Hey girl, today let's chat about ways to help your kids prevent the summer slide.
Trying to keep your kids academically involved all summer long is hard work but necessary and if you are anything like me you are trying to come up with exciting ways to beat the summer slide from happening.
As a mom of 4, and a home daycare provider, I am giving you my top ways to keep your kids engaged with learning all summer long.
You are going to learn about what summer slide is, who it has the most effects on, what you can do to prevent it, and more.
After learning about what you can do to help prevent the summer slide, you are going to be ultra-ready to have a summer full of fun learning with your kids.
Let's jump into the best ways your kids can beat the summer slide.
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The Best Ways To Prevent Summer Slide
What Is Summer Slide
According to an article I read on scholastic.com, summer slide is when kids lose some of what they have learned over the summer. This same article was focused on the loss of reading and math skills.
This makes complete sense you guys! If your kids aren’t practicing something for a while, they start to forget and it takes a while to build back up those skills when they go back to school.
Every student can go through the summer slide but it has the biggest impact on kiddos in younger grades - kindergarten through 5th grade.
These are building block years and these youngsters are like sponges.
It is going to be your job to help them continue to be a sponge throughout the summer. Fill them up on great knowledge, friend!
Your kids don’t have to spend their entire days doing “school work”. It can be 20 minutes of reading, 10 minutes of math practice, and a few other things tossed in here and there.
The whole point is to have your kiddo work on something most to every day of the week for a short amount of clock time. Every bit helps.
Let me tell you though, it is not going to be easy especially if you are working outside your home. But you can do it! I believe in you.
The Best Workbooks to Prevent Summer Slide
I have been using workbooks to keep my kids and daycare kids engaged with learning during the summer for years now.
And I have tried a wide variety.The books that my kids like using the best are from School Zone. They have books from Preschool up through 6th Grade.
Their books can be for a specific subject like reading but they also have books that cover a little from all subjects of the grade.
I will continue to buy these books until my kids are too old for them.
Ways To Stop Summer Slide In Reading
There are a couple of ways to help your kiddo get excited about reading during the summer. And you know what, they are easy!
1. Read with your child
It doesn't matter if your kiddo is 2 or 11, they will love reading with you. You are showing an interest in what they like so of course they will be jazzed.
You can read to them if they are younger, take turns reading with them, or read aloud to them.
We have been doing story time to get about 30 minutes of reading in right before bed during this school year and my kids are loving it.
It has mostly been chapter books of the Little House book series (not just for girls) with other books that my 5-year-old picks sprinkled in.
Which books are your kiddo’s favorites? Let me know in the comments below! We are always looking for great books to explore!
2. Visit Local Library
Your public library will more than likely have a summer reading program. Get your kids signed up for it.
There are usually prizes the kids can get throughout the reading program that they are excited about. These prizes make the kids want to keep reading.
Plan to take your kiddo to the library every week to refresh their books.
You can even find some books for yourself; you know with all the spare time I am sure you have.3. Use Reading Apps
My kids love reading books they can hold but from time to time, they want to switch things up and use reading apps that they can do on my phone, tablet, and computer.
These 3 reading apps keep the kids wanting to read more, and I can’t say enough good things about them.
- Epic
- Raz Kids
- Khan Academy Kids (ages 2 – 7)
4. Make A Reading Bucket List
Together with your kiddo, create a summer reading bucket list and hang it somewhere they can see it.
Kids love challenges and crossing things off to see they are making progress.
If you are having trouble coming up with age-appropriate books, look on Pinterest or Google for inspiration.
5. Come Up with Your Own Reading Challenge
To help my kids and daycare kids keep reading all summer long, we do a “Tower of Books” reading challenge.
It is a great way to get reading time in and to keep them quiet while the youngest ones get a nap in. Double score!
Here is how I did it.
We cut strips of paper out of a notebook the kids brought home from school. I say we because the older kids helped me with it. Get those kids involved, mama! We got 6 – 7 strips per page.
After the kids read a book, they would write down the title, date, and what number book they were on those strips and tape it to the wall starting near the bottom.
The more books they read, the more papers they added to create their tower.
All the books had to be approved by me to be part of the contest. I didn’t want the books to be too easy for them.
Our contest ran for a month and the most books the kids could read was 50.
Let’s not forget about the prize! For every book they read, the kiddo would get $0.10 to spend at the Dollar Store on whatever they wanted when the contest was over. A total of $5.00!
The kids went nuts over it!
