Summer Holiday Survival Tips - Part 2
Hoorah! Hurrah! The long summer holidays are fast approaching providing almost endless opportunities for fun…
“I’M BORED MUM” or “THERE’S NOTHING TO DO DAD” are some of the words that parents dread. Last time we offered lots of great ideas to help keep the kids happy and their brain’s healthy during the holidays. Now, let’s cover why these ideas are SO GOOD for their brains…
◻ Camping – even just set up camp in your own backyard
Camping is the ultimate way to connect with nature. Many families escape somewhere with a tent or caravan over the holidays and make beautiful memories in amazing landscapes – WA is a huge remarkable state. Research beyond the original connectedness to nature index reveals the stronger your connection to nature the more likely you are to demonstrate behaviours that protect your natural environment and promote feelings of wellbeing and positive mental health.
Bushwalking: https://www.natureplaywa.org.au/things-to-do/hiking
If you find a place to camp in a nature reserve, it is likely there will be some great bushwalks close to your campsite. Exercise in nature is brain food for a good mood, and even a chance to cultivate awe. What is awe? Awe is inspiring wonderment and respect, the feeling you might experience at the summit of a mountain. Scientific American describes how awe may be good for our health – reducing inflammation and potentially increasing natural curiosity. So get out there and turn on all your senses and ‘feel’ your way through your next bushwalk.
Invent your own board game
Do you remember inventing games as a child? Can you still remember any of them? How awesome was it when your parents turned on their imaginations and joined in the fun?!? A board game style game can be special because everyone can create the concept and parts, you can play and develop it, and then keep it in the cupboard to play again next school holidays. If you’re anything like Ellen or Elizabeth Banks, who knows, you might create a real gem. Games that are clever and funny require special parts of your brain to be working together in the thinking, intuiting, language and emotional regions. A real ‘whole brain’ kinda fun!
Bake a new recipe you have never enjoyed before
Some would argue it is cooking that has helped us develop bigger brains. As well as providing nutrient and calorie rich food, cooking can be a very present moment meditative activity. Helping kids develop life skills and guiding them to make healthier choices can be a huge benefit of engaging them in the cooking at home. Vegetables can be a sweet ingredient to add to even the most decadent dish…try beetroot and zucchini in chocolate cake.
Family Disco – everyone chooses their favourite tunes and dances the day away!
Mum, have you been too busy to remember how good it feels to get lost in the groove? Dancing to music is good for both cognition and coordination. If you get right into it and sway and spin around it is particularly excellent for your balance – your vestibular network and cerebellum get a workout. And Mum, if you get a bit dizzy after one little spin around the kitchen…that means you need this more than you realise.
Some of us find jumping really helps us feel pretty alright. A big bounce on the tramp can calm us down…have you ever wondered why? We have these amazing sensors in our feet and joints that connect our brain to our body, we get the best response from these sensors under pressure. Jumping both elevates and deeply connects the body and brain.
Get quiet enjoyment at your amazing Local Library
Librarians love books and brains. You may be really surprised at the range and depth of activities offered at your local library. Many libraries have had major upgrades since you may have last visited…you’ll find soo much more than books…some libraries are a technical wonderland and a hub for your local community.
Take an art class at Fremantle Arts Centre (and other community arts centres)
Artistic pursuits light up a multitude of areas in your brain and challenges them perfectly differently from typical structured learning. Neuroscientist, Eric Jensen, in ‘Arts with the Brain in Mind’ describes beautifully how the arts nourish the parts of the brain required for learning along with developing creative capacity, fine motor skills and emotional balance.
Build and plant a fruit and vege patch
Don’t eat too many mud pies, but guts love a bit of dirt. Our microbiome and gut/brain axis can be remarkably positively changed by spending time working on our green thumb. Just ask Dr ‘Clever Guts’ Mosely. Some may not like the thought of it, but you absolutely positively need bacteria – gardening connects you with trillions of good ones. Also a great way to purposefully exercise…and you get to munch on your produce!
Redecorate your bedroom
Change is as good as a holiday - double your holiday bonus with a bedroom re-do too! Life hack and google scholar have some interesting common ground when it comes to changing your living environment and changing your life. A bedroom makeover may be enough of a change for your brain to make more brain cells, as an enriched or changed environment can trigger the hippocampus to turn stem cells into new neurons. So let’s get designing!
