Fun Summer Activities to Keep Kids Reading Every Day

Summer is here and your kids are ready for a break, but it’s also a critical time to keep up their reading. Luckily, we’ve got some kid-tested, teacher-approved summer reading activities for you to try!

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In order to access the educational movies included in our learning activities, you'll need to create a BrainPOP account. Try BrainPOP for free with a two-week trial!

Summer Reading Activities for Kids

From nature walks to stargazing, summertime offers endless opportunities for hands-on exploring and learning. And, there’s certainly nothing better—or more important—than getting lost in a good book!

A decline in reading ability, known as “summer slide,” is a real risk for kids. Here are some fun ideas for ways to keep your kids reading all summer long.

Choose a "Just-Right" Book

To help your kids find great books to read this summer, explore BrainPOP’s Famous

Authors and Books and/or BrainPOP Jr.’s Authors unit. Our short animated movies give a peek inside the writer’s life and ignites excitement about their work. 

After learning, take a trip to the library to look for their name and explore their books!

For Grades K-3:

Dr. Seuss

Would you eat green eggs and ham? Learn about Theodor Seuss Geisel, the author of The Cat in the Hat, The Lorax, and more beloved reads.

For Grades 3-8:

Roald Dahl

If you're a fan of vermicious knids, giant peaches, and Oompa-Loompas, this is the BrainPOP movie for you!

Read Books to Your Kids Aloud Throughout the Summer

Reading aloud is not only a great way to spend quality time with your kid, it's also a chance for you to model fluent reading and expand your child’s vocabulary by pausing to discuss challenging words. As you read, pause occasionally to check for understanding and comprehension by asking questions about the story.

Studies find that reading aloud is one of the greatest predictors of reading success—even with older kids! 

Practice Reading Skills With Your Child by Keeping Up With Current Events

Books are just one way to get in summer reading—don’t forget about newspapers and magazines! Keeping up with current events allows kids to practice essential literacy skills and discover new vocabulary.

Get started by watching BrainPOP’s Reading a Newspaper movie. Try to read one to two news stories each day with your child and discuss what they’re about.

Bonus Idea: Encourage Your Kid To Start Their Own Newspaper

Feeling inspired by those current events? Encourage your child and their friends to produce a neighborhood newspaper featuring reviews of local businesses, interviews with neighbors, news stories, crossword puzzles, and more.

For help with interviewing, have them watch BrainPOP’s Conduct an Interview movie.

Then take a walk outside to see for yourself the many epic examples of math in all its natural glory. Keep a list or take pictures of what you find along the way:

• Symmetry in butterflies, leaves, and spiderwebs

• Fibonacci sequence in flowers, such as a sunflower

• The shape of honeycombs (according to mathematicians, a honeycomb’s shape offers the perfect balance of strength and space required for honey storage)

• Patterns in rainbows, markings on animals’ coats, ripples in a pond.

Incorporate Math in the Kitchen

Calling all cooks! From measuring to timing, math is a main ingredient for cooking! Find a recipe to try, and let your kid do the calculating.

For example, if you are doubling a recipe, encourage your child to figure out which operation to use and calculate the amount you need for each ingredient. Brush up on your kid's measuring skills with the following BrainPOP topics!

For Grades K-3:

Cups, Pints, Quarts, Gallons

In this fun BrainPOP Jr. movie, Annie and Moby explain what capacity is, and how different containers can hold more or less than others.

Temperature

The temperature tells you how hot or cold something is. Watch this educational movie with your kid and learn how temperature is measured in degrees!

For Grades 3-8:

Customary Units

Tim and Moby explain exactly what customary units are, where they come from, and how they’re used in this fun and educational movie for kids.

Measuring Matter

Everything in the universe is made up of matter—but how exactly is that measured? Tim and Moby introduce your kids to mass, volume, and density, three of matter's key physical properties.