10 Best Summer Learning Activities For Kids

School Is Out…Let the Summer Learning Begin!

Now that summer is here, many parents are faced with the issue of what they should do with their kids.  A great majority of my tutoring clients have been asking, “What should I do to ensure that my kids keep learning for the next few months?”  I would love to share with you some ideas for some of the best summer learning activities, that will not only help your child avoid forgetting what he/she just learned, but will also, hopefully, help retain or enhance many of the skills that they have learned over the past year.

Let the Summer Reading Begin!
Kids need to keep learertime.

As a former 20 year teacher, I think that the beginning of each school year was always the most frustrating for me.  I usually spening, even during the summnt several weeks reteaching many of the skills and concepts that my students had learned during the previous grade level, but had forgotten over the summer.  Sometimes, they would even look at me with these blank expressions on their precious faces when I was reteaching, as if I were speaking a foreign language!  Talk about exhausting!

Frustrated Woman
It can be frustrating when teachers have to reteach the skills from the year before.

There are so many fun and exciting things that you can do with your kids over the summer break to ensure that they don’t lose everything they have previously learned.  I thought I would keep it simple and just share 10 creative ideas that I think most kids will enjoy.  When kids are actively engaged in doing something they consider to be “fun,” they usually won’t realize that they are learning at the same time!  So…let the fun begin!

My Top 10 Best Summer Learning Activities for Kids

This is a terrific activity for kids who love to play the game of “seek and find,” or for those kids who aspire to be “Super Sleuths” when they grow up!

Super Sleuth
Kids will feel like actual spies when you send them on a scavenger hunt!

Mini Scavenger Hunts

All you need are 5-10 index cards (depending on the ages of your kids,) markers or pens, small objects or pictures that can be hidden, adequate space to play, and a ” special prize” for everyone involved.  As you can probably tell, I like for all children to be rewarded! It’s more fun that way!

Here’s how this works… Label the white side of each index card with a number, beginning with #1.  On the first card, write a simple poem or phrase that gives your kids a hint as to where to look next.  An example of this might be: “Walk out the door.  Then turn right.  Look under the flower pot, and find something bright!”  The “something bright” can be as simple as a cut out of the sun, stars, etc. from a magazine.  Along with this picture or object, make sure to include the next index card with a different clue!

After all of the clues have been read and the directions followed, the last index card should take your kiddos to the place where you would like for them to end up, along with a treat that they will enjoy.  This doesn’t have to be expensive.  Most kids will be perfectly happy when they wind up in the kitchen to be served ice cream sundaes!

Ice Cream Sundae
Kids will usually go for just about any reward, especially ice cream!

Cookie Decorating Contests

This is a fun activity where your children can get their creative juices flowing!  For this activity, you will need recipe or index cards, pens or pencils, crayons, ready to bake sugar cookie dough, such as Pillsbury or another brand, and different cookie toppings, such as chocolate or butterscotch chips, sprinkles, vanilla cake frosting, etc..  Keep it simple by laying out only those toppings that you want your kids to use.  Otherwise, you might end up with cookies that look more like small cakes!

Directions: Bake the cookie dough as per the instructions on the package.  After the cookies have cooled, let your kids become mini chefs, as they decorate to their heart’s content!  Allow them to use their imaginations!

Cookies Made by Kids
This is one activity that your kids will love to create and eat!

When they are finished, have them write out the steps they took to decorate their creative masterpieces on index cards!  Then, comes the best part!  This is where you get to be the judge, and sample some of your children’s cookies!  Of course, your children will be nibbling right along with you, and enjoying every minute of it!

Last, you’ll want to give blue ribbons created from index cards and crayons to each child.  Again, I always want each child to feel like a winner!

Participate in Your Local Library’s Summer Reading Club

I think most moderate sized cities and towns have at least one public library.  A great majority of these host summer reading programs where they let children and teens read books for prizes.  The libraries where I live have some of the best summer reading programs I have seen, and reward kids for reading as little as 5 hours!  The prizes will probably depend on the size of your town, and the resources and funds available to the library system.

Prizes
Earning prizes tends to motivate kids to read more.

I have all of my tutoring kiddos participate every summer, and they will often come in every week or two with new books, swim passes, baseball tickets, and many more things that they have earned!  This not only motivates kids to read, but it also allows for down time from the busyness of summer activities.  My kids always enjoy doing this, and often compete with each other to see who can read the most books!  It’s a great summer activity that doesn’t cost anything except for the gas to take your kids to the library.  Plus, this will help improve their fluency and reading comprehension, which is what you definitely want!

