Try ‘accidentally’ learning this summer

July 24, 2020

Want to keep your child’s brain buzzing whilst having fun? Try ‘accidentally’ learning this summer, Christina in our Liverpool centre shares her thoughts on why the six week holiday needn’t mean a break from your child making progress.

With so much time away from school, many children and parents have suffered from ‘home schooling fatigue’. Now more than ever, it can be tricky to keep everyone entertained, and cracking out that summer homework is the last thing many children want to do!

But research shows that by actively engaging in your child’s education, particularly over the holidays, you can actually have a bigger impact on your child’s attainment than school. An Explore Learning survey found that 74% of parents felt their children’s academic abilities drop by the time they return to school in September.

So, in order to help every family seize the summer we’ve collated our top tips to try ‘accidentally’ learning this summer whilst having fun together:

• Travel in style

On the way to a favourite day out? This can be an exciting opportunity to discover how to use a map to plan a route. If you need to take a long drive together, why not make the most of your surroundings as conversation starters? Think about making as many funny interpretations as you can of weird road signs. Turn other cars into counting games and make up sentence starters inspired by beautiful scenery.

• A family that cooks together, reads books together

If you have any budding chefs or bakers in your house, why not get out a favourite recipe for some treats and spend an afternoon weighing, measuring and timing your bakes? You could even take this one step further and raise some money for a local charity by hosting a bake sale or coffee morning! Plenty of guidance can be found on charity webpages to help you get started. Take a look at Roald Dahl’s Marvellous Children’s Charity for some inspiration.

• Make the most of lazy afternoons

Use quality family time during film nights as another chance to develop important skills. Particularly through asking questions, just as you would after finishing a book. Try practising their comprehension skills and challenge their imaginations by discussing alternative endings, why the film was made, the motives of main characters, etc.

• Challenge reluctant readers/writers by discovering audiobooks

It’s easy to overlook the usefulness of tools like audiobooks in engaging children with literacy skills. Though children aren’t directly decoding words by reading the text themselves, audiobooks can make reluctant readers gain confidence in comprehending stories. Whilst also developing their memory, concentration and imagination. Why not make this a whole-family experience by listening and discussing the story together?

Summer learning doesn’t have to mean worksheets. At Explore Learning, our tutors are passionate about inspiring curiosity and a love of learning. Book your free trial to see how we can help re-engage your child with their learning this summer.

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