Did you know that studies have shown that children fall three months behind in the learning progress they’ve made when they don’t do anything in the summer to keep up?  Scary, isn’t it?

It is so important to keep our children’s brains engaged over the summer months, so they don’t lose their place in academics. Staying academically active in the summer doesn’t have to be boring, though. There are a lot of creative ways to keep the wheels in your child’s brain rolling!

Here are a few ideas on ways to keep your child’s brain active during the summer vacation months:

Have a themed dinner night for family and friends

• Pick a theme, like maybe the 1980’s or even superheros, and have everyone dress up according to your theme. Find coordinating foods for your theme to serve to everyone. And most importantly, have lots of books on hand about your theme.  Choose relatively short books so as to not bore your guests! After dinner, everyone can take turns reading all of the books together.

Have a book swap party

• A great way to bring new life to old books is to have a book swap party. Invite some friends to gather up old books they no longer want and bring them over. As everyone comes in, take their books and set them all up on a table so they are easy to browse. Have your guests gather and mingle in the living room, but, set the books up in the dining room. Once everyone has arrived, file into the dining room so that everyone can choose some new books to take home.

Children can get together with a small group of friends and write a storybook

• They can do so in a round robin way, where each child writes some and then passes it to the next for their turn. Or they can collaborate as they go along. When they are finished writing the story, they can work on some illustrations. They might even have fun finding pictures in magazines to use for the illustrations. They can put it all together with some cardboard pieces for the book cover. They will probably need your help with that part, as it will be hard to cut. When it is all done, they can take turns keeping the book each weekend to show grandparents and whoever else they would like to show it off to.

Don’t forget your public library’s summer reading program

• It is a great initiative to keep your kids interested in books. Children can usually choose their own books to read for the programs. It is not only fun for the child, but it really helps to keep their desire to read going strong. Most children who are always told exactly what to read see reading as nothing more than a chore. Library summer reading programs usually have prizes for certain numbers of books read and then grand prizes at the end of the program.  Many library reading programs for kids have a kick-off party and a party for when the program is over, too.

So many kids fall behind, just from the gaps that happen over the accumulated summers. It can be really hard to catch up when school starts back up in the fall and by the time the child reaches middle school, they may be several grades behind in reading alone. We don’t have to make kids’ summers all work and no play, but keeping their brains in operation is imperative for them to keep up in school.

Get Involved!

How do you keep your child interested in reading over the summer months?
Do you have any summer reading tips to share with us?
Tell us in the comments below.