Summer is here, but how do you keep your child’s mind growing and active now that school is out. Here are a few ideas to keep them going during the break.

Treasure Hunts

Want to get your kids moving, solving puzzles and finding real hidden treasure? Check out geocaching. Geocachers leave small containers hidden with notes and items for future treasure hunters to find. Thousands of geocaches are hidden all around the world, likely even in a local park. To track one down visit geocaching.com or try their mobile apps. Even if you go to parks or walk regularly, geocaching can take you places you never knew existed. Make sure to bring a pencil and paper and small items to trade, so future Indiana Jones can know you’ve been there.

Take Your Own Path

While some schools provide recommended reading for students over the Summer, these may not be appealing to all kids. To get them motivated about reading let them choose a topic which excites them and check out books from the library on the subject.

Learn A Musical Instrument

Picking up a musical instrument can expand your mind in ways you never anticipated plus it’s fun and entertaining for the whole family. Be careful which instrument you pick since you’ll be hearing a lot of it. To find out more about how learning a musical instrument, check out Surprising Benefits Of Playing An Instrument by Terry Staffen.

Backyard Nature

If you’re looking for something closer to home, just look to your backyard. Set-up a bird feeder to attract birds and keep track of what species visit. You can find bird identification guides at the library online and even in apps.To take it a little farther, set-up a wildlife camera and see what sort of night-time visitors come by. You may be in for a surprise.

Shoot for The Moon

Maker Kits and Lego projects are cool, but if your kids really want to stretch their minds, have them come up with their own custom engineering challenges or project and figure out how to do it on their own. Build a catapult to hurtle an action figure over the garage, build a roller coaster for stuffed animals, make a robot to draw pictures on paper. The possibilities are limitless and whether or not it works, they’ll learn a lot along the way.

Looking For More?

Looking for more ideas to fight summer brain rot, check out our previous article, Tips for Preventing Summer Brain Drain