Taking it Easy With Your Preschooler This March Break

Taking it Easy With Your Preschooler This March Break

(Toronto, March 2, 2021)—March Break is rapidly approaching. With so many activities available, your preschooler may bounce around asking, “So, what are we going to do…?,” or talk about what his or her friends will be doing with their families. Many parents feel pressure to plan and organize something that will be enjoyable, fun, entertaining, yet safe and educational for their child. Then, there’s always the dilemma of what to do and where to go. There are many choices at hand: camps, excursions, family outings, and so on; the list of opportunities seems endless. And, often, all the planning and scheduling can lead to March Break madness.

“For me, it’s important to give my son some balance between the structured and flexible playtime,” says Alison Reid, a mother of 5-year old Owyn and Dylyn. Alison, a television producer with a very busy and often changing work schedule will be taking time off from work during Owyn’s March Break. “We’ll be making our own film at home, so I can show them what mommy does and see how they enjoy it,” adds Alison. Decorating their pet rabbit’s cage and having a dress-up day are other fun things they hope to do together.

“Both parents and children need downtime to make choices about what they want to do. March Break is a perfect opportunity to do that,” says Chaya Kulkarni, parenting expert at Invest in Kids, a national charity helping parents support the healthy development of children from birth to age five. “Giving children some control over what they’d like to do, helps them not only to decompress and unwind from their daily routines, but also supports their self-confidence and teaches them to make decisions on their own.”

Parents can visit Invest in Kids’ Activity Centre for the dress-up day activity that Alison will be doing with her children and for other fun March Break activities. They are also an easy way for parents to comfort, play with and teach their child, all the things every child needs to feel fully supported:

In the Kitchen
Cooking helps preschoolers learn many skills and gain knowledge about food. Try out the Very Blueberry Muffins recipe! Your child will learn the names of various ingredients and how to say them properly. While the muffins are baking, you can snuggle together, enjoy the aroma traveling from the kitchen and read your child’s favourite book.

Arts & Crafts
Make a Magical Me Mobile together and encourage your child to think about what makes him or her special. Your preschooler will also have the opportunity to practice printing letters. This will build his or her esteem as your child learns to recognize words and to read them.

Playing Together
Spend time telling Seriously Silly Stories by taking a few familiar objects you find in the house (e.g., a mitten, a spoon or a brush), and transforming them into interesting story characters. As you encourage your child’s expressive language and demonstrate enjoyment of his or her imaginative efforts, you will strengthen your child’s confidence in his or her ability to communicate.

Making Music
Children enjoy hearing and singing familiar songs again and again. Finding just a few recyclables and items around the house, you can create an Instant Orchestra and start playing your favourite tunes together. Your child will learn some basic music concepts through natural exploration.

In addition to these and other March Break activity ideas in the Activity Centre, parents of children aged 0-5 can also sign up for a Free Newsletter to receive an activity appropriate for their child’s age every month that they could do together.

Invest in Kids is a national charity dedicated to helping parents become the parents they want and need to be. By translating the science of parenting and child development into engaging, easy-to-understand, relevant resources for parents and professionals, Invest in Kids aims to strengthen the parenting knowledge, skills and confidence of all those who touch the lives of our youngest children to ensure the healthy social, emotional and intellectual development of children from birth to age five.

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