Reading books with your little ones helps foster the bond you have with your kids. As Mother’s Day draws near, these picture books will remind you both of the special love between mother and child. Give one of these picture books to a new mom, or enjoy reading this list of books with your children!

I don’t know about you, but my kids love it when I read books or poems to them about mother love. One of my favorite poems is Only One Mother by George Cooper

Only One Mother by George Cooper

Hundreds of stars in the pretty sky,
Hundreds of shells on the shore together,
Hundreds of birds that go singing by,
Hundreds of birds in the sunny weather.

Hundreds of dewdrops to greet the dawn,
Hundreds of bees in the purple clover,
Hundreds of butterflies on the lawn,
But only one mother the wide world over.

If you want to have a wonderful Mother’s Day this year, try having this attitude. Rather than expecting appreciation or gifts from your husband and children, focus instead on the wonderful blessing it is to have children and a family. Reflect on the blessings of the other mothers in your life.

**This post contains affiliate links which means I may make a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting our family!

Giftable Picture Books That Celebrate Mother Love

I hope this list of books will help you cherish the wonderful bond that all mothers provide for the family!

Mama Loves by Rebecca Kai Dotlich

If you have to pick just one book from this list, this is it! This is one of my absolute favorite books! A sweet rhyming book young readers will love, its colorful illustrations show all the simple activities a mama pig loves doing with her daughter pig. “Mama loves dancing in slippers, teapots of tea, reading the paper, and mornings with me.” This a great book will make you want to try all these nostalgic and peaceful family activities with your children!.

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Mama Loves

• Hardcover Book
• Dotlich, Rebecca (Author)
• English (Publication Language)
• 32 Pages – 03/16/2004 (Publication Date) – HarperCollins (Publisher)

$6.29

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Runaway Bunny by Margaret Wise Brown

In this sweet book, a bunny wants to run away and try all kinds of adventures, but as he tells his mother this, she replies, “If you run away, I will come after you for you are my little bunny!”. Finally, the bunny decides to stay at home with his mother. This is one of my favorite Mother’s Day books to show the special bond between a mother and her child.

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The Runaway Bunny by Brown, Margaret Wise (1991) Board book

• Margaret Wise Brown (Author)
• English (Publication Language)
• 01/01/1900 (Publication Date) – HarperFestival (Publisher)

$8.99

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I Love You Forever by Robert Munsch and Sheila McGraw

Every night, a mother would quietly rock her little boy, singing, “I’ll love you forever, I’ll like you for always, as long as I’m living, my baby you’ll be.” The boy grew and grew, from a crazy toddler to a wild teenager, yet every night his loving mother sings to him. Finally, he grows up and moves to his own house. Using beautiful illustrations, I Love You Forever shows the unconditional love between a mother and her child.

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Love You Forever

• A young woman holds her newborn son And looks at him lovingly.
• Softly she sings to him: “I’ll love you forever I’ll like you for always As long as I’m living My baby you’ll be.”
• Robert Munsch (Author)
• English (Publication Language)
• 32 Pages – 09/01/1995 (Publication Date) – Firefly Books (Publisher)

$4.98

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On Mother’s Lap by Ann Herbert Scott

Michael and his mother rock the chair back and forth. Michael remembers his toys and brings them onto his mother’s lap, where they rock with him. This is a sweet story and a great Mother’s Day book, showing a mother’s love for her son by telling him that “there’s always room on mother’s lap.”

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On Mother’s Lap

• Scott, Ann Herbert (Author)
• English (Publication Language)
• 32 Pages – 03/23/1992 (Publication Date) – Clarion Books (Publisher)

$6.39

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I Love You Through and Through by Caroline Jayne Church

This is a great book for toddlers! In simplistic style, it, teaches children about their body parts and emotions, while reminding little ones how much they are loved by parents.

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I Love You Through and Through

• Rossetti-Shustak, Bernadette (Author)
• English (Publication Language)
• 24 Pages – 12/05/2023 (Publication Date) – Cartwheel Books (Publisher)

$6.46

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Are You My Mother? By P. D. Eastman

A mother bird sits on her egg until deciding that she must find food for it. Meanwhile, the egg hatches, and a baby bird pops out. He looks for his mother in the nest, but she is not there. The little bird goes around, asking many different animals if they are his mother. Finally, he is brought back to the nest, and his mother returns.

