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summer 2021

open for registration!

LAURA CURRAN

NASSAU COUNTY EXECUTIVE

A Baseball Camp on the Barrier Island Summer t: Check Lis

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Youth - Entering Grades 3-5 june 28 - july 2 | 9am - 2pm

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COMMISSIONER OF PARKS, RECREATION & MUSEUMS

NASSAU COUNTY

Nassau County Executive Laura Curran is pleased to announce

SUMMER RECREATION PROGRAM There is still time to register online! (Registration ends June 1st)

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Beat the heat — and the boredom — with unique W

Your summer play list

summer fun for the whole family

elcome summer! It will look and feel a bit different from last summer as we begin to emerge from the pandemic. This past year sure was tough on everyone and it also forced many of us to re-think family outings, vacations or even easy ways to entertain the kids while at home. For some, this summer will offer more opportunities for kids outside the home. But other families may be more cautious about forging full steam ahead. Still summer beckons. Kids are ready to jump in the pool, play outside (and sleep in!), while parents are eager for barbecue dinners and easy-going evenings on the patio. Taking advantage of warm temperatures, outdoor activities and time together as a family is certainly appealing, but what happens when the boredom sets in and amusement parks and road trips are the main requests? Summer can be a respite, but also a conundrum if you’re trying to find activities to keep your family entertained. According to a NerdWallet and Harris Poll survey, families tend to ramp up spending when warm weather hits. Parents of kids ages three to 17 plan to spend an average of $471 per child on summer activities. The majority of parents with children younger than 18 — more than 80 percent — who plan to take a summer vacation, spend an average of $2,256. But summer isn’t just about opening up your wallet. There are plenty of ways to enjoy the season to everyone’s benefit — without spending fortune. Turn passions into summer projects Let’s face it, when it comes to summer and kids, free time can eventually turn into boredom. Try positioning summertime as an opportunity to pursue different, out-of-the-box interests, hobbies or projects that there isn’t time for during the school year. “Help your kid identify a passion project for the summer,” says Cherie Lowe, personal finance author and blogger. For example, a child who loves history at school might enjoy building a medieval castle from cardboard recycling as a budget-friendly summer activity. For budding artists, try mimicking the masters in an outdoor window painting contest at your home. Bonus: Once the masterpiece is complete, you can have fun washing off the paint and get sparkling clean windows in the process! To get ideas for a project, Lowe suggests looking for library books, finding online videos,

using social media or talking to friends who could be subject matter experts on a chosen area of interest. If it’s super hot and your family has a passion for water and DIY projects, look for water-based activities to cool down. One fun example: “Build your own sprinkler,” Lowe says.“For about $10 you can buy PVC pipe to construct an elaborate sprinkler for the backyard. We’ve done this and added to it each year,” Lowe says. Tap into area parks Sunshine and warm weather encourage people of all ages to get outdoors, and local parks are an excellent resource. To take advantage of what our parks have to offer and create a “parks plan” to guide you. Make it your goal to explore parks that may be unfamiliar to you, even consider a day trip to a park on the North Fork for example. Host themed potlucks with family and friends You might be tempted to eat out more during the summer months, especially now to show support for the restaurant industry hardhit by the pandemic, but it’s also the season to fire up the grill. Enter the potluck: Planning communal outdoor gatherings with neighbors, friends and family and sharing in food and games can be an enjoyable summer activity, to supplement dining out. Especially since we missed out on that sort of socializing last summer, it will take on a renewed appeal this year. Make your summer potluck dinners even more memorable by planning them e neighborhood events, celebrations or recreational backyard sports tournaments. You could also create theme nights such as “eating around the world,” where everyone brings dishes from different countries. Have fun with a cause Summer doesn’t have to be about selfentertainment. Families can also find gratification and summer fun by volunteering their time. Choose a cause or activity that suits your family’s interests, ages and lifestyle. For example, nonprofit building or renovation projects or volunteering at a community garden can be inspiring, memorable and skill-building. n Above photo: With a little imagination you can schedule a whole season of appealing activities to suit you and your family.

