Summer Bridge Activities Workbook Review and Giveaway

Summer vacation is only 3 weeks away, and I'm so excited! After nine months of waking up early, schedules, homework and activities, it will be so nice to sleep in, stay in our pj's, do nothing, laze around, watch tv, be idle......

Hang on, that's not supposed to be how it goes. I'm supposed to be the proactive parent and make sure they're entertained and engaged; even more importantly, I need to make sure their brains don't turn into mush. If you dread that infamous "summer slide" as much as I do, here are a few suggestions to make sure your child's academic skills stay sharp all summer:

1) Read to your child every day.

2) Join a summer reading program (Borders Books has one, and your local library probably does too).

3) Visit museums and cultural centers every now and then.

4) Attend one of the many summer outdoor concerts to expose your child to different styles of music.

5) Buy a summer activity book like the Summer Bridge Activities workbook and have your child work on it for 10-15 minutes every day.


The kids really enjoyed working on the Summer Bridge Activities workbooks that we reviewed last summer, so I was happy to receive new ones to review this year from publisher Carson Dellosa (Bridging Grades 3-4 for The Pea, and Bridging Grades K-1 for Jammy and 3Po).

Here's how it works: each workbook is divided into 3 sections, which are designed to be completed within a 3-month (summer vacation) timeframe. The first 2 review concepts and skills from the previous schoolyear, and the last section is a preview of things they will be learning in the new year. Parents are encouraged to have their kids complete two activity pages each day for maximum results; I personally think it's alright to let your kids do a couple more pages if they're enthusiastic, and skip a day or two if you're doing something else -- as long as not too many days pass without doing the workbook, or they don't do so many pages that they get burned out.

What do I really like about these Summer Bridge Activity workbooks? Let me count the ways:

1) The exercises are doable. They're not so challenging that I need to help them out (hey, it is summer after all, and they're not studying for the SATs!), and the kids are confident in their ability to complete the exercises.

2) It's not just math and reading; each section has bonus activities like science experiments, games, map reading, and more. This makes it much more interesting for the kids.

3) Stickers, stickers, stickers! My kids never seem to get tired of stickers, and these workbooks have tons of reward stickers for each exercise that they complete.

I think this workbook series is a great way to keep kids' academic skills from sliding during the summer, and it's also a great way to keep them entertained on the road and on vacation (it sure beats video games from a parent's perspective)! The kids already want to get started on these workbooks but I'm holding them off until summer vacation actually begins. It's going to be a great summer!

Click here to read more about the Summer Bridge workbook series and see free sampler pages


Win a Summer Bridge Activity workbook
One lucky Bonggamom Finds reader will win up to three Summer Bridge Activity workbooks for their child(ren)!

Required Entry
Leave a comment on this post and tell me which Summer Bridge Activity workbook(s) you would like to receive. If you win, you can select up to 3! This entry must be completed before extra entries qualify.


Extra Entries
For extra entries, you can do any or all of the following. Please leave a separate comment for each extra entry with a way to verify the entry (i.e. tweet link, blog post link, Facebook id, Twitter id, etc.).

1) Grab my blog button and post it up on your blog (1 entry).

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5) Follow Bonggamom Finds on Blogger(1 entry).

6) Write this on the Carson-Dellosa Facebook Page wall (1 entry):

I want my kids to avoid the dreaded Summer Slide -- so I entered to win Bonggamom Finds' Summer Bridge Activity books giveaway! You can enter too at http://ow.ly/1Rt9j


7) Follow Bonggamom Finds on Twitter and tweet this daily (1 entry per day, leave a comment with the tweet link for each tweet):

Avoid the dreaded Summer Slide, enter 2 win Summer Bridge Activities workbooks fr @CDPub! Enter at @bonggafinds http://ow.ly/1Rt9j #giveaway


The Rules
This giveaway ends at midnight PST on June 10, 2010; I will draw a winner at random on June 11 and post the winner's name after the winner confirms acceptance. For additional giveaway rules, click here. Good luck!

Disclosure: I received a product sample, but was not paid to review the product or give my opinions. Unless clearly stated, the views and opinions expressed here are my own.