Ah yes. Summer again. What a relief! No responsibilities for two months. Nothing but endless sunshine and good times. You can stay up late and sleep in even later. You can read books by the dozen and go on exciting road trip with friends. Movies, concerts, dancing: you name it and you’re going to do it! You can… What’s that? Daydreaming again? We understand. Happens to the best of us.
Turns out you’re not a kid anymore, are you? In fact, you have your own kids. For them, summer is nothing but endless sunshine and good times. And for you, dear Mom? Summer means you get to work your buns off so your kids can, decades later, daydream about the summers they once had.
Make no mistake, those sixty consecutive days without scholastic relief: they can be daunting. How will you will make it through? How will you make happy those wonderful, whiny little people you gave birth to and keep them from strangling each other (or you from strangling them)?
Don’t worry, we’ve been there, and we have a handful of suggestions that will help carry you through and, more importantly, allow you to set some of the planning aside and simply take joy in spending time with your lovelies.
So, without further ado, fun family activities for summer:
- Visit an amusement park and ride roller coasters
- Play a few rounds of mini golf
- Go to the movies (mix it up by taking them to the drive-in one night)
- Blow bubbles in the yard while Dad grills out
- Visit the state or county fair (entering a contest like baking can make for a fun family adventure)
- Go berry picking and then make jam or preserves later that day
- Have a picnic at a local park (food plus playground equals naps for everyone when you get home!)
- Write and film a short movie (your kids will be the stars, of course; use your smartphone to record and edit it)
- Go to the lake for a swim or to fish
- Go camping and take a long hike
- Play tennis, bocce ball, badminton, beach volleyball, etc. (if your kids are old enough, you can pit them against Mom and Dad, which always seems to delight the little ones)
- Visit the beach and collect seashells
- Go to a Major League Baseball game
- Visit a different museum each week
- Help them plan a 4th of July parade for your neighborhood (outfit everyone in patriotic clothing and help them build their own float)
- Enroll the whole family in pottery classes or painting classes
- Learn a foreign language together (yes, it’s possible, and yes, it can even be fun!)
- Do charity work together like collecting canned food or working in a soup kitchen twice a month (let them see that helping others can feel good and be fun too)
There you have it. Have we drained the well of all possibilities? Of course not. But implement several of these in your weekly routines and you’ll find not only that the hours and days fly by, but that you’ll have wonderful family fun along the way.
Image credit: depositphotos.com, image ID:46804091, copyright:Gorilla
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Aspen Jay says
Oh, Meredith, you brought back the carefree days of summer! But now with kids, summer has definitely taken on a new element. Thanks for this list of summer activities, I still need to take my family to a baseball game, I think my boys would love it!
Hope your summer is going well and full of fun!
AJ
Meredith says
Yes! Summer with kids is SO different, Aspen! Go rock it for all it’s worth–and hope the baseball game is a blast!