Monday, June 29, 2015

Leap Frog Introduces a Free Camp & Offers Tips to Prevent Summer Brain Drain for Kids

How to Keep Kids Busy during the summer


With kids across the country finished with the school year, they can celebrate summer and look forward to days free from homework, studying and reading logs. As a former preschool teacher and mom to two boys, I plan on balancing our weekly excursions and screen time with educational ways to keep my two busy bodies entertained while learning over the next two months thanks in part to LeapFrog who strives to continue exposing children to great themed lessons despite school being out. 

While vacation is exciting, it can also have a negative impact on child development – what educators call the “Summer Brain Drain” or “Summer Slide.” For example:
  • Kids can lose up to three months of learning during summer, especially in STEM subject like Math and Science. This can add up to four years of learning loss by 12th grade.
  • It’s worse in lower income communities. More than 80% of kids from economically disadvantaged households lose reading skills over summer.
  • At the start of school each year, teachers spend almost a full month re-teaching materials students have forgotten over the summer.

How to Keep Kids Busy during the summer
Luckily there are some easy ways to keep children’s minds and bodies engaged all year long. LeapFrog’s Director of Learning, Jody Sherman LeVos, PhD has created three simple tips for parents to avoid the Brain Drain and turn it into Brain Gain. 


How to Keep Kids Busy during the summer
 
LeapFrog is also offering a free virtual “Summer Camp,” that's designed for ages 3-8, where parents can sign up to receive eight weeks of resources like printables, activities, articles, videos, and more summer. Each week presents a different theme, with materials covering skills in math, reading, science, creativity.



How to Keep Kids Busy during the summer
  How to Keep Kids Busy during the summer

The site was a life saver today as I tried to juggle my first day of working at home with them, seriously it was a brutal Monday. So far 4 year old Tristan is loving the camp and the themes for the first 2 weeks which have highlighted two of his favorite topics: Maps and Animals. I'm confident that he'll enjoy it the entire summer because he's always asking for more worksheets and videos. How are you planning to avoid the Brain Drain this summer?

Disclosre: Opinions expressed are 100% my own, no compensation was received for this post.

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