Inside: All you need to know about summer activity sheets, why & how you should use them, and everything included in our summer learning packets.
“What time is it?
Summertime
It’s our vacation”
Ahh… High School Musical, do you know that song? It gets stuck in my head every year at the beginning of summer break!
And in real life, it’s finally summertime (or almost)! You and your kids are probably ready to dance and celebrate the break from school to relax, explore and play. So then, why would you want to engage your kids in summer learning?
You may also be thinking as a teacher that summer learning packets are a good idea… But you think no kid (or parent, for that matter) is going to want to do summer activity sheets, so why go to the trouble?
Let me tell you two crucial reasons why this is not the case and why YOU SHOULD engage kids or students with summer activity sheets.

Why Engage Your Kids With Summer Activity Sheets?
First, you can avoid the Summer Slide. The dreaded “summer slide”… We’ve all heard of it… but what is it?
Studies have shown a general trend that kids lose as much as one month of learning during the summer. The first study on the subject in 1996 from the University of Missouri found that “The effect of summer break was more detrimental for math than for reading and most detrimental for math computation and spelling.”
The summer slide isn’t going away. And while mental health and taking a break when necessary is #1, having a fun resource to help kids get caught up (or even ahead!) before the next school year will help them have a more successful school year next year.
Summer learning packets keep academic skills polished. By engaging your kids in summer learning you can help them to retain what they learned during the school year. Just a little bit of daily, targeted practice can help your kids be ready to jump right back into the next school year.
Summer activity sheets provide structure. No more carpooling and fewer extracurricular activities, if you are like me at first this feels AMAZING! However, after a few weeks, I start to crave the structure of a schedule.
You can establish a little structure by bringing summer learning into your home. You can create a schedule that includes doing a few learning activities every day. It doesn’t need to take a lot of time. Just that little bit of structure helps a lot!
Summer packets can create everyday learning opportunities. One of my favorite things about at-home learning, whether that is homeschool or summer learning, is that you can find ways to organically learn with your kids. You can find opportunities all around your home, in every activity to learn together. I believe that this helps to create lifelong learners who seek out learning everywhere, and not just something they have to do in the classroom.
Our summer learning packets are simple and easy. Kids (and parents) need a break for their mental health. Absolutely, 100% true. That is why we made these activities so they can be done in a reasonable amount of time… PLUS they are much more fun than your average schoolwork, too.
My kids LOVE doing the activities included in the summer learning; it is fun we can do together. And they really take away the stress from parents having to find resources to use with their kids, so it’s a win-win.
The great thing is that there is SO much content included that you don’t have to do it all, only the parts your kids will enjoy the most! Especially the reading and writing activities can be easily adapted to students’ interests to help them be more invested in their learning.

How do I do summer learning with my kids?
The why of summer learning makes sense but then… how?
Explore outside of the house with your kids. Summertime comes with the freedom to get outside more. You may go on a family vacation or camping trip, visit local historical sites or state parks or just go to a local park or swimming pool.
Wherever you go, make it a goal to learn something new there.
Ask your kids different types of questions- background knowledge, textual/visual questions, or deeper thinking questions, while you are out and about. Talk about their answers. When you get home, research any unanswered questions together.
Make learning something new an everyday experience.
Play games together. There are so many fun educational games out there that your kids will love! They may not even realize that they are learning as you play together.
Our summer learning packets come with fun, summer-themed language arts and math board games. Keep reading to the end to find out EVERYTHING that is included in them!
Start a family summer reading challenge. Challenge your kids to read a variety of texts over the summer. You can set individual or family reading goals and work towards them.
We have a great Summer Reading Challenge in our shop that you can use to jumpstart it! It includes a book tracker, reading logs, awards, bookmarks, and motivational posters.
Most of all enjoy this time with your kids, playing and learning together!
You can start today with our free summer learning packets!
What’s included in our summer learning packets?
