Summers are made for outdoor adventures, exciting family vacations, and taking a break from the busy school year. If you’ve ever felt a little bit guilty for all the fun (but not-so-educational) stuff your kids are up to during summer break, you’re definitely not alone. 

Unless you work in education or have carefully planned your career around your kids' schedules, you probably don’t have the luxury of long, leisurely summer days. And you might not have given much thought to whether your kids are learning anything during their time off. But hey, don’t stress! The good news is that making sure your kiddos learn something this summer is easier than you think. And you don’t even have to be a teacher to pull it off! 

Ordinary life lessons

Learning opportunities are everywhere—even during your routine weekly errands. Take your kids along when you run to the bank, the post office, or the gas station. Chat about where you’re going and what happens there, and let them observe how you interact with people in your community. But keep this in mind: your kids are always watching.  

Get your kiddos involved at the grocery store by asking them to help you find the best deals. Then, let them take charge and pay the cashier with your money—maybe you can even treat them for all their hard work! 

Helping put the groceries away gives them a sense of purpose at home. You can also turn cooking into a learning activity—have them practice measuring ingredients, following recipe steps, and even experimenting with different flavors to create their own culinary masterpieces. Just be sure to warn them about the clean-up happening afterward!

Imagination and learning games

Work on your kids’ problem-solving skills with board games that require strategy and logic. Classic games like chess, checkers, Catan, Sequence, and Battleship will challenge them to think ahead and plan their next move.  

Expand everyone’s vocabulary with word games like Scrabble, Bananagrams, or crossword puzzles. Work on number skills with dice games or board games like Monopoly or Yahtzee. Rummikub is a hit at our house!

Have a future engineer on your hands? Turn your living room into an epic fort-building zone on those too-hot-to-be-outside summer days. Give them the green light to use couch cushions, blankets, and every pillow in the house to build the ultimate hideaway. Surprise them with a picnic lunch to enjoy inside their new cozy space. Don’t forget to snap some photos!

Or let their imaginations run wild with dress-up or role-playing activities. They can run their own bookstore, classroom, or restaurant—my personal favorites growing up! Or help them write and illustrate their own book or play, which they can proudly perform when it’s all finished. 

Family field trip education

If you have summer travel plans, turn your family excursions into learning opportunities. If you can find a map, see if they can trace your route and show them how people used to navigate before GPS. My son loves guiding me using Google Maps on his tablet when we go out of town. 

Want to avoid the endless “Are we there yet?” question? Throw on a podcast to help pass the time and keep everyone entertained on those long family road trips. 

If you’re staying close to home, explore your community by visiting your local library, nature center, museum, or state park. Many of these community spots offer exciting summer programs and activities designed just for kids. 

Listen and learn with podcasts

Our family loooves podcasts. My son’s favorite word is “Why?” so he loves learning about all sorts of weird stuff on the Who Smarted? podcast—and the weirder, the better! Plus, the trivia episodes keep us all on our toes! Some of his favorite episodes lately are:

Why is your Body filled with Gross stuff?

How did Hot Dogs get their name?

What’s a Yeti, and could it really exist?

For kiddos into current events, KidNuz is perfect for those car rides to and from summer activities. It’s the perfect bite-sized newscast for young minds at just seven minutes per episode. And for storytelling lovers, check out Mysteries About True Histories (aka M.A.T.H.), Musicland Stories, or Girl Tales—there’s a little something for everyone! 

If your kid is a technology wizard, they might be interested in creating their own podcast. You can find inexpensive microphones online, and with your help (and the help of the internet), they’ll be a real podcaster in no time.

Outdoor projects

Grab the art supplies and head outside to draw a map of your neighborhood, including streets, houses, landmarks, and any interesting-looking trees or flowers they spot. They can add fun details like your neighbors' names, their favorite places to play, and anything else that catches their eye.

Repurpose household items like plastic bottles, milk or juice cartons, or cardboard boxes into DIY bird feeders. Use tape, string, or hot glue (with an adult’s help) to build, and then let the kids decorate their feeders with colorful paper or markers. Fill the feeders with birdseed, hang them up, and watch as your new feathered friends flock to the latest buffet on the block. 

What are your kids up to this summer?

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