By Anna Landes Benz

Summer is a much anticipated time, promising warmer weather and sunnier skies. But it also often means an expanse of unstructured time and a change in seasonal rhythm, even for those who aren’t directly impacted by the three-month K-12 calendar break.

I notice when school buses stop driving around my neighborhood. And the sounds outside change, with more children on bikes and more laughing and shrieking in neighboring yards.

Here we present a collection of tip sheets, developed by CEED, that can help adults and young kids engage with the world in new and interesting ways, while promoting healthy development and developmental skills. These tip sheets provide reasoning and research behind specific topics, all centered around promoting child development. These tip sheets are great for use in the classroom, but also for use at home. If you’re interested in the reasoning and research behind why these tips and tricks work, check out our Introducing It tip sheets. If you are looking for tools to use with children, check out our Applying It tip sheets.

A young girl wearing a gray dress with her hair in a ponytail smells one of two large sunflowers. — Photo by Robert Fischetto on Unsplash

We’ll start you off with some tip sheets developed in partnership with MacPhail Center for Music around using music with young children. They tell how music can impact emotional regulation and inhibitory control. We’ve also got tip sheets exploring the importance of play. They show that “Play is serious learning,” as Fred Rogers said. And then, throughout the summer we will explore topics around storytelling and acting. Check back mid-month to see what’s new with these fun and informative tip sheets!