With us being in the middle of summer, what I am always trying to find are ways to keep [the kids] learning without them knowing they are learning. When we travel we try to play car games that challenge them and cause them to be more observant, and when we are in town we try to do things that offer information even if only on a small scale…but how can you keep them engaged and keep them learning without making them feel like they are still in school?

- comment from a parent of 4 girls (ages 7 to 16)

I can provide a lot of information about learning ideas, and I will, but first, I would like to mention motivation.

Motivation is very powerful and if you can find things that motivate your child, it becomes much simpler to “sneak” in other educational avenues.

Teachers struggle with motivating students because they have to motivate 10 – 30 students with different interests to enjoy the subject at hand.

As parents, it is much simpler to motivate your own children.

Granted, it is still not easy, but it is simpler.

As a parent, you know what interests your child.

My son loves trains, so I can throw him all kinds of challenges using trains.

Recently, we turned playing with trains into a science lesson about magnets.

We found some trains that had a positive and negative end and we started by looking at what happens when opposite charges are placed next to each other.

It quickly led us to other magnets and we began playing with magnets instead of trains.

We have also used trains for math problems. (word problems, addition and subtraction, patterns, etc.)

The trick in being able to turn natural interests into fun, educational opportunities, is that I have to slow down and watch what they are doing. (I am a do-er and stopping to watch is hard for me!)

When I watch him play, I catch the teachable moments and when I do catch them, they do tend to lead to some really interesting impromptu education projects.

My daughter has a recent fascination with animals.  She has been driving me crazy because she has been pulling all of the decorative pillows off every bed, chair, and couch.  She throws them on the floor to make “a nest” for her baby birds, zebras, bats, or whatever other animal of choice.

It took a week of fighting her on this before I realized she really wants to learn about animals.

So, we took a trip to the library, and I grabbed a bunch of non-fiction kid’s books about animal homes and babies.

The books were the kind that I did not ever like to read as a child.

There was no cartoon drawings and the information was really boring, in my opinion.

But, my daughter LOVES those books.

She enjoys them so much that I can use them as bargaining tools.

“We are only going to read the animal books after you eat the rest of your peas.”

I do not push them on her, and I treat them as any other book or toy.

Of course, every child is different, and as the kids get older, it might become harder to be sneaky about education.

You also have to be comfortable exploring subjects that you may not be well-educated, too.

I try to remember that it is okay for us to learn together.

Even some board games are great educational tools.

A favorite of mine is Scattegories.

Scattegories may not have a definite end goal, but it does challenge the brain, and helps develop language skills.

A lot of research is showing that challenging the brain improves memory.

Even things like Sudoko can help.

Do you have any other ideas I should include?