Parents want what’s best for our kids, and that includes a great education. Whether your kids are A+ students or need a little extra help to succeed in school, you can have a big impact on their academic performance—and it’s easier than you might realize. Keep reading to learn how to help kids succeed in school, and see how many of these tips you can implement in your family’s routine!

Helping Kids Do Well in School

Be involved and aware.

Working and taking care of your family is a lot to handle, and no one can give 100% to everything at all times. However, one thing you can do to help your kids in school is to stay engaged and aware of what’s going on with their class. That means attending back-to-school meetings, open houses, and parent-teacher conferences as much as possible. If you absolutely must miss these important opportunities to check in with your child’s teacher, try to catch up another time, either in person or via email or phone. 

It’s easier than ever before for parents to stay in the loop of what’s going on with their kids’ schools, thanks to technology. Bookmark the school website so you can always access important information like the school calendar, upcoming standardized testing, or field trips. You can even do things like add money to lunch accounts online, making it quick and simple. 

We’ve all experienced a lapse in communication as parents (Although if you haven’t, please share your secrets!), so rather than relying on your kids to know what’s up at all times, familiarize yourself with school policies and the class syllabus. 

Create an optimal learning environment.

We all know that there’s a lot more to being a high-level athlete than just what happens on the field between the start and end of the game. Succeeding at a sport requires dedication and can extend to everything from diet, to exercise, to what time to set the alarm clock. Similarly, your kids need you to support their learning at all times, not just during school hours. Some of the most important ways to do this include: 

• Making sure they’re well-rested. Sleep plays a huge role in health as well as cognitive function, so it’s vital that you make sure your kids are getting enough sleep. They’ll feel better, be less cranky, and be more alert during class if you set a reasonable bedtime and stick to it. 
• Feeding them breakfast. Breakfast is important because it gives your kids the energy they need to concentrate and participate in class. Research has shown that kids who eat breakfast are less likely to miss school, and the benefits of breakfast include improved memory and attention span. 

Getting them moving. Another important factor is exercise! It’s so important to demonstrate healthy activity to your kids by staying active and encouraging them to do the same. Whether it’s taking a walk after dinner or visiting our skating rink, incorporating fun ways to move can have both mental and physical benefits for students.

Cleaning up after kids is a challenge at the best of times… And if there’s one thing we can all agree on, it’s that 2020 has not been the best of times! With everyone being stuck at home so much, it’s not surprising if you’re feeling that your house is messier than usual. Not to mention the fact that your kids are probably bouncing off the walls! Fortunately, we’ve got some ways to keep your kids occupied without making a mess in your house. Check out these mess-free kids’ activities and let the good, clean fun commence!

At-Home and Mess-Free Kids’ Activities 

Little Kids

Learning fine motor skills takes time—but in the interim, things can get pretty messy. However, you can keep your little ones engaged and entertained without a huge cleanup with a little preparation. Here are some easy things to do with little kids that don’t make a mess. 

• Freezer bag “finger painting”
• Color sorting. Use colorful craft pompoms and a divided tray or plate.
• Packaging-palooza. Let your kids walk around on bubble wrap, or make a box fort from all those Amazon boxes. Just make sure there’s nothing that could be a safety hazard in them, like plastic bags. Once they’re tired of their box fort (or you are) it can easily be broken down and recycled. 
• Contact paper art. Cut geometric shapes out of colorful contact paper and let your child go to town arranging them on a window, glass door, or even the fridge. 
• Water painting. A Buddha Board or this magic water painting paper can keep some kids entertained for hours. The best part? Since it’s just water, there’s no risk of ending up with a new “mural” on your walls or a stain on your carpet!
• Tape race track. Lay a “race track” on your kitchen floor with masking tape so your kids can drive their toy cars around it. Once they get tired of it, you should be able to simply peel up the tape without damaging the floor. 

Big Kids

Older kids with a little more know-how can have a blast at home too, without getting sucked into TV, video games, or social media. To head off those complaints of “I’m BORED” at the pass, write these ideas on popsicle sticks and place them in a jar somewhere central in your home. Kids can go pick an activity when they’re feeling restless and don’t know what to do.

