Part 2: Practical Ways to Make Summer Learning Happen

Start Small and Stay Consistent

When I talk with families and educators about summer learning, I always encourage them to start small and stay consistent. Fifteen to twenty minutes a few times a week is often more effective than a single long session that feels like a chore. I also encourage people to connect a game to a skill students have already learned. For example, if the goal is maintaining number fluency, strategic thinking, or problem-solving, choose games that naturally call for those habits. GET 9 is a strong example because it invites students to work with numbers repeatedly while staying focused on play. I also encourage conversation during play. Ask students to explain why they made a move, what pattern they noticed, or what they might try differently next time. That simple reflection turns a fun activity into deeper learning.

Build Confidence Through Playful Practice

Another reason I value games so much is that they support something often overlooked in summer planning: learner identity. Students need to feel capable. When summer practice is built only around correction, they can start to see themselves as behind. But when practice is embedded in play, students experience success, progress, and momentum. They begin to associate learning with agency. A student who feels successful solving calculations in GET 9 is not just reviewing content. That student is also strengthening persistence, flexible thinking, and self-belief, all of which carry directly into the classroom in the fall.

Create a Simple Summer Routine

For families, this can look very manageable, even if you can’t access a summer camp. A simple summer routine can go a long way: one reading moment, one game moment, and one real-world conversation each day or a few times a week. Read together, independently, or aloud. Use a game to reinforce thinking and practice. Afterward, connect the learning to everyday life by comparing prices at the store, estimating totals, talking about saving and spending, or noticing patterns in sports statistics and recipes: recipes are my favorites because they help reinforce and make sense of fractions.

Because my work also centers on financial literacy, I especially value games that help students stay comfortable with numbers and decision-making. Many numbers games can fit naturally into that broader routine that helps to reinforce mathematical confidence, which is essential when students later encounter budgeting, data analysis, and other real-world financial concepts.

If we want students to start the next school year without spending weeks relearning old information, we need summer strategies that are sustainable. In my experience, the best support is not always the most complicated. It is the support students will actually use. Games make practice stick because they invite repetition, attention, and joy all at once. When we use games intentionally, we help students hold on to the skills they worked so hard to build during the school year. Just as importantly, we send the message that learning does not have to disappear in summer, and it does not have to feel heavy to be effective. Let's Play!

Board and dice game.