Like every mom, I find summer a particular challenge. I work from home, so trying to actually work while keeping the kids entertained, and — to be honest — out of my hair, is just plain hard. My office is right by the front door, so my girls are constantly in and out, for popsicles and to announce their latest squabble. And then there’s my favorite: “I’m bored.” Can you relate? What I needed was 8 weeks of summer fun ideas for kids — ideas that I could plan in advance.
We’ve tried various antidotes: a summer fun jar and a bucket list. But, invariably, the girls pick an activity that I haven’t actually managed to prepare for.
So this year, I thought that if we could choose all the activities ahead of time, I could get all the supplies in advance. This is obviously not rocket science, but I am determined to get this summer under control.
Free Summer Fun Printables
To help me get organized, I created three sets of printables, and I’m happy to share them here with you:
- Week 1 through Week 8
- Books, Supplies, Phones labels
- Daily activities cards – set 1 and set 2
The summer banner is a free printable from The Crafting Chicks that you can find here. I matched the colors of my printables to their banner.
The idea is simple: if we pick several activities for each week, then I can be ready for the week, and decide which week is best for which activity.
I chose eight activities for each week: read, project, adventure, chore, play, craft and bake. My girls and I brainstormed most of the summer activities, and the rest we will revisit at the end of June. We put one of each card in a party favor bag and labeled each bag with Week 1 and so on.
I also made labels for a book library, crafting and baking supplies, and a phone basket – because I am also determined to get their faces out of their screens this summer.
I arranged everything on my pink bar cart so it’s right outside my office door. I should be able to point the girls to the cart for craft supplies or games when they announce their boredom. As a backdrop, I used a large frame from Hobby Lobby. I inserted foam core board in the opening. To the board, I pinned calendars for June and July with our camps and special days noted.
Here are our activities under each category, in case you can use any of these ideas.
Read
Keeping in mind that my girls are 12:
- Helen Keller biography
- A Dog’s Purpose
- Mockingjay
- Tenney
- Serafina and the Black Cloak
- I Had a Hammer
- Courage to Soar
- The One and Only Ivan
- The Incredible Journey
- Where the Red Fern Grows
Project
These are actually projects for my husband mainly; I’m pretty sure project #1 may take all summer.
- Set up bunk bed
- Hang wall art
- Purchase knobs for desks
Adventure
- Play at the park
- Visit the pool
- Go bowling
- Walk the downtown trail
- Take Penny to the dog park
Chore
The girls have regular chores; these are a few special chores they can help me with.
- Dust baseboards
- Dust blinds
- Clean fridge
- Declutter pantry
- Wash the dog
Play
These are for the mornings when the girls whine that it’s too hot to play outside.
- Hula hoop contest
- Water balloons
- Card games
- Mani-pedis
- Scrabble
- Boggle
- Twister
- Monopoly
- Make a music video
Craft
- Painting
- Calligraphy
- Pottery wheel
- Tie dye shirts
- String art
Bake
- Mini cakes
- Brownie bites
- Cakepops
- Unicorn cookies
- Practice cupcake frosting
- Try royal icing sugar cookies
- Make ice cream
- Experiment with fondant
A version of this post was originally published at Design Dazzle on June 13, 2017.
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