Wife Teacher Mommy Summer Learning Packets, are available for grades Kindergarten through 5th grade, are comprehensive and standards-aligned, yet simple and quick because we know your kids have a lot of other fun things they want to do this summer, so these games and activities pack a powerful punch in a short amount of time.
They are designed to be a comprehensive review of the school year so we recommend purchasing the grade level your students or children have just completed.
- Adorable Summer Activity Sheets Cover- Our summer learning packets come with a cute cover with summer graphics. You can slide it into their binder or staple it to the front of their packet. There is a spot for your kids’ names, so if you have multiple children, it’ll be easy to set them apart.
- Simple Summer Activity Sheets Lesson Plans- Not an experienced teacher? No worries. We write ready-to-go lessons that ANYONE can teach. They are simple enough that anyone can follow them, but real learning is involved. Win-win!
- Daily Summer Math Review- This quick review will go over grade-appropriate math content broken up into five days, so your child can keep their math skills fresh! Do one problem a day if you start at the beginning of the summer- or double up if you start later in the summer.
- Weekly Summer Math Facts Fluency Practice- These summer learning packets include 15-20 problems that the students should be able to solve quickly. This helps them practice their fluency skills. There are 10 of these included in each packet!
- Summer-Themed Backwards Story Problem- In a backward story problem, your kids are given an answer and need to come up with a problem that has the answer. Then, they will brainstorm who and what the problem is about, write the problem, and draw a picture. The backward story problem is broken up into five days.
- Summer Reading Lessons To Use With ANY Book!– There are 5 lesson plans and graphic organizers for 5 reading comprehension strategies. You can switch strategies every 2 weeks, or mix and match however you would like. This lesson can be used over and over with different books each time!
- Summer Reading Comprehension Questions- This page contains some suggested questions you can ask your student to spark conversation about the book(s) you are reading with them so that students can continue their comprehension skills even while they are home.
- Daily Summer Sentence Work- The daily sentence work addresses all core standards in language for each grade level. Students will correct one sentence each day for the duration of the summer (or, if you start mid-summer, you can opt to double up instead!) 10 pages are included with 5 sentences per page.
- Summer Writing Lessons- Writing is a great way for kids to use their imagination over the summer! Students will practice narrative, informative, opinion, poetry, letter writing, and comic book writing! Tons of passages are included… all of which have a summer theme.
- Summer-Themed Color by Number & Color by Word- Our summer learning packets include five color-by-number and five color-by-word worksheets.
- Summer Directed Drawing- Step-by-step “How To” draw art and writing activity! Students will learn to draw something new each week… with a summer theme. This will help students practice their drawing and fine motor skills while also having fun! There are 10 directed drawings included in the summer learning packets, so your kids can do a new one each week.
- “Ice Cream Party” Language Arts Board Game- This ice cream board game will help your kids review grade-level sight words and/or grade-level language arts content while having fun! Game board, large dice cutouts, game piece cutouts, playing cards, and game rules included. Full color and black and white games included!
- “Mister Sun” Math Board Game- This math board game will help your kids review grade-level math concepts while having fun! Game board, large dice cutouts, game piece cutouts, playing cards, and game rules included. Full color and black and white games included!
Watch the video below to see what is in the Summer Learning Packets, it shows a small snapshot of ALL grade levels that we offer.
How do you encourage summer writing?
Encourage your kids to strengthen their writing skills with fun, engaging writing prompts. This, in addition to the summer activity sheets, will help your kids avoid the summer slide.
Many of these summer writing prompts are included in our summer learning packets.
Summer Narrative Writing: Create a Summer Story
Kick off summer writing by having them write a narrative. Start by talking with your kid(s) about storytelling. Some examples of narrative writing include stories, movies, jokes, and fairy tales.