Library Books
Participating in a summer reading program is a great way to get kids to read!

BFF Book Clubs

This is another extremely inexpensive way to keep your kids entertained!  Hopefully, your kids have friends that they affectionately refer to as their “Best Friends Forever!”

Best Friends
Why not start a BFF book club?

If so, then you might want to host a BFF Book Club at your house, backyard, or even at a local restaurant.  This is where your kids and their friends can choose a book or books to read during a given week. You can check these out at your local library or buy them online.

I am affiliated with an incredible new and used book store that is a huge philanthropist  when it comes to giving back to the community, as well as to the underprivileged around the world. I buy from this book store, simply because I know that they will give books in return to those less fortunate.  After all, this is what life is about, right?  If you are interested in checking into Better World Books, simply the link. I’m sure you’ll be pleasantly surprised!

Affiliate Disclosure

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After the kids all have their books and have had a chance to read them, set a day and time when your children’s BFF’s can come over to your house to discuss what they have read, as well as what they liked or didn’t like about the books.

BFF Reading Club
Hosting a BFF Reading Club at your house will engage your kids in the joys of reading!

It makes it even more fun when you can provide simple snacks that they can enjoy while they are discussing their books!  Then they can choose other books to read.  Simply repeat the process!

This will allow your kids and their friends to stay in tune with their reading skills while having fun by spending time with each other!

Practice Spelling Words With Sidewalk Chalk

This is such an inexpensive and fun way for kids to practice their spelling words, writing skills, and even develop more of an interest in art.  You can buy sidewalk chalk at Walmart, Target, or online at Discount School Supply.   If you’re not familiar with it, sidewalk chalk comes in several different pastel colors, and is easy to wash off using a watering hose or a bucket of water and a sponge.

Sidewalk Chalk
This is a great way for kids to practice their spelling words for the upcoming year.

You might research spelling words for the grade level that your child will be going into.  Then have him/her practice writing each word using the chalk two or three times.

Next, have your child draw a picture that depicts each word.  Drawing pictures will help develop much needed vocabulary skills, as they associate each word with the meaning.  This will usually keep kids entertained for quite a while, and they will be learning something useful for the next grade level all at the same time!

Sidewalk Chalk Heart
Most kids will want to draw a picture of what they have just written.

Summer Learning Camps

Many college and university campuses offer summer learning camps for kids.  These are fun camps where your kids will usually be allowed to choose at least two learning classes, such as reading, written composition, math, or science, as well as two elective type classes like art, music, cooking class, and even different types of physical fitness classes.

Summer Camps
Summer learning camps offer kids a variety of learning experiences.

 

They are usually taught by college students, and will often cost a small fee.  However, for the positive benefits that kids gain from these camps, it’s definitely worth the money!  If you live in a town where there is a community college or university, please check into it.  Your kids will more than likely enjoy it tremendously, all while learning new things.

Family Field Trips

Why not try mini field trips?  There are so many different options to choose from, even if you live in a small town.  These “mini” field trips could include taking your kids to the zoo, nature trails, park, museums, and so much more.

Nature Trail
Mini field trips make great one-day excursions for the family.

I think most kids are more than willing to get out of the house, especially during the summer.  And…what better way to get them away from the t.v. and video games for a while?

You might have them journal about what they loved the most, things they learned, etc. after you get back.  You can find some really cute journals at Walmart for next to nothing.  This is also a great way for your kiddos to brush up on their writing skills!

Have Your Kids Create Their Own Scrapbooks of Their Summer Activities

One of my tutoring students just finished her first scrapbook, and it’s unbelievably amazing!  This would be a fun activity to have your kids work on after they take a “mini” field trip, read an unbelievably great book, or for just about any enjoyable activity they do during the summer.

All you will need is a blank journal, scrapbook with blank pages, or you can even create your own.  The choice is yours!

Scrapbook
Having kids create a scrapbook is a good way to remember their fun summer moments.

For the pages, you can use construction paper, card stock, or you can even buy “themed” paper. You will also need scissors, glue stick or all purpose glue, computer and printer if your child wants to type out phrases for each page, and colored pencils or gel pens.

You can purchase these things at Walmart or at any craft store.  I like to buy these items from Discount School Supply because they are so much more inexpensive than most places.  You might want to also buy the cute embellishments to glue or stick onto each page, if your child doesn’t like to draw and color.

