Keeping Kids Engaged In Summer

By: Luca Mele, Age 16

For most kids, summer is a time to relax and get away from the stress of the school
year. A majority of kids don’t want to do anything but sit at home and spend time on
electronics and with friends. While rest and relaxation are a part of summer break, research
shows that staying productive over the summer is equally as important. Teachers often talk
about the phenomenon known as a “summer slide”, where students experience a loss in
learning and progress that can take a while to rebuild. Productivity during the summer doesn’t
have to mean sitting at a desk all day. All it means is keeping both their brains and bodies
occupied and used throughout the summer. This can be done in various ways, including
reading, creative projects, exercise, hobbies, and overall just gaining depth as human beings.

Why Kids Need to Stay Active Over the Summer

It’s imperative to stay productive over the summer to prevent learning loss. Imagine the
strain on a developing brain to go from working hard every day to doing nothing for 3 months
but learning bad habits, and then jumping right back into hard learning again in the fall. For
most kids, summer becomes a difficult transition period from one grade to the next because
they do nothing all summer. Many studies have been done by well-known sources like
Scholastic, that have found that students, the younger the more prominent, experience a large
loss in reading and math skills over summer break. If you want your child to succeed in the
school year, they must keep up with exploration of learning and activity year-round.

Productivity Doesn’t Always Mean Academics

However, staying active in these skills doesn’t necessarily require a summer school like
environment. It can come through a variety of activities that are still enjoyable for your child.
According to the CDC, physical activity improves not just physical health, but also cognitive
and emotional function. Encourage your child to join a new sport, go on walks, explore nature,
and anything else that will get them outside, staying active, while also having fun. Any type of
enrichment, whether physical, mental, spiritual, creative, etc. is important for a child’s
developing brain. This means that learning a new instrument, building LEGOs, and doing arts
& crafts projects can be just as good, maybe even better than any type of purely academic
engagement. It’s important to encourage your child to do things that they want to do, as long
as they benefit them in some way. That way, they can build good habits for themselves and find
passion in new hobbies, all while still being able to be kids.

Social Interaction is Beneficial

Staying connected with friends and family is another important part of a child’s overall
health and wellbeing. Isolation can be harmful for a child, especially if they rely on a school
setting for social interaction. Isolation can lead to boredom, wasted time on screens, and poor
mental health. Playdates, sleepovers, summer camps, and community programs are all things
that can help your child to be around people all summer long and keep their mind active.
Summertime is a great time to improve your child’s emotional intelligence and social skills and
continue to prepare them for the upcoming school year.

Summer Programs

If you want to put your child a step above the rest and offer them more educational
opportunities, an online/in-person summer program/course could be the way to go. These
offer a chance for your kid to learn about something that interests them, that may not be
available at their school. They can be fun, engaging, and educational all at the same time. These
programs help students to feel more prepared in the upcoming school year while also giving
them something structured to look forward to during the summer. There are plenty of
opportunities to do summer programs locally that your child can enjoy.

Finding a Balance

Perhaps the most important part is finding a balance with your child. None of these
suggestions are to say that your child shouldn’t have any free time over the summer. It’s
necessary that you find a balance with your child where they have things to do, but it’s not too
overwhelming where they feel like it’s the school year all over again. The point of staying
productive throughout the summer is so that they can do things that are both fun and
enriching.

At the end of the day, summer is still a break, but giving them a break doesn’t have to
mean letting them sit in front of a screen all day and regressing their academic development
that they work so hard for during the school year. Summer break is meant to be restorative for
kids, so let it be so: allow them to sleep in a little, have lazy afternoons, and enjoy their
freedom, but also guide them to have meaningful experiences. When kids stay engaged
mentally and physically, they are able to grow and learn in new directions, gain independence,
and build new hobbies and passions. Together, every purposeful activities and behaviors help
add up to a productive summer.