The 7 best summer learning programs for elementary kids (2026)

Every June the same question shows up in the parent group chats: what should we actually use this summer? Here is an honest ranking, with one disclosure up front: the #1 pick is ours. I built EOG Practice for my own kids, so read that entry knowing the author is biased. I have tried to be fair about everything below it, including the free options, and clear about who should skip ours.

What I weighted: whether a kid will still be doing it in mid-July (the only metric that matters), whether it tells you what to work on or quietly makes you the curriculum director, whether wrong answers teach anything, and what it costs. If you want the research on why any of this matters, start with our explainer on summer learning loss; the short version is that math fades faster than reading and ten steady minutes a day fixes most of it.

1. EOG Practice — best for NC kids entering grades 3–5

EOG Practice is the only option on this list built specifically for the North Carolina Standard Course of Study, which is what your kid’s teacher will assume in August and what the EOG tests in the spring. In the summer the whole app switches to summer mode: each week it lines up a short list of guided lessons picked from your kid’s actual weak spots, so nobody has to play curriculum director. Each lesson is a quick video, a little practice, then a four-question check you see the results of. Sessions are ten minutes, every wrong answer gets an explanation, and kids earn custom poster art as they go, which solves the motivation problem better than any sticker chart we ever tried.

Cost: a single $14.99 purchase covers three months — the whole summer, no subscription.

Keep in mind:it is North Carolina only and grades 3–5 only, on purpose. If you live elsewhere or your kid is in K–2, pick Khan Academy or a workbook below.

2. Khan Academy — best free option

The gold standard for free. Full video lessons and mastery practice for every grade and every subject, no ads, run by a nonprofit. If your budget for the summer is zero, Khan plus the library program below is a genuinely complete plan.

Cost: free.

Keep in mind: Khan is a library, not a coach — you pick the plan, steer your kid to the right skills, and check back each week. It is aligned to national standards rather than the NC Standard Course of Study, which is the main thing ours adds.

3. Summer Bridge Activities — best screen-free option

The classic bridge workbook: one page a day of mixed review between the grade your kid finished and the one coming, on paper, at the kitchen table. Grandparent-friendly, beach-bag-friendly, no accounts, no screens.

Cost: about $15, once.

Keep in mind: there is no feedback loop — when a kid gets something wrong, nobody explains why — so it works best with a parent checking pages along the way. Like any workbook, it needs a steady routine behind it to still be going in July.

4. IXL — best skill coverage

IXL’s skill tree is enormous — thousands of skills, aligned to every state’s standards including NC’s, with detailed analytics for parents. If you want to drill one specific skill into the ground, IXL has a page for it.

Cost: a monthly subscription, around $20 a month depending on subjects.

Keep in mind: it is built for thorough, school-style practice — great when you want depth on a specific skill, heavier than most families need for summer upkeep. Its scoring system rewards long accurate streaks, which motivates some kids more than others.

5. Prodigy — best for the kid who refuses everything else

A Pokémon-style game where casting spells requires answering math questions. For a kid who fights every other form of practice, Prodigy is the option they will ask to play, and that is worth something.

Cost: free to play, with an optional paid membership.

Keep in mind: it is math only, and most of the screen time is gameplay rather than questions, so a session covers less practice than it looks like. Treat it as a motivation supplement alongside something more focused.

6. Your library’s summer reading program — best for reading, free

Nearly every NC library system runs one: kids log books, earn real prizes, and pick their own reading. It is free, it is local, and decades of evidence say kids who read all summer hold their reading level. This should be part of every family’s plan regardless of what else you pick.

Cost: free.

Keep in mind: it does not cover math, and reading volume is not the same as comprehension practice — answering questions about a text is its own skill, and the one the EOG actually tests.

7. Beast Academy — best for kids who want harder, not warmer

A rigorous, comic-book-styled math curriculum from the Art of Problem Solving folks. For the kid who finished the year bored in math and wants a challenge, it is superb — genuinely deep problems wrapped in genuinely funny comics.

Cost: a subscription for the online version; physical books sold separately.

Keep in mind: it is an enrichment curriculum designed to stretch kids who are ahead, not a keep-skills-warm tool. A kid who ended the year shaky on grade level will get more from review-focused practice first.

How to pick in thirty seconds

• In NC with a rising 3rd–5th grader: EOG Practice plus the library program.
• Budget is zero: Khan Academy plus the library program, with you steering Khan weekly.
• Kid refuses all practice: Prodigy plus the library program, and keep sessions tiny.
• Want zero screens: Summer Bridge plus the library program.
• Kid is ahead and bored: Beast Academy.

Whatever you pick, the dose matters more than the brand: ten to fifteen minutes a day, four or five days a week, ending before anyone is annoyed. Our summer learning loss explainer covers why that schedule beats every workbook marathon ever attempted.

Quick answers

Related

• Summer learning loss: what’s real, and what ten minutes a day fixes
• The best math and reading practice apps for grades 3–5
• Getting ready for 3rd grade: a summer checklist
• How to read your kid’s end-of-year reports