Summer is quickly approaching and many parents are wondering how to plan their children’s out of school time. While I remember carefree summers spent riding bikes in the neighborhood, frequenting a nearby park for sandlot baseball games and borrowing books from the Bookmobile, today’s kids don’t have those options.

The reality is too many children spend too much time indoors on the couch playing video-games, watching TV and eating junk food.

There is growing evidence that an idle summer can lead to significant academic deficits over a two month time span – commonly referred to as the ‘summer slide’. Summer learning loss is a concern for schools, policy makers and parents.

Reports show that lack of organized summer enrichment programs result in:

What can we do as parents and educators?

Out of school programs do not need to mimic school to prevent the summer slide, but they should provide interesting hands-on learning opportunities as well as social-emotional learning and physical recreation.

Find learning opportunities in the unexpected! A summer trip can be a great opportunity for families to spend time together and pursue enriching experiences. Children can participate in planning for trips and projects.

Summer is a great time for children to explore new hobbies like art, music, and sports with the added time they have during the day – it is also a time many families seek out summer programs, like day camps. When looking for any summer programs, look for ones that:

  • Are licensed or accredited
  • Provide healthy meals and snacks that encourage water as alternates to sports drinks or juices
  • Schedule time for outdoor physical activity that provides equal parts free, unstructured play along with organized activities/sports
  • Plan educational field trips to places in your and surrounding communities to help expand a child’s horizons and give them a better sense of where they live
  • Create opportunities for STEM learning (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) that doesn’t rely on drilling and worksheets, but engages your child’s natural curiosity
  • Is structured, but flexible enough to allow for the children to explore and grow

At Camp Fire, we offer summer day programs which follow an interactive and intentional curriculum that keep youth engaged and learning in Parker CountyFort Worth and Granbury. Taking the extra steps to research your child’s summer programming can mean a world of difference to their enjoyment and growth as a person as well as their academic performance.

Cathy Halliday is the Vice President for the council’s Youth Development division at Camp Fire First Texas. Her specialties include early childhood education, afterschool program development and accreditation management. Cathy holds a Bachelor of Science from New York Institute of Technology in interdisciplinary studies.