Hey Moms: School's Out! Are You Ready? Here's 50 Fun Things To Do This Summer
Dreading the guaranteed 'I'm bored'? How to transition to summer and give yourself the break you deserve!
So, we’ve arrived. It is summer vacation. Or it will be in a few days. Are you ready? Are the kids ready?
Take a breath, one, two three. The June madness is almost over. It is time to shift gears and think about summer.
For some of you, the transition to summer is a breeze. No worries, no cares, just long lazy days at the beach…
For others, summer can be a long moan of "I'm bored Moms" with you counting down to the start of school. Here are some ways to enjoy summer more and get the most out of your extra time with your children:
• Kids thrive on routines. We all know that. So start by putting some structure into the day. How about having the kids do a few chores after breakfast? Or making a craft or doing some worksheets for 20 minutes? You could ask the kids to read aloud positive affirmations, write in a gratitude journal, or do some reading.
• Plan some me-time. A quick swim at a local pool early in the morning before your husband leaves for work? A night out with the girls where the only thing asked of you should be from a waiter or waitress saying ‘can I get you another….?’ Plan a morning walk with a neighborhood friend or spend a week or two with your mother.
• Get a calendar and plan ahead.
• Keep a rainy day jar or envelope filled with ideas, coupons, tickets for places to go and things to do on a rainy day.
Here is a list of 50 things to do with your kids this summer:
• If you have children over 8, consider volunteering. Kids enjoy doing something where they can make a difference. Think of an activity where your kids will find purpose and meaning in what they are doing.
• Go to a baseball game: Get tickets to a baseball game in your area.
• Go to the zoo.
• Go to story time at your local library.
• Have a rockin’ picnic in a park. Try an all-pink picnic or a watermelon and peanut butter picnic. If you are reading a favorite book, why not bring foods to match the book, like a ‘Wizard of Oz’ picnic or a ‘Captain Underpants Picnic.” Consider a princess picnic, a superhero picnic, an all-ice cream picnic, a marshmallow picnic, a fruity noodle picnic or a starry night picnic.
• Set up a volleyball net in your backyard. Or tetherball, an obstacle course. How about a mini golf-course?
• Buy some potato sacks and invite the neighborhood kids for a day of races.
• Make some homemade puppets, a cardboard box puppet theatre and work along with your kids to write scripts on subjects that interest them. How about a puppet show on bullying? Or a fantasy puppet show on aliens and swamp monsters?
• Set up some sprinklers and create a water park in your backyard.
• Visit a water park.
• Make a peach pie. Or a cherry pie, blueberry pie or rhubard pie? How about declaring one day this summer Pie Day and make a bunch of pies. Then invite some guests over that night for a Pie Eating Party.
• Make homemade popsicles. Consider banana coconut popsicles, cherry popsicles, watermelon popsicles, orange juice popsicles, lemonade popsicles, pomegranate juice popsicles, candy bar popsicles, root beer popsicles, orange soda popsicles.
• Go to a local ice cream stand. Lots and lots of times.
• Spend a day at the beach making sand castles of all sorts. Have your children draw out their sand castles the day before you go.
• Go to the beach and take family pictures. Have everywhere wear a pair of blue jeans and a white shirt. Take the picture around sunset.
• Build a treehouse.
• Build a dollhouse.
• Buy a book on plays and have your children practice reading the plays aloud. Do a performance towards the end of summer, after they have practiced the play. A great way to get them reading.
• Make a treasure chest and throughout the summer, buy little trinkets to fill it with. Let the kids know that it will be donated to the organization of their choice—perhaps a local homeless shelter for children who are going through a rough time. When you visit dollar stores or find great (and safe) items at bargain prices, put it in the treasure chest.
• Plan a family talent show. Invite grandparents, cousins, aunts, uncles, to perform at this family event. Serve popcorn, hotdogs and root beer floats and get ready for a great evening.
• Go on a hike. Find some interesting walking paths in your area, bring along a camera and a notebook and keep track of what you see.
• Take the kids to a local bike path and pedal away.
Find out all the goings on at your local library.
• Call your city hall and ask for a tour.
• Visit your town's historic association and tour old homes.
• Find out if any movie theatres in your area offer free movies during the summer.
• Find out what is happening at parks in your town and cities nearby and mark events in your calendars. Try a summer night’s concert, or a children’s festival.
• Make a list of interesting and inspiring people you want your child to learn about and take some time this summer to read about them.
• Try a new recipe each week.
• Put together a list of books that the whole family can read and create your own family. Once everyone reads the book, spend an evening talking about it together.
• Plan something special that the children can do for their grandparents.
• On rainy days, plan a game day—Monopoly, Mexican train, Candy Land, Scrabble.
• Plant a garden and have everyone keep a written journal or a photo journal of the garden’s process throughout the summer.
• Make jewelry, wrap it, and deliver it as a gift to friends.
• Plan a poetry writing picnic and invite everyone to write some poems at a local park.
• Keep art supplies in an easy-to-access place and invite the kids to draw, paint and create whenever the mood hits them.
• Have the kids help you put all your photos into albums.
• Learn to sew, knit or crochet.
• Take a one-day cake decorating class.
• Get out your blender and try a new smoothie recipe each week.
• Plan an outdoor movie night.
• Go strawberry picking.
• Invite all the relatives you haven’t seen in ages over for a barbecue. Your kids will enjoy getting to know more of their family.
• Get a fire pit and invite the whole neighborhood over to toast marshmallows and sit around the fire.
• Plan a family sing-a-long.
• Learn a new word from the dictionary each day.
• Plan a special strawberry lunch, with strawberry cream cheese sandwiches, strawberry milk shakes, strawberry cake and strawberries dipped in chocolate.
• Go to a local amusement park.
• Find out about free concerts within an hour’s drive.
• On a rainy day, have some musicals handy and invite your kids to enjoy an all-musicals day. They just may end up liking it!
• Invite your kids to watch all the movies you loved as a child.
• Plan a Random Act of Kindness day and give out flowers, dollar bills, and toys to people you meet along the way.
• Play hide-and-seek
• Play tag.
• Buy a face-painting kit, a cotton candy machine, and a ring-toss game and play a mini-carnival for the kids in the neighborhood.
• Put up a chalkboard and invite your kids to play school.
• Get some play food, cups and dishes and let the kids play restaurant.
• Make a list of great books you would love your kids to read.
• Create a town newspaper and help your kids interview well-known people around town.
• Visit local farms.
• Give all your kids a camera or a disposable camera and take pictures of interesting places during the summer. Then in August, put together an Our Summer scrapbook.
• Start a family band.
• Learn a foreign language.
• Plan a multicultural barbecue and try barbecuing foods from around the world.
• Sign your kids up for a first-aid class.
• Make homemade ice cream.
• Sign your kids up for an art, dance or music class.
• Make a list of interesting museums, parks, lakes, and sites within an hour’s drive and visit one each week.
• Get free passes from your local library to visit museums in your area.
• Drive to a nearby big city and have lunch.
• Sign your kids up for a soccer, baseball or basketball camp.
• Find out if local baseball teams are offering a baseball camps.
• Make homemade macaroni salad, chicken salad and fruit salad.
• Open a bank account where your children can learn how to save.
