Summer for kids no longer has to mean TV watching, snacking and boredom every day. There are alternative ways to take the summer opportunity and involve your kids in productive activities that can be fun as well as academically and physically enriching.

Research shows that children and youth who lack access to enriching activities face a number of behavioral risks, a greater potential for weight gain, and they typically experience learning loss over the summer months. Consider the facts:

• More than half of the achievement gap between lower-and higher-income youth is possibly explained by unequal access to summer learning opportunities. As a result, low-income youth are less likely to graduate from high school or enter college (Alexander et al, 2007).
• Studies show that students score higher on standardized tests at the start of summer and lower at the end of summer.
• Students lose about two months in math skills during summer.  Elementary and middle school students who participated in high-quality out-of-school programs made significant gains in standardized math test scores.
• Low-income children fall behind an average of two months in reading during the summer, according to the U.S. Department of Education. By fifth grade, low-income kids can fall as much as 2.5 years behind in reading.

Through hands-on summer learning programs and activities that blend education and fun, parents can help to close the summer learning gap and use summer break to their child's advantage.

Click here to download helpful Parent Tips and ideas to prevent summer learning loss.