Summer time is here, which means lots of fun in the sun and the water! Before you head out to the pool though, it is important that you go over some of the rules. Since my daughter is still young, we are spending a lot of time talking about pool safety this year. So I was thrilled when we were given the opportunity to check out this book that explores pool safety while telling a fun story about a pet dragon! We also paired it with summer activities for kids that review sun safety and pool safety, and also encourage bubbly fun.

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Meet Charlie and his Pet Dragon Rosie

Rosie the Dragon and Charlie Make Waves was written by Lauren H. Kerstein and illustrated by Nate Wragg. This fun summer story follows a young boy named Charlie and his pet dragon Rosie as they head to the pool for the day. Rosie wants to practice swimming, but Charlie knows that taking a dragon to the pool can be a lot of work. He walks the reader through all of his preparations, and shows how he teaches Rosie the rules and encourages her to face her fears.

The story touches on topics that will be familiar to all kids spending time around pools during the summer, including pool rules, fear of the water, learning to swim, and having fun with friends. The brightly colored illustrations are hilarious, highlighting the silly situations that Rosie gets herself into. Kids will love following along with Rosie and Charlie’s adventures, while parents will love the reminders about pool safety, sun safety, and social situations.

Swimming Rules

This book provided us with the perfect opportunity to talk about pool safety and swimming rules, just in time for summer! One of the pages even shows the pool rules in large detail, with matching drawings created by Rosie. Before you head to the pool for the summer, create your own list of rules as a family. You can even let kids illustrate them like Rosie did!

Blowing Bubbles

Charlie teaches Rosie how to blow bubbles, but because she is a dragon, her bubbles quickly grow out of control! Create your own “dragon bubbles” with this fun activity!

Carefully cut a plastic water bottle in half. Using the half with the mouth piece, spread a washcloth across the cut end and secure it with a rubber band. Make sure the washcloth is taut across the opening. Dip the washcloth end into bubble solution and blow hard through the mouthpiece. Your breath will create long “bubble snakes” that will keep growing!

Looking for more summer activities for kids? Check out these 12 educational sand activities!

Bubble Pool

Did you know that there are tons of skills that can be developed by blowing bubbles? Besides helping kids to develop oral motor skills, it can also help them to strengthen their abdominal muscles and their tongues, both of which can help with speech! (Check out this article on Tandem Speech Therapy to learn more benefits!).

Fill a bowl or bucket with water and let kids add some of their small plastic toys. (Even better if you have a dragon toy like Rosie!). Give kids a straw (or 2) and have them blow through the straws until bubbles are overflowing the pool, just like in the story! My daughter is constantly wanting to blow bubbles in any straw that she is given, and usually I tell her to stop. So this activity is a real winner for her because she finally gets to explore what happens when she blows lots of bubbles!

Related Post: 21 Chalk Activities for Summer Learning

Sunblock Sensory

In the story, Charlie has to apply sunscreen to Rosie before they head to the pool. This gave us a great opportunity to have a little sensory play with sunscreen. I am super grateful that my daughter is so good about putting on sunscreen. I used to work in a daycare, which meant applying sunscreen to 18 unhappy toddlers on sunny days. My daughter loves to remind me about putting on our sunscreen, and now that she is a bit older, she likes applying sunscreen to me after I apply it to her. So she was super excited when I told her that she could apply sunscreen to one of her toys as well.

Provide kids with a small amount of sunscreen and let them apply it to one of their toys. Keep a bucket of water on hand so you can clean the sunscreen off their hands and the toy when they are done. This is a great time to talk to kids about the importance of sun safety, and ways that they can protect themselves.

Gummy Skunks

In the story, Rosie gets a chance to sneak some of her favorite snack – gummy skunks! We decided to bring this part of the story to life by sharing gummy fruit snacks while we read the story. While they didn’t turn our teeth blue or give us dragon breath (thank goodness!), my daughter had a lot of fun pretending that they did.

What are your favorite summer activities for kids? Do you have any books you use that teach safety rules for summer? Share in the comments below!

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