5 Summer Activities to Keep Children Learning

If you suspect that your child is gifted, there are things you can do to to help keep your child thinking and learning during the summer.  We have started keeping a journal of things that Beth does and says that we feel display her aptitude for learning.  We will be able to share this journal with her Kindergarten teacher, to help the teacher determined if Beth should be tested for the Gifted Program at her school.  We also plan activities that will help to keep her busy mind inquisitive and learning throughout the summer. Three months can be a long time for a child to wait to get back to school to learn.

1. Visit as many museums as you can.  Children's museum, art museums, natural science museum, history museums - every chance you get to take your child to a museum, take it.  They may not understand everything in the museum, but you would be surprised at how much they do take and learn from each experience. Even if you only have access to one museum, most museums have a rotating display that changes periodically. If you do not have the ability to get to any museums, look around online. Many museums offer free online virtual tours. The Smithsonian Natural History Museum and the Boston Children's Museum are two that offer free virtual tours. You can also type "museum virtual tour" into your Google search bar and you will see many more museums that can be visited virtually. While it's not exactly the same as walking through the real museum, your child will still get the opportunity to learn new things and see interesting displays.
   
2. Cook with your child.  Following recipes teaches them to read sequentially, to measure, and to follow directions.  Not only will your child learn valuable skills that transfer to math and science, but they may develop a love of cooking, which can serve them well later in life. I like to offer Beth several ingredients that she can choose from to personalize her cooking (for example, different pizza toppings or different candies to mix in cookie dough). As an added bonus, cooking is a great activity to do indoors when there is bad weather (like 106 degree summer days) and everyone gets to eat the delicious results!
   
     
   
3. Visit the zoo or aquarium.  Don't just look at the animals...read the signs, ask the volunteers and zoo keepers to tell you about the animals, their habitats, their diets.  We were lucky enough to visit the San Diego Zoo this summer and the volunteers were wonderful! They were very knowledgeable about the species they were standing near and were excited to tell us all about the animals. We tried to ask volunteers a question at each enclosure we visited. Another thing you can do is take a few books about animals with you and try to read a book while in the vicinity of the animal (Curious George has books about visiting the zoo and the aquarium!).  Reading about elephants is much more interesting if you can look up at a real, live elephant to compare body parts.
   
   
   
   
4. Play with water.  There are lots of fun experiments you can do with water.  And, let's face it, water is a great part of those hot summer days.  One fun activity is to set up several targets in your yard and then get some water guns (any kind will do, although the Super Soaker types are more accurate). Use the water guns to aim at targets and discuss how gravity pulls the water down as it travels, or how the wind blows it.  If you have natural water nearby, visit a pond or stream.  Look for wildlife and talk about life cycles of frogs, insects, etc. If you have the ability, get some jars and try to catch the minnows, insects, or even a tadpole. It is awesome to be able to study wildlife up close before releasing it back into the pond (just please watch out for anything poisonous if you live in an area with those things).
   
5. Watch TV.  I know this one sounds weird, but you have to do it the right way.  For example, today we watched an episode of Nature Cat on PBS that talked about magnets.  Then, I grabbed a few magnets off the refrigerator and we discussed positive and negative charges and played with the magnets and some paperclips.  Beth was fascinated by the way that the magnets attracted on one side and repelled on the other. She played with them for several hours! We also like to watch Alton Brown’s Good Eats show on the Food Network and then bake whatever he teaches about on the show.  His shows are great at teaching the chemistry behind all types of food and cooking. Our favorite is the episode that he explains why soft pretzels come out with a crispy outside and a soft inside (plus we love eating pretzels!).