As the school year draws to a close, parents and educators around the world face a familiar challenge: how to keep children engaged, inspired, and learning during the long summer break. The Sunshine Squad, a new initiative by Edsidera, offers an exciting answer—one that blends flexibility, fun, and purpose to support families and strengthen school communities. Designed for children aged 3–12, this summer learning programme provides six weeks of skill-building fun without the reliance on screens.
A Summer Learning Programme Designed for Real Life
Delivered digitally but designed to minimise screen time, The Sunshine Squad offers six weeks of structured, skill-building challenges for children aged 3–12. Each week, families receive a fresh set of engaging activities across literacy, numeracy, creativity, fitness, and real-world learning. These challenges are simple to follow, entirely age-appropriate, and most importantly, fun!
At just 160 AED per child for the full summer learning programme—less than 30 AED per week—it’s a highly affordable and impactful alternative to traditional summer camps or rigid activity books. Essentially, 6 weeks of support and activities in your back pocket.
Designed by Educators, Built for Families
The programme has been created by Edsidera’s founder, Rachael Wilding, a former international school principal with more than 25 years of experience in education. Alongside a handpicked team of teachers and curriculum specialists, Rachael developed The Sunshine Squad with a clear goal: to create a resource that families could dip in and out of as needed, while still offering structure, purpose, and educational value.
“Summer should be a time of exploration and joy,” she explains, “but for many families, it’s also a time of pressure—especially when both parents work or when weather, travel, rising costs or other commitments limit options for younger children. The Sunshine Squad was designed to remove that stress while still nurturing children’s curiosity, independence, and love of learning.”
Each challenge in this summer learning programme encourages hands-on, active participation—whether creating, baking, testing, storytelling, solving puzzles, or joining in family games. This is purposeful learning that adapts to children’s rhythms and interests on any given day.
A Summer of Meaningful Moments
Every Monday, a new set of activities is released, grouped by age and theme. 3 Years old (FS1) to 11 (Yr 6) Tasks can be completed in any order, and children are free to pick what interests them most. Challenges range from core curriculum to practical experiments, life skills to wellbeing check ins.
Parents don’t need to prep anything in advance. Everything is clearly explained, and the format encourages independent work or collaborative family time. “As a working mum, I was blown away by how simple it was to get started,” shares Kim Tormey, a Dubai mum. “They can choose their own activities, with such wide variety. My children aged 5 and 8 will spend a block of time this summer with their grandparents so this is such a supportive tool to have at an incredible cost.”
Behind the scenes, a team of qualified educators reviews children’s work and offer feedback and encouragement. That layer of professional input makes The Sunshine Squad feel like more than just a summer workbook—it’s a supportive, interactive summer learning programme.
Built for School Communities
While The Sunshine Squad is designed for individual families, it’s also built with schools in mind. Schools that partner with Edsidera can offer the programme to their families and, in return, receive a percentage of each registration fee.
These funds are then made available to the school to spend in Edsidera’s partner catalogue—on teaching and learning resources for the upcoming academic year. From phonics kits and teaching resources to teaching resource subscriptions, books or school visits, the options are extensive.
“The Sunshine Squad is a personal teacher every child needs to bring learning to life” explains Rebecca Wallace, a UK Primary Headteacher “Developing life long skills and supporting learning and problem solving over the summer holidays. This affordable programme is designed and delivered by experts and offers world-class. fun-filled experience accessible anytime, anywhere.”
Edsidera will also provide each school with a portfolio of evidence and data at the end of the summer to support their school evidence about community engagement and support in the summer.
A Global Network of Expertise
Adding even more depth to the programme is Edsidera’s growing network of incredible global partners. From literacy advocates to sustainability experts, these organisations contribute exclusive content that helps make each week of The Sunshine Squad a truly rounded experience.
Simon Blower, founder of Pobble stated: ‘We are proud to be part of The Sunshine Squad because it’s a brilliant way to keep children writing, thinking, and expressing themselves creatively during the summer break. We’re excited to help make summer learning fun and meaningful but also to collaborate with many other brilliant organisations.
This collaboration brings even more value and enrichment to children’s learning and introduces ideas that go beyond the curriculum—empathy, environmental responsibility, global awareness, and teamwork. The 12 partners for The Sunshine Squad 2025 are: Pobble, White Rose Education, Monster Phonics, TeachRex, Nature Wave, Komodo, Morning Challenge, Squirrel, The Curiosity Approach, Mrs Mactivity, Mini Magicians, and Booktopia.
Flexible, Accessible, and Child-Led
With families increasingly travelling during the summer or relying on grandparents and carers to support their children, flexibility is everything. That’s why The Sunshine Squad‘s summer learning programme is built to be done anywhere, anytime—with no time limits, and no strict schedules. Activities work just as well in a hotel room, on a quiet afternoon indoors, or during a visit to family overseas.
There’s no pressure to complete every task. Children are encouraged to explore the challenges that interest them most, giving them a sense of agency and ownership over their learning. At the same time, the ongoing encouragement from the Edsidera educator team helps build motivation, resilience, and pride.
More Than a Summer Programme
The Sunshine Squad is more than just a set of summer tasks—it’s a thoughtful solution to the reality of modern family life. It balances freedom with structure, creativity with purpose, and flexibility with educational intent.
For schools, it’s a chance to stay connected to families, support student development over the holidays, and reinvest in quality learning tools. For parents, it’s a reassuring, ready-made solution that keeps children engaged and curious. And for children, it’s six weeks of discovery, growth, and fun—on their terms.
For more information about the programme, visit – https://edsidera.com/sunshine-squad-award/
Further reading:
- The Increasing Significance of Summer Programs for High School Students
- Why Should Your Kids Learn English Over the Summer Break?