School’s out and summer is heating up. With July 4^th right around the corner, families are gearing up for backyard barbecues, pool parties, fireworks, and lots of cool activities for the kids.

While we’re all excited for the festive holiday, it’s important for parents to maintain the ongoing cycle of both fun and learning during the next few months. Don’t want your kids to fall into a summer slump?

Here are a few ways to keep your child’s brain active during the dog days of summer:

Add a healthy option to your Independence Day menu with the Cooking with Kids online cookbook. Cooking with Kids uses hands-on methods to teach families the benefits of a healthy diet. It encourages parents to let their children help prepare meals in order to make beneficial food choices. Try the pineapple-banana salad.

Did you know? Bananas are rich in vitamins B6 and C (both promote brain health!)

Join your children in a 4^th of July jam session with Piano Maestro. JoyTunes is a team of musicians who are on a mission to transform the way music is taught and learned. Piano Maestro is a musical app that allows children to learn music technique through modern gamification methods using an iPad. A gold star is earned for every correct note played, as the player goes through levels of difficulty. Play along to classics, or today’s top 40!

Did you know? Learning to play a musical instrument can increase a child’s IQ by 7 points!

In the spirit of patriotism, Stack the States! Stack the States is an interactive app that teaches kids the capitals, shapes, locations, and flags of each of the 50 states. Kids can build a stack of states until it reaches a checkered line to win each level, at which point a new random state would be earned. The ultimate goal is to collect all 50 to create your own personalized map of the U.S.

Did you know? By ages 4-5, children are able to use maps, having developed general ideas of scale symbols, perspective, and the concept that maps are tools people use to locate themselves in space.

Go beyond the stars and stripes with NASA! The NASA app features 14,000 images, 10,000 videos, and live feed through NASA TV.

Did you know? Cross-country running is a popular sport among many astronauts. Let’s not forget the importance of making sure our little ones are getting enough daily exercise too!

Practice and broaden vocabulary skills with Balloony Word! Balloony Word adds a twist to traditional hangman. Players are able to learn Dolch sight words, animal and fruit names, common words in a student’s grade, and elementary science terms.

Did you know? By age 3, many children have vocabularies of 1,000 words!

Summer is the perfect time for your children to enjoy the warmth and remain physically active, but it’s also important to remember to keep their growing minds on the go, too. Whether cooling off indoors, or sitting poolside, help your kids have fun WHILE learning this 4^th of July holiday.

Becki Laurent is a Lubbock, Texas-based piano teacher, mom, and musical advisor to JoyTunes. She conducts workshops for music teachers in the U.S. and promotes the use of technology to make teaching easier.