Are You My Mother? (Beginner Books)

• Amazon Kindle Edition
• Eastman, P.D. (Author)
• English (Publication Language)
• 72 Pages – 11/03/2010 (Publication Date) – Random House Books for Young Readers (Publisher)

$9.99

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The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn

This is a cute book about the special moments between a mother raccoon and her son Chester. He does not wish to go to school, but his mother convinces him, sharing a secret of hers. It’s called the Kissing Hand, and she uses it, kissing his hand so that he knows that his love is always with her. After school, Chester kisses his mother’s hand, wanting her to know how much he, too, loves her.

The Kissing Hand (The Kissing Hand Series)

• Amazon Kindle Edition
• Penn, Audrey (Author)
• English (Publication Language)
• 32 Pages – 12/08/2009 (Publication Date) – Tanglewood (Publisher)

$11.99

Buy on Amazon

Just Me and My Mom by Mercer Mayer

A boy and his mom travel by train to some museums and shops. He is a bit reckless and causes chaos every place he goes. This book shows the true meaning of the patience and guidance mothers must have with their children.

Just Me and My Mom (A Little Critter Book)

• Mayer, Mercer (Author)
• English (Publication Language)
• 24 Pages – 10/09/2001 (Publication Date) – Random House Books for Young Readers (Publisher)

$5.99

Buy on Amazon

Foster the enduring love you have for your child by reading one of these children’s books this Mother’s Day. Or better yet, give one to a friend! What picture books about mother love would you add to this list?

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One of the most important life skills you can ever teach your kids is where food comes from and how to produce it for themselves. These gardening activities for kids will help you pass on this valuable heritage to your own children.

Gardening is a life skill that all kids should learn. Planting and harvesting food is not a one time activity. It’s a process that takes time. 

No lesson plans or fun garden activities will build this muscle in your children. To see young plants through to maturity, you have to be spending time on a regular basis weeding, watering, pruning, and caring for them. Beautiful gardens that produce a bountiful harvest require much time and consistent care. 

Why You Should a Garden With Your Kids

Why should I have a garden when I can buy the same thing in the grocery store for a similar cost for the time I put into it? Have you ever asked this question? 

While it is true that having a garden may not save much money or save only a little money, in my opinion, the advantages outweigh the cost.

Having a garden helps kids see where food comes from and how much work it takes to grow it.  

When I think about how heavily our fruits and vegetables are sprayed with pesticides, I have a lot of peace knowing that a large portion of our produce is grown in our backyard. 

Another great reason to garden with your children is because it teaches them the generational skill of growing their own food. Thankfully, we live in abundant times where we can get whatever we need at the grocery store. But should more difficult times come when they would need to know how to provide for themselves, they will have built the muscle for it.

Benefits of Having a Yearly Garden

Perhaps the best part of having a yearly garden is that it draws kids outside. With so many various colors and different things to see, a garden gives kids something to observe and do. 

Even public schools are beginning to realize how important it is for young kids to have plenty of leisure time in the natural world. As a result, schools all over the U.S. are adopting environmental education programs into their curriculum.

For many years we have had a vegetable garden in our backyard. Because of all the time our kids have spent gardening, they can identify the name of each plant by seed, flower, or leaf because they are so familiar with them.  

Every time we go outside, the kids discover some new wonderful thing that they want to know more about. Spending time outside sparks on-the-fly Nature Study lessons as we try to learn more about each specimen. 

How to Start a Garden

If you’re wondering how to teach your kids gardening skills, don’t overthink it. Just start a garden in your own backyard. 

Don’t spend too much time worrying about having the soil just right or what each plant needs.(In gardening, you learn as you go. After several years of gardening, I’m still learning new strategies.)  

Before you put the first plant in the ground, it’s a good idea to learn the plant hardiness zones in your location. This tells you the approximate last frost date so you can determine the when it is safe to plant 

Pick a good sunny spot for a garden bed, use a hoe to dig up the sod, and put a few plants in  the ground. I recommend buying plants from a nursery for your first time. After you have a few successful years of gardening, then you can try growing from seed. 