• Create a marble run. Let them raid the recycling bin to find cardboard tubes and boxes. With some tape and a little creativity, they can build their very own marble run to send marbles through the course. Choose different colored marbles and let them race!
• Try origami. Origami is a great non-messy art form because all you need is paper. You can find packs of small, colorful papers for scrapbooking or origami at craft stores, or just use construction paper. 
• Play a board game. If you have multiple kids who are old enough to pay attention, board games can be an excellent way to burn a couple of hours. Look for cooperative board games to ensure that it’s a fun experience for everyone. 
• Read a book. Bonus points if there’s a cozy hammock or reading nook where your kids can hunker down and get lost in a fictional world.
• Write letters. Let your kids choose some fun stationery and set them up with a little mail station where they can write to grandparents, aunts and uncles, friends, or teachers. Teach them how to address an envelop and put a stamp on it, then place it in the mailbox and put the flag up for the postal worker. 

The 2020-2021 school year is anything but typical, thanks to the global COVID-19 pandemic. However, just because it’s an unusual and challenging time, that doesn’t mean that your kids can’t still have a successful school year! As families figure out how to navigate the “new normal” with Lockport’s 2-1-2 model, we hope these back to school tips will help you and your kids make the most of the situation.

Clever Back to School Tips

Get the facts.

With such an unusual year, it’s more important than ever to keep your kids’ school information close at hand. These are some quick links you can bookmark to help you stay on top of things:

• Lockport City School District Calendar
• Lockport City Schools Lunch Menus
• School Bucks (loading cafeteria funds, etc.)
• Lockport Parent Portal
• School and Staff Directory
• Bus information and forms

Stay organized.

There are a lot of moving parts to this school year’s plan, with two cohorts of students attending in-person on some days and distance learning from home on others. That means you’ll need to be organized in both the online and “IRL” (in real life) spheres. There are plenty of great scheduling and task tracking apps for parents that can help you keep things straight digitally. Here are some physical organization tips to try as well: 

• Create a “command center.” There are tons of ideas out there to help you customize your own version, but basically, this should be a place to help keep school forms, mail, to-do lists, etc. easily accessible so you can find what you need, when you need it. 
• Family cubbies are another clever back to school organization tip that can either be combined with your command center or located separately in a more convenient area like your entryway or mudroom. They don’t have to literally be cubbies, either. Some families use cubbies or lockers, others have a basket labeled with each child’s name, and others use a row of labeled hooks or some combination of everything!
  The point is to give each kid a place to put their bookbag, lunchbox, coat, shoes, etc. By always placing their stuff in the same area when they come home from school, they’ll be better able to keep up with their stuff and you can avoid those “Where’s my [insert item here]?!” panic moments in the mornings.

• For those virtual learning days, it’s crucial to be organized so your kids don’t spend half the day asking you where school supplies are or getting distracted by things around the house. If your kids have their own desks, that’s perfect. Make sure they are stocked with pencils, erasers, notebook paper, crayons, glue, scissors, index cards, a calculator, etc.— whatever they need for school should be all in one place in their desk drawers or nearby. A small shelf or cube organizer works great if you need space for multiple kids’ supplies, or you can even set each kid up with their own super cool rolling cart of school supplies. Rolling carts or individual caddies for each child’s supplies are also great if you’re dealing with limited space. The kids can simply do their work at the kitchen table, and then the supplies can be put back into their caddy or cart and put away to clear the table for meals. 

Streamline everything.

Last, but not least, you’re going to want to streamline as many things as possible in your family’s routine. The school supply hack above is an important one, but there’s another major area you can streamline as well: School lunches! 

Once your kids are in third or fourth grade, they can pack their own lunches with minimal guidance from you. Make it easy by placing each type of lunch component in its own bin. For example, a basket of juiceboxes and another of snacks (granola bars, chips, crackers, raisins) in the pantry, plus bins in the fridge for things like fruit and veggie snacks, string cheese, yogurt, etc. Label the bins so your kids know how many of each item to pack in their lunchboxes. This not only saves you time, but also gives your kids some choice and control. You can’t whine about not liking your lunch if you chose it yourself, after all!

We love getting to host birthday parties for all ages here at Rainbow Skateland, but due to the pandemic, many folks have been forced to celebrate at home. While we can’t wait to party with you in person again soon, we don’t want anyone’s special day to go by without some acknowledgment. If you’re planning an at-home birthday party, try some of these cool, creative, and best of all, easy DIY at-home birthday party decorations! 

How to Decorate for an At-Home Party

There’s been a lot of bad news lately, but here’s some good news: Decorating for an at-home/virtual birthday party is way easier than decorating for a normal party. Instead of decorating your whole house, all around multiple rooms, a cake table, a gift table, and even your front yard, you can focus all of your attention on one thing: The wall behind wherever you’ll be virtually partying with your friends. Limiting your birthday party decorations to the wall immediately behind where you’re sitting means less waste, less cost, and less hassle. Check out these virtual birthday party decorating ideas, and don’t be afraid to put your own spin on them. 

