How To Keep Kids Learning Over The Summer Holidays

Well, we are officially halfway through 2020 and what a strange year it has been. The COVID-19 Lockdown has meant that many parents have not only been forced to work from home but to take a more active role in essentially homeschooling their children. And just as some kids have been allowed to return to school, it’s time to prepare for the summer holidays, where Parenting can be either fun or really challenging ahead of returning for the new term. Especially in light of such a disruptive year, it is important to ensure that despite the summer being a time for rest and relaxation, your child’s learning does continue on some level. Here are a few tips on how to keep kids learning, to help make the most of the summer holidays:

Play Games That Utilise Their Numeracy, Literacy and Language Skills

The holidays are supposed to be fun and there is always some sort of games involved. So why not make some of those games educational too? The kids will maintain and improve their skills while simultaneously having fun. It’s the best of both worlds.

Here are some ideas for educational games you could use as inspiration for creating your own. And remember although we live in a digital age, we don’t need to rely solely on technology for fun so incorporate physical activities and games, like a scavenger hunt, which require the kids to be outdoors.

Visit A Museum

Museums are not only a great place for a family fun day out but they are a great educational experience. Perhaps find out what your child’s school class will be covering in the next academic year and choose a museum/exhibit that focuses on the same subject area to give them a bit of a head start.

Visit the museum’s website to plan your outing. Some have special events for kids over the holidays which could serve to enhance their learning experience.

Watch Foreign Language Movies/Animations

Anyone raising bilingual children or those that want to help their children learn new languages may find that movies/cartoons in another language are a great way to expose kids to language. Because they are engaging with entertaining content, it won’t feel too much like schoolwork and as they are interested in what’s going on on-screen they’ll feel more motivated to learn the language and ask questions when they don’t understand.

Travel

So, it is unclear how free families will be to travel the world this year, with many travel restrictions still in place. But even travelling to nearby destinations provides a new learning opportunity for children. With older kids, you can even have them carry out some research on their holiday destination prior to the vacation.

Read, Read, Read For Fun

Foster your child’s love for reading by taking them to visit a library where they can get lost in a world of literature or attend a children’s storytime session at a local book store.

Bilingual audiobooks are another fun option. Revisit the old favourites. Find some child-friendly books about places your child may be visiting over the holidays. Get the little ones reading absolutely anything. Comics, magazines and even recipes when you cook together! Make it fun, so it doesn’t seem like homework and eventually, you’ll have them picking up books without any persuasion.

Or, if your child doesn’t know how to read yet, you can always help them with some online resources, like our Online Preschool.

Remember that the summer holidays are intended to provide a break from school but that doesn’t mean the kids need to take a break from learning altogether. Although we can remove the formality of lessons in the classroom, it is important that parents use the summer holidays to find creative ways to utilise this time to expand their child’s horizons and learning experience while simultaneously maintain an element of fun

Good luck!