While your children are enjoying summer break, make sure they continue to learn and grow. Your children have spent the entire school year learning new things. Help them hang onto that knowledge, and learn even more, by starting summer traditions like these:
- STEM Olympics Boost your youngster’s STEM skills with a series of household engineering competitions. For the first contest, each person could build a catapult with craft sticks and rubber bands. See whose catapult can launch a ball the farthest. Next, maybe family members will compete to engineer a boat that carries the most pennies without sinking.
- Family Celebrations Have your child use math to plan special events, such as an Independence Day cookout. Give him a budget, and let him look through grocery and dollar store flyers for the best prices on ingredients and supplies. He should list items and prices, and add up the total. Next, perhaps he’ll host a National Ice Cream Day party on July 21 or a back-to-school celebration the last weekend of summer break.
- Reading Pals For a fun way to stay in touch—and practice reading—help your youngster find a relative to be his reading pal. Maybe he and his grandfather will take turns reading chapters of a novel via video chat. Or record a video of your youngster reading a book to send to a younger cousin. The little one can do the same to show her big cousin how she’s learning to read.
Let's Limit Screen Time
- Decide on a daily screen time limit that is right for your family. Then, create rules to enforce the limit, such as “Play outside every day” and “Screen time ends at least one hour before bedtime.”
- Be a role model by putting away devices yourself. For example, avoid using your phone when you’re talking to or playing with your youngster. Or turn off the TV, and announce that it’s time for a walk together.
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