Remember to water your garden daily, especially when putting the plants into the soil. Watch for predators like rabbits and moles. You may have to protect your plants while they are still small. 

It would be best if you also protected your plants from weeds that try to choke them. We like to use landscape cloth to put between our rows. It costs a little money initially, but saves a ton of work if you use the same landscape cloth every year!

How to Help Kids Develop a Gardening Habit

It’s not hard to teach kids how to grow something. Put a seed in the ground, water it, and pull weeds around it. The habit of gardening, however, is a bit more difficult to master. Seeing something through from start to finish takes hard work and consistency.

• Aim to spend a little time in the garden every day. Kids can help water, weed, and pick off any bugs that are pests.
• Go out in the morning hours before it gets too hot. 

Young Children

Having a garden bed, however small, may be too much for young children, but they may enjoy having their own mini garden in a large pot on the deck or patio. Fill a clay pot with 3-4 plants. A very small natural space will be much easier for little ones to maintain. 

Gardening Easy Ideas

Try these easy gardening activities for kids to get them excited about growing food for the family!

Seed Starting

After you have a successful harvest for a few years, you may want to try starting seeds indoors. This is a great activity for children of all ages. 

You can buy seed starting trays from any hardware store. Make sure to buy seed-starting soil, not just potting soil. Have the kids put a small amount of soil in each cell. Make small holes in each section, drop in 2-3 tiny seeds, and cover it up. Watering the soil before planting will help the seeds to not bubble up and displace. This is a great way for young children to sharpen their fine motor skills.  

It can be a test of patience making sure they got seeds in each plug while also not doubling up on others. We always plant our seeds on the kitchen counter, or patio table so that it’s not too hard to clean up the mess. 

Rain Barrels

One fun experiment for older kids is to find ways to conserve water by using rain barrels to collect water.  Did you know you can irrigate your own garden with rainwater rather than running up your water bill using the tap?

How To Make A Homemade Rain Catcher: 11 Effortless DIY Ideas Explained

Challenge older children to find other smarter ways to be more efficient in the garden! A little Google or Pinterest searching will quickly spark some new inspiration. They might surprise you with their ideas. 

Garden Markers

One creative way to get kids involved in the garden is to have them make garden markers. When we plant seeds in our garden, I like to mark the rows with some sort of stick or marker. These garden markers below are one simple idea that any child can put together quickly. 

How to Make Garden Markers At Home

Flower Gardening

While growing a vegetable garden is a practical life skill, flower gardening will bring color and beauty to your home. Nasturtiums, marigolds, and zinnias are easy flowers to start with for kids. Our kids like to try making beautiful flower bouquets from the flowers we grow around our property. 

Herb Garden

An herb garden is a fun way to add taste and smell to your outdoor endeavors. In our home, we invested in a dehydrator. We looked through the pantry at some easy herbs to grow that we use often in cooking. For us, sweet basil, oregano, and mint were easy to grow and dehydrate. We use basil in soups; oregano is delicious on our homemade pizzas; and mint makes delicious meadow tea.  

Notebooking

I have a few kids who learn best by writing and drawing what they observe. Provide plenty of colored pencils, pens, and watercolor paints for your children to use in making a wildlife journal or nature notebook.

They can sketch the pests they see in the garden. Another idea is to have them measure and graph how tall certain plants grow from week to week. 

This is really fun to do with cucumbers. Measure the baby cucumbers when you first see them on the vine. Measure the growth each day write down your findlings. Your kids will be amazed to see how quickly they grow overnight!

In this post, I share how we make a Simple Nature Study notebook in our homeschool. 

Gardening as Homeschool Curriculum

Can gardening be used as your main science curriculum? Yes! You can extend your gardening lessons into the winter months by studying these topics. 

• life cycle of plants 
• parts of a plant and flower
• which seeds need to be started indoors
• identify a plant by seed, leaf, flower, and fruit
• identify wildflowers, fungi, mosses, weeds
• movement of sap and absorption of water
• photosynthesis, how plants make food 
• types of pollinators
• plant blights
• common pests
• organic material in soil
• how much water and direct sunlight plants need

While spring, summer, and fall are the best times to study outdoor gardening, these are some of the concepts kids can learn about gardening at any time of year. When I look for books on these topics, I go to the non-fiction kids section of the library. Let your kids pick their favorite books.

