School might be the last thing on your kid’s mind as summer vacation gets fully underway. If the summer slide has you a little nervous, though, may we suggest a little bribing positive reinforcement to keep kids motivated to keep their grades up as the school year looms?
After all, it is coming. Maybe not fast enough for most of us, but it’ll get here eventually. Here’s a whole slew of great goodies and fabulous freebies your kid can cash in on with good grades and summer reading. There’s just one rub: Some of these are regional and vary from store to store. You may want to call your local chain ahead of time to make sure it’s participating.
Free National Parks admission
If you’ve got a little outdoors type on your hands, then head over to the National Park Foundation website, and nab some gratis parks admission for them. After all, sometimes the best learning isn’t done behind a desk.
Free doughnuts
Krispy Kreme will pay out one doughnut per A, up to six in total. That’s summer breakfast for a week if you’re over here on team IDGAF when it comes to kids’ nutrition during the hotter months.
Free chicken nuggets
Want to take care of dinner too? Head over to Chick-fil-A with a report card that’s covered in A’s and B’s for a free 8-pack of nuggets.
Free books
Every year, Barnes & Noble has its Summer Reading Triathlon. Download and fill out the journal, and when it’s completed, your kid can take it into a local store for a free book there.
Free gift card
Half Price Books is rewarding kids who spend 300 minutes a month reading with $5 worth of Bookworm Bucks they can turn around and use to buy more books. Really, there’s no downside here.
Free T-shirt
Texas grocery chain H-E-B has a reading program this summer that rewards kids for keeping their mind moving with a free T-shirt for their trouble.
Free ice cream
Baskin-Robbins rewards kids with one scoop of ice cream — all the more sweet because it’s free — when they present a report card covered in good grades. Some places require school participation, though, so make sure you check before you go.
More free ice cream
This one varies by location, but Cold Stone Creamery has given free ice cream to A students in the past. Since the locations are franchisee-owned, you’ll have to double-check to make sure that yours participates.
Free movie or video game
Did you know movie rental outlets are still a thing? They are! Even better, Family Video will give kids a free overnight video or game rental for each A they earn in a core subject on their final report cards.
Free fondue
Even The Melting Pot, home of expensive date nights, is in on the fun. Its Straight A Club will get kids a free meal so long as they are accompanied by a parent who buys a meal of their own. Not every location participates, however, so you’ll have to check to see if yours does.
Free Frosty
Head to Wendy’s with that report card to get a free Frosty so long as the card is covered in A’s and B’s. Be sure to check that your location is participating, though.
Free baseball tickets
This one will require a little bit of homework on your part too. Or make your kids do it — call it life skills. A lot of minor league baseball teams have good-grade events, but you’ll have to contact them to find out. Richmond, Virginia’s Flying Squirrels, for instance, gives out a free admission ticket for every A your kid earns.
Free movies
Showcase Cinemas’ Bookworm Wednesdays program rewards kids with a free movie when they “pay” with a book report. Just make sure you check to see if the program is active in your area, and make sure you grab one of your kid’s book report forms if it is.
Free game tokens
Chuck E. Cheese, bastion of child summer fun, will also reward your kid for working hard over the school year with some sweet game tokens to spend over their break — up to 15 tokens for a great report card. Want even more free tokens? You can print out one of 16 special rewards calendars on the company’s website, and when your child earns enough stickers to fill them out, you can bring them in for 10 more tokens.
Free money
There’s an app called Küdzoo that will reward your kid for good grades. You just upload a picture of all those sweet, sweet A’s, and earn Küdzoo Cash for your trouble. You can upload five report cards a year to amass more points and rewards, plus you can earn even more with the app’s Q&A game. (Free, iTunes/Google Play)
More free money
Live in Colorado? Head over to Alpine Bank. It does a drawing every quarter that rewards kids for their good grades. Kids can score $10 for A’s and $5 for B’s, which means a straight A card can make your kid up to $50 richer.
Free game creation software
Then again, there’s nothing wrong with indoor learning either. Your kid can get coding on a free copy of Kodu Game Lab from Microsoft’s DreamSpark suite, which will get kids plugging away in STEAM-driven learning. This one’s definitely for older kids, since they’re going to need a school email account to get the goods.
Free Six Flags tickets
Every school year, amusement park Six Flags has a reading program that allows kids to score a free general admission ticket to the theme park with a little effort: They just have to read a certain number of minutes and fill in a log to keep track. If you missed this year’s, head over to the Six Flags website to get a head start on next year’s event.
Pinimage school freebies
Be sure to pin this list to Pinterest so you and friends and family can enjoy the savings!
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