The month of July marks the heart of summer 2012. The summertime is synonymous with fun in the sun, music festivals, beach time, grilling and relaxing family vacations. Your kids are probably enjoying their time off from school and have hopefully started their summer reading assignments by now. As a parent, you want to ensure that your children keep learning throughout the summer months. This will help your children build the momentum necessary to succeed right off the bat in the upcoming school year.

So, what are some fun and educational summer learning activities you can have your children complete or participate in as a family? Let’s take a look. Read on, curious parent…

Bedtime Story Reversal

As part of a fun and entertaining role reversal, you can have your children read you bedtime stories throughout summer 2012. Depending on your child’s grade level and reading skills, select your favorite books from your local library that your child can handle reading. Have your child read to you every night before bed. This will help your child develop confidence reading aloud, which may be necessary in the upcoming school year.

Write a Hero’s Biography

To help your children develop and sharpen their researching and writing skills, assign them a project to write a hero’s biography. Allow them to select their hero, dead or alive, and have them research important facts to write a biography on the chosen individual. This should be a fun and entertaining assignment for your children to complete.

Family Math Competitions

An excellent summer activity to help your kids stay sharp at math is to hold family math competitions. Use a chalkboard to post challenging math problems for them to solve and offer a small reward for correct answers. You can find brain teasers and challenging math puzzles online for your children to complete and then review the correct answers together.

Plan an Educational Vacation

More and more families are planning summer vacations that can really provide a genuine learning experience for the entire family. Some excellent family-friendly destinations in the U.S. include San Francisco, New York, Miami, Chicago and San Diego. These locations feature rich museums, art galleries, theaters, music festivals and important landmarks. The entire family can have fun and enjoy a rich educational experience in the process.

By pushing your children to complete these wonderful educational activities, you are really providing them with the momentum necessary to succeed in the upcoming school year. These activities will help sharpen your children’s reading, math, writing and researching skills. Additionally, these are great bonding activities for the entire family to enjoy.

Dana Reynolds is a proud wife and mother of three, web content coordinator for BabyChangingStation.com. Dana has made it a priority to ensure that her children remain academically sharp throughout summer 2012.