The end of the school year is just around the corner, meaning months without time in the classroom, tests to study for or books assigned for reading.

While it’s great for kids to have a break, it’s also important they keep their minds active and don’t lose what they learned over the course of the last nine months.

Here are 25 ways your children can keep their minds in tip-top shape, including some suggestions from Arkansas Connections Academy and Arkansas Campaign for Grade Level Reading.

Kids can ...

1. Join a summer reading club at the local library.

2. Keep a journal, writing at least a little bit each day.

3. Enroll in an educational summer camp.

4. Visit museums throughout the summer.

5. Help in the kitchen and use basic math and fraction skills when reading a recipe.

6. Use maps and follow along on road trips.

7. Help grocery shop and calculate the best deals on products.

8. Listen to audiobooks in the car.

9. Learn new vocabulary by reading billboards or product descriptions at the store.

10. Play new board games.

11. Write letters or emails to relatives who live far away.

12. Strengthen fine motor skills by playing with Play-Doh or putty.

13. Read aloud to younger siblings.

14. Explore nature and take notes about what they observe.

15. Build with Legos or try Lego robotics.

16. Track spending on a family vacation, adding totals from gas, meals or other expenses.

17. Try simple, at-home science experiments (with parental supervision of course).

18. Rent a telescope from the library and study the stars from your backyard.

19. Open a bank account and deposit allowance earnings throughout the summer, watching the balance grow each time.

20. Re-read a favorite book from the past school year.

21. Write a short play or story about their dolls or stuffed animals and then perform it.

22. Keep up with sports statistics for a favorite team by reading kid-friendly articles.

23. Run a lemonade stand or other small business, learning about counting change.

24. Watch movies that correspond with books and talk about the similarities and differences.

25. Work on a small household project with a budget and figure out what they can purchase to complete the project.