Summers are a time to relax, enjoy, and have fun. The warm weather and lazy afternoons call for long pool hours and endless fun. Children spend most of their time playing around, having fun, and enjoying their long summer gaps.
But among all this fun, children will likely not focus on academics. Due to this, kids may face a decline in their academic knowledge and skills. Not practicing academics for a long time may result in children forgetting most of the things they learned in school. This phenomenon is called the summer slide.
In this blog post, we have discussed what a summer slide is and some fun activities that can beat the summer slide.
Let’s begin!
What is a summer slide?
Summer slide, also called summer learning loss, is a phenomenon where students’ academics and other intellectual abilities begin to decline over a long summer break period. Here, breaks don’t need to refer to summer breaks only; rather, it could be any break where children do not engage in academics and related things, resulting in a loss of knowledge. It is known as the summer slide, as summer breaks are generally the longest for children, especially in countries like the US and Canada.
For instance, a child learns geometrical concepts before the beginning of his summer vacation. During vacations, if he doesn’t practice it, he will tend to forget it, and his geometrical skills will decline compared to those who regularly practice the concept in their summer vacations.
Fun activities to beat the summer slide
Summers are a great time to enjoy and play. Water parks, games, pools, bright sunshine, and whatnot. Summers are great, but the summer slide is not very great and surely not fun. It could be challenging for kids, teachers, and parents. Through fun summer vacation activities, parents can keep their children engaged in academics and summer fun.
Let’s see some fun activities that can beat the summer slide and make summer more fun. We have divided the summer slide activities into two broad categories, which include-
I. Educational summer slide activities
Educational summer slide activities can be done indoors and are majorly inclined toward academics. The activities include-
1. Reading books
Reading is a great way to beat the summer slide. Children don’t necessarily have to read course textbooks; rather, let children enjoy any book that interests them. But ensure that children read daily. Let them read anything and everything they can get their hands on. Reading has multiple benefits, such as it improves cognition, sparking imagination, enhancing vocabulary, improving reading skills, and various others.
Parents can set a reading challenge for their kids to make the reading session more rewarding for children. Completing the challenge will give a sense of accomplishment along with their favorite treat or whatever they like. Additionally, reading games are also a fun way to incorporate reading into children’s daily life. It will keep the children motivated and improve their literature skills over the summer vacations.
2. Cooking or baking in leisure time
Activities like cooking, baking, chopping, etc., could be fun and a great way to deal with the summer slide. It will help the children stay active and improve their basic mathematical skills.
For instance, children can help their parents bake a cake. Baking requires certain ingredients in a certain amount, and children’s help in measuring the ingredients and encouraging them to participate in baking actively can strengthen their mathematical skills. Also, working in the kitchen requires following a specific set of instructions, which again is beneficial for keeping the child active.
3. Write a Journal or a summer diary every day
If your kid isn’t already recording their daily summer activities in a diary, encourage your kid to do so. It is a fun way to keep a record and improve writing skills.
Children can pursue writing in multiple formats during their summer breaks. They can keep a daily writing diary or a journal to record the happenings of their whole day and the associated thoughts, feelings, and emotions. Additionally, children can maintain a summer diary to record all summer activities and learnings.
Daily writing will give children something to think about, improving their writing skills, grammar, and literature skills.
4. Painting, drawing, sketching, or crafting
Arts and craft is another fun way to keep the children active during summer vacations. Parents can encourage children to draw, paint, create, develop, build, or do whatever they enjoy.
Arts and craft adds a pair of wings to the imagination and ignites inner creativity. Parents can provide children with colors, clays, waste cardboard, or any other craft material used in arts and crafts. Arts and Crafts is a fun creative expression activity that will keep the children physically active and intellectually growing.
5. Regular Vocabulary practice
Vocabulary practice is a great way to facilitate inquiry-based learning. Parents can make their kids aware of new words daily with their meanings. They can use those words in daily-life conversations, or parents can teach different ways the word can be used in a sentence.
Building a child’s vocabulary and enhancing their reading and writing skills is a great summer activity. Daily vocabulary practice will also make children curious about new words they can learn and use in conversations.
It is a great way to deal with summer slides and prepare children for classes after the long summer breaks.
II. Recreational outdoor physical summer slide activities
Recreational outdoor physical summer slide activities are outdoor activities, majorly inclined towards fieldwork. The activities include-
6. Nature walk & Talk
Nature has many benefits. From beating the lethargic mood to igniting creativity, nature can help it all. Spending time in nature also benefits one’s emotional and psychological health.
Parents can encourage their kids to spend some time in nature. For instance, take a walk around the garden, swim, observe the summer insects such as bugs, or explore different plants and herbs. Parents can also take their kids hiking, trekking, or camping.
Nature is the house of multiple benefits, and exploring nature is a fun activity for improving naturalistic intelligence. Children must utilize the benefits of nature to stay physically and mentally healthy over the summer break.
7. Take a Field trip
Beating the summer slide can be fun with a great field trip. Be it a museum, factory, community events, parks, etc., field trips are a great way to enhance the kids’ knowledge and keep them active during their long summer breaks.
Field trips are also a great way to enhance the educational as well as personal development of a child and build crucial life skills such as observation skills, innate curiosity, experiential learning, etc. that will help children in the long run.
Parents can take their children to a local museum or social or cultural events and encourage them to participate. It will also improve their social skills and will build confidence in the little ones.
8. Volunteering or community services
Volunteering and community service programs are a great way to gain practical knowledge and learn basic skills useful for personal development. Various volunteering and community programs are open exclusively in summer and available for a wide range of people.
Parents can encourage their children to be a part of these programs and gain some real-life knowledge. If your kid is too young to participate in these programs, you can take them to some volunteer programs, such as pet homes, and let your kid enjoy a day there.
9. Gardening
Gardening is a fun activity that various children enjoy doing. Gardening is also beneficial for enhancing one’s knowledge and skills. It will also allow children to stay physically fit.
Children can learn about different fruits, vegetables, plants, herbs, etc., with the help of gardening. It will also help the children know about nutrients that are present in the fruits and vegetables we humans consume. Parents can actively take part in their children’s gardening habits and tell them the benefits of different fruits, vegetables, plants, etc. and keep their knowledge refreshed.
10. Join any music, dance, photography, or theater clubs
Joining music, dance, or theater classes during the summer gap is the perfect activity to beat the summer slide and ensure that the children stay productive during the break and gain a wealth of knowledge. Parents can encourage their children to engage in different creative activities or classes and support their creative talent. Once the practice classes are over, children can take part in competitions to show what they has have learned. The presence of parents or presenting awards to the best performers will further motivate the children. Ensure, to maintain a healthy competition without demotivating any child.
Activities like music and dance enhance concentration and relaxation. These activities are also good for improving memory. Additionally, theater clubs are a perfect opportunity to develop one’s soft skills such as communication skills, self-confidence, self-esteem, empathy, etc. These activities also provide the children an opportunity to explore their interests and engage in personal development and self-reflection.
Concluding thoughts
Summer breaks are fun, so should be the time before and after that. Maintaining a consistent rhythm to academics will help children avoid the summer slide and improve their academic growth. Various activities have been discussed in this blog that parents can encourage their children to engage in to stay healthy and cognitively fit. These activities help beat the summer slide and keep children refreshed with academics.
I am Sehjal Goel, a psychology student, and a writer. I am currently pursuing my Masters’s from Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi. Child psychology has always fascinated me and I have a deep interest in learning about disabilities in children and spreading awareness regarding the same. My other areas of interest are neuropsychology and cognitive psychology. Connect me on Linkedin