Even though school is out, don’t let those little brains turn to mush. Instead, make summer all about teachable moments. Turn ordinary trips to the grocery store, to the beach, or a walk in the rainforest into a learning experience where your keiki can tap into nearly everything they learned during the school year. 
The key to teachable moments is letting your kids have control, make decisions, take the lead and make the connections. When planning out your summer fun, see how you can fit in learning. Plan things with your kids, giving them guidance but also allowing them to call some of the shots. The kids will love being little planners with mom or dad.
For instance, here’s how you can turn a trip to the beach into a teachable moment:
1 Plan a day at the beach. Let your little ones mark it on the calendar so that they can count down the days.
2 In the days leading up to your day trip, read books about the beach or sea creatures.
3 Create a fun activity for them to do at the beach in between sand castles and swimming, such as a scavenger hunt. Have them find things of different colors and see what they come up with.
4 After your day at the beach, have the kids draw photos of what they did or saw while at the shore.
Teachable moments are all around us, and summer is so much a fun time to explore! Have fun with it and your kids won’t even know they were in nature’s school!
