When school is out for the summer our children tend to concentrate on having fun. This several weeks break from learning often has a negative impact on students’ retention of what they’ve learned previously. To prevent this summer slide we, as parents. should provide our children with enrichment activities that will keep our kids engaged all summer long. Janell Cox has provided a few creative ways in which parents can help prevent the “summer brain drain”:
Enrichment Activities for Kids During Summer
- Get out of the house and keep active. Try going to all the places and creating enrichment activities at local museums, the zoo, a national park, a baseball game, tour of a factory, camping, eating at a restaurant, touring a farm, taking a hike, cherry or berry picking. Any of these places can turn into a learning experience. If you take the children out to eat, ask them to figure out the tip. If you go berry picking, have the children count, sort, and practice their math skills. When camping, discuss nature. When at the zoo, teach the children about animal life.
- Keep a summer journal. In addition, parents can provide other enrichment activities, such as keeping a summer journal. Keeping a summer journal will help children express their thoughts and feelings throughout the summer. Let them be creative and capture their memories by using a camera to document their daily experiences and writing about it in their notebook. By the end of the summer, they may actually create a tangible notebook that you, as a parent, may treasure for a long time. Schedule a Personalized Family Law Assessment with an Attorney Now!
- Don’t forget to “stop, drop, and read”. Gather a few of your kids’ closest friends and start a summer book club. Or gather some neighbors and create a time each day when the kids have to “stop, drop, and read”. Every week, a child can choose a book for the group to read and at the end of the week, they come together to discuss it.
- Teach your kids how to cook. Martha Stewart is not the only one who can entice people to cook. A fine and tasty way to brush up on math skills is to teach your children how to cook. The kitchen is a perfect place for children to learn math concepts such as measurement, fractions and addition.
I am sure that we can all find even more creative ways to keep our children’s minds engaged and preventing the dreaded brain drain. Don’t be afraid to enrich your children’s summer activities. They will enjoy it and so will you.
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