9 Refreshing Summer Teaching Resources for Parents to Promote Learning

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Summer is a time for rest and fun — but as all parents know, it’s also a valuable opportunity to keep young minds engaged and growing. From preventing summer learning loss to building core skills to planning ahead for the homeschooling year, we’ve gathered summer teaching resources that parents and caregivers can use to support learning at home and turn summer into a season of discovery and enrichment.

Preventing learning loss with summer teaching resources

While kids deserve a break, it’s also important for parents to take steps to prevent summer slide and ensure that their learning doesn’t slip away — especially because students can lose up to 40% of the school year’s learning over the summer. There’s good news though: a little enrichment can make a big difference. Check out these brain-boosting resources to keep your kids’ minds busy, prevent summer slide, and keep you sane.

Get kids ready for the next grade

Over the summer, you can help prepare for what’s next by reviewing key skills from the past year and gently introducing concepts they’ll encounter soon. 

Summer Coloring Pages Packet Fun (Preschool) Activities Bucket List Craft Shapes
By The Moffat Girls

This no-prep packet is filled with hands-on, engaging, and fun resources that get kids excited about learning! This packet covers basic and age-appropriate skills for PreK, and is a great way to get kids ready for Kindergarten.

Inspire regular writing practice

Encourage your child to write regularly — whether it’s writing a short story or a few paragraphs from a list of writing prompts, keeping a daily journal, or even penning postcards and letters to family and friends.

Summer Writing for Teens: Choice Menu with 40 Prompts {June & July}
By Secondary Sara
Grades: 6th-10th

This highly flexible, choice-oriented project gives students 40 prompts across 8 high-interest topics: summer reading, goals & plans, vacation, and memorable moments.

Say goodbye to summer learning loss and hello to fun activities your kids will love. Whether you’re looking for summer activities for younger kids or summer learning resources for high schoolers, TPT has you covered.

Encourage skill-building and hobbies at home

Whether your learners love to experiment or can’t stop drawing, summer is the perfect time to nurture a variety of interests and skills. With your support, your child can grow and try new things with confidence.

Nurture their interests 

With more leisure time available, summer is a good time for kids to discover new passions like drawing, coding, creative writing, music, cooking, gardening, or even learning a new language. Pay attention to what sparks your child’s curiosity, and help them find ways to deepen their skills through inquiry-based learning.

Sourdough Bread Lesson for Culinary Arts, Baking Lesson, FCS, Homeschool
By Twins and Teaching Culinary Arts and FACS
Grades: 9th-12th

This activity provides teens with an in-depth look at the process of making sourdough bread. Designed for at-home learning, it provides learners with an opportunity to understand the fundamentals of sourdough bread, from its historical context to the scientific principles behind its creation. Suitable for classroom and home-based instruction.

Tackle a hands-on project together

Let kids take on small projects like starting a mini vegetable garden, writing a short story, or creating art.

Elementary, Middle, Homeschool Art: Air Dry Clay Penguin Project, Lesson
By Look Between the Lines
Grades: 3rd-8th

Teach your kid the basics of working with clay with this pinch pot, hollow form clay penguin art lesson. This two-day project has fun results and includes activities and handouts. No kiln needed! 

Environmental Science Outdoor Lab Activity: Geocaching – GPS Activities
By Suburban Science

Is your kid obsessed with GPS games? Use it to your advantage! In this outdoor exploration activity, kids find local geocaches and learn how GPS can be used. The worksheets and directions provided make this an easy and fun activity to implement.

On TPT, find easy, fun skill-building activities to help your child grow all summer long — without it feeling like “school.” 

Prepare homeschool lesson plans for the upcoming year

For homeschooling parents, summer offers a window of time for you to pause, reflect, and plan ahead. Whether you’re a seasoned homeschooler or about to dive into your first full year of curriculum planning, one thing’s always true: having solid homeschool lesson plans in place makes everything smoother. 

Plan for the full year

Homeschooling offers parents the opportunity to tailor their child’s education to their specific needs and interests. Use summer to research new curricula and learning ideas. Don’t be afraid to try something different — or to mix and match resources — especially if they prove to be a better fit for your learners.

Little Minds at Work® First Grade YEAR-LONG Curriculum Guide
By Tara West – Little Minds at Work
Grades: 1st

This curriculum map for first grade age kids can be easily adapted to fit a guardian-led homeschool setting.

STEM Curriculum for 5th Grade – STEM Activities Challenges Task Cards
By Meredith Anderson – Momgineer STEM Activities
Grades: 5th

This resource has all the planning done for you so that implementing STEM into your lessons is streamlined throughout the school year.

Short Story Unit Plan, 9 Short Stories for High School, PDF & Google Drive, CCSS
By Laura Randazzo
Grades: 8th-11th

Looking for a low-prep short story unit that will thrill your teens? This four-week short story unit is an excellent way to launch the school year, setting the stage for deeper study of novels and plays.

Get organized with templates

In addition to full-year curricula, lesson plans, and units, TPT has all kinds of templates for at-home learning to help you get organized and set the stage for a smoother, more intentional year.

EDITABLE Homeschool Charts Checklists Schedule | Homeschool Planner Templates
By The Stay at Home Teacher – Kaitlyn Renfro
Grades: K-6th

Ready to get your homeschool time and materials organized? These 7 charts and checklists will be helpful for you and your family.

With TPT, find everything you need to build a flexible, effective curriculum that works for the unique needs of your learners.