How do you keep a creative, curious and highly intelligent six year old entertained the entire summer? This is a question I didn’t really think I’d be asking. As a former teacher and as someone who’s worked with kids for years, I pretty much felt like I had the entire summer entertainment on lock. But it's turned out to be a little more challenging than I thought it would be.
One of my goals for the summer was to give Audri opportunities to have fun AND learn! I also wanted a balance between activities and down time. I didn’t want her summer packed full but also watching tv all day, every day isn’t the best option either. So here’s what we’ve done so far to get a good mix of both.
Art Camp & Ballet: Audri loves art and dance, so finding her a few classes to explore in these areas was at the top of my list! I was happy to find both options for her and it’s been fun to see her try new things! The art camp was only a few hours a day for a week. She enjoyed learning about a different artist each day and at the end of a week I went to her “art show” to see all the pieces she created!
Ballet has also been a fun summer addition. We’ve been working on sticking with something even when it’s hard. Watching her face light up each week after learning a new school makes my heart so happy!
Home “School”: Continuing with learning has also been a fun challenge this summer! Audri will be heading into 1st grade in the Fall (I know! Time flies) . We are all about reading these days! I didn’t want her to lose any of her progress from the school year but wanted to find ways to make “school” at home fun, In addition to ordering leveled reading books online, I also snagged a subscription to LeapFrog Academy™, an interactive learning program for ages 3-6. Each lesson/game is customized to her unique learning level and guides her through activities. If you have several kids on the app, each child is able to create their own unique avatar and track their learning progress so they can learn at their own pace. Audri also enjoys be challenged in learning! We love the puzzle and memory games for this reason, but there’s a variety of subjects/activities to choose from; like math, reading and science. After a level is completed, a fun reward is earned, which helps keep things competitive and pushing towards learning goals!
The LeapFrog Academy program – which is available across a bunch of different devices like iPhone, Tablet, and desktop -- has a diverse range of learning adventures that don’t feel forced or boring! From a mom’s perspective, I’m a fan of the fact that the games/lessons can be accessed online or offline (no wifi required) and are great for at home or on the go.
So that's how I've been keeping my six year old busy this summer! We've also thrown in a whole lot of playing outside and ice cream because that's what summer is all about! Hope you all are enjoying summer with your little ones! Feel free to share what you've been up to in the comments! And make sure you go to leapfrogacademy.com for your 1 month free trial to the program; after that, it’s just a $7.99 subscription fee (#bargain).
This post was sponsored by Leap Frog Academy™, but as usual, all the opinions/thoughts are mine!