Summer Learning: Tips for Keeping Students Engaged and Growing

As summer break kicks off, you know how important it is to help students avoid the "summer slide"—that dip in academic progress that can happen when learning takes a backseat for a few months. While summer is a well-earned time for rest and fun, it’s also a great opportunity to keep students curious, motivated, and mentally active. Here are some ways to encourage meaningful summer learning that feels more like play than homework.

1. Create a Reading Challenge

Encourage students to read just for the joy of it. Share a list of age-appropriate, high-interest books, or let students build their own reading goals. Offer digital badges or fun incentives for every book completed. You can even involve families by recommending weekly “reading nights” where everyone picks up a book—even if it’s a comic, magazine, or audiobook.

Resource for families: Scholastic Summer Reading Home Base – a free online reading program with games, book recommendations, and activities.

2. Suggest Virtual Field Trips

Students can explore the world from their couch with virtual visits to museums, national parks, aquariums, and cultural landmarks. These experiences can spark new interests and make learning feel adventurous.

Ideas to share:

• Tour the Louvre: www.louvre.fr/en/visites-en-ligne

• Explore Yellowstone: www.nps.gov/yell/learn/photosmultimedia/virtualtours.htm

• Visit NASA: www.nasa.gov/nasa-at-home

3. Recommend Simple Family Projects

Encourage students and their families to take on easy at-home projects that build academic and life skills. Cooking a new recipe can become a math and science lesson. Starting a garden teaches biology and responsibility. Creating a scrapbook blends writing, art, and storytelling.

Tip for teachers: You could send home a "Summer Bucket List" of educational activities for students to try with their families.

4. Promote Journaling or Creative Challenges

Writing doesn’t have to mean essays. Invite students to keep a summer journal, try poetry, write fan fiction, or start a comic strip. For more hands-on learners, suggest weekly creative challenges: build something, make art, record a podcast, or film a short video.

Free tool to share: Storybird – students can create illustrated stories and poems online.

Helping Parents Support Summer Learning

Families don’t need to become teachers over the summer—but they can help by creating routines, talking about what their kids are learning, and offering encouragement. Be sure to share tools and ideas before school ends, such as:

• A calendar of local library events or museum days

• Educational apps like Khan Academy or Duolingo

• Links to your favorite podcasts or YouTube channels for tweens

With just a little guidance, your students can return in the fall refreshed, recharged, and ready to grow. Summer is a season for curiosity—let’s help students make the most of it.