School may be close to closing for the summer, but learning doesn’t have to stop. For kids to be successful in school, it’s important that they continue to practice their academic skills over the summer break. Here are some tips for adding academics in a way that’s fun for your whole family!
Visit your public library.
Your local library probably has a summer reading program that will incentivize reading and motivate your kids to read all summer. Many local libraries come to schools to publicize the program and talk to kids about it before the school year ends.
If that hasn’t happened at your child’s school, just visit the local library and ask what’s going on. Many libraries will give rewards for the number of books read and give big prizes at the end of the summer for kids that meet their goal. Libraries are also great places for fun programs like story time and author events. An added bonus- it’ll give you a break from the heat for a couple of hours!
Create a family book club
Just like adults, kids can have fun getting together to discuss a book they’ve all read. Depending on the age of your children, this could be a chapter book that everyone (parents included!) reads together, or a picture book that you read aloud as a family. Create a routine once a week or once or twice a month to meet and discuss the book. Make this fun with special snacks and themes to get your kids excited about reading and keep them practicing their comprehension skills all summer long.
Think STEAM
That’s Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math. STEAM is an easy way to get kids learning without even realizing they’re doing it. It can be as easy as breaking out a tub of Legos and giving them a building challenge, or giving them a problem to solve and a limited amount of time to solve it. A great way to involve the arts is to choose a work of art (you can even pull one up online) and practice a technique called visual thinking strategies: ask your child what they notice, what makes them say that, and what more they can find. This gets kids looking closely at artwork, articulating their thoughts, and backing them up with evidence from the work of art.
Afterwards, they’ll be curious to learn more about that piece of art! If this is something your kids are really interested in, make a day out of it by taking them to a local art museum.
Play strategy board games
Your kids will think they’re playing, but you’ll know they’re learning. Not only do strategy board games involve a good bit of reading, kids also have to have the math skills of addition, subtraction, and probability to be successful in many games. They’ll have to think critically about their next moves and will likely learn more each time they play. Want to take this one step farther? Ask your children to create their own board games to incorporate writing and even more critical thinking skills.
Hit the road
Have your kids plan a day out of the house. Ask them to make an itinerary (this will practice their telling time and elapsed time skills), create a map or give directions between locations (this will use geography and writing skills), and write a short synopsis of each place they will visit (this will use more writing skills). Your child will love being in control for the day and will practice valuable academic skills in the process. Bonus points if you have your child calculate the total number of miles traveled and the amount that it will cost in gas to get there!
Cook together
Cooking is a great way to stay inside and cool down during the hot summer months, but it also involves a ton of math when you’re measuring ingredients and lots of reading directions in cookbooks. You can also work lots of nutrition standards into this by making sure your child understands the food groups and what constitutes healthy meals and snacks. And as a bonus, you don’t have to do all the cooking by yourself!
The thought of two months of entertaining your child and involving academics can be daunting, but if you keep it creative and fun, your kids can learn all summer long and start the next school year ready to go!
