Summer’s here and even though the risk of sunburn is an all-year-round danger in this country the effects of burning and sun exposure are more keenly felt in the summer.

We covered the heightened risks of UV in our previous article Sensory Summer Play and whereas we know the UV levels can be much higher in NZ than in the Northern Hemisphere we rarely go far enough in protecting our children from this invisible killer.

It goes without saying that sleep is important.  What is surprising is just how important sleep is to a young, developing mind.  In her 2009 dissertation for her Masters degree at the University of Canterbury entitled ‘The Quality of Naps in Young Children with Sleeping Difficulties: The Role of Parents and Preschools’ Lucia Torok highlights the conflicting best practices to nap times in early childhood centres in New Zealand but one thing that remains undisputed is the important role it plays.

Lucia cites quotes from Mindell & Owens (2003), Blissitt (2001) and Gomez, Bootzin & Nadel (2006), which all highlight how sleep is a major activity of the brain during development and that sleeping once learning has occurred can help cement the lessons in the child’s mind.

It seems you can’t go into any home, or early childhood centre and find a sandpit that doesn’t have a digger or dump truck half buried in sand.  They hold a special fascination with children and Dana Villamagna from Toca Magazine explains in her article entitled ‘Why Kids Dig Trucks’ a possible theory as to why;

New Zealand is a country that inspires families to be outdoors, enjoying the bounty of nature around us. Even in today’s society we have very different childhoods to those ten or even twenty years ago.

Sensory play is one of the best tools for cognitive development in a child’s education. It helps
that when summer comes around there is such an abundance of opportunities for the children to
splash and play.