Tech Savvy Mama

Parenting in the Digital Age

Free Summer Learning Materials from 4 Trusted Names in Education

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Learning doesn’t stop just because school is out and summer is here. June, July, and August can be a wonderful time for learning through hands-on activities and exploring but if you prefer more guidance with your child’s learning, trusted names in education have designed fun summer curriculum geared towards 4-9.  LeapFrog, PBS Kids, and toy manufacturer, Melissa & Doug, have a wealth of free materials that are not only fun but highly educational.

LeapFrog Summer Camp

Brought to you by the company that is well known for creating educational products for children, the free LeapFrog Summer Camp is an 8 week program designed to keep kids learning with different themes and activities that they can do anywhere.  Week 1 begins on June 4 with the theme Out and About that provides a look at their neighborhood and community with age appropriate social studies activities.  Each day of each week contains printable activities designed to reinforce skills in 4-7 year olds.  Kids and parents alike will find the printables fun and easy to integrate into a summer schedule especially.  Regardless of how many days worth of activities are completed, the weekend tab on the Summer Camp site features a printable certificate that serves as a wonderful motivator for young learners. Sign up to receive bi-weekly Summer Camp emails here. Weekly themes include:

  • Week 1: June 4-10  Out & About—Learn about the people and places in our world on your way to becoming a global citizen.
  • Week 2: June 11-17  Caring for Animals—Experience animals in new ways and explore themes of responsibility and compassion.
  • Week 3: June 18-24 Puzzle Time—Build logic and reasoning skills as you puzzle your way through brain-bending activities!
  • Week 4: June 25-July 1 Art & Music—Let your creativity run wild as you experiment with a range of media, including handmade instruments, crafts and a home art gallery!
  • Week 5: July 2-8 Writing That’s Real—Explore fascinating nonfiction topics and try your hand at investigative writing.
  • Week 6: July 9-15  Storytelling—Bring your ideas to life through storytelling, music, art, drama and pretend play!
  • Week 7: July 16-22 Science Adventures—Observe, ask questions and draw conclusions as you explore and investigate the world around you.
  • Week 8: July 23-29 Friendship Week—Get ready for school and International Friendship Day by exploring what it means to be friends.

iVillage PBS KIDS Summer Reading Community Challenge

For the third year in a row, PBS is providing children and families with fun and educational content across platforms that include free literacy-building resources and daily activity assignments delivered by email that correspond with summer programming on PBS Kids as well as downloadable apps and video content. The iVillage PBS Kids Summer Reading Community Challenge runs from June 18 to July 27 and features 10 weeks of themed programming.  Starting June 4, free episode downloads, video playlists and other downloadable content will also be available on iTunes. The line-up includes:
  • Starting June 4- Wild Kratts “Zach Attack Week” with 1 new episode
  • Starting June 11- WordGirl “Tobey’s Robot Summer” with 1 new episode
  • Starting June 18- Arthur “Baby Kate Adventure Week”
  • Starting June 25- Curious George “Monkey Business Week” with 1 new episode
  • Starting July 2- Super Why! “Royal Reading Week”
  • Starting July 9- The Electric Company “Prankster Planet”
  • Starting July 16- Dinosaur Train “Gone Fishing Week”
  • Starting July 23- Martha Speaks “Dog Daze Week” with 1 new episode
  • Starting July 30- The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That! “Creepy Crawley Week”
  • Starting August 6- Sid the Science Kid “Get Up and Move Week”

 

Melissa and Doug’s Camp Sunny Patch

Toy creators Melissa & Doug recognize that parents are looking for affordable activities for their children and created Camp Sunny Patch as a way to create low-cost, creative activities for kids for the entire summer. The weekly activities from Camp Sunny Patch are a great way to include learning in a creative way throughout the summer.  Parents can print and post monthly calendars from the Melissa & Doug blog or get a preview of each month’s activities via email. Each week parents can download a session guide for additional details of the activity ideas, games, crafts and more. The Melissa & Doug blog also features printable camp badges while optional camp-themed surprises will be available throughout the summer on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter.

Scholastic Summer Challenge

The Scholastic Summer Challenge is a free, interactive reading program dedicated to helping kids keep their reading skills sharp throughout the summer by reading every day.  Kids everywhere will Read for the World Record by logging the minutes they spend reading this summer and attempting to beat the current world record of 64,213,141 minutes set during summer 2011. The 20 schools whose students log the most minutes will be recognized in the 2013 Scholastic Book of World Records. The Scholastic Summer Challenge runs through August 31, 2012.

I work with LeapFrog in a professional capacity through Clever Girls Collective and am part of the PBS Kids Very Important Parent program.  Neither LeapFrog or PBS required me to share this information as part of my relationship with them nor was I compensated for this post.

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Original post by Tech Savvy Mama
©2012

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  1. Alexis says

    We are taking the Scholastic Summer Reading challenge!! I even downloaded the app on my iPhone and iPad so that the boys can keep track of their time reading and log their minutes easily!

    Thanks!!