Trying to encourage your child to read more this summer? Well, I have the perfect thing! Barefoot Books have launched a Summer Reading Program. It is a 12 week email program featuring literacy tips and activities to help your child prevent summer brain drain. Brain drain, summer learning loss, summer slide, or summer holiday ‘unlearning’ refers to students’ loss of skills and knowledge during the summer weeks when school is out.
Things Parents Can Do to Keep Brain Drain Away:
- Read at least 6 books – According to studies, reading 6 books or more over the summer can help children retain learning from the preceding year.
- Build your home library – Have a diverse selection of books on hand from which your children can choose — children are more engaged when they select the books they read!
- Add concept books to the mix – Include books that reinforce basic learning concepts, especially math.
- Bring the books to life – “Unpack” the books through discussion and activities.
While summer reading is techniqually associated with school age children, it’s equally important to keep babies, toddlers, and preschool children intellectually engaged over the summer. Barefoots program has something from birth to 10. The tools Barefoot Books will provide in the literacy-focused 12-week email program will help you spend quality time with your children, strengthening their reading comprehension, vocabulary, critical thinking and conversation skills — no matter their age.
The program started on June 16th, but it is still not too late to sign up and receive the weekly emails. You will also be able to access the emails from the first couple of weeks as well as a reading log and scavenger hunt that you can print off!
I hope you enjoy it as much as my family and friends are! Keep reading!