It’s time! Back-to-School buzz is in the air! However, for many parents it may prove challenging to continue the reading logs and math worksheets throughout the last of the summer weeks. Not to worry! Here are some great activities to keep your child motivated all month long while having fun too! These activities cover all areas of the curriculum and can be revised to suit all ages and learning levels.
1. Have your child organize a lemonade stand, bake sale or yard sale. They can choose the date (and count down on a calendar), design the advertisement posters (choosing the font, colours, and words to attract customers), and choose the pricing for the products. On the day of the event, have them take the money, count the change back and add up the profits.
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Have your child organize their very own art show with some friends. They can create their own artwork together to put on display for the show. They can then choose the date, design the advertisement posters, the price for each piece, and where the money should go (a great idea would be to encourage that a percentage go to a charity). They will also have to make decisions about the how the art will be displayed (on a clothesline outside, hanging off trees, laying on a table).
2. Go to a baseball game or play mini putt and teach your child how to keep score.
3. Volunteer at a nature centre or an animal shelter where your child could learn about the different animal groups.
4. Go to the beach. Challenge your child to make a ‘sandcastle’ with specific dimensions (use area/perimeter) or different shapes – pentagon, parallelogram are some examples. You can also give them a number of right angles to include in their masterpiece as an extension.
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(on a rainy day) have your child create and design a fort out of cardboard boxes at home with similar specifications.
5. If you’re planning on going on a trip together, encourage your child to make a photo journal (if they’re more artistic/visual learners) or illustrate their own book about your trip. They can even have it published into an actual hardcover book.
6. Visit a farmer’s market and/or an ethnic grocery store and have your child make a meal using interesting spices and food items that you bought there. Older children can also calculate a budget for the meal using coupons (if available). Encourage your child to estimate the cost of the groceries at the checkout. Make it a game with a reward for the person who guesses the closest without going over.
7. Bake together to learn about fractions and measurement and also try doubling the recipe. For older students, challenge them to make revisions to recipes by substituting ingredients. You may want to start with creating your own smoothie. Then plan a picnic together with your goodies!
8. Plant a garden of herbs, vegetables and/or plants. Read together about the care instructions for each and record the growth progress through a line or bar graph.
9. Get a map out of your area and have your child plan the ultimate road trip. For older students, ask them to calculate mileage, gas/food/hotel costs, points of interest, and/or a more detailed itinerary.
10. Set up a car wash and raise money for a local charity. Have your child research different charities and choose a charity to support.
11. Have a family game night with educational games that promote counting money and critical thinking such as Scattergories, Monopoly, Life, Charades, or Pictionary to name a few.
12. Create a nature scavenger hunt for your child to become aware of their surroundings. Some things to include on the list could be: something green, something fuzzy, two kinds of leaves, something you think is beautiful. Encourage your child to use a camera to take pictures of the items and leave nature in its place.
**As an extension, have older students make their own scavenger hunt for the adults.
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Alternatively, for younger children (Kindergarten to Grade 3) create an A to Z scavenger hunt where they look around for items starting with each letter. For visual learners, it may be helpful to arrange the letters of the alphabet on the ground and have them drag the items beside each letter.
13. Give your child the opportunity to redesign their bedroom. Invite your child to brainstorm some ideas to improve their living space to suit their needs. They may want to consider the following questions: How much time do you spend in your room? What do you do most in your room? Do homework? Play games? What kind of storage do you need? Bookcase? Dresser? A chair? A desk? Right now, what do you like most/least about your room?
Have your child draw the layout for their new room. Give them a budget.
These are just a few ideas to get your child excited about learning, creating and getting ready for the school year ahead. Best of luck!
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