Send home this Summer Packet at the end of the year for parents and students to work on during the summer, if they choose. Many parents aren’t sure what to do with young children to promote learning in the summer, and tend to resort to worksheets and flashcards. Hopefully this packet provides them with fun, hands-on learning activities. Find more End of Year Activities.
Updated 5/1/17.
I keep getting emails asking if it’s okay to send this home to parents. Yes, of course it is. Here are my Terms of Use. In a nutshell: You can copy and send this home to parents. You CANNOT republish this and claim it as your own work.
Parent Letter
Send home a parent note explaining the purpose of a summer packet, and a list of the materials enclosed. Here is a downloadable copy of the parent letter that you can print to send home to parents. There is a PDF file as well as editable Word and PowerPoint (PPT) files. With the PPT file, you can easily drag and drop the clipart of your choice onto the page.
Activity Booklet
Send home a booklet with several activities parents can do at home with their children. I also include a book list and website list.
Download: Summer Activities Pack
Rhyming Cards
Include a set of rhyming cards are in the packet for children to practice matching rhyming words. You can have kids cut out and glue these to die cut shapes, then send them in the Summer Packet. Or, to save time, just add the sheet to the packet.
Summer Book Bingo
Parents can randomly choose a book activity on this chart to do with their child during the summer. After they have read the book/completed the activity, the child can either color that square or stick a sticker over the square. They get bingo when the whole bingo chart is full.
Ocean Animal Race (Counting Game)
This is a printable dice game children can play for counting and numeral recognition practice. To play, children roll a dotted game die. The child counts the dots on the die, and circles the number they rolled. They continue rolling and circling the number until one of the ocean animals wins. Directions are printed on the game for parents.
Grid Game
Print and copy the grid game onto card stock paper for each child and add stickers for decoration. I use stickers of popular characters to spark their interest in the game (Barbie, Star Wars, Harry Potter, etc). Last year, when a child mentioned gifts in class, I had another child thank me for the Scooby Doo game, even though that wasn’t the end-of-year gift I had given them. You can either include dice (the Dollar Tree sells packs of them) or a home-made spinner. To play a Grid Game, children roll the die or spin the spinner and count out the correct amount of pieces to place in each grid. Play continues until the grid is full. Children practice one-to-one correspondence, numeral identification, and counting. If you prefer, you can print out ready-made grid games here and more grid games here.
Nursery Rhyme Parent Handout
This is a sample of nursery rhymes that parents can recite with their child. At the top, it tells parents (very simply) that nursery rhymes are important for increasing reading ability.
Download: Nursery Rhyme Handout
Roll and Write Games
Include one or more Roll and Write Games. This is a fun way to encourage kids to write. If possible, include a letter dice, which you can make with a wooden cube or foam cube. In the past, I’ve found foam cubes at the Dollar Tree. I have lots of blackline printable Roll and Write Games here, and there are many themes available.
For more writing, you could even include some of these Writing Printables.
Pipe Cleaners
The pipe cleaners are included for letter and numeral formation. This is also explained in the parent letter.
Emergent Reader Books
Include one or two printable emergent reader books. You can find some for free on The Measured Mom here.
Lima Beans
Spray-paint lima beans so that they have a different color on each side. Children use them for counting, patterning, grid games, etc. They can use them in a toss game by tossing the beans on the table and counting how many of each color. They can also be used for comparing more/less/same.
Extra Weekly Readers
If you have any leftover Weekly Readers, add these to the packet.
I love this idea and will be using it! Thanks
I absolutely love this as well and will be using it! I don’t know how you do it, but I want to be as a good Pre-K teacher as you some day. Thanks for sharing such great ideas!!!
Thank you for the great ideas! I will be using these creative summer activities!
love this idea! I always feel bad to leave the children over the summer knowing that they will likely regress in all the subjects we spent so much time learning and practicing over the year.
thanx for a great idea and btw I love this site… 🙂
Any ideas for practicing writing for children that are not yet fluent in English and hav ehard time with ABCs?
Thank you! I love the wonderful summer activity ideas. You have created a plethora of ideas and activities for students going into kindergarten! Love it 🙂
I love your activities! They are exactly what we have been teaching the kids all year and I will definitely use some of these as take-home activities for my students to do over the summer. Thanks! 🙂
Thanks- I love the book Bingo! I’ve made calendars to send home with my kids of things to do each day- I think I’ll add Book Bingo as another idea in the packet.
Thank you so much, Karen for your generous and well-organized resources! I am already putting them to good use in our faith-based Early Learning Center.
Karen,
I just want to say THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!! as a first year pre-kinders teacher your website is the MOST HELPFUL!! I gathered so many ideas from you! Now that I’m planning my school year I am so excited by the many things that you have shared on your website n blog! Thanks for all that you do and share n thanks for being my E-mentor!!
Thanks, Marie!
I love your summer packet, my pre-school parents will love it also…have a GREAT long summer break 🙂
Thank you, very great and helpful ideas I will be using them.
Thank you so much for sharing these fantastic activities. This was EXACTLY what I was looking for to keep my 4 and 5 year old boys busy and preventing the iPad from becoming permanently attached to their hands!
You’re welcome, Laura! I hope they enjoy them!
I love the summer learning packet, this will be very useful to the kids in my area. I will be sure to inform daycares with early head start programs about your summer packet. This idea is wonderful, thank you so much 😇 and God Bless you.
This just came in the right moment at the right time. Big thank you Karen, I will definitely use this for my students 😊👍🏻
The Summer Packet is awesome. Is there a way to make it editable? The reason I am asking this is, so many of my parents only read Spanish. This are the ones that need the activities the most.
I’ll see if I can get someone to translate it.
Karen
Hello! I have many Spanish speaking parents as well. I would to have a copy if you are able to have it translated. 🙂 It’s a really awesome packet!
I’d also love this. Literally half of my class has Spanish only families.
Thank you so much for sharing these great resources!
Does this also come in Spanish?
Our School is about 95 percent Hispanic.
Thanks
Jane Allen
I don’t have it available in Spanish at this time, but I’ll see if I can get someone to translate it. These days there are so many languages other than Spanish in the U.S., so I don’t know if it will make sense to have a lot of things translated to Spanish, but I’ll see if I can get this one. For example, where I live Gujarati is much more prominent than Spanish.
Karen
Karen,
Thank you beautiful great ideas for the summer.
Thank you so much, Karen! I was going to have to make up my own summer kit. You just saved me a LOT of time. Bless your heart! <3
This looks fantastic! I will definitely be using it!
I love all the ideas in this pack. Thank you so much for sharing! You are always a great help with your lovely ideas and great resources:)
Thank you!
Thank you so much! This is awesome! It will save me a lot of work. I appreciate your generosity with your time and products!
Thank you SO much!! These ideas are AWESOME!!
Thanks Karen. You are doing a great job.
Thank you for this great packet! It will help our Pre K kids keep up their skills during the summer months. I just went on TPT and ordered some of your products. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks, Cindy!
I absolutely LOVE this packet. Thank you for putting this together, it’s fantastic. What font did you use for the Parent Letter? I’d like to download it, edit the letter, and add a personal message.
Thank you again! 🙂
-Krystle
Hi Krystle,
Thanks, I’m glad you like it! Those fonts are:
KG Red Hands: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/KG-Red-Hands-Font-Personal-Use-1500528
KG Primary Penmanship: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/KG-Primary-Penmanship-Lined-Font-Personal-Use-549115
I think Karen has done an excellent job by providing us with summer time activities . Thanks
It takes great mind to shape little hearts . Truely said for Karen
Thanks so much Karen.. wonderful resources….
Helen