If you’re not a stay-at-home parent who can devote the majority of your time to your kids during their summer vacation, you’ll need to come up with some creative ways to keep your kids occupied this summer. Otherwise, your kids will definitely find ways to keep themselves entertained, which could include hours and hours of unstructured activity time filled with video games and YouTube surfing. Here are some ideas to get you started.
Make a List of Chores to Do
Before you move on to the next idea on the list, take a minute to find out why this is a good idea — and why it might work really well. Consider assigning a monetary value to each chore and placing it on a master checklist. When your child completes that specific chore in a satisfactory manner, he or she will get paid, which can be a powerful incentive. The benefits of offering chores and paying for them will teach your child the responsibility of completing tasks and also you can use it as an opportunity to teach your child how to manage money.
Thrift Store Mining
In your free time, take your children to the local thrift store and let them look for cheap items they can repurpose or experiment on in some type of way. For example, they might encounter items that they’ve never seen before and think of an unconventional way to use them. Or if you have a child that’s interested in seeing how things work, you could help him look for old electronic devices that he could take apart and put back together.
Teach Them How to Drive
Of course, this one depends on your child’s age. But if possible, teaching them how to drive and preparing them for a healthy permit stint is a great way to keep them occupied and busy. Not to mention it’s a productive way for them to spend their time, as they learn a new skill that they’ll use for the rest of their lives.
At the same time, it’s important to teach them about the safety of driving—teens are notorious for distracted driving when it comes to mobile devices. According to Lampert & Walsh, a personal injury firm in Denver, “holding teens accountable for their driving reinforces a safe road experience and can lessen the chance of an accident.” You may also want to invest in tools that offer reporting on driving data, like ADAS tools. Bonding with safety is beneficial for everyone in the long-run.
Create Story Rocks
Have your child collect rocks that are large enough to paint a small picture on. Once he collects enough rocks, set up a work area where he can paint. Tell him to think of a story he can tell by painting pictures or symbols on each rock. He’ll need to select a theme for the story, come up with a beginning, middle and end and go from there. This project is a great way to engage a child’s creativity and one he could repeat more than once.
Join a Summer Program or Sign Up for a Camp
Check into the National Park Service Junior Ranger Program for your children. To participate, they can visit a national park, complete the designated activities while there and submit answers to a park ranger. Upon completion of the activities, they’ll receive a patch and a certificate. If you don’t have a national park close by your home, check with your state park for similar programs. And if you go to the NPS site, you can find details about how to participate online from home instead of visiting a park.
There are also tons of summer camps available that you can sign your kids up for, and some of them still have spots available. For example, you could look into fashion camps or adventure camps to really hone in on your child’s interests.
Encourage Your Kids to Come Up With a Business Idea
If you have an older child, you may want to encourage her to start her own business. Babysitting, pet sitting, collecting mail and watering plants for neighbors on vacation, reselling items on eBay, organizing a yard sale or mowing lawns are all viable ideas. As part of the experience, you can help your child open her first checking and savings accounts.
Get Creative When Limiting Screen Time
If you’ve allowed your child to have screen time in the past, you can’t really expect him to quit cold turkey in the summer. But it does need to be limited. You could pay your child with screen time instead of giving him money for chores he completes. You could also create a daily schedule with a block of time scheduled for your child to use a tablet, gaming console, computer or handheld device.
Write a Play
If you have artistic, imaginative children, encourage them to write a play, practice acting it out and them put on a production for the neighborhood kids and families. Depending on your child’s age, you may need to give some background information on what a play consists of or provide a template to make planning out the play less complicated.
Create an Arts-and-Crafts Table
Most kids like arts-and-crafts, so get together the supplies for an immersive experience. Or if you’re afraid to turn your kids loose with a ton of art supplies, you can plan arts-and-crafts activities each week with your kids and make sure they have only the supplies they need. Tons of websites, including Pinterest, exist to help inspire you when planning activities.
