How can your children have an extraordinary summer with lots of wonderful memories? Here are 6 helpful tips.

Plan, plan, and then plan some more. Planning cannot be overstated. Of course, you want your children to enjoy their time, but you should also want them to have structure and learn. Planning is the key. Be sure to include your children in the planning process.
Have a schedule. Children often believe that the summer months should include doing whatever fun thing they may want to do, including staying up late at night and watching television or playing computer games for hours on end. However, having structure is important as there should be time for sleeping, playing, and learning. Those activities are not mutually exclusive.
Avoid the summer slide. Just what is the summer slide? It is a period of time when your children lose some of the knowledge, they learned during the previous school year. According to Scholastic.com, a recent survey showed that children can lose up to 20% in reading skills and 27% in math skills during the summer break. Some of the things that parents can do is encourage reading books and playing games and working with puzzles that involve reading and math skills.

During the summer months, for example, many public libraries have programs for children to continue reading and learning in fun and interesting ways.

Get outside. Whether it is playing in a park, visiting a historical site, participating in a summer camp – whatever the outdoor activity – your children will learn and get plenty of exercise, which is important for their physical and brain growth.
Find support from family and friends. Often, it is challenging for parents to both work and ensure that their children have a fun summer routine. Assistance from family and friends can be very helpful, especially from those who have children. How can you involve them in your children’s summer plans to not only help but also ensure that your children continue to socialize?
Be sure to include activities that your children are interested in. By including them in planning out the summer months, they will feel encouraged as you balance their interests with yours as a parent. Be prepared for some negotiations as most children will view continued reading, or brushing up on math skills, or any form of learning as “schoolwork” and may not be too interested in including those types of activities in their summer plans.

Be creative. Are your children interested in trains or planes or dinosaurs? Perhaps there is a museum in your area or one you can travel to visit as a family that involve some of your children’s favorite things.

For more information, please visit:

https://childmind.org/article/strategies-for-a-successful-summer-break/

https://www.scholastic.com/parents/books-and-reading/raise-a-reader-blog/summer-slide.html