A Tyee Guide to Free Summer Education Activities

Summer vacation is a time for kids and teens to relax, goof off a bit and not think about school. But taking a two-month break from literacy and numeracy can result in them playing catch-up come September.

“Especially when it comes to mathematics, much more so than reading and writing,” said Darko Odic, associate professor of psychology at the University of British Columbia, who specializes in young children’s learning and development.

“Summertime is good for taking time away, but then if there are times for incorporating some reviewing of some basic math and literacy skills throughout,” Odic said, “that’s the optimal middle.”

So with more than a month of vacation still to go, The Tyee has compiled some suggestions for incorporating skill building into summer with free resources and activities they’ll enjoy.

Consider the library, Part 1: Summer reading club

In addition to being purveyors of books, public libraries are also a source of free kid-and-teen-friendly programming.

For example, every summer for the past 34 years the British Columbia Library Association has operated the BC Summer Reading Club to encourage elementary and middle school-aged kids to develop a reading habit.

Whether they prefer to read comic books, young adult fiction or the horror films section of Leonard Maltin’s Movie Guide, a daily reading habit could turn even the most reluctant page turners into confident readers, says Stephanie Usher, provincial co-ordinator of the BC Summer Reading Club program.

“We’re giving them the opportunity to read what they want to, discover what they love to read and build up that reading confidence in a way that feels good to them,” she said.

Starting in June and running to the end of August, any child between five and 14 years old can sign up for the BC Summer Reading Club at 70 of the province’s 71 public library locations (the outlier library runs its own summer reading program). Last year over 92,000 kids in B.C. registered for the club.

Registration is free and ongoing and doesn’t require a library card — though those are also free and necessary to check out library books.

All BC Summer Reading Club participants get a reading record to log their daily reading goals. At the end of each week they receive a sticker for meeting their goals.

This year the paper record resembles an empty book cabinet where kids put their stickers and check off their daily reading goals.

Each library decides what the daily reading goal will be, as well as the additional events it may offer. Surrey Libraries brings in magicians, for example. Other libraries offer workshops with authors and illustrators.

You can also register and track your reading progress online.

Free apps like Libby connect you to the audio and ebook catalogue of most B.C. public libraries, too, in case you can’t make it to a branch to check out physical books.

At the end of August, kids return their reading logs for a BC Summer Reading Club medal or another prize of the library’s choosing.

Consider the library, Part 2: Not just books

“Libraries are community-based organizations that very much reflect the needs of their communities,” said Rina Hadziev, executive director of the British Columbia Library Association. “As the world of information and imagination and recreation have all expanded, libraries have expanded accordingly.”

Many libraries, for example, lend out fully stocked hiking packs, care of BC Parks — just add your own food, water and sunscreen. While you’re at it, check out a book on local flora and fauna to see what you can identify on your hike.

Kids can work on their digital literacy by making use of library technology, including but not limited to 3D printers, green screens, drones and even digitization stations that let you convert physical media, like VHS and printed photos, into digital files.

The Whistler Public Library has all this and more on offer in its Wonder Lab. It also lends out sewing machines, interactive board games, bat detector kits, telescopes and binoculars, and robots that teach kids how to code.

The Vancouver Public Library’s Inspiration Labs and Bud Osborn Creation Space provide access to recording booths, digitization stations, computers and a full suite of Adobe creative programs too expensive for most people to access at home.

If your kids aren’t interested in technology, what about planting a garden using the seed library, a selection of local plant seeds?

The seeds offer lessons in not only gardening, but also indigenous plants, growing food and food security, says Hadziev. They also come with lessons on harvesting your own seeds, so you can give back to the seed library if you want.

“Seeds aren’t cheap,” she said. “It’s about levelling that playing field.”

The seed libraries are often done in partnership with other community organizations. Victoria’s, for example, is created in partnership with LifeCycles, an organization dedicated to building local community food systems.

Maybe your kid wants to make music over the summer? The Vancouver Public Library lends out musical instruments and instructional DVDs, too.

