Siena Blog

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Summer Activities for Kids 

Siena knows that empowering students to understand their learning profiles and advocate for themselves isn’t just for the school year — it’s also for the summer.

Let us help you see summer as an opportunity to build even more confidence, independence, and real-world skills through these practical tips for balancing summer downtime and summer learning.

1. Create a Curious Learner Summer Bucket List 

Reward students’ feelings of exploration and wonder by including fun challenges:

• Visit a museum
• Learn three constellations
• Explore a new hiking trail
• Learn a magic trick or a new game
• Lego or similar building challenges (such as Lego fidgets)
• Try a new recipe
• Imagine a podcast or YouTube channel they could create to show off their expertise

Curiosity drives learning. Summer offers freedom to explore interests without regular academic pressure.

2. Practice Everyday Activities That Build Academic Skills and Executive Functioning

Learning doesn't necessarily have to look like school to be useful. There are hidden learning opportunities for students each day. For instance:

• Cooking (math, sequencing, and kitchen science)
• Road trips (geography, math, and planning)
• Gardening (nature and science)
• Sports (movement, strategy, and teamwork)

Students can also practice their organization, planning, time management skills through such tasks as:

• Packing for a day trip independently
• Planning a family activity
• Managing a chore schedule
• Helping with daily or weekly meal planning
• Creating a personal goal

Building strategies and tools is central to helping students succeed long after they leave Siena.

3. Use Your Library Card (or Sign Up for One!) 

A simple and very effective way to keep students reading over the summer is to use their library cards for local public libraries, such as these in the DC Metro area:

• Get A Card | District of Columbia Public Library
• Get a Library Card — Fairfax County Public Library
• Get a Library Card - Montgomery County Public Library

Particularly for middle and high school students, library cards can also get them acclimated to the digital resources (such as accessing ProQuest and other databases or audio and e-books via Libby or Overdrive). Siena teachers have worked with our students to get them library cards so they can access the excellent public library digital research resources that they might use inside and outside the classroom.

Remember that many public libraries also sell gently used books, which can be an easy, affordable way for students to build their personal libraries and/or discover new favorites.

4. Help Students Enjoy Stories and Use Technology Effectively

Audiobooks, graphic novels, podcasts, family read-alouds, storytelling and more are a great way to keep students engaged with stories — and maybe inspire them to create some of their own! Ear reading is a great complement to sight reading and gives students another opportunity to experience stories.

These tools can both help students improve students’ own literacy skills and learn that stories can be a community-building activity they can carry into the school year. Siena helps students — especially dyslexic learners — discover that literacy is more than decoding words: it's also connecting with ideas, stories, and learning.

5: Explore These Summer Technology Recommendations 

Especially for LD students, some technology options can be quite productive in practicing their literacy and creative skills, such as:

• Podcasts (see these Common Sense Media podcast recs)
• Audiobooks (consider starting with Audible for Kids)
• Speech-to-text tools
• Educational YouTube channels
• Creative apps (see some app examples from Common Sense Media)

Siena teaches students to use tools and accommodations effectively. Technology can be empowering for intellectual growth when used intentionally.

Resources from Siena’s Blog 

Remember that preparing for a successful fall starts in the summer: as July moves into August, parents can start reestablishing routines gradually, tasking students with organizing their technology, and set realistic goals for the transition from summer to school year.

For more information about the practical value and opportunities of summer programs, see these past blog posts about Summer Reading, Boredom Busters, and Summer Tech Skills.

The Siena School, a nationwide dyslexia education leader, serves bright, college-bound students with language-based learning differences on campuses in Silver Spring, MD (grades 3-4 and 5-12) and Oakton, VA (grades 3-12).