Excellent Gardening Books for Kids

Here are a few of our favorite books to inspire kids to garden. 

*This post contains affiliate links which means I may make a small commission at no extra cost to you.*

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Farmer Boy (Little House, 2)

• Wilder, Laura Ingalls (Author)
• English (Publication Language)
• 384 Pages – 04/08/2008 (Publication Date) – HarperCollins (Publisher)

$7.39

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Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder

This is one of my favorite books of the Little House on the Prairie series for boys. Almanzo tells detailed stories about American home life on the homestead. Readers get a glimpse of the daily work it takes to feed a family from the food you grow. 

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The Trellis and the Seed: A Book of Encouragement for All Ages

• God, religion, faith, Trellis and the seed, trellis, seed,
• Hardcover Book
• Karon, Jan (Author)
• English (Publication Language)
• 32 Pages – 04/14/2003 (Publication Date) – Viking Juvenile (Publisher)

$11.75

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The Trellis and the Seed by Jan Karon

This is an inspiring book for anyone that wants to have a flower garden. The illustrations alone are a feast for the eyes. 

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The Backyard Homestead: Produce all the food you need on just a quarter acre!

• The backyard homestead produce all the food you need on just a quarter acre
• Language: english
• Book – backyard homestead: produce all the food you need on just a quarter acre!
• English (Publication Language)
• 368 Pages – 02/11/2009 (Publication Date) – Storey Publishing, LLC (Publisher)

$12.56

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The Backyard Homestead

If you have a small property, you will be amazed to see all that you can produce on an ¼ acre plot by reading this book!

I hope these gardening activities for kids help you get started incorporating this practical life skill into your family life. Don’t miss the great opportunity right outside your front door!  

You may also enjoy reading these similar posts.

7 Easy foods for Kids to Preserve in Summer

How to Make a Simple Nature Study Notebook

50 Life Skills that Should Be Taught at Home

Valuable Life Skills for Kids to Learn in Summer

One of my favorite parts of spring is seeing sweet strawberries ripen like jewels in the early summer in the little patch beside our house. Preserving strawberry honey jam for a large family is a task that has taken more than a few years to perfect. For the first time this year, I finally have mastered this delicious recipe and I am happy to share it with you!

Video: Honey Strawberry Jam Recipe for a Large Family

Previous attempts at Making Strawberry Jam

When I first started making homemade strawberry jam several years ago, I made it with a full-sugar recipe, but over the years, it bothered me how much white sugar we were consuming, so I switched to a recipe with less sugar (Low Sugar Sure Jell). This worked for a while.

One year, I attempted to nix the granulated sugar by using a natural sweetener like honey. The problem, however, was that I couldn’t get the honey jam to set, so I went back to the safer low-sugar recipe that I knew would set without difficulty.

Finally, this year, I decided to try the honey-sweetened strawberry jam once more and I love how it turned out!

Preserving Jam for a Large Family

To feed our family of twelve last year, we made 50 pints of strawberry jam. This lasted us until March, so ideally, we should probably do about 60 this year if we want it to last until next May. The recipe in this post yields 5 pints.

How can you determine the amount of jam you should make to feed your family for a year?

1. Count approximately how many pints you use per month.
2. Multiply this number by 12 months in a year.
3. Divide by 5 (the pint yield from one batch) to see how many batches you need to make.

Problem Solving: Breaking Jars

Over the years I have sometimes had a problem of jars breaking when I put them in the canner to process. I have learned that this is indirectly related to having a larger family.

Because I usually have some children underfoot and others helping when we are making jam, the process sometimes takes longer. I often have random interruptions as I work on the jam throughout the day.

Sometimes the finished jam will sit in the pint jars long enough to cool down to room temperature. When I place these room-temperature jam jars into the canner of boiling water, the change in temperature causes the jars to crack. The solution is to either process the hot jars of hot jam in the canner immediately or, if there is a time-lapse, put the room-temperature jars in the canner when it is warm, but not boiling.

* This post may contain affiliate links, which means I make a small commission at no extra cost to you.

Easy Jam Recipe

Here are a few things you should know before making this homemade jam recipe. If you are used to store-bought traditional jam, this may not taste quite as sweet as your normal preference.