Ideas to make everyone’s day — all season long

ummer is fast approaching — and while we’re not back to “normal” just yet, we’re looking forward to a more relaxing, less stressful season as we start to emerge from the pandemic. We all want to have fun — even if we’re staying close to home. Families surely want to pack more play into your day. And there are plenty of ways do to just that. These ideas aren't just for the kids — they're fun and engaging activities for the whole family. After all, grown-ups need time to play, too. So set aside school, work and stress; turn your attention on ways to play with kids this summer. √ Build a toy car racetrack out of old boxes, paper towel rolls and other repurposed materials. √ Make a target with chalk on a blackboard or the sidewalk, and then throw wet sponges at it until it disappears. √ Set up a glow-in-the-dark ring toss.Use dollar-store glow necklaces or bracelets as rings. √ Organize a massive water gun battle. √ Or maybe your kids prefer a water balloon war. Fill them up before starting and keep them in buckets. Make sure the kids wear their swimsuits. √ Have a hula-hoop contest — see who can keep the hoops spinning longest and who can twirl the most hoops. √ Learn a fun new skill as a family: Try juggling, skateboarding, French braiding or whatever strikes your fancy. √ Grab your camera and take photos of plants and animals using different filters and frames, and then compare the results. √ Paint the sidewalk with water. See how fast the sun makes your art disappear. √ Get some pots and pans for drums, dress up and have a parade. √ Catch fireflies in a glass jar and watch them shine before letting them fly away. √ Go on an alphabet treasure hunt. See if you can find things that begin with every letter in nature. √ Create your own pop-up playground from old cardboard boxes, fabric pieces and other recycled materials. √ Draw a game board on the sidewalk and make up the rules. Kids can

become life-size pieces in a game of your own invention. √ Host silly relay races. Have the kids hop on one foot, walk backward, gallop like a horse, skip — the more ridiculous the challenge, the better. √ Create a short stop-motion film using dolls, stuffed animals or action figures. There are lots of apps that make this easy. √ Go through your recycling bin to see what you can turn into a boat. Add sails and decorations, and then float it in pool, river or tub. √ Have a car wash for your toys, bikes and scooters. Make sure to get really wet! √ Play flashlight tag. While the other players hide, whomever is "it" must find and "tag" them with the beam while saying their names. √ Host a fancy tea party for your stuffed animals. √ Go on a neighborhood wildflower walk—do some research in advance so you can identify some of the blooms. √ Rifle through the dress-up bin and have a photo shoot with your little princess, pirate or superhero. √ Indoor campout: Set up a tent in the living room, make oven s'mores, turn off all the lights and download a campfire app for your tablet. √ Set up a scavenger hunt in the backyard or local park. Give the kids maps or clue sheets for extra fun. √ Put on a show! Make up your own or adapt one of your favorite books, movies or TV series. Craft sets and costumes for extra fun. √ Head to the beach and build an enormous sand castle. √ Play a rousing game of themed charades — see what kinds of wacky themes you can come up with. √ Organize a family game night and pull out old standards like Monopoly, Scrabble and Pictionary. Winners can earn points to cash in for small prizes or extra scoops of ice cream. √ Collect items from nature and make a collage. Add paint or leave it au naturale. n Above photo: Document your world. Turn your eye to what’s happening all around you.

Connect with nature

Go pitch a tent and spend some time in the great outdoors Pay attention to tent floor length. Look for a floor length of more than 90 inches if you’re camping with anyone more than 6 feet tall. Also consider the number of doors. More than one door will keep you from climbing over each other in the night if someone has to get up for a bathroom break or rises early for fishing, hunting or hiking. Tent Materials: Look for higher-denier fabrics on your tent, which are more ruggedthan lower-denier fabrics. This is especially true for outer parts like rain flies and canopies. You’ll also want to pack a few extra repair kits and seam tape to keep your tent waterproof in case of rain. Look for mesh panels set into the doors, ceilings and walls of the tent for adequate ventilation. The panels should be set up to take advantage of cross ventilation in the tent. Camp Like A Pro Parents who have never before taken their children camping may benefit from employing a few strategies to make the trip as fun as possible. Make a trial run in the backyard. A night camping in the backyard won’t be exactly the same as a night in the woods, where wildlife, and particularly insects, may be less welcoming hosts. But a backyard camping night can acclimate children to their sleeping bags and their tents. A fun night sleeping under the stars in the backyard also may make kids more enthusiastic about an upcoming camping trip in the woods. Go over safety early and often. Use every opportunity to explain camping safety measures to youngsters in advance of your trip. Emphasize the importance of staying together in the woods, and teach youngsters how to identify potentially harmful plants like poison ivy, making sure they know to avoid coming into contact with these and other poisonous plants. Contact your local parks depart-

MAKE MY DAY

ment, or the campground where you will be staying, for some additional advice on camping safety. Let kids help when choosing camping equipment. Youngsters may be more excited about camping if they’re allowed to choose certain equipment, including their sleeping bags and tents. Before visiting your nearby camping retailer, explain to kids that tents come in various styles because they’re designed to protect campers from certain elements that may be more common in certain areas than others. Such an explanation can make it easy to explain to youngsters why you’re purchasing certain items, even if those items weren’t kids’ top choices. Plan the family menu in advance. Plan the menu in advance so you can ensure everyone will continue to eat healthy. But make sure to include a few kid-friendly camping classics, like s’mores, in the meal plan as well. n Above photo: Camping with youngsters can be an outing everyone will cherish for a lifetime.

