When school’s out for the summer, it’s time to unwind, soak up the sun and enjoy some quality family time with your children. Even though it’s summer and time to relax, you still want to keep your child stimulated and exercise the learning skills they developed over the school year.
Read Books
Books are a great way to keep your child stimulated through the summer. Whatever level your child may be at, reading regularly will keep them learning, whether it is simply learning to read or learning new topics altogether. Better yet, if you choose a book that is part of a series, your child will be excited to work their way through the stories as the summer progresses to find out what happens to their favourite characters next! The best part: books go where you go, so you can always have them on hand for your children.
Continue Favourite Classroom Activities
If your child expresses a particular interest in any of the hands-on activities they have been doing throughout the school year, such as painting or using building blocks, be sure to integrate those activities into their summer as well. By continuing these activities year-round, they will continue to learn in the ways linked to these activities such as a spacial awareness and counting.
As an added bonus: they will always feel the strong, happy association with school and learning whenever these activities are done.
Share New Experiences
A child’s greatest push towards learning is their curiosity towards what they may not yet know. As a parent, you can expose your child to new sights, sounds and activities they will be able to learn from. There are a number of options to help your child learn and explore including the local park, zoo or even the recently opened Children’s Discovery Centre, where your children can play, create and exercise their imagination.
Along with sharing these experiences with your child, you can further their learning by discussing the activities afterwards with them. Ask your child questions to excite their thoughts and liven the topic such as: What was your favourite part of the day? What did you learn? Did you see anything you didn’t like?
Go To Camp
Another opportunity for your child to stay active, engaged, and learning throughout the summer is to enrol them in a camp program. Through structured activities that are both fun and educational, your child can experience anywhere from one week, to the whole summer in an exciting, and fully supervised environment.
Childventures offers a 10-week Summer Camp Program, with age-appropriate, engaging activities planned daily.
What do you think are the best ways to keep your child engaged and learning throughout the summer? Share with us in the comments below!