How Your Summer Sitter Can Help Your Kids Learn and Grow

With your children out of school for the summer, they might think it’s time for learning to come to a stop, but that couldn’t be further from the truth! Studies show that summer learning loss is a real thing that makes your children lose about two months of learning, and then it can be difficult for them to catch up at the beginning of the school year. Keeping your children engaged and learning will help them grow and flourish!

If you’re at work and have a babysitter, this is actually perfect. There are plenty of ways that your summer sitter can help your kids learn and grow throughout the school break.

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Use Everyday Activities as a Lesson

There is a lot to learn in everything we do throughout the day, especially as a young one who hasn’t experienced as much as you and your sitter have. There are plenty of activities your babysitter will already do that can be used as a lesson. For example, encourage your summer sitter and your children to cook together. There is a lot of educational value in cooking on its own. Your babysitter can help your kids read the recipe and then follow through on its actions, therefore strengthening reading, vocabulary, and reading comprehension. Cooking also teaches important math skills and fractions. Allow your sitter access to a plethora of measuring tools so that they can teach how one cup can be divided into halves, thirds, or more!

Of course, cooking isn’t the only hands-on activity that will help your kids learn and grow. Align these activities with your children’s interests, as this will foster their curiosity. Help your babysitter prepare by buying arts and crafts supplies so that they can help your children stimulate their creativity in a plethora of ways. They can build popsicle stick bridges and learn about physics and architecture, create dioramas of their favorite books and scenes, or create their own stories! You have unlimited potential with a great arts and crafts setup that your babysitter can use as an educational jumping off point.

You can also use outdoor activities as a learning activity, such as gardening or birdwatching. The former teaches your children about plants and maintenance, while the latter can be a fun research opportunity to find out about local birds and creatures in your area.

Encourage Reading

Your summer sitter should encourage your kids to read as much as they can. Instead of turning on the TV or tablet to distract your kids, have a lot of books that they can choose from. Reading is both fun and will help your children’s minds stay sharp! Experiment with different genres of books and different writing styles, such as first, second, and third person storytelling. This will also develop your kids’ tastes in books as they can see all that reading has to offer.

If your sitter can drive, encourage trips to the library! This can be a huge treat and rewarding once they’ve read all of their current books

Educational Trips

After the library, you can look into other nearby locations that have educational value. Suggest your sitter bring your kids to nearby museums, zoos, or even local historical landmarks. Everywhere they go is going to help your kids learn and grow, but you need to make sure your sitter is focused on it. Have fun while also making sure your children are reading the signs, paying attention, and asking questions. Don’t let your babysitter allow your kids to skip the educational value of these trips by goofing around in places they shouldn’t, or just ignoring everything.

To make sure your children get the most out of these trips, you should again align them with their interests. If they don’t like history, maybe a history museum wouldn’t be the best, but instead take them to a fun science museum. You and your babysitter can specifically look for kids’ days or activities. Many museums or similar offer activities specifically aimed at children to keep them entertained throughout the summer and encourage their learning and growth.

Short Assignments

Look into summer workbooks so that your babysitter can assign and help them with some quick assignments. They make a plethora of workbooks for different grades and subjects. Your babysitter can utilize these for solo learning, but if the kids need help, they can step in and answer any questions or even check the answers to make sure they’re doing a good job! When they do well, your sitter can provide some small rewards like stickers to encourage them to keep up the good and hard work.

With a little preparation, you and your summer sitter can make sure your kids get the most out of their summer vacation by encouraging learning, which will, in turn, encourage growth and prepare them for the next grade.