Keeping Learning Alive All Summer: How Games Can Help Students Start Strong in the Fall

Part 1: Understanding Summer Learning Loss and Why Games Are Part of the Solution

With summer as a theme, I am approaching this blog, as a series of three: Summer learning loss, practical summer learning routines, and connecting learning with real life skills. As an educator, parent, and someone who has spent years thinking about, and supporting student success, I wanted summer to feel like summer for my children. They needed time to rest, play, and recharge.

But I have also seen how long gaps from structured learning can make the transition back to school harder than it needs to be. By fall, teachers often spend valuable time revisiting concepts students learned in the spring. That is why I believe summer support to retain knowledge learned should feel light, engaging, and purposeful. And one of the best ways to do just that is through games that keep key skills active without making summer feel like more school.

The Reality of Summer Learning Loss

As a mother of two sons, I had a front-row seat to how summer break affected learning. When my boys were on a traditional school calendar, I noticed that each new school year often began with a period of relearning, especially core STEM skills, reading stamina, and other academic routines. In many ways, it made a case for use it or lose it.

At one point we switched to a year-round schedule, and the difference was hard to miss. The shorter breaks kept skills fresher, made transitions back to school smoother, and reduced the time spent reviewing old material before new learning could begin. That experience reinforced for me how important consistent, low-pressure, authentic learning opportunities really are.

That experience shaped how I think about summer learning support today. I began to look for summer activities that could reduce that loss in ways that were fun, meaningful, and manageable.

My family’s experience is not unique-- is also backed by research. The findings on summer learning loss confirm what many teachers and parents see every August and September. In their classic meta-analysis, Cooper, Nye, Charlton, Lindsay, and Greathouse found that students’ achievement scores declined over summer vacation by about one month on a grade-level equivalent scale, with math losses generally larger than reading losses. More recent evidence summarized by Boulay and McChesney noted that students can lose between 17 and 28 percent of school-year gains in English language arts and 25 to 34 percent of school-year gains in math over the summer months. RAND has also highlighted that when these patterns repeat year after year, summer can widen existing achievement gaps, especially for students with fewer opportunities for enrichment and practice. To me, that makes summer learning support not just helpful, but essential.

Why Game-Based Learning Works

The good news is that this research should not make us panic. It should help us plan. I do not believe summer needs to become a season of worksheets' boredom and frustration. I believe it can be a season of low-pressure repetition, curiosity, confidence-building, by creating authentic learning opportunities using games. The goal is not to recreate the classroom at the kitchen table. The goal is to keep important concepts front and center so students can return to school ready to build on prior knowledge rather than start over. That is where game-based learning becomes so powerful.

When I think about meaningful summer support, I keep coming back to tools that make learning visible, social, and fun. Many games do just that! I like to use GET 9 as an example, but there are many others that support STEM and other academic areas. In the case of GET 9, it helps students revisit math thinking in an active and authentic way. Instead of simply reviewing facts on a page, players are making decisions, spotting patterns, thinking ahead, and applying number sense in context. Those are exactly the learning behaviors I want to see preserved over the summer. Even short, regular sessions can keep core mathematical thinking warm and make it easier for students to walk into a new school year with confidence.

Summer learning does not have to feel overwhelming to be effective. In fact, some of the best strategies are the simplest. So, this month think about games that you have in your arsenal and games you want to purchase to support summer authentic learning opportunities for your child/ren. In next month’s post, I will share practical, easy-to-use ideas for making summer learning happen in real life, without turning summer into school. I hope you will come back for Part 2.

Kids riding scooters.

References:

Boulay, M., & McChesney, E. (2021). What will summer look like? Summer learning loss and COVID-19 learning gaps. Children and Libraries, 19(2), 5–7.

Cooper, H., Nye, B., Charlton, K., Lindsay, J., & Greathouse, S. (1996). The effects of summer vacation on achievement test scores: A narrative and meta-analytic review. Review of Educational Research, 66(3), 227–268.