Scrapbook Trinket
Kids can use either flat trinkets or embellishments to decorate. Some kids may even want to show off their artistic abilities!

The older kids might want to type up what they want to write, and then print these sentences or short phrases out.  Your younger children can write on lined paper, or dictate to you what they want to say.  Next, you will want to cut out the words or short phrases to place on each page of the scrapbook.

Last, your kiddos can either draw pictures or use the embellishments to decorate each page.  These will be memories of the great adventures they had during the summer that they can pass down to their children someday!  I thought I would share a short video that I found on Youtube of how to make a few easy scrapbooks!

 

 

Read a Book, Create Sock Puppets, and Write Out a Script for a Puppet Show

I absolutely love this activity!  In fact, I used to let the kids in my classes work together to  make sock puppets and write  “screen plays” for puppet shows once their group had finished reading their chosen book.  They totally loved it!  When doing this at home, you don’t have to worry about having small groups.  Your kiddos can actually do this by themselves.

Depending on the age of your child, you’ll want to have them read an age appropriate book.  If they haven’t started the reading process yet, this would be another chance to spend quality time with your children as you read to them.

Once they’re finished, give them socks of different colors, glue, yarn or wool, sequins, buttons, plastic beads, and any other craft materials you have lying around the house, and let them “go to town” creating their own characters from the book.  Instead of glue, you might choose to use a hot glue gun.  If you do, please make sure that you help your child with this.  We definitely don’t want any burned fingers!  Below is a short video to give you some ideas of how to create cute and easy sock puppets!

To make the stage, kids can actually sit behind the kitchen table, as long as it has a table cloth on it.  You can also create your own stage by using a large cardboard box.  I have included a short video from AlaskaGranny.com that shows step by step how to make your own cardboard box puppet theater!

The last step is to have your kids write out a short summary, or “screen play” of the main points of the book.  Then, your kids can present their puppet show to your family!  This is such a great activity that requires little work, all while supplementing their reading and writing skills!

Read the Book and Watch the Movie

This is one way that many of my clients get their children to read more!  Many books have been made into movies; so this will be an easy learning activity.  Before you begin however, definitely make sure that the book you chose has already been made into a movie!

Movie
Make sure you and your child read the book first before watching the movie!

This is something that I would encourage you to do with your child.  Reading together fosters more parent/child bonding, and is an easy way to spend more time immersed in your child’s world.

After you finish reading the book, simply check out the movie from your local library.  You can also order many movies online.  After you finish watching the movie, compare and contrast how the book and movie were alike and different.  Then, have your child tell you his/her favorite part!  Throw in some popcorn, and you’ve got a simple, yet great learning experience for your kiddos!

Popcorn
Eating popcorn is like the “icing on the cake” for this easy reading activity.

These are just ten of my favorite summer learning activities that you can do with your kids.  There are so many others!  Ask your kiddos what they would like to do, and I guarantee that you’ll see “sparks” of imagination lighting up like never before!

I would love to hear from you.  If you have any comments or questions, please leave them below, and I’ll be sure to get back with you as soon as I can.  I wish all the best for you and your child as you travel down the pathway of learning.  And, as always…Happy Reading to You and Your Child!

Blessings:)

Suzi

 

 

 

14 Replies to “10 Best Summer Learning Activities For Kids”

  1. Great advice for making time spent with kids fun but also educational. I have got a few ideas from your post and I will take my daughter out when she is out of school for the holidays, she loves to read and even things like writing words on the concrete is an excellent idea to help here with words and spelling.

    1. Hi Vaughn!  It’s so great to hear that your daughter loves to read  and write:)  This is what I want all parents to be able to say one day!  I sincerely hope that you and your daughter have a great time learning together, as this is what it’s all about!  Thank you so much for your kind comment!

      Blessings:)

      Suzi

  2. All of these are such great ideas – I’m particularly in love with “read the book, watch the movie” because I feel like it’s so hard to make bookworms these days, but who doesn’t want to do something like that?

    Scavenger hunts was something I did as a kid, but that was back in a time and neighborhood when you could go door to door asking for mundane things like paperclips and get away with it. I love the idea you have with the little poems that lead them to find things.

    When I worked at the mall, I actually saw a lot of kids and teens come through on scavenger hunts. They would have to collect pictures of things on a list, and compete with each other. I guess that’s for older kids who have phones.

    Anyway, I’m inspired. Thanks.

