Top 10 Free Summer Learning Activities

Even though it’s summer vacation time, it doesn’t mean the learning has to stop. This list offers some fun ideas for educational games and activities that you can share at home and enjoy with your children. Why not this year do more than amuse and entertain your kids, but keep their minds working all summer long and reinforce the skills they learnt in the classroom earlier in the year.

1. Bubbles: For the younger kids, make some homemade bubble solution and try to blow bubbles with some household items, like milk jugs, strings, straws etc.

2. Cooking: Get kids cooking in the kitchen, where they will get the added benefit of learning simple math concepts and develop their fine motor skills by cutting ingredients and stirring etc.

3. Origami: Try out origami for an afternoon activity. There are plenty of origami instructions and resources available online.

4. Music: Feeling musical? Create musical instruments from materials found around the house - maracas, rattles, boxes, drums etc.

5. Cartoons: Make a cartoon flip book. Draw sequences of cartoons and “flip” through the pages to watch the images move.

6. Rock Collection: Start your very own rock collection. There are plenty of rock and mineral guide books to be found on-line or in your local library. Gather, identify, and store the rock specimens like a real geologist would.

7. Family Activity Day: Let your children take the lead and get them to plan a family outing for a day. Get them to research local events and activities. Give them a budget and a date to plan around.

8. Traditional Games: On the next rainy day, get out the traditional / old fashioned games from the cupboard and get the kids playing chess, checkers, snakes & ladders, snap, puzzles etc. etc.

9. Reading Each Day: Get your children reading and spelling while they help you around the house each day. Reading instructions for games to you, writing up your grocery list with you, reading recipes out loud during cooking time.

10. Encourage Writing: For the budding author, get your kids to keep a nature journal, create poetry, write up new recipe ideas, send postcards and scrapbook their summer adventures. The writing opportunities are endless.

Let us know your favorite summer learning activities in the comments below!