Next year will mark my twenty-fifth year to be an elementary teacher. Parents ask me a lot of questions about how to keep their child learning during the summer. The best thing is to of course enjoy summertime and get in all the family time that school schedules get in the way of. Here are some ideas that I recommend and used with my own children.

• Check out recommendations from your local librarian. 

• Review math facts (addition, subtraction and multiplication) with flash cards or play “war” with a deck of cards or dominos.

• Visit museums, children’s theatre and check out ideas from DFW Child... My favorite in the DFW area are the Dallas Museum of Art, The Modern and the Dallas Children’s Theatre  

• Review math and science workbooks that were sent home! If your child had an educational platform like Seesaw, review the assignments.

• Have your child write letters to grandparents. They will write back! Letter writing is a lost art that children need to bring back.

• Go to a baseball game and let your child keep a record of runs, outs, hits, steals, etc. Then make a bar graph at home to show the info.
• Cook together! Cooking with your child is a valuable life skill that teaches children about nutrition and food safety, while building math, science, literacy skills.
• Going on a road trip? Take these math wrap ups with you and challenge your child to go faster

• Take your kids to the grocery store and have them keep a running total of what’s going in the cart.
• Keep a gratitude journal. It will keep your child writing and focused on the positive things in their lives. View the journals that were sent home (along with more workbooks, folders, and supplies). Children’s writing is so innocent and sweet, you will love reading what they wrote.
• Visit your local library and encourage them to start a series. My first graders LOVED the “Humphrey” series.

Find inspiration from this list and make it work for you. Learning over the summer doesn’t have to be complicated or require long hours of planning. Have fun with it and give your child ownership in their learning. Wishing you a very happy summer full of learning.