Summer breaks give kids a chance to let their brains process everything they learned during the school year. Yet, it is easy for kids to lose some of what they learned if you don’t make it a priority to keep their education going. Helping you kids keep learning during their summer breaks is easy when you know how to plan fun and engaging activities that your kids look forward to doing.
Do a Summer Reading Challenge
Many community libraries host summer reading challenges that encourage kids to pick up a book and read each day. You can look for one of these or plan your own. If you decide to plan one yourself, then make sure it fits your child’s reading level. You could challenge them to read a specific number of minutes each week and celebrate their success with a special outing. Or, you could set up a challenge to complete a short book series for an older kid who loves a specific author.
Send Them to an Educational Summer Camp
Going to summer camp gives your kid a safe place to spend their time while having fun with new friends. STEM summer camps offer exciting activities that are based around age-appropriate concepts that your kid will be learning more about when they return to school. Since camps plan activities for smaller groups, your child can get more involved in the hands-on projects that inspire an interest in the basics of engineering, physics, and robotics.
Dive Into Their Favorite Subject
Most kids have a specific interest that you can let them delve deeper into during the summer when they have more time. If your child is interested in biology, then you can help them start a garden or pick out a pet to care for a home. A child who is interested in astronomy might enjoy staying up a little later to observe the stars with a telescope.
Go on Family Field Trips
With your kids spending less time in school, you now have the perfect opportunity to go to more places. While going to the park is always great, you might want to branch out a bit more. Taking your kids to the planetarium is an opportunity to let them learn about constellations, or you might head to the zoo for an up close view of the animals in action. Before your trip, consider talking about a few things they may see. Whether they’re going to the science museum or heading out on a nature walk, doing a little prep work helps them get more out of the experience.
While you want your kids to keep learning over the summer, it is best to minimize using workbooks. Planning hands-on experiences that include an element of fun makes the experience so interesting that your kids won’t even think about it being educational. Inspiring a love for learning makes it easier for them to transition when it is time to go back to school.
