Summer Fun Schedule

Now that summer is here and the kids are home it won't be long til you start hearing "mom I am bored..." and you will be tasked with becoming an event planner or camp counselor on top of your many other jobs. To prepare for this task along with making sure we avoid the summer slip while school is out I sat down a few weeks before this year and created a summer fun schedule for this summer.

Here is a sneak peek at what we came up with

 To create your own you just need to follow a few easy steps:

Create a list of 10 different themes or topics: Get the kids involved in this brainstorming game and really try to build on what they are excited in. Do you have a little girl who is obsessed with princess? Great! Have a week focused on princesses. Do you have a boy as well that would hate doing princess activities for a week? Okay, turn it into Princess and Pirates week. Get creative and don't be afraid to explore something new.  To get you started here is a list of ones we came up with...

Out in Nature, Make a Splash (focused on water), Digging up Dinosaurs, Mad Science, Wild About Animals, A Pirates Life for Me, Sports Star, In the Kitchen, Wild Wild West, Blast Off into Outerspace!, Superheros, and Construction Zone

Pick what kind of activity you are going to do for each weekday: Any school teacher will tell you that the key to survival is routines and schedules. When the kids know that every Thursday they are going to the library it makes things much easier on both you and them and keeps them from asking you every day if they can go. To help you decide what kind of activities you want for each weekday check out some of these creative cuties I found on Pinterest.

http://staggfamilysummer2012.blogspot.jp/2012/05/summer-schedule.html?m=1

http://neboautism.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/summer-schedule.png?w=300&h=231

http://ourdailylegacy.blogspot.com/2013/06/summer-schedule.html

For my kids (ages 5 and 2) I went with the following

Make Something Monday, Take Me Out Tuesday, Whats Cooking Wednesday, Thinking Thursday, and Field Trip Friday

Create your chart:  Don't worry this is much easier than you think. All you need is a basic word processing program like Microsoft word to make a simple chart. I made mine 6 columns wide (one that says themes and the other 5 labelled with weekdays along with their chosen type of activity ie "make something monday") by 11 rows tall (First colum will have your weekdays and the other 10 I put the dates for that week in along with a space to write the theme ie "Out in Nature")

Fill in your chart with themes and activities: Remember that big list of themes you made? Here is when you write them on the first column of your chart. This was the hardest part for me as I had far more ideas and wanted me be sure to mix them up a bit. Once you know your order though just fill in activities on the corresponding days that match your theme (Again use pinterest to find ideas on craft projects, and baking). For example the first week of summer we are doing a "get into nature" theme. So we are doing the following activities:

Make something Monday: Decorate pots and plant flowers

Take Me Out Tuesday: Go on a nature walk and talk about plants and animals you see

Whats Cooking Wednesday: Make edible flower pots with crushed oreos, chocolate pudding, gummy worms, and construction paper flowers. 

Thinking Thursday: Read the Very Hungry Caterpillar and write draw the life cycle or a plant or bug. 

Field Trip Friday: Go to Botanical Gardens or Nature Park

Print and Play! 
Now that your organized just print out your calendar, decorate it and post it on the wall where the kids can see all the fun activities they are going to do this summer.


I know this sounds like a lot of work but most of the activities really can be accomplished in an hour or less, keep kids thinking and makes for great summer memories.

In addition to the activities on the calendar I also plan for my kids to participate in a summer reading program (check your public library or check back as I explain about other great options including making your own),  doing workbook pages 2-3 times a week to reinforce other academic skills, going to dollar movies at Regal cinemas, free bowling and of course lots of playing outside in the sun.

As with all things involving kids remember to be flexible. If you go on a vacation and miss a week don't worry, just save your great ideas for next summer and be sure to keep a copy of your calendar so you can recycle the ones you love year to year.

Good Luck and I hope you have a great summer! Be sure to check back from time to time as I post pictures from out fun summer activities. As always if you have any questions feel free to leave me a question in the comments along with your e mail and I will get back to you as soon as I can.