Additionally, honey sweetened jam does not yield as much as a full or low-sugar recipe. In my opinion, however, the smaller yield is worth it because you can be confident that your family is consuming healthy food.

Ingredients

• 8 cups crushed fresh strawberries, pureed with a potato masher (kids are great for this job!) or in a food processer
• 1 cup water (or fruit juice if you prefer it a little sweeter)
• 9 tablespoons Low or No Sugar Sure Jell or Fruit Pectin
• 1 cup honey ( I prefer raw honey.)

Canning Tools

• large pot
• canner
• pint-sized mason jars, lids, and bands
• magnetic lid lifter
• canning jar tongs
• canning funnel

Instructions

1. Pour 8 cups of crushed fresh berries and 1 cup of water (or fruit juice) into a large saucepan. Heat on the stovetop, slowly whisking in the 9 TB Sure Jell. Bring to a full rolling boil that cannot be stirred down.
2. Add 1 cup of honey. Bring to a rolling boil again. When the boil cannot be stirred down, set a timer for 1 minute. Stir constantly to keep it from sticking to the bottom of the pan. Turn off heat after the minute timer is complete.
3. Use a funnel and ladle to pour hot strawberry jam into clean jars (pint-size.) Leave a 1/4 inch of headspace. Wipe the top of the filled jars with a hot, clean cloth to remove any strawberry residue.
4. Boil lids and rings in a small pot of water for 1 minute.
5. Use a canning magnet to pull lids and rings out of the boiling water. Place lid on the jar. Screw on the ring. It should be screwed all the way, but not too tight. (Too loose and it may not seal, too tight and the jar lid may buckle.)
6. Use a jar lifter to gently place the pint jar into a canner filled with hot water. Seven pint jars will fill a standard canning kettle.
7. When the kettle comes to a boil, process the jam for 10 minutes.
8. Use a jar lifter to remove the jars from the boiling water bath canner. Set on a tea towel to let the jam cool. Do not move for 24 hours to allow the jam to set and the jars to seal. Test the seals on each jar by tapping in the center or gently pressing down.

Preserving Food Teaches Kids Life Skills

One good reason to preserve food for your family is because it teaches kids valuable life skills. Getting them involved in growing and making their own food helps them fully understand how they contribute to the family.

There are many jobs that kids can do to be a part of when preserving food. With jam, they can pick the fresh fruit in strawberry season, wash them, cut off the tops, mash them to a puree with a potato masher, and measure the berries, honey, and sure jell.

When they see this process year after year, even if they aren’t actively doing the work, they can step in and out in any part of it because they watched it all several times.

It’s also good for them to see how we respond to failures (like jars breaking and jam not setting.)

Besides all this, the memories made and smells of delicious jam are worth making this a regular family tradition in your home.

Find More Ways to Preserve Food For Your Family

How to Can Applesauce and Pass Down a Family Tradition

7 Easy Foods to Preserve with Kids this Summer

Pin it! Preserving Honey Sweetened Strawberry Jam for a Large Family

We are finishing up our last few days of school this week and it feels so, so good! We are all looking forward to lazy summer days, and yes, we take a complete break! The learning, however, does not stop once we close our books. Kids are always learning! During summer it just shifts and looks different. What Are Homeschoolers Learning in Summer Break? (Life Skills!)

Learning is a lifestyle. Sometimes it includes books. Other times, it looks a whole lot like real life! In our home, it meshes so much with life, it can sometimes be hard to tell the two apart!

You may also enjoy these posts about life skills.

50 Life Skills That Should Be Taught At Home

Important Life Skills for Kids to Learn in Summer

Video: What Are Homeschoolers Learning in Summer Break? (Life Skills!)

Changes in our rhythms often spur creative thinking. Even the changing of seasons is exciting to us as we live and learn a little differently in each of them. After all, variety is the spice of life! As we move through the homeschool year, we can focus on different things at different times.

In fall we finish up preserving our harvest and spend time on the soccer field watching our kids compete. In winter, we stoke the fire in the wood stove and cozy up on the sofa with our books in hand to do a lot of reading, writing, and bookwork during the season of rest. In spring, we are drawn outdoors again to watch in awe as the birds come back and new life springs up everywhere around us. Just as each season has its own unique attributes, summer break is brimming with learning opportunities.

