Have you ever heard the phrase ‘summer slide’?
If you haven’t, we’ll fill you in and tell you how Pinna can help you prevent it from happening.
Summer slide is a term coined for the weakening in academic performance that tends to occur when kids are out of school for 2-3 months on break.
This doesn’t happen to every student and your child may not be affected, but it never hurts to keep young minds sharp while home for the summer.
What does this look like?
Well, for starters, kids need to enjoy their summer break.
When kids are relaxed and having fun, learning comes easily. (Bonus: with Pinna they get both!)
Next, throw in some engaging activities the whole family can experience together. Movie marathons, game nights, hiking, swimming, museums, road trips, baking, beach days, camping— these all count.
Last, but certainly not least, be in the moment when you’re spending time with your child. When you’re tuned in, you’ll likely pinpoint areas of struggle — if any exist — and then you can set them up with the appropriate resources to bring them up to speed.
That’s it!
If you’re feeling stuck trying to come up with ideas for summer learning that are both educational AND fun, Pinna has you covered.
Keep reading for 20 fun family activities from Pinna to help prevent the dreaded summer slide.
20 Creative Ways to Use Pinna as Your Springboard for Family Fun and Learning
- Parents and preschoolers can listen to Dirt Girl’s Nature Academy and then take the fun outside for some hands-on messy play as they learn about the topics presented during each episode.
- The whole family can take some time at breakfast each morning to listen to an episode of Eat Your Spanish and learn a few key words and phrases in a foreign language.
- Older kids can listen to Searching for Wild Thing, take notes, and form hypotheses about whether Bigfoot truly exists. Then, they can take their observations and test them out as they search on their own for this famed creature (with adult supervision, of course!).
- 5 for 5 Trivia is a quick and easy way to inject a little fun and learning into your day.
- To encourage STEM learning, make listening to Brains On! a daily lunchtime ritual. This engaging podcast, hosted by Molly Bloom, investigates the answers to all the crazy and curious questions you never thought to ask.
- Each week, listen to an episode of Discover the Forest. Then, research the location the Velez family visits and take a hike in your hometown to celebrate. Our biggest takeaway, “Take only pictures, leave only footprints”.
- It’s time to get crafty. Meet Sasha, your new art teacher. Over the course of five days, Anytime Art walks you through the steps to complete a fun, creative project. There are ten projects to choose from — enough to keep you busy all summer long.
- If you have a little one learning to read, here’s a classic picture book roundup of titles found on Pinna’s platform. Pick up physical copies on Amazon and let your young learner follow along to the beautifully narrated audio versions that come with your paid subscription.
- Are your kids interested in the wonderful world of podcasting? Let them dip their toes in the water by getting involved in their favorite Pinna show. Reach out to the team at contact@pinna.fm to find out more.
- If mystery and intrigue are on the agenda this summer, check out Pinna’s collection of podcasts and audiobooks sure to entertain any amateur sleuth.
- Looking to start a lemonade stand and make bank this summer? Let your kids listen to Emma-Made Lemonade for inspo and Million Bazillion to help make “cents” of those hard-earned dollars.
- Bring history to life with the factually accurate fictional series, I Survived, by Lauren Tarshis. Kids get to go back in time and learn about events of the past written and told through the eyes of a child. Listen to a new audiobook each week and then check out other resources — YouTube videos, documentaries, library books, Google — to research each topic covered.
- Instead of a daily screen time allotment, save screens for the weekend and try out a Pinna podcast or audiobook. Awesome audio from Pinna sparks curiosity and encourages creative play. It also gives eyes and brains a break while helping to prevent a common ailment known as screen fatigue — often characterized by blurry vision, irritability, headaches, and difficulty concentrating.
- Shed new light on old stories with Pinna’s reimagined fairy tale collection. The Book of Dragons, Grimm, Grimmer, and Grimmest, Of Fae and Fiends, Grounded: The Adventures of Rapunzel, and Disenchanted: The Trials of Cinderella — these are all intriguing titles for those seeking adventure!
- If you enjoy TV time as a family, check out a Pinna podcast as a screen-free alternative. Mackaroy Uncovered, Dream Breachers, Origins Unknown, The Unexplainable Disappearance of Mars Patel, and The Ghost of Jessica Majors are all examples of binge-worthy series you can listen to together. Don’t forget the snacks!
- Turn your living room into a stage as you host your very own game show! You’ve got your pick of titles to play from including ExtraBLURT, ExtraBLURT Jr., Don’t Break the Rules, and Cats Knocking Things Off Tables.
- Do you have an aspiring writer at home? Check out The Story Seeds Podcast and walk alongside an author from story seed to fruition as they talk through their process and share the final product — aka tell their story — at the end of each episode. Then, have your child put pen to paper and craft their own literary masterpiece.
- Tired of boring “word of the day” calendars? Check out the HiLL-LaRRy-uS: Word of the Day podcast instead. Want even more? HiLL-LaRRy-uS has a joke of the day show too!
- If international travel sounds like a dream (but isn’t happening this summer!), check out Mother Tongue. For a deeper dive, use each episode as a jumping-off point to immerse your family in a different culture. Choose one per week if you want to spend more time researching each place shared on the podcast.
- For a simple, no-frills approach, choose a chapter book (or even a series!) for car listening while out running errands this summer. A few examples of book series the whole family will love — Upside Down Magic, Pip Bartlett, Chronicles of the Red King, Audacity Jones, Spirit Animals, and Secrets of a Lab Rat. If you’re in the mood for a standalone, Little Miss President, The Battle at Darcy Lane, and My Life in Dioramas are a few Pinna Originals you’ll all enjoy. This is an easy-peasy way to rack up titles for your library’s summer reading program and it takes no extra time out of a family’s busy schedule.
We’re all ears!
How do you plan to use Pinna as a resource to guide your child’s summer learning?? We’d love to hear from you! Find us on all our social platforms – Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest – or email us at contact@pinna.fm.
