It’s the last week of school!!! We’ve been making plans all season to make it an enjoyable and fun summer, but we’re also plotting ways to reduce that summer slide. So here’s a collection of books, apps, and activities to keep kiddos (ages 3-10) sharp for the next school year.

Preschool

Preschool is all about laying the foundation for a child’s growth and learning.

Cognitive Skills

• Problem-solving: Figuring out how to put puzzles together or complete simple tasks.
  • Cut the Rope: Physics Puzzle Series is a collection of fun, physics-based puzzle games featuring the adorable candy-loving creature, Om Nom.
  • School Zone Thinking Skills Workbook: Preschool Ages 3 to 5 (Get Ready! Book Series) is designed to help preschool and kindergarten students develop problem-solving, logic, and reasoning skills through engaging activities
• Basic concepts: Understanding colors, shapes, numbers, and letters.
  • Colors & Shapes – Learn Color features fun activities like painting, matching, tracing, and building, all aimed at improving early cognitive and motor skills.
  • Monkey Preschool Lunchbox guides children through the activities that teach essential early learning concepts, including colors, letters, counting, shapes, sizes, matching, and differences.
• Memory & attention: Being able to follow simple instructions and stay engaged with activities.
  • My Little Suitcase is a basic visual memory game to help develop memory, attention, and categorization skills.
  • More Fun with Directions features colorful animations, interactive tasks, and auditory processing exercises to help children practice following directions.

Social & Emotional Skills

• Self-regulation: Learning to manage emotions, like calming down after frustration.
  • Wondergrade: Learning Emotions helps develop emotional regulation skills through storytelling, games, mindfulness exercises, and guided audio activities.
• Sharing & cooperation: Playing and working with others in a group setting.
  • Teach Your Dragon To Share by Steve Herman teaches valuable lessons about cooperation and kindness.
  • Harlan and the Bee by Lena LaRue addresses compassion, cooperation, and sharing.

Motor Skills

• Fine motor skills: Holding a crayon, cutting with scissors, buttoning clothes.
  • Sensory Play for Toddlers and Preschoolers: Easy Projects to Develop Fine Motor Skills, Hand-Eye Coordination, and Early Measurement Concepts is a hands-on guide by Casey Patch that focuses on developing fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination, and early measurement concepts through 40 sensory play activities.
  • Melissa & Doug Scissor Skills Activity Book is a 20-page activity book designed to help kids develop fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination.
• Gross motor skills: Jumping, running, climbing, balancing on one foot.
  • Yoga for Kids & Family fitness features animal-themed yoga poses, guided voice instructions, and different difficulty levels to suit beginners and experienced yogis alike.
  • Kenson Kids Pick n Roll Movez provides an outlet to help kids burn off energy while improving coordination and motor skills.

Language & Communication

• Speaking clearly: Expressing thoughts and feelings in simple sentences.
  • Articulation Station Hive is an SLP-focused app designed to help learners of all ages improve their pronunciation and articulation skills.
  • Articulation Hunt is a pirate-themed speech therapy app where players travel through nine interactive lands, tapping speech cards to uncover hidden jewels while practicing target words.
• Listening & comprehension: Following instructions and understanding stories.
  • Homer is a personalized early learning app designed to help kids aged 2–8 develop reading skills through interactive lessons, stories, songs, and games.
• Vocabulary expansion: Learning new words and using them in conversation.
  • Games like Zingo!, Boggle Jr., or Sight Word Swat

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Elementary School

Elementary school is where children build on early learning and develop more complex skills.

Cognitive Skills

• Critical thinking: Solving problems, making connections, and reasoning logically.
  • Guess the Code! is a codebreaker game that encourages kids to analyze patterns, recognize sequences, and develop logical thinking skills.
  • Thinkrolls 2: Puzzles for Kids is a logic puzzle game designed to enhance problem-solving, memory, and spatial cognition skills.
• Memory & concentration: Following multi-step instructions, remembering lessons.
  • MentalUP Brain Games For Kids offers a variety of brain-training games, riddles, and puzzles to boost cognitive abilities.
  • What’s for Dinner? is a fast-paced card game that combines strategy and memory skills.
• Academic growth: Reading comprehension, writing sentences, understanding math concepts.
  • Summer Bridge Activity Workbooks are educational activity books designed to help students retain and strengthen their academic skills during summer break.
  • SplashLearn: Kids Learning App is an educational app covering math and reading through interactive games, stories, and personalized learning paths.

Social & Emotional Skills

• Empathy & cooperation: Understanding others’ feelings, working as a team.
  • Social Quest is story-based app that helps kids improve language comprehension and navigate social situations.
• Conflict resolution: Managing disagreements in a respectful way.
  • The Zones of Regulation categorizes feelings into four color-coded zones and provides interactive activities to develop coping strategies.
• Self-confidence: Taking on challenges and believing in their abilities.
  • KidAffirm offers a collection of carefully crafted affirmations that encourage a growth mindset and emotional well-being.

Motor Skills

• Fine motor skills: Writing neatly, using utensils, tying shoes.
  • Writing Wizard helps kids learn handwriting by tracing letters, numbers, and words in a fun and interactive way.
  •  DroPolter is a fast-paced dexterity game where players must quickly and accurately drop the correct items from their hand based on a theme card while avoiding mistakes.
• Gross motor skills: Running, jumping, sports coordination.
  • GoNoodle helps kids stay active and engaged through dance videos, yoga exercises, mindfulness activities, and educational games.
  • NFL PLAY 60 encourages kids to stay active for 60 minutes a day through interactive workouts, games, and challenges featuring their favorite NFL teams.

Communication & Language

• Expanding vocabulary: Using complex words and expressing ideas clearly.
  • Scribblenauts Unlimited encourages creative word usage and rewards imaginative thinking and expands players’ understanding of how words relate to the world.
• Listening skills: Paying attention and responding thoughtfully.
  • Duolingo ABC helps kids develop listening skills through phonics-based lessons, interactive stories, and spoken word exercises that reinforce sound recognition and comprehension.
• Reading & writing proficiency: Forming longer sentences, grasping grammar rules.
  • Read-Along: Books For Kids offers a growing library of books with “Read It Myself” and “Read To Me” options.
  • Night Zookeeper helps kids improve reading, writing, spelling, and grammar through interactive storytelling, games, and tutor feedback.

Independence & Responsibility

• Time management: Organizing tasks, completing homework on time.
  • Habit Rabbit helps users build positive routines by completing tasks to earn rewards and customize their virtual rabbit’s home.
• Decision-making and personal accountability: Making choices about schoolwork, friendships, and personal needs; taking ownership of mistakes and learning from them.
  • Ninja Focus: Kids Mindfulness helps kids develop decision-making and personal responsibility through mindfulness exercises that encourage self-awareness, emotional regulation, and focus.

While we’re giving you a lot of apps on this list, still take it offline with unstructured play and time outdoors daily. This helps that big brain rest and sort all of the summer knowledge. It’ll also give you the perfect out to keep screen time in check. Also, sign up at your local library for summer reading challenges.

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Most linked items can be found on our Child(ish) Advice Amazon Storefront.

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