Summertime is family time. Most K-12 students spend most of the year in school, so make the most of their lengthy break to do something fun. Consider these six summer activities for kids to create unforgettable memories this season.
1. Make Ice Cream From Scratch
Beat the heat with homemade frozen goodies. Although store-bought ice cream products are everywhere, making some at home is exciting and educational.
You can create any flavor you fancy and invent new ones, allowing your children’s imagination to run wild. Understanding how food works can entice picky eaters to be more gastronomically curious and adventurous. Plus, they’ll more likely appreciate treats when they’re part of the process.
Satisfying your frozen cravings is painless when you have an ice cream maker. If you don’t have one, use an electric mixer, blender or food processor instead. Making ice cream by hand can be an appealing proposition for young minds.
For example, the plastic bag method involves stuffing your ice cream mixture — made of heavy cream, chilled sweetened condensed milk, flavorings and mix-ins — in resealable bags and placing them in a larger bag with crushed ice sprinkled with coarse salt to lower water’s freezing point. After squeezing the air out, seal them tightly, massage them to distribute the ice evenly, shake the bags for a few minutes until frozen and voila — you have homemade ice cream.
2. Host Movie Nights Outdoors
Turn your backyard or the back of your pickup truck into a movie theater. Cinema is a dying art, so why not recreate the magic at home with a projector, a screen surface, cozy seats and refreshments?
Having a home theater doesn’t make this idea less tantalizing. Watching Hollywood flicks against the backdrop of a cloudless night sky with fresh drafts can be an exhilarating experience for your little cinephiles.
Movie marathoners are typically sedentary. Still, watching films for hours is an excuse to spend quality time with your loved ones without going anywhere or doing anything else. Enjoyable moments like this are precious because they relieve stress, foster relationships and strengthen family bonds.
Don’t forget to take breaks — an advantage of setting up a home cinema. Do occasional bladder checks and 60-second stretches to move muscles and aid blood circulation.
3. Convert Your Backyard Into Cropland
Get your children’s hands dirty as they discover agriculture. Gardening is one of those summer activities for kids that promotes holistic health. This activity familiarizes them with the science of cultivation, the plant life cycle and the roles of vegetation in ecosystems. Developing positive attitudes toward sustainability and conservation begins with basic environmental literacy.
Seeing crops blossom from seeds into fruits, vegetables, herbs and spices can pique your little one’s interest in farming. A backyard garden also gives you easy access to nutritious ingredients, allowing you to make your family’s plates as colorful as possible and encourage them to eat healthy regularly.
The best part is gardening is invigorating outdoor play for them. If you need to build raised garden beds, involving your children in construction on your watch enables them to learn rudimentary carpentry skills and boost their confidence.
4. Plan a Scavenger Hunt
Trick your kids into exercising and honing their cognitive traits by making them scour the backyard, neighborhood or park for random items. Scavenger hunts are loads of fun — they compel young minds to take a new perspective on ordinary environments and note details they typically ignore.
Being on a mission to find specific items gets their brains’ gears in motion at full throttle, encouraging them to collaborate to demystify clues, beat the time limit and finish the game together. Without realizing it, they can learn more about plants, the animal kingdom, colors, textures and scientific concepts.
Scavenger hunts are low to moderate physical activity. Whether you play or not, you’re part of the game. Following them around can help you burn about 140–280 calories in 30 minutes to 1 hour.
Consider incorporating playground equipment into the scavenger hunt to add an extra layer of excitement and physical activity. By hiding clues or items around slides, swings, and climbing frames, you can create a safe and stimulating environment that keeps your kids engaged and active.
When organizing a scavenger hunt for children of various ages, you must provide clues that suit their level of development and maturity. For example, younger players benefit from open-ended instructions, like something soft, blue or transparent. Older ones will find more specific hints engaging, so you use more nouns and fewer adjectives for descriptions.
Scavenger hunts don’t have to be disruptive. Use photography to document their findings instead of collecting them to leave the environment the same as they found it.
5. Learn an Emerging Sport
Try a new game with your kids. You’ll all start on the same level and gain experience at the same rate. It’s an interesting change of pace since you usually expose them to a sport you know and love. Many children relish playing on an equal footing with their parents during family bonding activities.
The question is — which sport would you pursue? Solicit ideas from everyone, shortlist the games none in the family have played and put it to a vote. Ideally, the candidates should have uncomplicated mechanics, require little to no training and be playable with simple equipment. For example, the game of pickleball fits the bill.
This racket sport should be high on your list of summer activities for kids because anyone familiar with badminton, tennis or ping-pong can quickly grasp it. All you need are some wooden paddles, a ball and a net to divide the court. Other solid options include frisbee golf, kayaking, karting, rock climbing, roller skating and skateboarding.
6. Spend the Night in a Forest
Camping is an informative experience for budding explorers. They can reconnect with nature and learn practical skills. You can also do it with friends with children of similar ages, allowing your young campers to socialize and bond while roasting marshmallows over a bonfire.
Generally, you can camp anywhere unless it’s labeled as off-limits. Still, there are rules and guidelines to follow. Visit the Bureau of Land Management’s site to choose from the 245 million acres of public lands under its care for more information.
If you haven’t done this with your family before, plan your trip prudently to minimize the inconveniences you may experience. Sound practices when camping with kids include keeping gear in one location to avoid forgetting essentials like mosquito nets, flashlights and sleeping bags, thinking twice about going on long drives, preparing food beforehand, taking things slow and maintaining the same nighttime routine. If your little ones don’t know how to swim, avoid a location with a body of water for safety.
Incorporate enlightening activities into your itinerary. Camping is full of teachable moments, so seize the opportunity to demonstrate firecraft, practice tying basic knots and name constellations.
Plan Physically and Mentally Beneficial Summer Activities for Kids
Summer breaks are an opportunity to do things you typically can’t do with your school-age children. With countless ideas to consider, prioritize those that promote physical or mental fitness or both to contribute to their development.