As with library books, wear and tear on these items is a reality. Libraries want you to respect what you check out, but they’re also realistic that things break, Hadziev said.

“Library collections are meant to be used,” she said. “So in some ways, the worst thing is to have something pristine and never wears out, because that means [the library] got the wrong thing.”

Free field trips

Whether you’re on the road visiting new communities in the province or having a staycation at home, museums, cultural centres, art galleries and heritage sites often have free or by-donation days.

Many of Vancouver’s offerings have been helpfully gathered by the website Do604. If you live in another municipality, you can check out your own local museum, Indigenous cultural centres and galleries’ websites for their free or by-donation days.

If you’d rather your kids spent more time outside than in, send them (or join them!) on a self-guided tour of Vancouver’s mural festival entries past and present.

There are similar free, self-guided mural tours in Kamloops, Nelson, Sechelt, Chemainus, Vernon and Squamish, to name just a few.

Want to learn more about the spawning habits of salmon? Check out the Capilano River Hatchery in North Vancouver, a federal government-run chinook and coho salmon hatchery constructed over 50 years ago to repopulate the salmon that were negatively impacted by the Cleveland Dam. Summer is best for seeing adult and juvenile coho.

How about a treasure hunt? Geocachers have set it up for you. If you have access to a smartphone with a data plan, download this geocaching app that promises over 4,000 “treasures” to search for in Vancouver alone.

Your phone’s GPS system will get you only so close to the “treasure” — a small container with a paper log inside. So kids have to rely on their eyes, hands and skills of deduction to find the geocache. Don’t worry, the “treasures” aren’t meant to come home with you. Once you find a geocached item, you sign the log and put it back for others to find.

Online fun

Can’t make it to a museum or art gallery in person? Many offer free digital tours and other online extras.

Want to learn more about the bats you spotted using the library’s detector kit? The Royal BC Museum’s online learning platform offers short and engaging learning resources and even lesson plans on topics kids might like to know about B.C., like its 15 species of bats.

Or perhaps they are history buffs interested in the diversity of B.C.’s Black history or the legacy of Japanese internment on these lands.

The National Film Board of Canada has free documentaries, cartoons and movies on its website, exposing your kids to Indigenous and Canadian filmmakers going back decades. There are also interactive and educational games on its website.

Can’t afford an afternoon at Science World? Do your own science at home using its online library of experiments and activities, broken down by areas of interest and age ranges from preschool to Grade 12.

Science BC’s website offers access to free online videos and interactive activities for you and your child to do together, like a whole lesson plan on mothers of the animal kingdom.

B.C.’s Education Ministry has its own list of at-home learning ideas for literacy, math, communication, personal responsibility and social skill building. Typically involving household items, they’re activities you might not have thought of as educational, like baking, gardening, making a budget or playing a card game.

Khan Academy is an online option for math skill building for learners of all ages, starting as young as preschool and ending in the college levels. You need to create an account, but its resources, including videos, are free.

Starfall is a source for printable, free math and literacy worksheets for kids up to Grade 5.

Some kids prefer to learn using apps and video games. There are sights, sounds and immediate feedback on whether you did a task correctly or not.

“A visual app can provide the link between what a letter sounds like and what it looks like much more easily than pencil and paper,” said Odic, associate professor of psychology at UBC. “There’s also easier access to a variety of them through centralized places like app stores.”

Picking the best option for your child and your zero-dollar budget can be tricky, though, as free apps rely on advertising and upselling users to buy unnecessary extras.

Odic recommends using Common Sense Media, a review site for parents making choices on what media their kids consume.

Parents may want their kids to use paper worksheets because their kids need to practise fine motor skills like using a pencil — or they’re concerned about too much screen time.

But if your kid refuses to stray from the app, don’t stress over the summer, Odic says.

“You don’t want learning to occur in only one context,” he said. “That being said, if it ends up being so overwhelmingly frustrating where the learner completely disengages, then learning in the same context is better than no learning at all.”

Teachers are trained to teach kids how to process information in multiple contexts and ways, Odic adds. So over the summer break you — and your kids — don’t have to fight over how they learn, as long as they’re learning.