When summer arrives, kids are ready to enjoy plenty of outdoor fun. Fortunately, with just a bit of planning, parents can seamlessly blend fun and learning into one exciting mix. In fact, Education to the Core lists twenty-five summer learning activities that you can readily enjoy as a family.
How About a Scavenger Hunt?
With a scavenger hunt, for example, you don’t even have to leave home. You can create your own and perhaps give children a clipboard and pencil to write down what they find. Add a magnifying glass to the mix and they can go in full detective mode!
The site also provides a scavenger hunt worksheet that you can use to simplify the process. You can also challenge your child to create a scavenger hunt for friends and family.
Or What About a Visit to the Zoo?
As another idea, visit the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo and incorporate summer learning activities. 
Provide your children with a notebook and pencil and ask them to count the animals they see and/or draw their favorites. Check to see what activities and events the zoo is offering, and take advantage of the ones that interest your family.
Before you go, browse through these top 100 children’s books about the zoo and read them together. How many of the animals in a book did your children actually see?
Or Maybe Grow That Green Thumb!
Planting a garden can be an ideal family activity. If you don’t have space in your yard, you can plant seeds in pots. Talk to a local gardening center about plants and herbs that are good ones for children to grow and find out how much sun and water they’ll need. You can have your children record how tall their plants are growing, how much they’ve grown over the past week, and so forth. Read quality gardening books together and encourage your child to think like a budding botanist.
Other Thoughts to Consider
As U.S. News shares, “summer learning activities shouldn’t feel like school [but] they can reinforce academic concepts in a real-world context.” Ask your child’s teacher where your child’s knowledge could use reinforcement and build from your child’s interests to make the learning process fun. Other tips the article includes are to be willing to make a mess, look into local outdoor activities, and include special people in the summer learning activities. Each of these, they note, can “up the fun factor.”
If, for example, your child is fascinated by the stars, backyard stargazing with friends can be ideal. If you choose, you can invest in a telescope. Here are wonderful books for kids about the stars.
Horizon Education Center’s Summer Camp
At Horizon’s Summer Camp, summer learning activities are naturally incorporated into the day with a focus on art, science, math, and technology along with a summer reading program. Weekly themed activities include Animal Mysteries, Junior Detective, and Smart Chef, with weekly field trips that include a Lake Erie Crushers baseball game, the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, and Pioneer Water Park. Breakfast, lunch, and an afternoon snack are provided daily.
Our goal: to provide fun, hands-on activities, encouraging active brains, healthy bodies, and happy faces. You can request registration for our summer camp here. Our free registration and t-shirt offer ends May 19th, so don’t wait!
