SUMMERTIME LEARNING FUN
by Sue Rickert
May 01, 2008
Keep Learning Fun! Don’t Let Brain Slump Affect You!!
Don’t let summer “vacation” be the time when your child loses their learning. BUT, don’t make learning a hated chore all summer. Here are some suggestions for continuing the reviewing and learning, while making it more pleasurable for everyone.
1. Reading:
Go to the Library with your child.
Both of you choose a book together. Take turns reading chapters
aloud to each other. Take turns asking and answering questions.
Have your older child read aloud to a younger sibling. (or tape
record it for them)
Set a goal chart (with rewards) for finishing a certain number of
books.
Read an article from the newspaper or a magazine together and
discuss it.
(Check out www.nea.org/ref?readinglists
if you need ideas for books to read)
2. Writing:
Do a weekly journal writing of
what you have been doing during vacation.
Make a scrapbook and write out the captions.
Write letters or emails (with PROPER grammar and spelling) to
friends or relatives.
Set up a family blog or website and take turns entering the
info.
Check out www.readwritethink.org
3. Math:
Measure things around the house in
both metrics and standard measurements.
Estimate the cost of things before purchasing, then calculate the
difference.
Make a budget for groceries, or a party, or school supplies and
clothes, etc. Plan and buy the items, doing the math as you shop
and STICK to the BUDGET!
Have the child make a “math facts” quiz for you to do, then they
check it.
Cook together and discuss the fractions involved with measuring
cups & spoons.
4. Social Studies:
Use maps to figure mileage and routes when traveling.
Watch for different license plates and use maps to locate the
states (and recall the capitols).
Research and/or talk about family history. Interview an older
family member for memories about world events (WW II, Vietnam,
President Kennedy’s assassination, Richard Nixon’s resignation,
Sept. 11 bombings, etc.)
Make a guessing game to match a world event with a family
member.
A great website for current events is: www.timeforkids.com
5. Science:
Do experiments with plants, or
plant seeds. (sunlight, or cover one so there’s no sunlight, water
one or no water and estimate/count the days before it dies. How
little water can it survive with?
Mix various kitchen cooking liquids and dry ingredients together to
check what happens (DO NOT MIX AMMONIA AND BLEACH).
Find insects, or rocks, or plants, or animals and check out a book
or the internet to identify or classify them.
6. Others:
Get some exercise every day!!
Swim, run, play ball, take a walk, garden, clean the house or
garage. MOVE!!
Volunteer—offer to mow an older neighbor’s yard, baby sit for
someone (for free!), offer to help at the food pantry, pick up
trash, help at the recycling center or movie theatre.
Arts and Crafts—make a mobile/wind chime for the deck, buy a foam
art craft kit and put it together, make a collage of pictures
(photos or magazine cut-outs), press wildflowers or pretty plants
between sheets of plain paper under a heavy book then press them
between contact paper to make bookmarks or window clings.
Music—listen to different styles of music and compare them with
likes and dislikes, watch a musical together, make homemade
instruments and make a band, sing camp songs
Go to the park, go fishing, have fun, and enjoy your summer!!
