With the onset of summer come late mornings, lazy days, relaxed schedules and the dreaded academic summer slide. I wouldn’t call myself a tiger mom, but I hate to see my kids lose so much of their intellectual skillset over the three short months they are on break. My idea of summer vacation does not involve installing a white board, clearing my schedule and setting out to create daily lesson plans–but there are ways to keep kids learning and engaged over the summer painlessly. Ok–The Brakes says there is no such thing as painless when it comes to kids but for the sake of this article and our sanity let’s give it whirl.

Read something (ok–read a LOT of things!!). There are a myriad of wonderful and creative ways to accomplish this first task, the easiest and cheapest starts at your local library. Studies show the spending at least some of your reading time with non-fiction books provides exceptional benefits. Have you child find biographies of your kids favorite athlete or a book about interesting science facts or a magazine with incredible stories like National Geographic (or Nat Geo Kids). But all work and no play can make reading a tough sell, so make sure to encourage kids to find a wide variety of books that really interest them. Some of our house favorites are Big Nate and Who Would Win. A fantastic way to incentivize summer reading is signing up for one (or several!!) summer reading programs. These usually involve prizes and free events like art projects, science events and story times. Check out the Lyon Township Public Library program here. Several of my favorite booksellers have their own summer reading programs. The cozy Cottage Book Shop in Glen Arbor gives a gift certificate to those that complete their reading log as part of the Glen Lake Library summer reading program (you don’t have to be local to sign!). Literati in Ann Arbor also has an easy summer reading incentive program. While for many reading is its own reward, for the kids in the house, it helps to have a little external motivation to encourage your lofty summer lit goals.

Grow something. You don’t have to have a garden to teach your kids about where food comes from. My daughter is growing an isolated pea shoot right by our front stoop. From seed to flower to food, there’s a lot to learn about creating the best environment, and requires a lot of executive planning (will this spot have enough sun, water–or will the dog eat it here?). The garden is just a start, it can spark a conversation about how much effort it takes to grow, transport, sell and store our food. These conversations get kids thinking globally about food waste, food deserts and the benefits of local farmer’s markets. Taking the time to grow and nurture a plant and have a conversation about it engages kids in topics from science to social justice.

Bake something. Cooking and baking are great ways to bond and surreptitiously foster some academics over the summer. For younger kids the act of measuring one-two-three scoops is great for math and memory, for older kids the fractional ingredients are force harder concepts and some mental math. Need a bigger challenge? Ask them to halve or triple the recipe! You can also check out some kitchen experiments and try different versions of the the same recipe–do you like your chocolate cookies crunchy or soft? Puffy or flat? What makes those things happen?

Create something. Engage you child’s by helping them bring a vision to life. Maybe it’s a craft or perhaps you have a mini entrepreneur who wants to open a lemonade stand. Ask them to calculate startup costs and figure out their profit margins. For your nature lover, help them construct a bird house or bird feeder. You can research your local birds and what kind of feeders attract them. Upcycle materials and talk about the environmental impact this can have. Have you child create an itinerary for a trip (it can be local–ask them to plan your route around the zoo so they get to see the red pandas twice!) Challenge them to determine the length of the car trip, will it require snacks? (YES. 1000 times YES–always YES), what other supplies will be need for the trip (games, umbrellas, mud boots sunscreen?). By asking your kids to create something they are interested in, you can get them to engaged in learning across math, science, and social studies and sharpen organizational and planning skills.

Play something. Play board games, play card games, make-up games, go outside and play anything together. Teamwork, turn-taking, rule-following (and bending) are all great ways to engage kids’ brains, keep them active and provide a reprieve from screens.

Write something. Have your kids spend some of their time of this summer engaging their creativity with writing. Encourage them to jot a thank you note to the parents of their friend who took them for ice cream. Ask them to write a short review of their favorite book from their library haul–offer to post it online to a kids book forum such as Biblionasium. Challenge them to illustrate a comic about the challenges of living with such a demanding parent. Play hangman, guess wildly, and laugh together.

Admire something. Take a walk: listen, look, have them describe the space around them. Conversation with your kids can be remarkably engaging and sometimes just having something to look at will open up doors to their inner selves you haven’t been privileged to see before. Take time to admire them–summer is full of “look-mom-no-hands” and thousands (nay millions of shallow water handstands) for you to applaud. Take in their gangly arms, their gap-toothed smile, their silly skits and schemes. Notice things you love about them out loud, voice your wonder, give space to be amazed by all that they are and everything they are becoming. These moments are gone too fast, take time to sit and BE with your kids this summer.

The bottom line is if you stay engaged, the learning is all around you. Small shifts in the way you approach all the things you are already doing, make a big impact. Take time to be present with your kids this summer, stay curious about their activities, challenge them to try new things, talk to them about the world around them. Yes, summer is chaos; but it is also full of so many opportunities for growth and connection. Seize these moments, enjoy your story.