5 Tips to Prevent the Summer Slide
In Portland, Oregon, school's almost out and here comes the elusive Pacific Northwest sun (we think....!) Your children are excited for the break, but how do you keep them engaged?
Here are five tips to keep them from getting bored and prevent the summer learning slide:
1. DO SOME EXPERIMENTS
There are plenty of great online sites for quick and easy science experiments (sciencebuddies.com, stevespangler.com , and www.education.com/activity/science ).
Or sign up for Camp Yellow Scope and we’ll send you fun experiments every week, all summer long! (Launching June 5th)If you don’t have time to pull together the supplies for experiments, Yellow Scope science kits come with everything you’ll need to keep your scientist engaged and busy all while learning some cool science!
2. READ EVERY DAY
Some of our favorite girl power science books are Andrea Beatty’s Rosie Revere, Engineer, and Ada Twist, Scientist.We also love the beautifully illustrated Women in Science: 50 Fearless Pioneers Who Changed the World by Rachael Ignotofsky. Readers will find geneticists, volcanologists, and primatologists, as well as mathematicians and chemists.
Introduce the world of science with The Fourteenth Goldfish, where fifth grader Ellie meets a teen who looks like her scientist grandfather. Explore themes of family, friendship, life, death, and what’s possible through science. By Jennifer L. Holm, three time Newbery Honor winner.
Also, check out Jeannine Atkins' Finding Wonders: Three Girls Who Changed Science, which showcases three real-life scientists (an entomologist, a paleontologist, and an astronomer), who loved science as children themselves.
3. VISIT YOUR LOCAL LIBRARY
Your local library offers some wonderful STEM learning opportunities. In the Portland area, Multnomah County Library has plenty of them. Check out their “Discovery STEM Kits”.
You can also visit Rockwood Makerspace, which provides "access to innovation, technology, equipment, software and supportive mentors”. It’s geared toward middle school kids, but is open to all.
4. SPEND A DAY AT A MUSEUM
Take a field trip to your local science museum, aquarium or arboretum for some hands-on science fun!
Around Portland:
OMSI: Our very own science and technology museum with exhibits, a planetarium, and a submarine! (They offer summer camps too!)
Hoyt Arboretum: Portland's "museum of living trees" includes 190 ridge-top acres, accessible by 12 miles of hiking trails.
The World Forestry Center: Learn about forests through hands-on exhibits and gallery, meet woodland creatures, try river rafting, and climb on Peggy the Train, our logging locomotive.
The Oregon Coast Aquarium: If you’re up for a drive to Newport, this aquarium will make it well worth your while with animal feedings, special presentations and a mid-aquarium tunnel!
5. SIGN UP FOR A SCIENCE SUMMER CAMP
Check out local science-themed summer camps in your area. Some of our favorites in Portland are:
Trackers Northwest: Day and overnight camps for kids and teens, wilderness survival and homesteading outdoor programs for all ages.
Saturday Academy: Classes and camps in science, technology, engineering, math (STEM) and the arts for students grades 2-12.
App Camp for Girls: Week-long summer day program where girls can put their creative powers to work designing and building apps, while learning more about the business of software
Girls Build PDX: Girls get to explore hands-on building and trying something new, on the beautiful University of Portland campus (now in Grants Pass, too!).
Chelsea Schuyler
Author