Summer Activities

Kids all over Manila are having their summer break right now and with school out, I just needed to come up with some activities at home to keep the kids entertained rather than have them sit in front of the television the whole day.

The weather has been incredibly hot since April so naturally, we just had to bring out the inflatable pool.  In as much as we’d like Nina to have as much swimming time in the pool, we needed to be careful that she didn’t catch a cold since her colds tend to progress to a cough and then at times to pneumonia.   Poor baby, she couldn’t swim as much as she wanted to.  Our strategy was that we allowed her kuya to get in the pool earlier than her and after say 10-15 minutes, then she could join him.  Then to avoid any jealousy, they had to get out simultaneously.  Of course, for Nina it was much harder to get her out and we’d often end up with a crying baby who would say “miming” in between sobs. 

Considering our fear of her catching a cold, we couldn’t let them go swimming everyday so one weekend, we decided to take them out to Tagaytay Highlands where I used to work.  I had fond memories of the Animal Farm in Highlands back then, especially of the orangutan named Chino since he was kinda cute and would often have photo ops with the children.  Of course, that was something like 10years ago so imagine my shock when I saw how huge Chino had grown!  Still the kids enjoyed themselves and that was what was important.  Aside from seeing the animals up close, they got to ride on a horse (both real and imaginary) and they got a kick out of that as well (tho not literaly).

We also included them in a free summer pre-school given to kids where I work.  The experience was nothing new to Kuya since he attended the program last summer and some of this year’s students were his classmates last school year.  Nina on the other hand, although it was her first time, did not have any adjustment problems and proved herself ready for school.

Of course, we still did the usual drawing, play doh, building blocks, coloring and puzzle activities, but I was running out of ideas - quickly!  

Then I remembered finger painting!  My friends had given me a recipe for homemade fingerpaint but with Yaya 1 on vacation and me trying to catch up on work and cooking, there was simply no time for me to make it.  So I got whatever was available in the bookstore.  Luckily, we had a big roll of paper in the house which served as their canvass as well as protection for our floors.  The end result?  Let’s just say that for Nina it became a combination of Finger Painting and Body art.  She had lots of fun tho.  So with just a few weeks left, I still want to think of other activities that they can do… any suggestions?