As an educator or caretaker, you may be wondering how to keep the math spark alive in your students once school is out. Summer learning loss is very real, but your kids don’t have to lose this summer! Check out a few ways to encourage your students to keep the love for learning alive.

Fitting in fun math activities between summer plans this year is a great way to encourage your kids to stay sharp, according to Usable Knowledge (Harvard Graduate School of Education). Incorporating math into everyday activities and playing games can be valuable ways to keep students engaged during the summer to avoid learning loss. Here are some suggestions that may be useful to your students and their families, as outlined in the article, “Summer Math Loss.”

• Highlight the math in everyday activities. When shopping, help kids calculate change or discounts. When watching a baseball game, talk about what players’ statistics mean. When cooking, try halving or doubling a recipe, and assist kids in figuring out the new proportions.
• Read short math stories together. Studies have shown that reading math-focused stories to children, such as Bedtime Math books or the Family Math series, can help boost math scores in school.
• Play math games. Games like Play math games. Games like Yahtzee, Racko, Blokus, Monopoly, and Setall rely on skills necessary for math, such as counting, categorizing, and building. Even playing with blocks and assembling jigsaw puzzles can help kids learn spatial skills and recognize patterns.
• Find small ways to practice math at home. While worksheets alone won’t solve summer math slump, small amounts of practice with basic formulas can help. Problem-of-the-day math calendars are a great way to practice basic math problems on a small scale. Parents can also find resources on Investigationsabout what types of mathematical procedures they should be practicing with their children.

Parents are children’s first and most important teachers. If you have fun with your kids playing games and enjoyably practicing math, your kids will thrive academically.