Seven tips to prevent summer slide (while having fun!)

By Stacie Gaetz

School’s out for summer! But does that mean it is all fun and games for the next two months or should you be encouraging your children to keep up their studies?

Although the summer slide may sound like a lot of fun on the playground, in reality it is the period of time throughout July and August when children lose their school knowledge from the previous year.

Don’t worry, I am not going to tell you to put on your teacher’s hat and make your child sit at a desk for hours a day while the sun is calling to them through the window.

But there are some easy and exciting ways that you can stave off the loss of knowledge (some of which you may already be doing).

Things as simple as playing a board game, following a recipe, going camping, or even grocery shopping can provide opportunities for literacy and math learning.

Here are seven simple tips to help your children prevent the summer slide this season:

1. Read regularly

It doesn’t have to become a chore but reading anything from a recipe to a magazine to the instructions on a new toy can help avoid a loss of literacy learning.

2. Follow their interests

You certainly don’t have to come up with a structured curriculum to help your children learn over the summer. The best way to encourage their desire for research and knowledge is to look up things they are interested in together. Did they just ask you where bees live? What about what stars are made of? Ask them how you could find out more on the topic and then help them put their plan in action.

3. Write it down

If you have no desire to create printing pages and watch over their shoulder as your children practice their letters this summer, you are not alone. There are a number of ways that you can practice printing with many different mediums that won’t put you both to sleep.

You can use washable paint, water, or chalk to write names and short words or sayings on sidewalks, decks and fences. You can also encourage your older sibling to write a story about an adventure they have had (like camping, canoeing, a trip to the zoo) and read it to their younger brother or sister.

4. Math is everywhere

You can practice your children’s numerical and math skills almost anywhere you go this summer. Everything from a trip to the grocery store (Can you get me four apples and three pears?) to baking (We need three quarters of a cup of flour) to clocks (how much longer until we go to the park if we are going to leave at 2pm?). Numbers and math practice can even be done easily at splash parks, the beach, pools and other hot vacation spots.

5. Problem solving

Encourage your child to think outside the box by regularly playing with puzzles, building blocks, magnetic tiles and other tactile toys. Sensory items such as play dough, shaving cream, kinetic sand and others are also a great way to encourage creativity and brain health in the summer months. The best part? You can take them outside for easier clean up. Long road trips are the perfect place to pull out some crossword puzzles, Sudoku, search and find books, brain quest activities, connect the dots and/or word searches.

6. Screen time

I know what you are thinking… there is no way she is going to tell us to put our kids in front of a screen during the months with the warmest weather! It might seem counter-productive but certain types of screen time can be beneficial when used in moderation. Educational games and programs can help children keep up a number of skills, including those of typing and how to use technology, which we can all agree our children will need moving into their future.

7. New skills

Summer is also a great time to learn new skills that may not seem related to school at all.

Things like how to tie your shoes, swimming, riding a bike without training wheels and how to cross the monkey bars at the park may not be taught in school but learning them is training the brain how to take in and use knowledge, which is definitely required for schoolwork.

The biggest takeaway? Keep the learning going to avoid the summer slide but do it in fun and manageable ways that incorporate the awesome activities you were planning to do this season anyway.