Soak Up the Season: Freebies and Prizes to Keep Kids Learning All Summer Long

Looking for ways to inspire your students to keep learning throughout the summer? These hot ideas have really cool incentives!

The Barnes & Noble 2014 summer reading program, Imagination’s Destination, lets kids in grades 1–6 choose a free book. Click here to get a reading journal (there are English and Spanish versions) that lets the child record the titles and authors’ names of eight books. There’s also a free summer reading kit with activities and teaching tips. The deadline for children to submit the completed journal at a Barnes & Noble store is September 2, 2014.

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Kids ages ten and under can join in setting a new world reading record in the Scholastic summer reading challenge, Reading Under the Stars. Through this free online reading program, kids work together to log at least 176,438,473 minutes of reading by September 5, 2014. Weekly milestones can be set for a chance to win books. There’s something for teachers too: register your students, track their progress, get free book lists and resources, and enter to win 50 books! Click here to get it all!

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Live near a Pottery Barn Kids? Then your students can join the summer reading challenge. Every child who reads eight books from the recommended book list by July 31, 2014, will receive a free book (while supplies last). In addition, every Tuesday through July 17, a free storytime will be held at 11:30 am. Each time a child attends, she gets a stamp; five stamps earn a free gift. Click here to learn more.

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Spark Your Greatness encourages students to read aloud with their families over the summer. The challenge, which runs through August 15, 2014, combines activities, games, and a chance to win prizes. The grand prize includes a $50 Pizza Hut gift card, an autographed copy of Diary of a Wimpy Kid, and more! Click here to get the details.

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Grades K–8 kids can earn prizes in Book Adventure, sponsored by Sylvan Learning. Kids can search for books, read them offline, and then go back online to take a quiz on what they’ve read to earn prizes. Click here to find free resources and start the adventure!

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In the Feed Your Brain summer reading program from Half Price Books, students ages 14 and under can earn Bookworm Bucks by reading 15 minutes a day through June and July. The top reader in each age group each month will receive a $20 gift card! Click here for details.

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Students in grades K–5 who have a young savers account at a TD Bank can get $10 just for reading ten books this summer. All they need to do is write the names of the books read on a summer reading form and take it to the nearest TD Bank. The money will be deposited in their accounts. Click here to get the reading form.

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There are lots of reading opportunities, but let’s not forget about math. Hooda math has free math games designed to keep math skills sharp! There are games for kindergarten through high school that can be organized by grade level, math subject, or category. Click here to check them out!

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Wow, that’s a lot of learning inspiration!

Enjoy!

Karen

3 thoughts on “Soak Up the Season: Freebies and Prizes to Keep Kids Learning All Summer Long

  1. It’s plenty from which to choose, but it looks like Scholastic has done it again! The “new world record” has lots of kid appeal, and I have come to really trust all things Scholastic!

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