Every June parents ask what the summer program involves, and there is a slight look of disappointment when the answer is mostly "we walk places."
It sounds unambitious. It is not. Walking-distance outings are the single most valuable thing we do in July and August, and the reason is worth explaining.
Short trips, often, beat big trips, rarely
A bus trip across the city eats ninety minutes in transit, costs money, and produces about forty minutes of actual experience for a four-year-old who is by then overtired and overstimulated. A twelve-minute walk to Sakaw Park produces two hours of it.
More importantly, the walk is the trip. On the way to the park we count driveways, we look for the house with the enormous dog, we notice that the crabapple tree that was covered in blossom in May now has hard little green fruit. That is science and numeracy and vocabulary, delivered in the only format a three-year-old fully accepts.
Where we actually go
- Sakaw Park. The workhorse. Open field, mature trees, enough space for a group of twelve to spread out without anyone getting lost. This is where most summer mornings end up.
- St. Richard Park. Smaller and shadier, which matters on the days above 28 degrees. Good for the younger groups because the boundaries are more obvious.
- The fields around Millhurst Plaza. Two minutes from our door. Perfect for a spontaneous twenty minutes when a room needs to move.
- The library. By foot, ETS bus, or the daycare van depending on group and weather. A library visit with preschoolers is chaotic and completely worth it.
Anything beyond walking distance comes with a permission slip sent well in advance, and occasionally a small fee. Nothing goes ahead without a signed slip in hand.
What we bring, every time
The summer kit is boring and rigidly enforced:
- A sun hat for every child, and sunscreen applied before we leave and again after ninety minutes
- Water, more than seems necessary
- The first aid kit and the room's emergency contact sheet
- A head count at the door, at the destination, before leaving, and back at the centre
The head counts are not theatre. Four counts on a twelve-minute walk is what a licensed centre does, and it is why we do not lose children.
What you can copy at home
The main thing worth stealing is the low bar. You do not need a destination. Some of the best summer afternoons we have are:
- A puddle after a storm. Rubber boots, a stick, no agenda. Twenty minutes minimum.
- A collecting walk. Give a child a paper bag and a category — round things, yellow things, things smaller than your thumb. They will fill it and then sort it for another half hour at the kitchen table.
- Watering something. A tomato plant on a balcony is enough. Daily responsibility for a living thing is a real developmental experience and it costs four dollars.
- The same park, repeatedly. Novelty is overrated for young children. The fourth visit to a familiar playground is when the interesting, elaborate, cooperative play starts, because they are no longer spending attention on figuring the place out.
The Edmonton caveat
Our summer is short and it is not reliably warm. Plan for the day you get rather than the day you hoped for, keep a spare set of clothes in the car, and accept that a July morning at 11 degrees in Edmonton still counts as summer.
We go outside in nearly all of it. If you would like to see what a summer morning looks like here, come and visit — or read about our approach to outdoor time.
