Summer Educational Activities
The summer holidays can feel like a long six weeks. Keeping your children entertained for the full six weeks can seem like a big challenge. Plus, given the unorthodox schooling many kids have faced due to the pandemic, plenty of kids are running behind academically. For this reason, you might turn to educational activities this summer. This way, you can keep them entertained and learning at the same time.
Learn survival skills
This is a great activity for any outdoorsy kids. It mixes learning and skill-building with the fun of the great outdoors. There are plenty of courses you can sign onto, or you can just do these activities in your garden or local wood. You could learn to build a fire from scratch or make a shelter. As part of your learning, you could take your kids camping at the end to show off their new skills and knowledge.
Summer courses
There are plenty of educational courses over the summer that will keep your kids learning and entertained. Places like the Oxford International Junior Programme offers summer courses for kids in various areas over the UK, US, and Canada.
Depending on the location, kids can find themselves at boarding schools with different levels of teaching hours. From these experiences, kids won’t only catch up on learning but also make friendships that can last beyond the summer.
Build reading into your routine
The benefits of reading on kids are clear and proven. Their vocabulary, empathy, and grammar will all improve. But many kids don’t want to sit down and read. By building it into your routine – such as reading a chapter before bed – your kids will get used to the act of reading (and hopefully begin to enjoy it!).
If your kids still really don’t want to read, look into other ways to bring these benefits to your children’s development, like reading graphic novels, or listening to audiobooks.
Work on your kid’s citizenship
There are lots of areas you can help out in your community by volunteering. Encouraging volunteering in your children over the summer can help them develop into excellent adults. Community service can range from picking up litter to helping run a stall at the village fete. Whatever your kids end up doing, it will help develop skills like self-confidence, selflessness, and pride in doing a good job. Plus, you’ll be helping out the local community!
Keep a journal of your summer
Encouraging your kids to keep a journal of their summer can help their writing skills. Try to get your kids to write descriptively – how did the pond smell when they visited it? In addition, ask them to recall facts where they can – what was the price of the ice cream they ate?
It can also help to improve their memory, as they have to recall the events of the day before. At the end of the summer, this journal will prove a lovely memento to look back on in years to come.