5 Ways To Keep Your Kids Learning All Summer

5 Ways To Keep Your Kids Learning This Summer

Here is South Florida this Thursday marks the last day of school. Most teachers will advise that students lose some of the skills they had worked hard on all year over the summer break. My kindergarten ages son is a budding reader and my daughter is finally started to like math. I for one do not want to break the momentum of learning that has started with the fantastic teachers they have had this year. [ctt title=”So, how do you keep the learning going over the summer? He are some great ideas found around the internet.” tweet=”So, how do you keep the learning going over the summer? He are some great ideas found around the internet.” coverup=”Bfv5P”]

1. Explore local museums – Not only does this help you beat the heat of summer it gives you kids an opportunity to learn something in a new setting. It doesn’t have to be an art museum . There are various types of museums such as those gear towards younger children that are more sensory, museums that explore science and others that teach history. Spots like this are tucked in towns all over the country and are a great source of summer learning.

You can find art museums by country, city or state here.

Looking for a science center? You can also search by country or state here.

You can also go to the American Alliance of Museums to find site specific to the US.

1. Cook with your kids – If you haven’t already read my post about how my kids are learning measurements and cooperation thru Mug cakes you can read it here. Cooking with your kids is not only a great way for them to learn life skills. You can work a little math lesson in as well.

2. Have your kids do a summer journal – This is something I am trying out this year. A journal jut for them to write down their thoughts and observations, save souvenirs from their summer trips and really document their summer however they feel.

3. Visit the library… often! – Last summer we visited the library every weeks and my kids got into the habit of reading all summer long. My son wasn’t reading yet but spending time at the library got him use to choosing books and got him excited for reading.

4. Visit the famers market or local farm –  This was another Saturday activity we did each week last summer. My kids had so many great experiences learning about farm animals and the importance of farm fresh foods. They feed chickens and cows, picked peppers and tried new fruits. Plus you can save a bundle of money at the famers market and can bring your farm goodies home to cook with your kids.

How do you plan on keeping your kids learning all summer? Would love to here some other ideas to try with my kids. Feel free to leave suggestions in the comments below.

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10 Books, $10 Bucks – Teaching Kids About Money

In the age of electronic money transfers, ATM, and on-line checking accounts, it is hard to teach children the value of a dollar. A real dollar, like one with George Washington’s face on it. Not some idea of money being moved around in cyberspace. I remember when I was growing up, my father would take be to a big brown bank. Their he would talk to someone behind chest high wall and they would give me lollipops.

He also showed me how to deposit the money I had earned from my paper routes into a saving account. Each week I would watch the numbers in my little blue passbook grow larger. Here is where I learned the value of saving, hard work and financial growth. This savings account allowed me to solely fund a high school trip to Europe. This expense would have been out of reach for my parents to fund. But through hard work and patience, I was able to achieve this goal.

This is a life lesson I want to teach to my children. During the last week of school my daughter came home with a paper that listed out many of the summer reading programs offered by companies, bookstores and the library. The one that caught my eye was TD Bank. In their summer reading program, if the child read 10 books, $10 would be deposited into a savings account for them. So off we went to the bank where a nice woman named Anne helped my daughter open her first savings account. (My son is to young for the program since he can not read yet, but it was still a good learning experience for him.)

Have no idea why she is making this face

My daughter didn’t get an old-timey passbook, but instead she got a green ledger. Anne then went over with her what her starting balance was and how to record deposits and withdrawals. Then Anne took them on a short tour of the bank showing them what safe deposit boxes were and what the tellers station looked like. She also explained the “Penny Arcade,” which is basically a kid-friendly coin counter. Here my daughter could dump all her coins from her piggy bank into the counter and deposit that amount into her savings account. While it counted, she could venture a guess as to how much the coins totaled up to.

It has been difficult to find tactile, visual opportunities to teach kids about money. They see a credit card or debit card used to pay for things and watch money magically come out of an ATM but really don’t get a full idea of finances. Both of my kids we’re give green TD coin banks, stickers and lollipops. They seemed to have learned a lot about the bank and really enjoyed the experience. I look forward to seeing if my daughter, a natural spender, will have the patience to save towards her goals. (An American Girl Doll Camper)

I was not compensated in anyway for writing this I just liked the program.