Life Skills for Summer Break

While it is true that as homeschoolers our kids have lots of time during the school year to pursue their interests, summer break provides even more time to do this unhindered by their academic studies. Here are some of the life skills our kids learn in their summer break.

Projects

Our second son is building a tree house. For him, this has meant getting advice from my husband, watching YouTube videos, and searching for plans online. He is really excited about building this treehouse this summer. He has even enlisted siblings to help him with the small jobs involved! I love seeing them all out there, running into problems, making mistakes, and trying to find solutions. The platform looks bigger than they imagined, but maybe it will still work if they want to have a front porch? Details like these challenge their thinking!

Cooking

Although the kids help me cook throughout the year, we have more free time in summer to try new recipes. So much chemistry is involved in cooking. Through cooking, our kids have learned about density, mixtures, and measuring… to name a few. We have learned how to can fruits and vegetables, ferment with sourdough and water kefir, dehydrate foods, and water glass eggs.

Shopping and Other Trips

Of course we don’t call them field trips, but nicer weather makes it easier (than during colder months) to go out and explore local events and attractions. We like to find out what parades, festivals, and markets are scheduled so we can see some of these places. Vacations are incentives to also take a day to see nearby museums, parks, or historical sites.

Now that we have some teenage girls in the house, we spend more time shopping. (It’s so fun to do this with my girls!) Sometimes they shop for clothes or personal items, but often they will also shop for materials for hobbies they want to try like a sewing or craft project.

Home Organization

During summer, we spend some time fine tuning our chores and cleaning out cabinets, drawers, and bedrooms. I also am a little more particular about checking the small details of their chores, things that often get neglected in the busyness of our year, for example, wiping baseboards, dusting, and vacuuming the corners along the ceilings for cobwebs, etc.

This summer, my recipe cards need to be organized, so I will buy a new photo album and the kids will help me organize the recipe cards in a new book. We also work on updating photos in frames around the house and in albums, which also gives us a chance to delete pictures on my phone…a never ending job!

Nature Study

While not necessarily a life skill, learning to identify local birds, plants, trees, and mammals is fun! No we don’t have formal lessons on this, but it just comes up a lot when we walk outside and see new flora popping up every other day! Spending a lot of time outside helps kids to be more aware of the habits of animals around them and when certain flowers are in season in their environment.

Entrepreneurship

Kids relish the chance to make money! Over the years our kids have hosted lemonade stands, neighborhood bake sales, and yard sales. Some have sold items on Ebay. Others have made money walking neighborhood dogs or doing landscaping for neighbors.

Reading

While reading is usually categorized as an academic skill, it is also a life skill! Our kids are still reading a lot in the summer, even if it is not a part of their “school” work. Most often they are reading fictional chapter books for fun, but many other areas of natural life involve reading. Reading is required for following a recipe, understanding the instructions to a new board game, learning how to assemble various construction projects, and more!

Reading aloud is also part of our family lifestyle. We read a passage of Scripture at breakfast and dinner. Often when our littles are down for naps, I love to read fun chapter books poolside or on the front porch. On rainy days, we might listen to an audio book curled up on the sofa together. As part of our bedtime routine, we sing a hymn, the kids following the words from a hymnbook.

Homesteading skills

If you want to find ways to keep kids busy and curious, surround them with living things like plants and animals. Adding some homesteading skills to our life has done this for us. Living things need regular care. It is also interesting to see them change and grow from day to day.

Gardening

Every year we have a garden. Our kids help plant, water, weed, and harvest. A garden gives them something to go out and see every day. They love to watch for the first cucumber and the first red tomato. When an unusual bug is invading the zucchini squash, it becomes a problem to solve. Through gardening our kids have learned many things about science. Here are a few of them.

• Identify cultivated plants.
• How far apart to plant different seeds.
• Which plants can be started from seed and which need to be started indoors ahead of time.
• Perennial and annual plants.
• Preservation of food: canning, blanching and freezing, dehydrating.

Animal Care

Over time we have added animals to our property. This also gives kids something every day to go out and observe. Animals can be very entertaining! We have laying hens year round, but in summer we raise broiler hens and pigs. These animals are butchered in fall and provide meat for our family year round.

