13 Fun Summer Ideas
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1 HOST A PLAY DATE
Teach your kids how to plan a party. Make a list of people you want to invite. Decide what activity you want to do such as; nerf gun war, swim, water balloon fight, flashlight tag or hid-n-seek, create a treasure hunt, play Legos, do a craft.... ideas are endless. Once you decide what to do, let your children help with the invites, planning and hosting the event.
2 FIELD TRIP
Summer months are a good time to do all those field trips you purposed to do during the school year. A few ideas are; museums, zoo, farm, factory & business tours, watch a live court hearing, police or fire station tour, aquarium, tour your own city or cities near you, try looking up things to do on Trip Advisor or your city website.
3 LOCAL CLASSES, CAMPS & VBS
Check out your local Recreation Center for a schedule of classes and events. Register for a Vacation Bible Camp or summer camp at churches in your area. You could even do more than one VBS. Learn CPR or First Aid. Or your teen could take a babysitting course.
4 COUNTY & STATE PARKS
Print out a list of parks near you and purpose to visit them all. Let the kids make a map of all the parks they visit or make a scrapbook of your adventures.
5 SWEET TREATS
Visit all the local ice-cream shops, candy stores, bakeries and chocolate stores near you, not all in one day of course!
6 LIBRARY
Check out your local library for free community events. Join their summer reading program.
7 HOBBIES
Teach your kids a new hobby over the summer and help them master it.
8 COMMUNITY SERVICE
Teach your kids about being a good citizen. Make a list of ways they could give back to those in your community, then do them throughout the summer. If you have a high school aged student, you can keep a log of what they do to include with a job resume or college submissions. Some ideas are; pick up trash, weed or mow for an elderly person, make and pass out a food or care package to someone in need, volunteer at a food bank or donate food, volunteer at a Humane Society or library, do a random act of kindness for a stranger (search those words on the internet, you will find many websites to search for ideas), bake some muffins, bread or cookies for your neighbor.
9 CLUB
Start a summer club based off an interest your child has. You could meet once per week or twice per month. Invite others to join. Here is a good website to get you started
http://www.kidactivities.net/…/Clubs-for-School-Age-Kids.as…
10 NATURE COLLECTION
Start a nature collection with your kids, every time you go outside, to a park or go on a walk purpose to collect a new leaf, rock, flower, seed or bug. If you spot an animal take a picture or draw one to add to your collection. Set up a table or shelf specifically for displaying their collections and let your kids have fun decorating. Make nature crafts to display as well. Learn how to collect, preserve and display their bugs they catch. Identify and label all their findings.
11 MOVIES
Watch a new movie at the theater. Make your own movie or animation. Watch old family videos. Put on a play or puppet show. Create a How-To-Video and post it on YouTube. Watch old movies or an entire movie series...in one day. Move your TV or laptop outside, make a fort and watch a movie under the stars. Read a book based on a movie, then watch the movie. Watch only documentaries and learning movies for a week.
12 CAMPING
Camp somewhere new. Learn survival skills. Learn how to Whittle. Make an oven using cardboard and foil; place coals on the bottom in a pan then bake something. Try a new campfire recipe such as baking a muffin using an orange peel wrapped in foil and placed in the fire on coals or a campfire stew. Learn knife throwing technique or archery.
13 SCIENCE EXPERIMENTS
You know all those science experiments you have wanted to do but never had the time? summer is a great time to do these. Invite friends to do a science fair at your home. Do some research on dry ice then go get some at your local grocery store. Here is a link to my favorite experiment to do with dry ice http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/experiments/dryicebubble.html. Here is another link of some fun science experiments http://lemonlimeadventures.com/must-try-summer-science-act…/ . Our favorite science books are Janice VanCleave’s 200 Gooey, Slippery, Slimy, Weird & Fun Experiments, Make it Work by David Glover and Robotics by Kathy Ceceri. Another idea is to order a gum making kit from Glee Gum or other science kits.
