Slip :
Fun Ways to Engage Kids ’
Give the Slide the
Minds in the Summer
By Tanni Haas , Ph . D .
Do your kids seem a little less ready for school after each summer break ? If the answer is yes , don ’ t worry . They ’ re far from alone . It ’ s a common experience known as the “ summer learning slide .” Research shows that kids typically lose the equivalent of a month ’ s worth of learning over the summer break - and it gets worse the older they get !
So , what can parents do to give the slide the slip ? Here are seven fun activities that have worked for our teenage son , and I bet they ’ ll help your kids , too .
Read a Fiction and a Non-Fiction Book Every Other Week
Since our son learned to read , we ’ ve had him read one fiction and one non-fiction book every other week to keep his reading and comprehension skills at grade level . It ’ s summer , after all , so instead of assigning him books like he ’ s used to from school , we let him choose what to read .
Keep a Vacation Journal
We take at least one big family vacation trip every summer , and since our son was very young , we ’ ve had him keep a daily journal where he writes about what we did that day . It ’ s been a great way to keep his writing skills up-to-date and document his childhood .
Watch Feature and Documentary Movies
Aside from playing a board game or two , we also watch movies in the evening . With all the streaming services available , it ’ s not that hard to find a documentary or feature film that also happens to be educational . Movies are some of the most fun ways to learn about other time periods , cultures and current events .
Download Educational Apps
Although we try to make our son ’ s summer activities as social as possible , we also indulge his interest in anything technological , like letting him download all the educational apps he wants . He really likes quiz apps , which like the board game Trivial Pursuit , are great for developing kids ’ general knowledge .
Visit Arts , History and Natural Science Museums
Museum visits are another great way to keep your kids up-to-date with the arts , history and natural science . It doesn ’ t matter whether you live in a big or a small city . Even the smallest town often has a museum nearby . Going to the local town museum and learning about your own history can be surprisingly fun .
Email Family and Friends
To strengthen our son ’ s writing skills , we also have him email family and friends , especially those people we don ’ t get to see that much during the year . Teenagers prefer texting , but we insist that he emails them because texts are usually full of broken sentences , odd grammar and spelling mistakes .
Play Math-Based Board Games
In the evening , whether we ’ re on a family vacation trip or at home , we play math games like Monopoly or spelling games like Scrabble . The key is to focus on the fun part - the competition - rather than the learning . If you do that , the learning will happen automatically .
JUNE 2022 | 19