Make Your
Summer A Success
Avoiding Stress
 The transition from school to the unstructured days
of summer can be stressful.
 It is a known fact that kids thrive on structure.
 Incorporating a schedule during the summer months
allows you to enjoy your time together as a family and
be more productive.
 The sooner that a summer schedule is considered, the
sooner that everyone will start to plan – or at least
become accustomed to the idea.
Objectives
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Prepare
Books
Make a Schedule
Plan Regular Activities
Set Expectations
Activities to Keep Child Engaged
Prevent Brain Drain
Prepare
 Research camps and activities for your children in the
spring and begin to formulate your plan.
 Check your local parks and recreation office. Most cities
have loads of activities during the summer months.
 Check with your local library.
 Ask about Extended School Year (ESY) programs or talk
with your child’s teacher about his or her suggestions.
 It is also a good idea to involve your child in the planning if
possible by talking about summer break, and reading
books about summer.
Prepare with Books
 Books are helpful tools in educating your child about
the summer transition and preparing for upcoming
events.
 For younger children, picture books help illustrate
plans for the summer.
 For older children, read books about summer and
summer activities.
Picture Books
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The Night Before Summer Vacation by Natasha Wing
How I Spent My Summer Vacation by Mark Teague
Go Go America by Dan Yaccarino
Last Day Blues by Julie Danneberg
A Couple of Boys Have The Best Week Ever by Marla
Frazee
 To Be Like the Sun By Susan Marie Swanson
 Monkey and Me by Emily Gravett
Reading Books
 The Aurora County All Stars by Deborah Wiles
 The Life and Crimes of Bernetta Wallflower by Lisa
Graff
 Violet Bing and the Grand House by Jennifer Paros
 Greetings from Nowhere by Barbara O’Connor
 Moxy Maxwell Does Not Love Stuart Little by Peggy
Gifford
Make a Schedule
 To help create a routine, develop a daily visual
schedule to support summer-long responsibilities
(e.g. watering plants) and activities.
 Set times for these activities to occur.
 If your child responds better to visual information,
you can use photos or drawings to come up with a
schedule, reminders or rules.
 Post your schedule in a prominent location.
Regular Activities
 You want to identify the activities that happen the
same way, each day (e.g. every morning we get ready
for our day by doing…)
 You can also repeat field trips each week (e.g. every
Tuesday we go to swimming lessons)
 Create a sense of familiarity by selecting activities
that require similar skills, but happen in different
locations (e.g. we are going to practice our table
manners at home, at Uncle Bob’s house and at Chili’s)
Set Expectations
 Talk with your child about what they will do, how long
they’ll do it, how they will know when they are
finished. What will happen once the activity is
completed.
 Your child should be able to see and study the
summer schedule.
Plan for Unexpected Changes
 You want to let your child know that there will be
instances when there will be changes in the schedule.
 Talk with him or her about the circumstances that
might impact your plans. For instance, “On Friday,
you see on the schedule we plan to go to the beach.
One thing that might cause us to change our plans is
rain. If it rains on Friday, we may want to go to the
movies instead.”
Activities
 Get them involved in an activity or sport. Baseball, karate
lessons, or whatever they like to do.
 Don’t overlook volunteer opportunities in the community,
there are lots of organizations out there that could really
use a little help here and there over the summer.
 Give them chores. Younger kids can help set the table for
dinner, young adults can take out the trash or weed the
garden. Chores are a great way to teach responsibility and
respect.
Activities
 Cooking and baking is a great way to introduce
measurements and encourage children to try new
foods. Kids are more likely to eat what they cook.
 Let summer break be a time for learning home
economics by involving them in your everyday duties.
Grocery shopping can become a classroom full of
mathematics.
 Plan play dates with other kids.
Prevent Brain Drain
 Kids seem to forget much of what was just taught to
them the year before in school. Why not take some
time each day to study up on what they will be
learning in the next year. Or take some time to go
over what they have already learned. Continue
reading with your children at least 30 min. a night.
Television
 Don’t let them veg out in front of the TV all summer.
Use the parental controls on the TV which most cable
and satellite companies provide as a part of their
service. This includes the ability to control the number
of hours your child can watch per day and what they
watch.
 Encourage your child to watch the discovery channel
and history channel.
Work Books
 Have your child complete a page of math review (for
example) every day. Try trading pages from the
workbook (or comparable practice available online)
for extra TV or video game time. Forcing your child to
use those skills will help prevent him or her from
losing them, and even a little bit of DAILY practice can
be very effective.
 www.theteachersguide.com free printable
worksheets
Library
 Take your children to the library. Nothing helps kids
improve their reading like practice, and during the
summer they have tons of time to read.
APPS
 The Ruckus Reader: The latest from Ruckus Media Group, Ruckus
Reader is the first library of mobile apps to deliver learning
assessment and interactive educational content seamlessly, turning
screen time into valuable learning time. Every week the parent is
email a progress report.
 Barefoot World Atlas: This is an interactive 3D globe for iPad that
invites children to explore the regions and countries of the world.
 Baseball Mc Graw-Hill 1-6 Facts: Hooks kids by using baseball to
practice math facts.
 Math Girl Addition House
 Ready to Print: Help support kids with prewriting skills
 www.commonsensemedia.org This site is a great tool for finding
quality resources.