Never
Too Soon to Start Planning for Summer Vacation!!!
To help
prevent kids from experiencing the summer slide, engage them in some
educational activities.
Reading/Writing
1. Create and distribute a family or community newsletter
2. Keep a summer journal
3. Write and direct a play or puppet show.
4. Write letters to family and friends
5. Join a summer reading program, such as one found at your
local library or Barnes and Noble.
6. Challenge yourself to finish all of the books on a list, such
as the ASLC Summer Reading List.
Science
7. Spend rainy days looking at the resources found on the
Ultimate Guide to Teaching Science.
8. Conduct a science experiment
9. Find out what plants are in your yard using a field guide or
an app like Project Noah.
Math
10. Take a free summer math course, such as the Summer Math
Challenge
11. Grab a measuring tape or ruler and start measuring random
plants outside
12. Figure out the perimeter of the local pool
13. Count your steps as you walk and try to get in a certain
number of steps each day
Other Activities
14. Plan a trip by getting out a map and tracking where you want
to go. You don’t have to go, just pretend
15. Go geocaching
16. Go letterboxing
17. Take a course or learn a new skill, using some of the
resources on the Ultimate Guide to Free Online Self-Learning for Kids
18. Visit a museum. Many museums offer free days throughout the
summer. Bank of America customers and military families can also get free
admission to museums during the summer
Socially Responsible Activities
Summer is also a great time to teach kids to give back to the
community through volunteering, taking care of the environment, and other
socially responsible activities. Try out a few of these suggestions this
summer.
Volunteering
19. Read stories to or play games with residents of a local
nursing home
20. Spend time visiting the animals at a local animal shelter
21. Serve a meal as a family at a local food bank
22. Use a service like VolunteerMatch.org to find organizations
in your area that need volunteers.
Helping Others
23. Visit with elderly neighbors
24. Offer to do chores for neighbors free of charge
25. Raise money for a local charity
26. Hold a neighborhood food drive
27. Donate items to a thrift store or charity
28. Do random acts of kindness
29. Take snacks to the local police or fire station
30. Offer to watch a friend’s dog or cat while they go on
vacation
Helping the Environment
31. Clean up trash in your neighborhood or at a local park
32. Start recycling cans and bottles at home and encourage
neighbors to do the same
33. Plant a garden
34. Make bird feeders
35. Go the farmer’s market. Check out Local Harvest to find one
near you
36. Pick your own fruits or vegetables. Find a farm using Pick
Your Own
37. Practice conserving water by taking shorter showers and
watering plants in the evening
38. Start a compost pile
39. Raise butterflies
Money-Making Activities
While most kids aren’t old enough to get an
official summer job, they can use the summer to make some extra spending money.
Encourage them to earn money to save up for a toy or other item they really
want instead of just going out and buying it for them. Some suggestions for
making money include:
40. Mow lawns
41. Sell lemonade
42. Make and sell crafts like bracelets
43. Ask parent or neighbors to do chores for pay
44. Bake and sell baked goods
45. Have a garage sale or toy swap
46. Walk dogs
47. Weed gardens and water plants
48. Play an instrument in a public place
49. Sell clothes and toys to a local consignment shop
Fun Activities
Of course, at the end of the day, summer is a
chance for kids to have fun. There are lots of ways to have fun at home and in
your local community.
Cooking and Food
50. Make a pitcher of sun tea
51. Make ice cream in a bag
52. Make sculptures using fruits and vegetables
53. Mix whipped cream and food coloring to make edible paint
54. Place different flavored fruit juices into paper cups, add a
wooden stick, and freeze to make popsicles
Arts and Crafts
55. Paint or draw a picture.
56. Practice your photography skills by taking close-up photos
of animals and plants
57. Host an art show featuring artwork created by kids
58. Make a picture or sculpture using items found in nature
59. Draw with sidewalk chalk
60. Create a sidewalk chalk mural
61. Paint on the house or sidewalk with water
62. Tie-dye a t-shirt
63. Put watered down paint into a squirt gun and spray it on
paper outside
64. Collect and paint rocks
65. Gather leaves and create leaf rubbings
66. Dry out flowers by pressing them between two heavy books
67. Mix bubbles with food color to make popped bubble art
68. Paint your feet and walk on white paper outside
Community Events
69. Listen to music. Many towns offer free outdoor musical
performances during the summer
70. Go to a fair or festival. Fairs and Festivals highlights
many of these events around the United States
71. Attend a baseball game. Many minor league games offer
inexpensive tickets
72. Host a neighborhood carnival with simple games such as ring
toss and bean bag toss
73. Go bowling. Kids Bowl Free partners with local bowling
alleys to let kids bowl free all summer
74. Take a picnic to a local park
75. See a movie. Many movie theaters, such as Cinemark’s Summer
Movie Clubhouse and Regal’s Summer Movie Express play free or $1 kid movies
during the summer. Cities and towns also often sponsor summer movies under the
stars.
Rainy Day Activities
76. Play a board game
77. Make up a new card game
78. Design a new board game
79. Have a movie marathon
80. Visit a fun website, like those found on our Top Free 100
Education Sites
81. Jump in puddles
82. Make a rain gauge and measure how much rain you get
83. Redecorate your room
84. Set up a tent indoors and have an indoor camp out
Water Activities
85. Have a water balloon fight
86. Hold a wet sponge toss where you try to land wet sponges on
a target on the ground
87. Run through the sprinkler
88. Buy a kiddie pool and soak your feet
89. Play “Does it sink or float?” in a kiddie pool
90. Fill a tub with water and use measuring cups and other water
toys to play with it
91. Fill bottles with different amounts of water and blow across
them to make music
92. Fill buckets, squirt guns, and other containers with water
and have a water fight
Backyard Activities
93. Make a fort using cardboard boxes, sheets, or tree branches
94. Have a picnic in your backyard
95. Camp in your backyard
96. Make a mini-golf course using plastic tubs with holes cut in
them
97. Lay on a blanket and watch the clouds
98. Blow bubbles using different items, such as slotted spoons
and funnels as bubble wands
99. Grab glow sticks and play a game of glow tag in the dark
100. Make a stunt track for your toy cars in a pile of rocks or
dirt
Fun with Friends
101. Have a neighborhood scavenger hunt and see who can find all
the items first
102. Ride bikes around the neighborhood
103. Have a dance party
104. Challenge friends to competitions, such as who can stand on
one foot for the longest or who can jump the highest
105. Make up a special summer song or chant
106. Start a game of kickball or capture the flag
Whether it’s Make Something Monday,
Wander Somewhere Wednesday, or Fabulous and Fun Friday, there’s plenty of fun
to be had all summer long. What do you love to do with your kids in the summer?
Share your ideas in the comments to
help our list grow!
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