Summer Activities for the Kids
Reading Time: 5 minutes Listen to the podcast version:
Summertime is fun time:
Plan ahead for activity and fun for the kids
Your kids are so excited, summer is finally here!
You still remember the “I am so bored” and “there’s nothing to do” from last summer. Before you resign yourself to a couple months of fighting over screen time and struggle with constant entertainment ideas, let’s get creative and find summer activities that your kids will love.
Create a Schedule
This sounds so boring!
A regular schedule enables you all to have more fun time, but get all of the “have-to’s” done. It is a great idea to keep academics in your child’s mind.
I recommend the bulk of the schedule be in the morning. This way, everyone wakes up and knows exactly how to start their day. You can do this with chore charts, whether digital, paper, or whiteboard so that everyone in the family can just “check off” what they need to do.
What should you put on the regular schedule?
Schedule Ideas:
- Make bed/Pick up room
- Brush teeth/Wash face
- Feed pets
- Fix breakfast/clean up afterwards
- Read for 20 minutes
- Write (journal, free write, etc)
- Math puzzles
- Exercise (take a walk together, this can be evening also to wind down)
- Chores (Age Appropriate Chores for Middle School)
- Prep needed for the day (ie. sunscreen, water bottle, etc)
Playdates
These sound so “normal.”
As an aside, if your child is getting older, don’t call these playdates, think of something else, like get togethers.
The reality is kids are social creatures. They usually enjoy being around others their age.
Schedule a time weekly or bi-weekly when you can have a friend to your house and then when your kiddo can to to their friend’s home.
This gives you a little free time as well! (Coming next month: Self Care Ideas for Moms: An Essential Guide to De-Stress this Summer)
Do you want to “structure” the playdate time to make it extra fun?
You can also check out some great Dollar Tree craft ideas!
Playdate ideas:
- Build a fort
- Water games (balloons, hose, sprinkler, slip and slide, etc.)
- Giant bubbles
- Crafts (this category has at least 100 ideas in your kiddo’s age range, check out Pinterest)
- Paint (there are a lot of ways to paint, so this is a large category as well)
- Bake/Cook
- Legos
- Dress Up
- Science Experiments
- Karaoke
Summer Camps
Camps come in all shapes and sizes. There are day camps, overnight camps, specialty camps, religious camps, etc. Camps are a fabulous way to grow your child’s interest in a specific talent or hobby, have fun with other children, and give you a welcome break.
My warning about camps is that many daycare programs call themselves ‘camps’ during the holidays or school vacation times. Look at the program carefully. I noticed that at a local sports camp, the main sports activities were happening in the morning. The entire afternoon program was a loosely structured day care program. Fortunately, they offer a program where parents can pay for just half days, so you can choose to have your child in just the activity part of the day.
Popular Camps (found in most cities)
- Sports Camps (basketball, gymnastics, soccer, etc.)
- Activity Camps (could be considered sports: rock climbing, horseback riding, canoeing, etc.)
- Nature Camps (hiking, learning about nature like birds, trees, etc)
- STEM Camps (growing in popularity, you may find these offered at a local community college)
- Drama Camps (you may have a children’s performance each summer from a local camp)
- Zoo Camp (and other specialty camps)
- Robotics (like STEM, robotics and coding camps are increasing in popularity)
- Games (many cities offer Minecraft camps, if you have a local game store, see if they offer something)
- Music/Band Camp
- Traditional Camps (Boy or Girl Scouts)
Grab this freebie and create unique traditions today!
Creating Deeper Family Connections
Amidst the “Crazy”
10 Unique ideas to start and build lasting traditions
- I have done all of them
- I asked my boys what we did that meant a lot to them: this is what they said
- #10 is a tear jerker, get out the tissue, but every mom says she is so glad she knows about it, as it was the most important to begin.
Together Time
Plan time together. Sometimes, when we have, for example the whole summer, we do not actually plan activities to do together.
Sit down together, or if you have more than one child, all of you. Look at all of the things you can do together this summer that are near you, within day trip range.
Get out the calendar. Start putting what you will do and when on the calendar. This gives everyone something to look forward to and everyone gets input into summer activities they want to do.
Together Time Ideas
- Summer Movies (Harkins Theater “Summer Movie Fun” which is movies your child may have seen, but they are really inexpensive-usually $1.50 a ticket-and a fun thing to plan each week)
- Day Trips: What is near you? We live in a smaller town, but Phoenix is only 2 hours away. We can plan family comedy night, museums, botanical garden, aquarium, car museum, etc.
- History: Like the day trips, what natural features are within a day’s visit? For example, we have lava tubes close by.
- Library: the library almost always has something going on regularly, the trick may be finding something special for each age group, but check out their schedule.
- Geocaching (turn hiking into a scavenger hunt: this is explained at length in Spring Break Activities.
- Canoeing or Kayaking
- Groupon (find something close by you can all go to at a discount, we love Bearizona)
- Picnic and Play (the park, a lake, etc. the kids get to help pack the lunch)
- Regular board game day/night
- Craft or hobby you all do together (I like origami, there are so many different levels and you can then “hang” the done creations in a room to decorate)
Summer activities for kids are easy and fun as long as you give yourself some time to plan. When you are able to take a little from each category, you are able to provide different and exciting activities weekly.
It is very important for you to achieve a sense of balance during the summer. While providing great summer activities for the kids, you still need to get your “stuff” done and have some alone time. Be sure to check out: Self Care Ideas for Moms: An Essential Guide to De-Stress this Summer.
“The best things happen by chance.” Dory, Finding Dory