Fun Summer Learning Activities for Kids
As the school year wraps up and summer approaches, it’s important to find ways to keep your child engaged and learning during the break. Fortunately, there are plenty of exciting and enjoyable activities that can turn summer into an opportunity for growth and exploration. I’ve put together a fantastic list of summer activities designed to keep kids learning all summer long—while having an absolute blast!
There are always fun ways for your child to continue learning over the summer. I have compiled a fun list of summer learning activities that will keep kids learning all summer long - and they won't even know it!
Embrace Their Interests
If your children are passionate about a specific activity, hobby, or subject, it’s important to help them explore these interests. This might involve taking them on nature walks, visiting museums, going to the library, or attending free concerts in the park.
Motivate them to explore their hobbies through writing. They can craft fictional tales or document what they've been learning. Make it a habit to review their notebooks or journals often to ensure they're staying engaged. Encourage continuous writing by setting goals and offering rewards. By the end of the summer, they might fill an entire journal and be pleasantly surprised by their improved writing skills.
GAMES + CRAFTS: Things like UNO, Scrabble, non-drying clay and Race Across the USA teach things like numbers, colors, hand-eye coordination, art, spelling and geography in a sneaky way…the kids don’t even realize just how much they are learning while just having fun!
Get Out of The House
Take your child to visit historical landmarks, local parks, or nature reserves. Some museums provide free entry on specific days of the week. As you explore, engage your child in conversation about the importance of each place and share fascinating details. If they seem uninterested in a museum or historical site, you can get creative with your storytelling. For instance, you might say the Washington Monument is actually a giant's toothpick that he accidentally dropped while walking from Mexico to Canada, and he is the same giant who sculpted Mount Rushmore.
You might also want to explore science or history museums. Your child could enjoy interacting with hands-on exhibits while discovering new information beyond their classroom studies. To enhance the educational aspect of the outing, encourage your child to write a short reflection about their experiences. What did they find interesting? Which exhibits stood out to them?
Watch a garden grow and build research, reading, and writing skills with this summer project. Encourage children to write questions and observations in a summer garden journal. Or check out the Kids Gardening website for lots of great ideas and resources for family (and school) gardening. You can also browse the hands-on activities on our summer site, Start with a Book, in the section Nature: Our Green World.
You can also visit science or history museums. Your child may enjoy playing around interactive exhibits while learning new information outside of school. To make this activity even more educational, have your child write a paragraph or two reflecting on their experiences. What did they learn? Which exhibits were their favorites?
Cooking With Kids
Activities such as sports, exercise classes, music, and art are good ways for your child to learn how to work with others, build creative thinking skills and develop interests outside of school. These types of activities promote self expression, and children can often discover new abilities. You might just bring your child along to your exercise classes, clubs, and group meetings. Children learn about social interaction and incorporating interests into day to day life by watching their parents.
Online activities for families
Share examples of good interactive educational websites that parents and young kids can explore together. Here are some of our favorites:
National Geographic Kids: Great nature videos, activities, games, stories, and more
Discovery Kids: Video, games and activities to explore dinosaurs, sharks, space, pets, history and more
iCivics: Educational online games and lesson plans to promote civics education and encourage students to become active citizens. iCivics was founded by retired Supreme Court of the United States Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.
NASA Kids Club: A place to play games and learn about NASA through interactive explorations
Project Noah: Explore and document wildlife — be a citizen scientist!
Design Squad Nation:Be creative and help people through engineering, from PBS
My Wonderful World: A multimedia tour of our seven continents from the Smithsonian
PBS KIDS Lab: Educational games, activities and mobile apps, for kids PreK to grade 3.
BrainPOP: Games, quizzes, videos about topics in science, social studies, English, math, arts and music, and more.
Consider audiobooks as a great alternative to traditional print books, especially for children with learning disabilities that make reading challenging. You can now download stories to devices like iPods and smartphones, making them ideal for car trips or relaxing summer days. Tales2Go offers a selection of high-quality children's books through mobile streaming, while AudibleKids provides a vast range of downloadable titles, some of which are available for free through a partnership with RIF. Explore lists of Favorite Audiobooks to find even more options using Book Finder.
Summer is the perfect season to unwind, have fun, and spark creativity through unstructured activities and free play. Use this time with your child to step outside the classroom and engage in hands-on learning experiences.
Typically, when school wraps up for the summer, my mindset towards routines, schedules, and learning objectives is “‘SCHOOLS OUT FOR SUMMER” I usually anticipate a laid-back vibe with nothing on the agenda except relaxing and enjoying our freedom (it feels like MY summer break too, since we do part-time homeschooling, ha! HERE is more about our school). If you can relate, here are a few clever summer learning activities for kids that might help fill the summer downtime while also incorporating some learning!
SUMMER BRAIN QUEST: Our girls love these activity books, and I like that the bridge the gap between grades during the summer. The activities are not overwhelming and they keep their attention, plus the kids earn stickers to place on a pathway map in the back of the book as rewards for completing each level! Check them out HERE.
LITERATI BOOK CLUB: We have memberships for each daughter, and once a quarter, they get a new box of books customized for their age range. It’s like happy mail for kids! You keep only the books you like, and you can send the rest back. The book prices are similar to or lower than Amazon.
ABCmouse GAMES: The girls have used this app for years, and it’s jam packed with learning games, videos and activities based on their age level. It says its best for ages 2-8, but my 10 year old still loves it bc you can earn tickets for completing games. The tickets can be used to buy items in the virtual store, so it teaches about budgeting and spending vs. saving, too!
OSMO SYSTEM: This cool system utilizes a tablet plus drawing board and camera to create hands on learning experiences for a wide range of ages. Kids draw a picture and then the Osmo device puts that picture into a story within the app, and our girls think that’s the coolest thing to see their art up on the tablet! Lots of different systems to choose from like art, detective work, etc.
MEL SCIENCE + KIWICO CRATES: These are a couple more cool subscription services that provide sneaky summer learning activities for kids, and they keep the girls entertained, too. Packed with STEM and STEAM activities, there’s something new every time the mail brings them a box!
I’m thrilled to share some fabulous ideas as you gear up for summer after a unique at-home end to the school year! Let’s steer clear of overscheduling or creating a rigid curriculum—I want to keep things light and fun. My aim is to craft an exciting game plan to make the most of our time at home without feeling overwhelmed. These vibrant summer learning activities for kids could be just what we need to inspire creativity and curiosity! Are you all out of school yet? I’d love to hear any other fantastic suggestions you have to add!