Since the kids are involved in all of the care of our animals, they are able to see how their work with them is a valuable contribution to the whole family. Forgetting to fill the pig’s water barrel on a hot summer day can be a devastating loss! Having kids care for animals encourages compassion and helps them see that even as kids, a living being is depending on them for sustenance. Their work matters!

Entertainment and Games

Often our kids will play board or card games on the front porch. I love watching the siblings interact together. Without realizing it’s happening, the kids are learning so many math and strategy skills through these games. Sometimes, I think our seven year old learned more about adding and subtracting from playing Five Crowns and Dutch Blitz than she has from her daily math lessons! I love some of the ideas in this post about Game School.

Physical Fitness and Sports

This summer, our fifteen year old son has pulled out our old P90X workout DVD’s and has started working through them. He has been talking about how many weeks he is into the program and ways that he wants to eat healthier to build muscle.

Another thing all the kids will be doing this summer is swimming. We are blessed to have a pool. The kids spend almost every day in it. We have a 5 and 6 year old who hopefully will learn to swim this summer. Knowing how to swim is an important life skill!

Our older boys will sometimes drive to a park for pick up basketball games and the whole family enjoys playing soccer in the yard.

How to Promote an Atmosphere of Learning

Of course none of us wants to see our kids wasting precious time laying around or playing video games all summer. So, how can we create an atmosphere that promotes curiosity and learning? Here are a few ways we make it work in our home.

1. Have a plan for screens. Create limits and enforce them consistently. This eliminates kids from constantly asking for screen time. Discuss the different the difference between using screens for entertainment versus for productivity. We want to enjoy entertainment type screens in moderation, but we liberally encourage them to use screens for productive means.
2. Provide them with raw materials and surround them with living things. Collect scrap fabric, wood blocks, legos, dress up costumes, art supplies, clay and sand, etc. Bring house plant into your home or try a garden.
3. Model it yourself! If you want your kids to be lifelong learners, be a curious person yourself! Find a hobby that you enjoy. You are not neglecting your kids by stepping away to work on personal projects for pleasure. Rather, you are modeling what it looks like to be someone who loves to learn. Your pursuits may inspire them to try new endeavors on their own!

Leave a Comment!

What will your homeschoolers be learning this summer? Leave a comment and share the ideas and inspiration with others!

Pin it! What Are Homeschoolers Learning in Summer Break? (Life Skills!)

Summer is here! Welcome to the hot days of swimming in the sunshine and kids running barefoot at dusk catching fireflies.

This is my favorite time of year. We love working in our garden during our summer vacation watching things grow. Each day brings something new to observe. Summer is a perfect time to work alongside our kids modeling for them the kinds of work we do in daily life this time of year.

Here are some ideas for important life skills for kids to learn in summer break. I have broken these down into two categories: basic skills to teach everyone and skills to teach kids according to age.

For more ideas and an overall list, see 50 Essential Life Skills That Should Be Taught At Home. What new skills will you be teaching your kids this summer?

Video: Important Life Skills for Kids to Learn in Summer

Life Skills to Teach to Everyone

I don’t know about you, but when the warmer weather comes, I want to be outside as much as possible! Of course, we still have inside work that needs to be done, but whether inside or outside, everyone learns more when we do it together!

Swimming

Even if you have limited access to a pool, it is worth the effort to teach your kids how to swim. The more they are in the water, the more comfortable they will be with it and the more quickly they can learn this important skill at an early age.

Since we live at a house with a pool, our younger children have learned to swim quickly because they are in the water all the time. But even before we had a pool, we tried to take them to a pool as much as possible so they could learn.

Weeding

Ok, so nobody is going to volunteer for this job! BUT it is a regular adult skill that needs to be done in summer. Unless you pay someone for your yard work, you will have to a little bit of time weeding if you care about the look of your property. If you have a vegetable or flower garden, you probably weed quite a bit.

It’s a good bet that my kids will likely complain when they have to weed. Even so, I have found that if we all go out together and set a timer (15 minutes or so), it seems less daunting to them. Even if they are not excited initially about weeding, by the time we are done, everyone is proud of how much better it looks! The visual reward itself is a great motivator.