Teach your kids how to plan a party. Make a list of people you want to invite. Decide what activity you want to do such as; nerf gun war, swim, water balloon fight, flashlight tag or hid-n-seek, create a treasure hunt, play Legos, do a craft.... ideas are endless. Once you decide what to do, let your children help with the invites, planning and hosting the event.
2 FIELD TRIP
Summer months are a good time to do all those field trips you purposed to do during the school year. A few ideas are; museums, zoo, farm, factory & business tours, watch a live court hearing, police or fire station tour, aquarium, tour your own city or cities near you, try looking up things to do on Trip Advisor or your city website.
3 LOCAL CLASSES, CAMPS & VBS
Check out your local Recreation Center for a schedule of classes and events. Register for a Vacation Bible Camp or summer camp at churches in your area. You could even do more than one VBS. Learn CPR or First Aid. Or your teen could take a babysitting course.
4 COUNTY & STATE PARKS
Print out a list of parks near you and purpose to visit them all. Let the kids make a map of all the parks they visit or make a scrapbook of your adventures.
5 SWEET TREATS
Visit all the local ice-cream shops, candy stores, bakeries and chocolate stores near you, not all in one day of course!
6 LIBRARY
Check out your local library for free community events. Join their summer reading program.
7 HOBBIES
Teach your kids a new hobby over the summer and help them master it.
8 COMMUNITY SERVICE
Teach your kids about being a good citizen. Make a list of ways they could give back to those in your community, then do them throughout the summer. If you have a high school aged student, you can keep a log of what they do to include with a job resume or college submissions. Some ideas are; pick up trash, weed or mow for an elderly person, make and pass out a food or care package to someone in need, volunteer at a food bank or donate food, volunteer at a Humane Society or library, do a random act of kindness for a stranger (search those words on the internet, you will find many websites to search for ideas), bake some muffins, bread or cookies for your neighbor.
9 CLUB
Start a summer club based off an interest your child has. You could meet once per week or twice per month. Invite others to join. Here is a good website to get you started
http://www.kidactivities.net/…/Clubs-for-School-Age-Kids.as…
10 NATURE COLLECTION
Start a nature collection with your kids, every time you go outside, to a park or go on a walk purpose to collect a new leaf, rock, flower, seed or bug. If you spot an animal take a picture or draw one to add to your collection. Set up a table or shelf specifically for displaying their collections and let your kids have fun decorating. Make nature crafts to display as well. Learn how to collect, preserve and display their bugs they catch. Identify and label all their findings.
11 MOVIES
Watch a new movie at the theater. Make your own movie or animation. Watch old family videos. Put on a play or puppet show. Create a How-To-Video and post it on YouTube. Watch old movies or an entire movie series...in one day. Move your TV or laptop outside, make a fort and watch a movie under the stars. Read a book based on a movie, then watch the movie. Watch only documentaries and learning movies for a week.
12 CAMPING
Camp somewhere new. Learn survival skills. Learn how to Whittle. Make an oven using cardboard and foil; place coals on the bottom in a pan then bake something. Try a new campfire recipe such as baking a muffin using an orange peel wrapped in foil and placed in the fire on coals or a campfire stew. Learn knife throwing technique or archery.
13 SCIENCE EXPERIMENTS
You know all those science experiments you have wanted to do but never had the time? summer is a great time to do these. Invite friends to do a science fair at your home. Do some research on dry ice then go get some at your local grocery store. Here is a link to my favorite experiment to do with dry ice http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/experiments/dryicebubble.html. Here is another link of some fun science experiments http://lemonlimeadventures.com/must-try-summer-science-act…/ . Our favorite science books are Janice VanCleave’s 200 Gooey, Slippery, Slimy, Weird & Fun Experiments, Make it Work by David Glover and Robotics by Kathy Ceceri. Another idea is to order a gum making kit from Glee Gum or other science kits.