Hang a backdrop. 

There are tons of affordable photo backdrops out there, and you don’t have to be a professional photographer or have special equipment to use one! Just order a sparkly photo backdrop and pin or tape it to the wall you’re decorating. It can either stand alone providing shimmering ambiance, or you can use it as a base and layer other decorations on top of it. 

Typically you can find almost any color of glitter or metallic backdrop on Amazon, but there are also backdrops with scenes like the beach or a castle, so you can definitely find something to match your theme. You don’t even have to limit yourself to an official photo backdrop, either! Don’t be afraid to use a colorful tapestry, table cloth, or sheet in the same way.  

Use balloons.

Balloons are a birthday party classic for a reason. They’re super affordable, colorful, and just plain festive. Blow up a bunch of balloons in your favorite colors (or go for the whole rainbow!) and use painter’s tape (or any non-damaging tape) to tape the balloons to the wall. 

Want to get extra trendy? Buy the infamous letter balloons that you’ve probably seen everywhere and spell out the message of your choice. 

Use what you’ve got.

You don’t necessarily have to spend money to create a cool party backdrop; just go “shopping” around your house! You might find items you can use in a new way, like party streamers or ribbons. Do you have a cool wall covered in posters? A corner of your yard with jungle-like plants? Whatever you’ve got, a little creativity can transform it into a unique, festive backdrop. And if all else fails, there are always virtual Zoom party backgrounds!

Routine. The word brings to mind words like normal, standard, run-of-the-mill… Maybe even boring. But when it comes to kids, routine is actually fantastic! Having a set routine can help your family function better, feel better, and even spend more quality time together. So, ready to learn why routine is good for kids? Strap in, and let’s go!

What a Routine Is (And What It’s Not)

Having a routine doesn’t necessarily mean doing the exact same thing every day. Just because you eat off the same plates for every meal doesn’t mean you’re eating the same food. Consider your family’s routine sort of like a place setting. You can serve up different activities every day, but the overall structure—when to wake up, when to eat, when to play, when to get ready for bed—that stays the same. 

Waking up and going to sleep at the same approximate time every day not only anchors a body’s circadian rhythm but can also improve the quality of that sleep. Better quality sleep means more energy and just feeling better in general. That’s important for everyone, whether you’re going to work or school. 

The Benefits of Routines for Kids 

There are too many benefits to name, but these are just a few reasons to get your kids into a routine: 

Better Sleep

We mentioned this above, but really think about it: How would better sleep affect your family? Do any of these sound good to you? (Spoiler alert: We know they do!)

• Going to sleep more easily. For your kids, that means fewer rounds of “one more story” or “one more glass of water.” For you, that means no more scrolling on your phone until the wee hours!
• Better mood. Who wouldn’t want their own personal rays of sunshine to be less grouchy in the morning?
• Better cognitive function. Better and more sleep literally helps our brains work better. It can affect everything from reaction time while driving, to the ability to focus on tasks, to short-term memory for your kids’ pop quizzes or your weekly staff meeting. 
• Less dependence on substances. This one’s all for you, grownups. If you feel like you can’t function without your morning coffee, or you can’t go to sleep without a nightcap, try adjusting your own bedtime and wakeup routines to ensure that you’re getting enough high-quality sleep. You may be surprised how much better you feel!

Feeling Secure

Here’s another major reason to get your kids on a routine: Because it makes them feel safe and secure. When people feel safe, they can be more confident, competent, and present. This is especially important for younger kids, who are still learning that even though Mom or Dad leaves in the morning, they will come back in the evening. According to Jean M. Thomas, M.D.,

The more secure toddlers feel, the more they can focus on things like learning, exploring, and playing.

Establishing Good Habits

But routines aren’t just for little kids. Even teens and adults can benefit from a regular daily structure. If you’ve always wanted to be the person who has a “gym habit” or reads multiple books each month, sticking to a routine that prioritizes those things is how you’ll do it. 

Having a routine can also help you set realistic goals and stick to them. And for teens, a routine can be a helpful way to break the cycle of marathon social media-scrolling sessions on the couch, which are now widely accepted as being bad for mental health. 

When making a routine for your family, remember to budget time for fun! Whether it’s roller skating at Rainbow Skateland or having a movie night in the den, quality time together is what it’s all about. 