Some of the kids read all 50 books, while a few others fell just short. It didn’t matter though; the whole point was to get them to read and they accomplished that.
Ways To Stop Summer Slide In Math
I like my kids to practice math every weekday for about 10 – 15 minutes. And to help keep things interesting, we try something different every day.
Math just isn’t every kid’s favorite so we have to keep it fresh and engaging.
Our schedule may look a little like this:
1. Flash Cards
On Monday, have your kiddo work with flashcards.
2. Workbooks
On Tuesday, have your kiddo use a workbook.
We like using the School Zone workbook brand.
There are different kinds to choose from like word problems, math basics, time, money, and fractions.
You will also find a wide age range with these books, up through 6th grade.
Sorry, I can’t recommend anything past the 6th-grade level as we just aren't there yet.
3. Games
On Wednesday, play a game or 2 with your kiddo.
Scrabble is one of my favorite multipurpose games. It teaches math and spelling! Some of my kids love this game and others - not so much.
I am sure you have a few games at your house that include skills such as counting, money, and adding/subtracting.
These will all count toward math.
One other favorite game for younger kids, which works great with counting, is Trouble.
4. Computer Games
On Thursday, fire up the computer/tablet and open a math game.
My kids’ favorite math game is Prodigy.
Since you have to pay to play, I talked to the school to get our kids’ login information so they can play at home.
They were more than willing to give it to us. They even set up accounts for my younger kids that didn’t have one yet.
One other math game that isn’t as engaging but works is Moby Max. Once again, I used the login information my kids had through school.
5. Apps
On Friday, let them play some math apps for practice.
I only have a few but my kids love them.
One is called Fun Mathematics (paid a few bucks for this) and the other is called Moose Math (this one is free). You can find both of these on Google Play.
Ways To Stop Summer Slide In Science
Once a week, plan to do a science experiment with your kids. Trust me on this one, your kids will be so pumped about it.
We got this science experiment book to keep us busy!
I did go through it ahead of time and picked out 15 experiments to do. This was more than enough but we fit 2 into 1 day since some of the experiments didn't last long in time.
I was able to have all the supplies on hand since I picked them out ahead of time.Have them help gather all the materials and set it up. Then have them make a hypothesis about what they think is going to happen and write it down.
Next, perform the science experiment, stand back, and watch them be amazed.
Finally, go back to the hypothesis guesses and see if your kids were right or wrong.
We all had a blast doing these together. Kids have curious minds, so it makes sense that they would all get into science!
There are kits you can buy that are amazing as well. We went with a book since 7 kids were doing the experiments.
I have gifted these in the past.
How We Plan To Beat Summer Slide This Year
1. Reading
Every time I hear “I’m bored”, I am going to respond with grab a book and maybe read somewhere you haven’t in a while like on the swing or sitting under a tree.
We are also going to make it a point to visit the library every week.
And of course, we are going to create a reading challenge of our own.
2. Workbooks
To add a little practice every day, we are going to use a variety of levels of the School Zone workbooks I talked about above.
My kids actually like using them and I can tell that they are helpful so we are sticking with them.
3. Cursive
Since cursive isn't being taught in schools but my kids are incredibly interested in learning it, we are going to give it a whirl.
I got a few of these cursive handwriting workbooks for my older 2 kids to use.
4. Writing Stories
One of my boys has a hard time with creative writing. I get it, writing isn’t for everyone.
So, to help him out, I grabbed a blank notebook, wrote a question of the day on each page, and we set a timer.
It has increased his thinking and writing time so we are going to continue it throughout the summer.
For the rest of my kids, I am going to have them write for at least 10 minutes every day about whatever they want.
I did it last year and it was fun to read and even better to listen to when they wanted to present it to me.
5. Science Experiments
My kids love science experiments so much that we are continuing them this summer.
We are going to repeat some of their favorites like Elephant Toothpaste and Make Your Own Storm Cloud, but they are more than ready to try new ones too.
6. Games
We have so many games to choose from that we are going to work on playing them all once this summer and then see if we can get through them all again.
Some fan favorites of the moment are Mall Madness, Trouble, and Ticket to Ride.
I hope you enjoy your summer of learning and interaction with your kids!
This post was all about the best way your kids can beat the summer slide.
Let me know what you plan to do with your kids this summer so they keep learning.
It is hard to keep them engaged so I am always on the hunt for fresh and interactive ideas.
I look forward to hearing from you and thanks for stopping by!