Make cards ready for Christmas and upcoming Birthdays
Nothing conveys kindness and love like taking the time to make something from scratch. Sure we can upload a snazzy pic and create away on canva or smilebox, but a carefully constructing card art by hand communicates something really special. What’s not to love about this beautiful brain feedback loop: kindness makes us happier and happiness makes us kinder.
Keep a holiday journal, take time to write about what you are grateful for
What gratitude can do for you…it can make you feel good today, and even better tomorrow. A tip from comedian Maz Jobrani, when interviewed by Dacher Keltner from the Greater Good Science Centre, is to each day find 3 good positive things and write them down before you go to sleep. By doing this you prime your brain to look for the good again the next day, and the next, and so the goodness grows.
Learn some magic tricks
How cool is it that the brain believes illusion as much as reality. It can be such a powerful concept that it can be used to treat irrational fears, chronic pain and trauma. On a lighter side though, learning and watching magic tricks that are visual really exercise the visual and perceptual parts of your brain. Experience the impossible in your own lounge room this school holidays.
Slip, slop, slap and grab some sunshine!
Sunshine is vital to program your body clock. When our clock is out of time we have trouble producing the right neurochemicals at the right time, and this can have disastrous effects on our sleep, mood and physical health. When our skin is exposed to sunshine we can start to make Vitamin D, studies have shown healthy levels of vitamin D have been associated with proper functioning of cells in the brain and better executive function (particularly in older women).
Go Fishing, cook your catch up when you get home
Oily fish, like mackerel and sardines, are full of awesome brain building blocks. Our diets rarely see us eating enough of the right foods for our bodies and brains. To make happy healthy brain cells we need the right combination of fatty acids. Omega 3’s EPA and DHA have important anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant effects. A brain scan can provide information on what combination your brain may need.
Go on a Playground Hunt – be surprised by what you find in your neighbourhood
You might find the most summer holiday excitement is found playing with new kids from other schools in your neighbourhood. But, you’ve gotta get out of your box to find them! Connecting locally, meeting and making new friends is the social stuff our brains are designed for. Sadly, the more time we spend in our little boxes glued to boxes the more we are missing out on our big wide world and limiting this important aspect of our human nature. It’s going to be hot so get out and about in the morning or later afternoon, and who knows you might even find a water playground you never knew was there!
Create a cardboard village
Upcycled, reused, recycled, repurposed imaginative fun. The old saying ‘the kid will have more fun with the box it comes in than the toy’ is too true! Pinterest is littered with ideas to spark your interest. Imaginative play is essential for brain development particularly with areas associated with development of social and emotional skills, language, and problem solving. Have fun in your fantastical cardboard world.
Learn to play ukulele, harmonica or hand drums – maybe start a garage band
The ABC last year reminded us that music exposure can accelerate brain function. Areas of the brain developed by music include: language; sound; speech; reading and perception. If you receive formal music instruction for 4 years before the age of 18 you may reduce your risk of mild cognitive impairment in later life by up to 30%! La La La!
All try writing a simple guided meditation, take turns each night to read them
Meditation and mindfulness have been in the brainy spotlight for a while now. Your kids may surprise you with their skill here as they may have been meditating every day at school as part of an afternoon brain break. Most schools and many Families are familiar with apps like Smiling Mind and Calm. Meditation helps to relax your body and mind, reduce the intensity and volume of the inner voice in the ‘me centres’ of the brain. The ‘me centres’ include the default mode network, where the thoughts of the thinker may defer to worrying, ruminating and overthinking things about themselves or things they think other people think about them.
Get lost and be inspired at an Art Gallery
The deeply symbolic language of art takes a complex network of brain areas and memory working together to decipher the message. The message may be different for each individual as it lies in the interpretation of the piece. Art is an ancient form of communication. It helps us think differently, even abstractly, about often familiar things. That is the beauty and importance of artistic expression in our world and for our brains.
