A Little Summer Learning

So a really funny thing happened over the weekend…while I was continuing my spring cleaning, I gathered some old games, books, and flashcards to sort through and donate the ones the kids had outgrown.  I used to keep these items in a cupboard in my living room…it made it easy to grab those learning tools for some quick review and of course the games for when the words “I’m bored” were uttered!  Thinking my boys were WAY past the flash card days, I began to group them on the table and in my common fashion, got sidetracked by another task!  There sat a pile of cards…not just filled with math facts, but some with geographical questions and others with historical facts including American presidents.  To our complete surprise, my husband and I both overheard the boys talking about the presidents and soon realized that they were actually quizzing each other with those flashcards!  We all eventually got involved trying to answer the questions and everyone was ACTUALLY having fun!  Needless to say, I decided to hang on to that particular stack of cards!  This made me wonder if I left some of these items out on the coffee table if they might possibly get used?  I know most kids these days do have a share of summer homework…which I think is great!  However, when the subject of summer homework comes up in our house…let’s just say it’s not always a popular topic!  But this moment of active and unsolicited involvement with the flashcards left me with a glimmer of hope that some extra academic activities might take place if given an opportunity!  So I decided to gather a few learning tools and books of fun facts that I hadn’t yet gotten rid of to test this theory out!  What I noticed over the weekend was that the boys were just playing around and a family game of “questions” evolved!  My coffee table is now filled with the potential spur-of-the-moment family “game” or just some educational “browsing”…and I’m pretty sure it will encourage a little extra summer learning!

sneak in some summertime education!

believe me, i don’t have any grand ideas that my boys will be excitedly browsing through educational books just because i lay them out in front of them!  BUT–if they’re not front and center, i can pretty much guarantee that they won’t get any action all summer long!  so with the hopes that there will be an encore performance of the quizzing game, even if it takes some encouraging next time…i’m finding a way to have this stuff available!   i grabbed a couple cute containers and filled them with some things that promote thinking!

these are the flashcards that prompted this idea!  the backside is filled with fun questions about each president!

several informational books look cute piled on a tray…easy access for a rainy day or a quick escape into the air conditioning!

i tried to mix in some fun and subjects of interest to help the collection appear a little more appealing!

so this may not be the most beautiful coffee table display that i’ve ever created…but it’s actually one of my favorites!  it keeps the kids thinking AND offers some opportunities for family fun!  items & activities that promote ANY kind of family communication are OK with me!

before you pack up or discard all your educational tools…try setting out a few that might inspire your kids to

keep learning all summer long!