Summer can seem like a really long time to the youngest members of your family. If you’ve recently moved into an new area, your children might need a little more guidance on what to do during their two months out of school. Here are 20 fun and exciting activities to do with your children this summer.
Outdoor Fun
- Allow your children to invent their own game. You will want to gather up different kinds of balls, bats and nets. Once in the yard, start playing and encourage your children to makeup their own rules.
- A neighbourhood scavenger hunt is a great way for kids to explore their local area. Come up with a short list of items to find and clues to locate them.
- A bike ride is a great way to explore new neighbourhoods and learn more about maps. Take your kids to an area they’ve never been to and take turns using the map to find a park for a picnic lunch.
- We’ve got talent! Make friends with neighbours by having them over once a month during the summer for a talent show. Put up a sheet over the fence in the backyard for a backdrop. It’s a great way to make new friends and learn more about each other.
- Designate one day each month to go green. You and your children can spend the day cleaning up trash from a local park. It’s a great way to teach your kids about giving back to the community.
- armer market day. Take a trip to the local farmer’s market to learn more about what kinds of fruits and veggies grow in the area. Make sure each of you tries something new.
- Create your own garden. Enlist your children’s help to plant, water and tend a small garden in your back yard. You will want to include a variety of vegetables and herbs.
- Our feathered friends. Buy a wooden birdhouse or feeder for you and your children to paint and decorate. Use this chance to learn more about the birds that you expect to see dining at the feeder.
Staying Inside
- Create an indoor flower garden. You can cut out circle centres and triangles of varying colours for the petals. Your children can glue the petals to the centre and come up with all kinds of new flowers.
- Play beauty shop with your daughter. Get out your nail polish and take turns painting each other’s fingernails and toenails.
- On a rainy day, it is time for some puddle jumping. Put on some old clothes and try seeing who can make the biggest splash in the puddles
- Most libraries offer a summer reading program. Have your child pick a topic that interests them like dogs or horses and check out a new book each week that has that theme.
- Bonding with reading. It is sometimes hard to bond with a teenage child. This summer, allow them to choose a book that you will both read and discuss.
- If you have a child that enjoys making up stories, it is time to write a book. Take turns writing a chapter each and then reading them aloud. (They can be a couple pages each depending on the child’s age)
- Toddler matching games. Your toddler enjoys matching things, and a basket of colourful socks is a great way for them to play.
- Masks who you are. Use papier-mâché to create masks and allow your child to create a new persona. You can bring in sequins and feathers along with the glue and paint to make each mask unique.
- Buy each of your children a journal. Over the summer months, have them create an illustrated journal of the new things and experiences that they have had.
- Cardboard boxes. If you have recently moved in, you will have plenty of cardboard boxes that your children can turn into cars, forts and anything else they can dream up.
- Help your smaller children create a card for a special holiday or birthday. Look around the house and yard for material to decorate the card like leaves and flowers.
- Make a musical instrument. You can use and water bottle or put dried beans between two plates to make a tambourine.
Summer is meant to be a child’s chance to enjoy the warm weather and a break from school. With these fun ideas, you can keep them from complaining that there’s nothing to do.
Photo credit: stock.adobe.com
Posted by Terry Paranych on
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