Wildlife Centres do awesome work, discover centres in Herdsman and Rockingham
Did you know a leech has 32 brains? In the animal kingdom, humans may have brain connectivity mastered, but there are some radical animals with brainy characteristics that will blow your mind! Like the smelling part of the brain in a shark takes up about 2/3 of their brain! My Son and I still chat about how much he loved the little banjo shark at Rockingham Wildlife Centre. How cool if you get to visit, or even volunteer, with these amazing animals in your local community at your wildlife centre. Connecting with animals stimulates interest in the animal and the environment they are from – and ultimately the environment you are from too.
Free Disc Golf Courses – Greenwood, Floreat and Piney Lakes
Most of us have spent time developing our ball skills, I doubt many of us are as good with a flying disc. Physical activity is as important as brain games for our noggins. It goes beyond biochemistry and the health of the blood supply to the brain. Exercise gives us the space from one type of thinking (that we do a lot of sitting down) and opens out the brain using your think machine differently to move, dodge, lift, throw, balance and breathe. Some say their daily workout clears the head, and may even be the space where the greatest ideas are born.
Bike courses – for skills at Peachy Park Kewdale or for road rules at Hossack Reserve
When bike skills are established you and your child may have the confidence to ride around your local community rather than drive. Perhaps next year you could set a goal to take that extra time and ride to school instead of drive. Riding takes great skill and brainpower. It’s also great weight supported exercise that can help us lose some Christmas kg’s. This comes from a cycling magazine, and I thought it explains it perfectly: An ancestral thing happens when we drop some weight, we get a fall in our fat hormone leptin, when leptin levels are lowered the body is motivated to move to ‘pursue food’. Whether you ride or run in response to this urge you are flooded with a delightful cellular smoothie of norepinephrine, dopamine, endorphins, anandamide, and serotonin - totally feel awesome neurochemicals.
Visit the State Library of WA and the incredible programs for families and children
Last holiday the STEM programs at the State Library were something to behold. These well developed programs make learning enjoyable and celebrate knowledge that we can engage in outside the classroom. The Super Power Kids exhibition is on right now. Embracing life-long learning as a family value demonstrates to your children how much there is to absorb in this magical world and how fascinating it can be to love learning for your entire life. Your brain will absolutely love you for it, as it lives to learn at any age!
Go silly at ‘140 Kid Street’ in the City: https://www.facebook.com/140Perth/
Why do brains like silly things? Funny podcaster and smart neuroscientist Dean Burnett reassures us that our brains are more idiot than supercomputer. It is ok to laugh at fart jokes and like the crazy happy feeling of being tickled. Being playful, childlike and silly – especially having a good giggle - is actually marvellously good for us. Laughter decreases our stress levels and lowers production of damaging stress hormones, it increases some feel good chemicals too that decrease pain and improve mood, and can increase the production of immune cells as well. Truly a magical medicine.
Go wild with survival skills: http://www.wildmovement.com.au/
Your brain has not changed much since that of your hunter gatherer ancestors, not much at all. It needs the same conditions as then to be well, but just think about how different our lives are. Some, like Dr Stephen Ilardi, would argue the epidemics of depression, diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease, cancer and other modern human diseases are related to this deep disconnect with our natural world. So get barefoot, move naturally and re-wild your family.
Go to a Play or Puppet Show
Puppetry and this type of playfulness can open windows of communication that may help a child express deeper emotional experiences, conflicts, fears and concerns. With puppets, we have the safety to project and play with our thoughts, feelings and actions. When we play this way with our parents, we, as parents, may develop a deeper understanding or some insights into what may bothering or upsetting our child that they may not have the confidence to tell us.
Take a summer workshop somewhere new that challenges you…Circus? Surfing?
Brains crave a challenge, a brain will do its best to rise up to the challenges you present it every time. The more you challenge it, the more prepared it is for novelty, newness and the unknown – therefore the better it can handle it when it pops up.
Scrapbook a Fun Family Photo Album of all these things you have done together
Each Family member will lay down memories of their holidays, during the day and as they dream at night, in different ways. How lovely to compile your shared experiences in an album you can all work on and add your snippets of wonderful. The album will become a family treasure, and who knows? You may learn something special about each other and how each of your brains remembers…
About the author: Emily Goss, Senior Clinician – Perth Brain Centre
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