Summertime is an opportunity for you and your family to relax, vacation, and spend quality time with each other.
But in between all the relaxing and fun activities, there is a huge benefit to prioritizing learning throughout the summer to prepare for the return to school in the fall.
These learning activities will help your child build confidence, keep their mind stimulated, and ensure that your child is ready to return to the routine of the classroom experience. Research consistently shows that children who do not engage in any type of mental activity during the summer tend to lose up to a third of what they have learned during the academic year. If your child struggles with a specific subject, summer is a great opportunity to slow down and focus on the basics of that subject so they are better prepared for the upcoming school year.
The good news is, summertime learning doesn’t have to be boring!
Create a game or contest to help encourage your child to read over the summer break. Every time they complete a book, award them with a small prize. This can be something as simple as a new toy, a night out to get ice cream or fun family activity. If you need some book ideas, check out my Summer 2021 Reading List. Interested in learning about ways you can improve your child’s reading comprehension? Check out my blog post here!
Museums, especially those designed for children, are a great way to experience hands-on learning. It can be an opportunity for your child to explore freely and learn about unique subjects in history or science!
Physical activity has been proven to help children build skills such as concentration, team building, strategy, and logic; all of which are great skills to have in the classroom. Time spent outdoors improves your child’s creativity as it nurtures the imagination, and can even improve their sleep! Spend time in the backyard, at the park, or on your nearest hiking trail. If you have space for a garden, encourage your child to help you care for the plants!
Storyboards (also called social stories) are visual presentations that organize a narrative. The visual presentations could be a set of drawings or pictures, videos or acting/role playing used to explain an upcoming event or procedure.
For storyboards to be effective, they should be catered to your child’s best way of embracing and learning. If your child is more receptive to drawings and pictures than videos, don’t use videos. If your child is more receptive to human interaction, use drawings created by you and your child or use acting/role playing. Each child is different. Each situation is different so each storyboard should be different.
Storyboards are a great opportunity to help your child learn in a new way! Check out the full post on my blog here to learn how you can build your own storyboard with your child.
While this may not be the most fun activity, encouraging your child to help with simple chores around the house is a great opportunity to get them into a routine to prepare for the upcoming school year. Helping with things like dishes, taking out the trash, cleaning their rooms, etc. is a great way to teach them responsibility. And I’m sure your child’s teacher will appreciate it for cleanup time in the classroom!
There are so many ways to continue education for your child throughout the summer while also giving them a break and the opportunity to enjoy their time off from school. Interested in learning about more ways you can prepare for back to school with your child? I am going live in my FREE Facebook group to host a back-to-school workshop. Join the group here so you don’t miss it!