    1. Thank you so much, Jaime, for your sweet comment!  I work with so many kids on a daily basis who don’t like to read.  So, any ideas I can think of that will give them a reason to read, I definitely want to try!  Actually, last week, one of my 10 year old tutoring students actually read this post, and decided that he was going to try some of these ideas:)  I’m hoping that this post will be an inspiration to other kids and their parents.  Again, I appreciate your insightful comment!

      Blessings:)

      Suzi

  3. Thanks for these great ideas! I have a 5 year old and 3 year old… I know you’re gearing this post to kids deeper into the school years, not quite so young, but I was able to add a whole bunch of your ideas to our “Summer Fun” list. I find it hard to keep the kids busy… and bored kids are whiny kids. And whiny kids are no fun for Mom.

    I’m a past teacher too. I can absolutely relate to the “feeling the need to re-teach kids concepts and skills they knew in the past” every September. Rather frustrating!! Unfortunately, unless every parent does pay attention to keeping the skills and learning going over the summer, we teachers get stuck with this problem even if not for all kids. The gap is big in September between kids who did and kids who didn’t stay mentally fit over the summer!

    1. Hi Marlaine:)  Thank you so much for your insightful comment!  I totally agree with you about the fact that it is important for kids to continue learning over the summer months.  I wish that all parents felt the same way!  I think it would make our jobs so much easier:)  As far as your kids being younger, you can always modify each of these activities and gear them more toward their age levels. I hope you guys have a great summer!

      Thank you, again, for your beautiful comment!  I wish you and your children all the best as they continue on the pathway of learning:)

      Blessings:)

      Suzi

  4. Absolutely love this site! As a Father of 4, three of which are under 13, the Summer reading is a must. Not to mention keeping them busy on days that were not out and about. We have rules which limit our children with the time they can use electronics so I love some of your ideas. The puppet theater is an awesome idea!

    1. Thanks so much, Michael, for your insightful comment! I’m sure you do have challenges with trying to keep your 4 kiddos mentally challenged, especially during the summer months! I think you’re wise to limit the amount of time they can play on their electronic devices. It seems that so many of the kids in this technological generation would rather spend countless hours playing games, instead of learning something useful. It truly sounds like you’re a wise parent:) I hope that your kids absolutely love the puppet show! Best wishes to you and your children as they continue to travel down the pathway to learning:)
      Blessings:)
      Suzi

  5. Love your site! I have 3 children under the age of 13, so the summer reading is a must. We have rules for the amount of time our children can use electronics on weekends and summer, so I love your ideas. I know my kids will do the puppet show 🙂 I will be returning to your site for sure! best of luck!

    1. Hi there!  Thank you so much for your sweet comment:). I wish every parent thought the same way as you do about  summer reading!  I think that kids lose so much during these 3 months, and it’s always a challenge trying to get them caught up when school starts in the fall.  I hope your kids will definitely make use of some of the ideas I’ve laid out:). Wishing you and your children all the best as they continue down the pathway to learning!

      Blessings:)

      Suzi

  6. Hello,
    Your post brought back some childhood memories for me with the activities you shared in this post, I think it is a shame so many children are missing out on most of these activities today. I see many parents who are so busy with their careers their children spend most of their summer with their grandparents, which this is an awesome experience for both the kids and the grandparents but where does this leave the kids for childhood memories?

    Jeff

    1. I totally agree with you, Jeff. In this day and time, many parents are so busy trying to make a living, that their kids are, in essence, being raised by their grandparents. In fact, some of my cousins were raised by their grandparents, and that was another generation altogether. I’ve tried to think of some fun and easy ideas that children and their caretakers, whoever they may be, can do together! I truly appreciate your feedback:) Thanks so much for visiting my site!
      Blessings:)
      Suzi

  7. You are truly an amazing lady with a fantastic heart for children!
    I loved reading this, because I know for a fact that reading as a child can completely shape the rest of your life! I had a childhood that wasn’t the norm and fell in love with reading, because when I opened a book, I was somewhere else and could be anyone and do anything I wanted to do!
    Fostering that into young children is awesome !
    I wish you the most absolute success with your blog !

    Mike

    1. Hi Mike:) Thank you so much for that compliment! Teaching children to read is my passion:) Many of the kiddos I teach on a daily basis come from so many different backgrounds. However, one of the main things that I want them to take away from our time together is that reading can truly take them places that they have only ever been able to dream about. I’m so glad that you found out when you were a child that books can truly do this, no matter where we are physically! I appreciate your insightful comment!
      Blessings:)
      Suzi

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