Inform Article

How Will You Keep Your Child’s Brain Active This Summer?

06.12.2012
Posted by Leon Fooksman of yourPBC.org

It's a common question parents ask at this time of year: How am I going to keep my child's mind from sitting idle through the summer?

Our children have learned so much in school this year. The last thing we want is to create a summer brain drain.

In fact, researchers have found that children who aren't engaged in educational activities in the summer months lose about two months worth of skills learned at school. Also, teachers spend an average of four to eight weeks every fall reviewing and re-teaching material that students have forgotten during the summer break, according to the nonprofit GreatSchools Inc.

But kids are kids.

Many just want to spend hours watching television or playing video games. They want to relax from homework and FCATs.

So how do parents transform the long, hot summer months into a time to stretch the minds of their children and explore new educational hobbies with them?

Should they take children to a museum? Grow vegetables in the backyard?

Give us your ideas.

Share your thoughts below. Or, submit an article offering your ideas and we'll post it on YourPBC.org.

You can also post your ideas to our Facebook page, our Twitter page or to the Twitter hashtag: #ParentalInvolvement.