Fifty Things To Do This Summer

It never fails – kids look forward to summer vacation nearly as much as Christmas, and twelve hours into it we hear the first, “Mom, I’m bored.  What can I do?”

We’re all glad for a break from the rigorous schedule of school, but not having to do anything turns into having nothing to do rather quickly.

Kids need to be engaged in something new almost daily or you’ll soon have a couch potato or two on your hands.  So in case you’re suffering from the summer blues already, or just want to be proactive, here’s a list of things your might want to do this summer.

1.  Build a fort in the backyard.  Cardboard boxes, blankets, whatever ya got.

2.  Make Kool-Aid ice.  (Fill an ice tray with Kool-Aid, freeze it, eat it alone or in a drink.)

3.  Fly a kite.  Make your own if you’re feeling ambitious.

4.  Pack a dinner and take it to the park.

5.  For that matter, you could have a picnic right in your backyard, or your living room on a rainy day.

6.  Bake cookies.  (In the morning if it’s hot!)

7.  Let the kids set up a Popsicle or lemonade stand.

8.  Play doctor.  Now, don’t go thinking this is dirty.  You get an old phone and a notebook for making appointments, a card table for a reception desk, maybe a waiting room in the living room and the exam room in the kitchen?  Be sure to have band-aids and gauze for any ailing patients.

9.  Have a bike race.

10.  Or a bike parade!  Let the kids decorate their bikes with streamers and balloons.

11.  Run through sprinklers.

12.  Play-doh creation contest.  See who can build the best alien, wedding cake, longest snake, etc..

13.  Movie day!  Pop popcorn, give out tickets, make posters with show times, invite the neighbor kids.

14.  Make a bug habitat and find some residents for it.

15.  Go to the library.  Most have pretty cool summer programs going on.

16.  Tell the kids to plan a talent show for Mom and Dad to watch.  (Or grandparents?)

17.  Let the kids make their own summer scrapbooks and spend three months filling it up!

18.  Read a book under a tree with an apple.

19.  Pick berries at a farm.

20.  Watch for community activities throughout the summer – check your city’s web page.

21.  Water balloon fight, or water balloon volleyball  – (two kids hold opposite ends of a towel and launch a balloon across a net or imaginary line, team on the other side has to catch it in their towel and re-launch to the other side.)

22.  Sidewalk chalk mural in the driveway.  Make it HUGE!

23.  Sleep under the stars.

24.  Take a walk through the neighborhood, let the kids take a picture with your camera of something they’d like to paint, (a rosebush, a pond, a bug…), and come home and let them paint their representation of it.

25.  Visit an elderly neighbor who might need some company.

26.  Visit Dad at work and go to lunch together.

27.  Play school.  (Sounds awful this soon out of it, but kids love to take turns being the teacher.)

28.  Game day.  Pull out every board game you have and play them all, indoors or out.

29.  Drive in movie – have the kids spend a day making cars out of cardboard boxes and park them in the backyard at night and watch a movie outside.  (Just bring an old TV out and plug it in to an extension cord or something.)

30.  Spa day.  Give each other mud facials, manicures, etc.

31.  Go to the community pool.

32.  Invest in a slip n’ slide.  Hours of fun, all summer long.

33.  Teach your kids a new sport – tennis, baseball, whatever.

34.  Learn something new with your kids – chess, cross-stitch, French, anything that strikes your fancy.

35.  Check out a library book about plants and identify some in your neighborhood.  Same could be done for trees and bugs.

36.  Invite friends over.  All their old games and adventures will feel new if they have someone to share them with.

37.  Plant a garden or a flower.

38.  Practice your cartwheels, hand-stands, somersaults, etc.  Attach a ribbon to a dowel and do a ribbon dance.

39.  Make simple scenery and costumes and put on a play.  Or just use your imagination and skip the scenery.

40.  Play hopscotch or jump rope.

41.  Color in a coloring book.

42.  Explore a new part of town – is there a park or restaurant you haven’t tried?

43.  Build a bird feeder out of an empty milk carton.

44.  Go hiking.

45.  Make your own ice cream.

46.  Climb a tree.

47.  Wash the car.

48.  Go to a museum.  I bet you can find a free one near you.

49.  Go camping!  Don’t forget the s’mores.

50.  Have a carnival.  Tell your kids and their friends to make their own game or booth, invite them all to your backyard and have a blast!  Try making your own corn dogs, elephant ears, or snow cones.  (Or all of them if you like to slowly kill your innards like I do.)

Post Note - This is an article I wrote for a website about a year ago.  I was an idiot and just gave them my content for free.  Nice, huh?  So I'm re-posting it here because I can and because I think it's relevant, and they can bite me.