We all know about the “brain drain” known as summer, right? We’ve experienced it, we’ve seen it happen to our kids, but now we want to prevent it! How do we do that? By keeping their brains sharp every day, all summer long! Scholastic has an amazing list of activities that will keep your kids on their toes this summer, so be sure to check those out after you’re finished here!
6 Fun Ways to Keep Kids Learning this Summer
Play “Restaurant”. The kids can start by going through the cabinets to see which items you have on hand, and creating meals around those things. For the things you don’t have in stock, have them create a grocery list. When you go to the store, they can keep track of the budget and how much you have available to spend. This “game” will help keep their writing skills sharp, while making sure they utilize counting, budgeting, and other math skills.
We did this recently, and went to a local pick your own produce farm. The kids got to experience “life on the farm”, hang out with the animals, etc. They also got to weigh the fruits and veggies they picked, and estimated how much they were going to cost. This is a great way to incorporate locally grown produce into your meal plan, while keeping it educational!
Plan a vacation. No matter which grade they’re in, they can help plan a vacation on some level. Even if it’s a staycation, or just a trip to the next city, there is a lot of planning involved… so let them help! Keep their reasoning and planning skills sharp, because they need those for tests and homework. Older kids can even use a map to figure out how many miles you’ll be traveling, and factoring in your car’s mileage, they can estimate how much the trip will cost.
Try a new experiment. Science experiments are fun all year round, but there’s something special about having the extra time to work on experiments with mom or dad during the summer! Try a book like Dad’s Book of Awesome Science Experiments to get kids excited about science!
See a movie. This one is great for reluctant learners, because movies don’t feel like learning experiences. However, they most definitely can be! Try movies like The Chronicles of Narnia, or even The Lord of the Rings. Read the books, watch the movies, and compare and contrast the two.
Create a scrapbook. Save newspaper clippings, post cards, photos, etc all summer long. Work together on the scrapbook each week until school starts. Plan the page layouts together, and have your child use their writing and story telling skills to fill the scrapbook pages out each week.
B-I-N-G-O! Play games in the car, like BINGO, the License Plate Game, or even print out some sheets so older kids can do their states and capitals. You can do math with license plates (each letter has a number value, add them together to get the total). Make it a race if you have more than one kid.. it’s more fun that way!
Every activity you do can be educational, it just takes a little extra planning! Leave your summer brain drain busters in the comments!