. Using a decade of experience, Bricks 4 Kidz brainstormed some of the best ways to prepare your kids for this back to school season.
Fight the first-day jitters by using these top 5 tips to prepare your child for the new school year and make this their best year yet:
1. Establish Habits and Routines
Summer breaks are refreshing for your little ones. Sleeping in, staying up late, indulging in video games and wearing comfy clothes all day — who wants that to end? Breaking these summertime habits may result in some protest, but by slowly adjusting your kids to their school routines, they may not even notice their summer lifestyle is coming to an end.
Slowly prepare your child to go back to school by:
- Setting earlier bedtimes: Put your child to bed earlier each night, easing them into an earlier nighttime routine. Incorporate more educational activities into their daytime routine and avoid any mid-day naps so they can fall asleep more easily at bedtime.
- Laying out tomorrow’s clothes: Get your child excited about tomorrow’s activities by laying out tomorrow’s outfit before going to sleep.
- Waking up earlier: Slowly adjust the alarm clock to wake up earlier each morning. Make them more excited for an earlier start to the day by scheduling fun family activities or making their favorite breakfast.
- Establishing reading routines: Visit the local library and encourage your little learner to pick out a book for daily reading.
Try to start these preparations no later than one week before your child’s first day of school. Avoid cold-cutting their summer activities. Instead, slowly reactivate their mind for a school year-like routine.
2. Cut Back on Your Child’s Technology, Television and Device Time
If your child seems to have a gravitational pull towards their device or television, cutting back on their screen time may prove challenging. Luckily, you’re not the only parent in this boat. Reference these tips when guiding your child’s attention away from the screen and towards other educational activities without a fight:
- Lead by example: Children watch what you do and mirror your behaviors, including screen time. Instead of sitting down after work and watching television, go outside or read a book, encouraging your child to do the same.
- Establish viewing times and areas: Avoid keeping a TV in your kid’s room. Keep device usage within the family area and distinguish the times when your child can play with their devices.
- Encourage other activities: Replace their temptation to cure boredom by pushing a remote button with other fun activities, like playing a board game or inviting them to help you cook a family dinner.
Distracting your child from their technological urges by strategically planning educational activities and reading times throughout the day and before bed.
3. Incorporate Educational Activities Into Their Routine
Get your child excited about school by incorporating learning activities into their daily schedules. They don’t have to know it’s learning — in their minds, they’re exploring with their everyday environment and enjoying spending time with their family.
- Backyard scavenger hunt: Together, brainstorm a list of things you might find outside. Include exploration items like butterflies, types of flowers, leaves, ladybugs or a bird’s nest.
- LEGO® Bricks exploration: You likely already have a collection of these popular toys in your house. If not, consider investing in these extremely beneficial learning tools. By engaging in LEGO® Bricks play, your child is practicing fine motor skills, creativity, problem-solving, mathematical thinking and persistence.
- Memory games: Refresh their mind of what they learned at school last year by revisiting the vocabulary in a fun way. Instead of using matching pictures like a traditional memory game, write a vocabulary word on one card and the corresponding definition on another. Place all of the cards face down and have your child match them, sharpening their memory skills in the process.
By preparing your child to return to school with these exciting learning activities, their eagerness to learn will transfer into the classroom and make the first day feel more exciting.
4. Take Your Child Back to School Shopping for Supplies
Take a family day trip to the store for seasonal back to school shopping. Get your child in the back to school spirit by involving them in this year’s shopping. Before visiting the store, work together to go through the supplies you already have and make a list of those you need.
Supplies differ by grade, so reference any supply lists you receive from your child’s teacher. Prepare your child to start a new school year confidently with the necessary:
- School clothes: Your child likely outgrew a lot of last year’s clothes. Help them pick out their new school gear to boost their self-esteem and give them the confidence to tackle anything that comes their way.
- Stationery supplies: Of course, you’re going to need the basics like writing utensils, paper, erasers, notebooks, folders and highlighters.
- Accessories: Depending on your needs, consider purchasing a new backpack, pencil holder, ponytail holders or face masks.
Introduce the concept of budgeting to your little learner by turning it into a game. If you can’t make it to the store, move the shopping online.
5. Create a Designated Space for Homework
Prepare for back to school time by dedicating a space in your home where your student can easily enter school mode. Whether in the corner of the family room, a spare desk in the office or a chair at the kitchen table, create a place where your child can focus on their homework right when they get home.
Keep things like school and project supplies and old school work neatly organized in this work area, and build a strength-based area showcasing all of their accomplishments for motivation. Consider keeping a calendar station listing after-school activities, class assignments, school lunch menus, birthdays and family events to increase that motivation and excitement.
Get Your Kid Excited for Back to School With Bricks 4 Kidz After School Programs
Learning doesn’t stop after the school day. In addition to preparing your child for the new school year, one of our biggest back to school tips for parents is to keep your kid engaged in STEM learning. Make this school year the best one yet by signing your child up for one of our fun, educational and enriching after school programs.
At Bricks 4 Kidz, We Learn, We Build, We Play with LEGO® Bricks. Our after school classes give kids a chance to strengthen their creative muscles and learn age-appropriate STEM concepts through hands-on scientific discoveries. Our students learn, build and play together to create projects, like turning a pile of LEGO® Bricks and motors into whatever they can imagine.
Get your child excited about the upcoming school year. Learn more about our LEGO®-based after school robotics programs and find a location for a class near you!
