JabbaThe summer slide: 6 ways to keep your child's skills warm
Written by The Jabba team · Updated 14 July 2026
Do children forget things over the summer holiday? Yes, a little. After six weeks without using it, maths and reading especially can go rusty, and that's what people often call the summer slide. The good news is you don't need to run summer school to stop it. A few calm minutes, a couple of times a week, is enough to keep what your child already knows fresh.
In 30 seconds
- A little and often beats a long week of summer school.
- Fold maths into everyday moments: at the till, sharing out pizza, keeping score in a game.
- Ten minutes of reading a day holds more than one big push in the last week.
- Ease things up gently in the last couple of weeks so the new term starts as a smooth transition.
What is the summer slide?
The summer slide is what happens when a skill sits unused for a while. The brain holds on to what it uses and loosens its grip on what it doesn't. After a long summer without sums or reading, some of what your child had down solidly before the holidays can feel oddly distant again.
It isn't that your child has forgotten how to learn. It's that knowledge, like a muscle, weakens without use. And like a muscle, it comes back quickly once it's used again.
Why does it hit maths especially hard?
Reading often holds up better over summer, because children run into writing everywhere: signs, subtitles, a comic. Maths is harder to stumble across by accident. Nobody asks a child to add fractions on the beach.
That's why number skills in particular go rusty over a long holiday. They're also the easiest to keep warm with a few minutes here and there, as long as it stays easy going.
6 easy ways to keep skills warm
- Little and often beats a lot, rarely: ten minutes a couple of times a week keeps more ticking over than a whole morning the week before school starts. Short and regular is the whole trick.
- Fold maths into everyday life: let your child work out the change at the till, split the pizza into equal slices, or keep score in a game. Real-life maths counts, and it doesn't feel like homework.
- Read together, every day if you can: ten minutes of reading aloud, or a comic your child picks themselves. It matters less what gets read than that reading doesn't grind to a halt altogether.
- Go back to what never quite stuck: if something just before the holidays never really settled, summer is a calm place to return to it, away from marks and time pressure.
- Keep it short and optional: the holiday should still be a holiday. If it turns into a battle, you lose more than you gain. Small, light touches beat a fixed, compulsory timetable running all summer.
- Build a gentle run-up to the new term: in the last couple of weeks, ease things up a little so the first day back is a smooth transition rather than a cold jump.
How Jabba keeps skills warm over the holidays
Holding off the summer slide doesn't take long sessions. A little and often is enough, and the holiday still feels like a holiday. That suits the way Jabba is built.
You set up the day in a minute and choose how light it should be. Over the holidays that might mean very little: a couple of short, calm sessions a few times a week, not a full school day. Jabba takes the daily structure from there, so it isn't you who has to think up tasks or chase your child to get started.
Jabba is also built for exactly what the holidays need: he brings back what never quite stuck at the right moments, before it has a chance to fade, and he meets your child at their own level, so the short sessions land well. It all happens in a calm space with no adverts, and you can follow along in the parent overview whenever it suits you.
Jabba is an AI tutor for children from Reception to Year 11 and a learning companion, not a treatment. But for keeping what your child already knows warm over a long summer, without it turning into a battle, that's exactly what he's built for.
What parents ask most
Do children really forget things over the summer holiday?
A little, yes, especially in maths, where skills go rusty without use over a long holiday. It comes back quickly once it's used again, and a little steady practice over the summer is enough to keep it warm.
How much should my child do over the holidays?
Not much. Ten minutes a couple of times a week keeps more ticking over than one long session just before school starts. The main thing is that it stays short, light, and doesn't feel like compulsory school.
Should I run summer school at home?
No. The aim isn't to get ahead, it's to keep warm what your child already knows. Fold maths into everyday life, read together a little, and keep it optional, so the holiday still feels like one.
When should we start easing back towards the new term?
In the last couple of weeks before school starts, you can gently turn things up a little, so the first day back is a smooth transition rather than a cold jump from nothing.
Sources
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Keep skills warm without spending the holiday on it
Set up an easy summer day with Jabba in a minute, and let him take it from there.
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