Empty Dehumidifier

Once the humidity sets in, we need to start up the dehumidifier in the basement. It needs to be changed every day. It is a small job, but an important chore in our daily routine because it inhibits mold growth.

Cooking

What kinds of foods do you enjoy in summer? Involving your kids in the cooking preparation is a great way to equip kids with the necessary skills to cook for themselves.

Show them how to cut a watermelon or mango. Let them make their own popsicles trying out different recipes. If you make a pasta salad, they can help cut the vegetables, cheeses or meat, pour the dressing, and stir. Have smoothies for snack and let them decide what to put in it.

If you preserve food from your garden or local market, include them in the work. Here are ideas for 7 Easy Foods to Preserve With Kids in Summer.

Gardening

Have you tried gardening with your kids? Gardening not only teaches them where their food comes from, it helps them to see the discipline and care involved in nurturing plants. They learn what different plants need.

Tomatoes need stakes, cucumbers grow up a trellis, basil needs to be picked or it will go to seed. When kids grow up around gardens, they quickly learn to identify many different vegetables, fruits, and herbs.

Life Skills For Summer by Age

Older Kids(Teens) and Young Adults

Read a map

Last year our oldest son took a week’s vacation from his phone. During this time, he had no alternative but to use a map whenever he needed to go somewhere. Admittedly, he ended up looking up Google Maps at home and figuring it out, but it is still helpful to follow a route on a map.

When you always follow a GPS, you only think in terms of the next step. Looking at a physical map helps you see places and routes in relation to each other. You can learn a lot from observing a good old-fashioned map!

Money Management

It’s always a good idea to teach older children how to budget, pay bills, and manage personal finances. In our digital world, most jobs offer direct deposit into your bank account, but it can be helpful for young people to physically go into a bank to make a deposit or withdrawal just to observe the process.

More Ideas…

• Teach time management by giving them a planner so they can be responsible for their schedule, especially once they start a summer job.
• Calculate a tip.
• Do their own laundry.
• Fill car with gas.

Middle Kids

Entrepreneurship

Our kids get excited to think of ways that they can earn money. They have tried many new things including a lemonade stand, a neighborhood bake sale, selling firewood, selling items on Ebay, and others.

If they are interested, this is a good opportunity to challenge them to try a new way to make money this summer. Our kids are always so proud of themselves when they earn money for the first time.

Hang Clothes on Line

This is one on my to-do list. We do not currently have a clothes line. With a big family, I love my clothes dryer! Recently one of my kids asked me, “Can we get one of those ropes that you put across two poles and put your clothes on?” Embarrassed, I responded, “It’s called a clothesline and yes, we can get one of those!” Hanging clothes on a line is an old-fashioned skill, but it’s one kids might enjoy. And nothing smells fresher than clothes on the line!

Mow Lawn

As soon as you feel your kids are old enough and responsible enough, mowing the lawn not only teaches them a valuable skill, it’s also a huge help with the yard work!

Flower Arranging

Have your middle-aged kids experiment with arranging flowers. They can pick flowers around the house and choose their own way to display them. Pinterest can give lots of ideas for this!

More Ideas …

• Set up a tent.
• Trim shrubs.
• Care for animals, learning how often and how much to feed them.

Young Children

Water flowers and garden.

Little kids love to play with water, so why not give them a bucket and cups or a watering can and let them go to town!

Use a peeler to peel fresh vegetables or a can opener to open cans.

When my youngest kids are in the kitchen, they are always asking me, “Can I help?” My initial thought is always that it will be so much more work to include them, BUT now that a few of my kids are older, I am SO glad I let them help me in the kitchen when they were little! They love to make food AND they can bake and cook meals from start to finish! It pays off to let your littles help you in the kitchen!

Line shoes up when they come in the house.

In summer, kids are always in and out, in and out. This is a great time to teach them where to put their shoes every time they walk in the house. Encourage them to line them up or put them in a basket and to keep it organized so that they will know where they are when they need them next!

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What new life skills will you be teaching your kids this summer? You can also check out my other life skills posts for more ideas.

50 Life Skills That Should Be Taught At Home

Useful Life Skills Suitable to Teach in Spring

7 Easy Foods to Preserve with Kids this Summer

Valuable Life Skills for Kids to Learn in Fall

Useful Life Skills Suitable to Teach in Winter

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