No longer required to be in a classroom for hours every day, students spend their summers relaxing and trying to pack all the fun in they can before fall. While they have certainly earned a break after nine months of school, taking a full summer off from learning is dangerous. It can lead to the summer slide and being a month behind their peers when classes resume. As tempting as it is to allow them to take the whole summer off, it is essential for parents to promote summer reading and learning.

Having children sit for an hour or so a day is not going to work. Too many other options beckon, from playing with friends in the neighborhood to playing video games. Integrating reading into summer activities is a fun way for them to learn while they still participate in their favorite pastimes. Parents don’t have to spend hours considering lesson plans or developing special activities. The activities children naturally gravitate to, with little extra planning, can be springboards into secret summer lessons.

Consider the following summer favorites for learning moments:

• Find a favorite recipe and make it – We all have a food we love. It could be anything from a favorite flavor of ice cream to a dinner on a special occasion. During the summer, you can head to the library and find the recipe for the foods your child loves. Making it together helps your child not only with reading, but with math and following instructions. There also is the opportunity to learn about the history of the dish as well in other books!
• Learn about your vacation – Most families are going to travel for vacation. According to the AAA, over one-third of families will travel over 50 miles this summer on a trip. This is an excellent chance for your child to explore the library before you hit the road! Read some books about the place where you will be going or a landmark of some significance. Maybe allow your child to help you plan part of the trip!
• Learn about your home – Not everyone will be traveling. Some people will be busy at home, taking a staycation. There is still plenty to explore in your town! Take a tour of some of the historic buildings associated with famous people who came from the area. You can help your child read the building markers, and then later find some books about those people and their lives.
• Draw a book cover – Part of reading is understanding the story. After your child is finished reading each book, grab some crayons, pencils, and markers and help draw a new cover for the book based on what was read. Talk about the picture as you are both working on it. Being creative makes the story more fun, and helps it come to life in the mind of the child!
• Reading picnic – Get some sandwiches and snacks together, grab some summer reading material, and head out to the nearest park! This is a great event for your family and a group of other families, or just some of your child’s friends. The children can take turns reading from their books, running around the area, and enjoying a day outside. Have other books on hand in case they finish theirs, or they want something different.
• Read the book; see the movie – Summer is the time when the biggest films of the year come out. Many of the books your child loves to read develop into full-length movies or cartoons. Once your child is done reading the book, pop some popcorn and find the movie on a streaming service or rent it from the library and watch it. Discuss what was the same in the film and the book, and what was different. It is an excellent opportunity to show your child how things vary when one changes to the other.

There are many other ideas to promote summer reading, like the 100 place challenge, coupons for the books a child reads, a summer reading bingo sheet, and others all around the web. With a little extra time, you can make what could be considered a homework assignment into a fun way to spend a summer. All it takes is imagination to have your child wanting to reach for a book instead of a game controller or remote!