Summertime counts as the perfect time to do fun and educational activities as a family. School is out, and so if you want your children to learn, then you might as well do it together. After all, the learning doesn’t have to stop once the bell ceases to ring. If you’re looking for ways to fill your family calendar this summer, take a look at these four educational activities. Not only are they fun, they teach kids some valuable skills.
1. Cook Together
Because we cook and bake so often, we often overlook these activities when we’re searching for educational activities to do with our kids. However, Education World has all sorts of suggestions for parents who want to spend more time in the kitchen with their families. They can cook the same foods that the American pioneers cooked or make ice cream for a hot summer day. Not convinced that this is a solid educational activity? Just remember that cooking and baking teach kids to use basic math, to read, and even to create a few chemistry experiments. Not only that, but it teaches them to pay attention to details and to follow directions—both of which are very important life skills that everyone ought to learn at some point.
2. Reuse, Recycle
If your family is passionate about the environment, why not get your kids involved in a recycling program for your home and neighborhood? You can set up recycling bins, take a trip to the local recycling dump, and even use recycling as a lens for social studies by taking a look at the recycling programs that other countries employ. In some communities, you can even make a little extra money by recycling things, and so that can be a great incentive for your kids as well.
3. Coin Collecting
Collecting coins from the ancient past is one way to teach your family about history. Through the study of coins, your kids can learn about the economics of a country, about trade routes, and even about shipwrecks. Many coin dealers not only carry coins but can help you get a hold of harder-to-find currencies.
However, coin collecting isn’t just a study of ancient history. You can teach your kids about modern economic systems, too. Get a hold of currencies like the euro or the peso to teach them about some modern economic systems. Although you can always show them the modern versions of these currencies, it might be beneficial and more interesting to show them what money from different eras looked like and how the value of it compares to today. To get a hold of such coins, all you have to do is visit a coin dealer, like Rocky Mountain Coin, who has a good variety of ancient coins on hand. Your kids might be interested in seeing what a dollar looked like in 1820 and comparing its value. Today, a dollar can get you hardly anything. Back then, however, it could have gotten you a lot of food, clothes, etc.
4. Book Clubbing
Starting a book club is a modern way to encourage your kids to read during the summer. You and your kids can select books that talk about history, social studies, or some other educational theme. To really make the book club enjoyable, you can even invite some of their school friends to participate in the club. If you pick a book with them, hold book club parties serving the food and drinks featured in the books.
An abundance of educational activities exists, from coin collecting to cooking. Your kids just might learn a thing or two about math or history by partaking in these types of activities. Why not try at least one of these activities this summer?
Written By: Hannah Whittenly
Hannah Whittenly is a freelance writer and mother of two from Sacramento, CA. She enjoys kayaking and reading books by the lake.
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