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or many of us, some of our fondest memories of growing up come from camping with our families. You just have to smile when you recall the fun of jumping into a cool lake on a hot summer day, chasing fireflies under a starry night sky, or making S’mores around an open campfire. For nature lovers, perhaps nothing is more enjoyable than packing up the camping gear, traveling to a favorite campsite and getting away from it all while sleeping under the stars. Such an experience can be transformative, turning first-time campers into lifelong enthusiasts. Even if you’re not a hardcore outdoors person, you can enjoy some special bonding time outdoors with the kids. Spending some nights out under the stars makes for a beautiful and peaceful summer activity. You don’t need a big cabin or a camper, either. You can do a lovely trip in a simple tent. Today’s modern tents are a lot nicer than the ones you may be used to. They can be divided into rooms, have hightech, waterproof and wind-proof fabrics, and connections for lights and fans. Sleeping Capacity: Choose a tent with plenty of room for you and your family. You may consider increasing your tent capacity by at least one person if you or your family are people of size, are claustrophobic, toss and turn at night, need more room to sit or sleep comfortably, or if you’ll be with small children or dogs. Types Of Tent: Cabin-style tents have near vertical walls to maximize peak height and livable space. Some cabin tents may also have awnings and vestibule-style doors that make them more like a house than a tent. Dome tents stand up better to storms with a tall part in the center and walls that slope down to the ground. It reduces the space inside the tent, but it’ll stand up in high winds.

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or children, summer vacation is a time full of carefree fun. Educators — and hopefully parents — look at summer as a continuation of the learning and building upon the skills they’ve been working on all school year. Conclusive Research has proven the existence of what many educators refer to as “Summer Slide”, or the unfortunate decline in a student’s abilities after two-and-a-half months summer learning hiatus. June is routinely seen as the ‘end’ of the school year and September as the ‘start’ of another. Such jargon sets families up to view summer as an educational pause. Unfortunately, in ‘pausing’ a child’s education, regular practice of newly learned skills is often neglected, and as a result, students can return to school as much as three months behind where they left off in June. Engaging kids in appealing summer learning activities — besides their required reading lists — motivates them to continue their growth in reading and learning throughout the summer, and even helps students become excited about returning to school and starting the year off strong. Consider these ways to make reading a natural part of summer fun. Take your child on regular trips to the library. Taking a trip to the library is a fun reading centered activity that children love. Make regular visits to the library and let your child spend as much or as little time as they want picking out books to take home. Also explore the summer programming options while you are there, whether in-person or online. Make reading part of the summer routine. Now, this can be a hard sell next to television, video games, and other modern distractions, especially as screen time has proliferated during the pandemic. If you’re having trouble, try this strategy: 30 minutes

of reading can earn your child one ticket, which he can then trade in for 30 minutes of screen time. Lead by example. Make reading a part of your own summer routine. One of the biggest factors that determine if a student will be a lifelong reader is seeing someone in their family set that example. Keep lots of reading material around the house and focus on reading more than other distractions. When reading, ask your child lots of questions. Reading lots of different books, silently or aloud, with someone else helps children build phonic skills and read fluently. But, talking about books, answering questions, and re-telling stories helps a child develop their ability to understand language. Make a “Summer Fun Journal.” Combine your child’s favorite summer activities with writing prompts. Have your child pick out or craft a summer fun journal, and when you take them to their favorite restaurant, or on a trip to Grandma’s, they can write a short entry in their journal afterwords. Prompt your child to use academic concepts when talking about the things they love. If your son or daughter is dying to tell you about the levels he just beat in his game, ask him to “explain” the level, and “describe” the “main character,” or ask her to “retell” the story of a movie or favorite show Read everything, everywhere. Have your child read billboards, signs, and pamphlets. If you go on a trip to a theme park, have your child be responsible for the map and have them read the rules and names of rides. n Above photo: The key to success with summer reading is to help make the reading part of the fun — making the library an exciting destination and combining literacy skills with the things your children already love. It’s possible to keep the focus on learning while enjoying the relaxed summertime pace.

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