Ask them what kind of things they read about in a story. Discuss that a story (or a narrative) has five things:
- Plot: the events that happen
- Setting: where it takes place
- Character: who/what is it about
- Conflict: what is the problem that needs to be solved
- Theme: what are you supposed to learn from reading it
Now you can explain to them that those five things can all happen in different ways:
- The way a story is told can be different in each book (narrator style)
- The order in which things happen can be different (ex: chronological order)
- The person telling the story may be a character (1st person) or someone just telling a story (3rd person). This is called point of view.
After discussing these things with your kid(s), have them write their own story.
Other summer narrative writing prompts to try:
- Favorite Summer Memory: Write a story about your favorite summer memory. Who was there? Where did it take place? How did it happen? How did things end?
- Summer Treats: Write a story that has to do with your favorite summer treat of all time!
- Summer Road Trip Flat Tire: Write a story about a family on a road trip- and their car gets a flat tire! What happens next?
- Or have your kids pick their own!
When they finish writing their summer story, have them draw a picture to go along with it.
Summer Informative Writing: Learn & write about a new skill
Ask them to think of something they would like to learn about. Have them think about WHAT they want to know about that topic. Let them share what they want to learn about and then together take the time to learn about it!
Summer informative writing ideas for kids:
- How to NOT get a sunburn
- How to build a sandcastle
- How to catch a fish
- How to run a lemonade stand
Afterward, give them some paper and have them write their own “how-to.” Then, once they have learned and written about a new skill, you could try out their new knowledge for a fun summer adventure!
Summer Opinion Writing: Use O.R.E.O’s
Kids have lots of opinions, they will love writing about them! Here are a few topic ideas for opinion writing:
- What is your favorite board game to play?
- What do you like to do in the water when you go swimming?
- Who is your favorite sports player?
- Where is the best place to go for dessert?
Or as another summer writing idea, ask your kid(s) to think of something they like that someone else may not like. Have them think about WHAT it is they like about it. Ask them their reasons for their opinion. Then, have your kid(s) give some examples of their reasons.
I like using an O.R.E.O graphic organizer for opinion writing:
- Opinion- share your opinion
- Reason- give reasons for your opinion
- Example- share examples to support your reasons and opinion
- Opinion- restate your opinion
Then after using your summer writing time for O.R.E.O, enjoy Oreos together!
Write A Summer Poem
Try writing a summer-themed “Acrostic Poem”. An acrostic poem uses the letters of a word to write a poem. Each letter stands for another word or short phrase. A quick example looks something like this:
- Dog
- Delightful
- Outside loving
- Good friend
Write one with your kid(s). Then turn it over to them to write their own poem. Have them choose the name of a person or animal, or their own name.
I like to have my kids think of at least 2 possible words for each letter when they brainstorm. Then they pick their favorite word and write the main poem.
Summer Letter Writing: Keep In Touch With a Summer Pen Pal
Have them write to a friend or family member that they already know. Or Scary Mommy has a great list of ideas of ways to find a pen pal for your kids.
Start by talking to your kid(s) about some ways you can communicate with someone without being in the same place as them. (Ex: internet, phone, letter). Then explain that writing letters is another way to communicate and a great way to show someone we care.
Teach them 5 parts of the formal letter format
- Date (in the top corner)
- Greeting (Ex. Dear Mom,)
- Body (Main text of letter)
- Closing (Love, Sincerely, From, etc.)
- Signature (Your name!)
As with all of the other summer writing ideas for kids, they should use their best grammar, punctuation, and spelling. And be sure to use the proper letter writing format they just learned!
Design a Comic Book
Read a few comics from the newspaper, or a graphic novel together. Talk together about how comics and graphic novels are made, discuss things like:
- Picture and text
- Exclamatory words
- Conversational text
- Frames
- Characters
- Speech bubbles
Have them write their own summer stories….. comic book style! They will need to think of a story that has several things that happened during their story for their comic.
Our Summer Learning Packets have summer-themed comic book pages premade, they are so cute! Or you can simply have them design their own.
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