Summer holiday activities: Make a scrapbook to maintain educational skills

Make a scrapbook with your child this summer. It’ll help their brain retain everything they’ve learnt from their previous school year.

Summer holidays are for fun, laughter and precious family time.  However, as a mum of people with dyslexia, I discovered weeks of down-time meant going back to school in September was an enormous struggle. All prior learning seemed to disappear, and it took a while for my children to get back up to running speed.  My children would have to work even harder to catch up in the new school year.  Their confidence got knocked, and their anxiety increased.  Because of this, I soon learnt we were not a family that could get just down tools.  We had to keep our learning momentum going

All that said, I was, and still, am, a big believer that the summer holidays should be about play and rest.  My children are exhausted at the end of each school year.  They need time to recoup, allow their brains to relax and enjoy being children. There has to be a balance!

I tend to find that as soon as I mention the words “school” or “homework” my children shut down.  So, I discovered the trick to keep reading, writing, spelling and maths going throughout the summer is finding an activity that practises these skills without children realising it.  I call it ‘Hidden Learning’. Hidden Learning activities means your children study core subjects without them seeing the connection to school. Sneaky, I know. But it worked so well in our house!

Building a scrapbook to document our summer was a Hidden Learning activity my children loved the most.  They had fun writing in their scrapbooks and reading back to me what they’d written.  They’d be practising so many essential skills without even noticing.  Best of all, we have lovely memories of our holidays!

So, if you only do one educational thing this summer, make it building a scrapbook.  Happy sticking!

MAKING A SCRAPBOOK OF YOUR SUMMER

What you’ll need

• A scrapbook
• Colouring pens
• Writing pens
• Glue
• Scissors
• Scrapbook accessories such as stickers, tissue paper, stencils etc.
• Anything … stamps, photos, magazines, glitter. The list is endless!

The rules

• No mention of school or homework. This is ‘Hidden Leaning’ after all!
• Keep it simple and fun.
• Let your child explore their own creative ideas and take the lead (with gentle encouragement).

What to do

A few times a week (more if they want to) get your child to do a page in their scrapbook documenting what they’ve got up to. The pages don’t only have to be about their day.  They could practise a skill or be creative.

We used to collect items from places we visited, such as tickets, wrappers, leaflets, postcards, leaves, lolly sticks, basically anything we could find or wanted to take home.  We’d stick these in and write and draw pictures around them.  A popular favourite was making leaf bugs.  We’d collect leaves, stick them in the book, and make bugs to lie on them!  We gave the bugs ridiculous names (great phonics practice) or used them for fun maths reinforcement.

Here are a few ideas for your scrapbook to make sure you cover the necessary educational skills.  I would stick to one power at a time and practise it a few times – overloading tends to end in disaster! 

Writing

• Encourage your child to write about their day, something they saw or a delicious meal etc. Keep it simple and descriptive. 
• If your child doesn’t want to write full sentences, encourage them to write words that describe their day, i.e. fun, ice lolly, swings
• Find a fun picture, stick it in the scrapbook and ask your child to describe it.
• Write a silly poem.

Spelling

• If your child’s happy to write about their day, this is perfect for practising their grammar.
• Choose five high-frequency words to learn to spell over the holidays, e.g. said, are, who etc. Ask your child to turn the words into fun designs, then practise them in a sentence with lots of different coloured pens. 
• Invisible ink and stamps can be great fun when practising spelling.

Maths

• Make ladybirds or bugs and sit them on a bed of collected leaves. Work at their level of maths, e.g. simple addition, multiplication etc.
• Collect shells on the beach and find identical ones – look at the symmetry they create.
• Ask your child to make crayon rubbings (like brass rubbings) of coins and label them.
• Give them a variety of coins and get them to buy themselves a sweetie treat. Record the sale in your scrapbook.  g.  1 packet of crisps (45p) + 1 Chocolate Frog (30p) = 45p + 30p = 75p.  What change would I have from a pound? 
• Ask your child to collect two things on a walk, then ask them to receive two more. Now ask them to tell you the answer to 2+2.  Try a variety of numbers to make it more challenging.
• Press flowers and stick them into the scrapbook. Count and write the number of petals on each flower.  Add the total number of leaves up.

Reading

• If you picked up a leaflet, ask your child to find two or three words, highlight them, and read them back to you.
• Copy a limerick or a short poem, stick it in the scrapbook, ask your child to read it and draw pictures about it.

I’d love to see your summer holiday scrapbooks, so please share them with me on Instagram or Facebook!