Getting enough exercise can be challenging at the best of times, but during the COVID-19 pandemic, finding ways to stay active has been even harder. With gyms and yoga studios closed, social distancing guidelines in place, and even skating rinks temporarily shut down, it’s hard to stay motivated and on top of your fitness goals. While we can’t wait to be able to reopen Rainbow Skateland, you don’t have to wait until then to get your skate on! Learn why you should try roller skating outdoors to scratch that skating itch and have some much-needed fun in the meantime. 

Roller Skating Outside the Rink

Roller skating is a perfect workout. 

We’ve waxed poetic about the fitness benefits of roller skating before, but how could we not when there are so many? Roller skating can burn up to 600 calories per hour if you’re skating really intensely, but even moderate skating can burn over 300 calories an hour. 

As an aerobic exercise, it increases your heart rate and helps improve cardiovascular fitness. But your heart isn’t the only muscle that skating strengthens; roller skating also tones and strengthens your core and leg muscles, especially the glutes, quads, hamstrings, calves, and hips.

Add in the improvements you can make to your balance and agility, and it’s easy to see why so many people enjoy using roller skating as a cross-training workout. It’s also low-impact, putting about half as much stress on your joints as jogging does, while still delivering comparable cardio results. 

Outdoor skating is almost as easy as skating inside.

You don’t need a whole new set of roller skates to skate outside; all you have to do is change your wheels! Outdoor skate wheels are typically wider and softer than indoor skate wheels, providing more stability and shock absorption to deal with the rougher outdoor environment. (Think sidewalk cracks, dirt and debris, etc.)

When skating outdoors, you should also wear a helmet, as well as elbow and knee pads. Even experienced skaters wipe out every now and then, and falling on a rough sidewalk or road hurts a lot more than falling on a smooth, clean, and well-maintained skating rink floor.   

Roller skating can be safe and social. 

We’re all looking for ways to connect with friends and family despite the pandemic, and roller skating outdoors is a great way to do that! Invite a friend to join you at the park for a leisurely ride and enjoy chatting and just hanging out. As long as you remember to wear your masks, social distance, and follow the rest of the CDC guidelines for outdoor exercise, it’s a low-risk activity that can help you maintain important relationships and benefit your mental health.

Spending time outdoors is good for your mental health. 

Speaking of mental health, did you know that spending time outside can boost your mood? Being out in nature has lots of important benefits for humans, including reducing stress and increasing happiness and well-being. 

The benefits of reading for kids are plentiful, and summer is the perfect time to make reading a priority in your family. Just like roller skating can help them burn off energy, improve balance and coordination, and get a heart-pumping cardio workout, reading is like a workout for the brain! Learning to love reading sets your child up for a lifetime of benefits, from academic advantages and improved vocabulary to rich imagination and a sense of curiosity and independence. 

Of course, as a parent in 2020, getting your kids to read is easier said than done. Check out these summer reading ideas to help your kids develop a reading habit and a lifelong love of books. 

Summer Reading Ideas for Kids

Start a virtual book club.

With all of the pandemic uncertainty around reopening schools, your kids are probably missing their friends. This idea is perfect, because it incorporates reading with some much-needed socialization. Start a book club for kids by inviting your child’s classmates or friends to a regularly scheduled video conference where they can discuss a book each week. If they have summer reading lists for school, that’s a great place to start, or you can narrow it down to a few selections and let the other kids and parents in the group vote on the book of the week. 

For maximum fun and fanciness, you could even treat it like an adult book club by having finger food snacks or drinking out of tea cups. Let one parent/child pair “host” each week by kicking off the meeting with a conversational prompt or observation about the book. 

Create an at-home “library.”

No, you don’t need to have wall-to-wall bookshelves to create a library in your home, you just need a little creativity. Setting up a dedicated reading area is a great way to subtly encourage your kids to spend more time reading. To put it simply, “If you build it, they will come.” 

Creating your own reading room doesn’t have to be complicated or require a big budget; it could be as simple as placing some comfy pillows next to the bookshelf in your child’s room, or hanging a hammock on your porch. And not to be ignored, there’s the classic window seat reading nook, just begging you to curl up with a good book like a cat in a sunny window sill. 

Pick a theme. 

If your kids aren’t particularly stoked about reading, one way to get them interested is to pick a theme that plays to their interests. Whether they love superheroes or dinosaurs, art or animals, curating a list of books on one subject can help them explore and delve further into their interests.

Take advantage of your local library.

Last, but not least, don’t forget to take advantage of your local library! Even though COVID-19 restrictions have caused closures and cancellations of library events, many branches are allowing patrons to reserve books online and pick them up curbside.