Teaching Tip: Summer Challenge: Equip Kids to Master New Skills

Hello, friends! I’m Elizabeth Urbanowicz with Foundation Worldview, and today’s Teaching Tip is a tip that can help you foster developmentally appropriate growth in the children you are teaching.

As we head toward summer break, consider offering a summer challenge for the children you are teaching to master two or maybe three new skills.

In many ways, our culture today cripples kids by not providing them with developmentally appropriate opportunities to take on new responsibilities and challenges. Even just a few decades ago, it was common for children as young as eight or nine years old to:

• Walk to school by themselves

• Go to the park on their own

• Run simple, basic errands like heading to the corner store to pick up a loaf of bread or a gallon of milk

But today, we view such simple tasks as dangerous, and we unintentionally teach children that they aren’t capable—that they need adults to constantly be around in order for them to succeed.

The truth of the matter is:

• The children we are teaching are capable, and

• They need to know that.
  They need to know that they are capable and they are needed.

From a biblical worldview perspective, this makes complete sense because working and becoming a productive member of the community where God has placed us are actual needs that God has designed us with as His image bearers.

Just think of what is known as the Sabbath commandment in the Ten Commandments. Exodus 20:9-10 says:

“Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God.”

Now, this is a command to remember the Sabbath and keep it holy. But what is assumed in this command? That for six days we are going to be working! God designed us as humans to work—to be productive—to invest in the community where He has placed us.

This idea is clear all throughout God's Word. Again, in the law that God gave to the nation of Israel, He commanded that when there were poor in the land, they weren't just to receive a handout. Instead, those who owned land were supposed to leave the edges of their field ungleaned, and then the poor person was supposed to come and glean the edges of the field.

In this way, the poor were given dignity. They were able to work and be a productive member of society to feed their families.

And so, we want to encourage the children we are teaching to stretch themselves, to take on new responsibilities and challenges.

What the Summer Challenge Could Look Like

For this summer challenge, the skills that children try to complete or master can be anything, such as:

• Conquering a fear, like picking up bugs

• Going to the playground by themselves (with parents’ permission) for one afternoon

• Picking up a new responsibility around the house, such as cleaning the bathrooms

• Preparing a basic meal for the family

If you’re interested in more ideas for different challenges that the children you are teaching can take on, I highly recommend checking out LetGrow.org.

They have what’s called a Let Grow Kit, and it includes over 100 challenges for kids to take on to help them develop new skills.

You can go to LetGrow.org, download the Let Grow Kit, and then have the children you are teaching pick two or three skills or challenges from that kit to master over the summer.

Final Reminder

Just as a reminder, today’s Teaching Tip was to offer a summer challenge to the children you are teaching, encouraging them to master two or three new skills.

For more help on equipping the children you are teaching to think biblically, check out the many other resources we have available at FoundationWorldview.com.

Thanks so much for joining me today for this Teaching Tip, and I’ll see you next time!