A survey carried out last June by Explore Learning revealed that, of the 2,000 parents interviewed, 74% believed that their children’s academic abilities had declined over the summer holidays. 21% also felt that their child was less engaged in their studies when they did return to school.
It is important to encourage children to continuously learn over the summer holidays, but how can this be done in such a way that they still enjoy their break from school? Read on for our ideas.
Keeping a summer diary
Help your child to maintain their literacy skills by encouraging them to keep a diary or scrapbook while they’re off school. Not only will it keep them in the practise of writing and being creative, they will also have a record of all of the fun things that they did over the summer to look back on and show their friends. Decorating the cover is also a perfect activity for a rainy day.
Educational arts and crafts
Facilitate learning by helping your child to carry out a fun activity that will also give them new knowledge. Education.com have some brilliant ideas for engaging educational activities like creating waves in a bottle and making soap.
Learn a foreign language
Studies have shown that learning a foreign language helps boost memory skills and can actually improve English skills. If you’re going abroad this summer, why not help your child to learn some of the local lingo and give them a head start for learning a new language in the future?
Reading
Encourage your child to read a chapter of a book every night before they go to sleep. Also, if you’re at the library picking up books, why not encourage them to take the opportunity to look up the answers to any questions they might have, rather than using google?
Let us know if you try any of these tips! You can also learn more about the online summer tutoring service that connect offer here.
