Summer Fun for Everyone!

When I was growing up, I remember spending my summer breaks playing outside with the neighborhood kids. We would ride our bikes, skate and play ball. We would take a break for lunch and eat popsicles later in the day. Other days my mom and aunt would take my cousins and I to the community pool to swim. The list of summer fun was endless. 

We now live in a world filled with technology, and I often hear parents talk about how they feel as though their kiddos become easily bored or have trouble coming up with things to do. Coming up with ideas to keep the kids busy during the summer months can sometimes be a challenge. We want them to enjoy their summer break, and we want their summer packed with fun. 

Kids like to be included – especially when it comes to something they will be part of. Two ways to kick your summer off with excitement are to make a summer bucket list and make a fun, themed weekday schedule. 

A Summer Bucket List

Let your kids brainstorm what THEY want to do this summer. If you have smaller children, help them get their ideas on paper. Explain you are wanting to gather ideas and provide examples such as getting ice cream or visiting a new park. This allows for more realistic ideas instead of your kids listing “going to Disney World.” That may not be in the summer budget, but you could suggest going to Holiday World instead, or other places closer to home and less expensive. This will get their wheels rolling as they consider all the possibilities of summer fun. Have them make a list of places they want to go and things they want to do. 

Once each child has made their list, have them cut their ideas out and put them into a jar or container. To add another level of fun – let them create and/or decorate their own summer fun jar! This allows quality time to be spent with your children before summer even begins. 

You can decide how you want to go about checking things off your bucket list based on how many ideas your kid(s) have come up with. You may decide for them to draw out of their jar/container every Sunday night to see what bucket list item you plan to check off for the week, or if there are a bucket full of ideas then maybe your goal is to check off multiple items per week. 

Themed Weekdays

Another great idea for summer fun is to brainstorm with your kids five themes to focus on every weekday throughout the summer. For example, maybe every Monday you plan to have a movie night, Tuesdays visit a new park and Wednesdays bake a dessert, etc. Your kids will love coming up with ideas they are interested in and adventures/hobbies related to their age. Even if you have more than one child and an age gap, this can still be a great way to spend quality time together and each idea can be catered to each individual child. For example, craft days can focus on the same theme such as seashells, yet be geared towards each child’s age. A 3-year-old might paint a picture of a seashell while an 8-year-old might go a step further and create a seashell salt painting. There are so many different ideas you can find online or on Pinterest, so working together with your kids to come up with what you want to do each day will be fun. They will know what to expect each weekday based on the themes chosen, yet each week will look different because something new will be planned for those themes. If Wednesdays are for water fun then you might play in the water sprinkler one week and visit a splash pad the next Wednesday. Fridays might be for family night where one week you watch a movie, the next catch lightning bugs and another week play board games. It truly is all about your own individual family and what will be most enjoyable for your kids. 

Having a summer bucket list and/or making a themed weekday schedule is a great way to allow your children to use their imagination and creativity to come up with ideas for summer fun. It can also help take a little bit of pressure off of the parents knowing you already have summer adventures planned out ahead of time. Enjoy soaking in the quality time, the smiles, the laughs and the memories with your family this summer!