Tips From A Teacher: How To Plan Summer Break With Kids
by Guest Blogger
Starting summer break and not sure what to do with the kids? We asked teacher and parent, Jennifer Adriani, for some tips on how to help the kids plan their summer break. Jennifer has been teaching for over 20 years and is a mom of two.
The kids are all yours for the next 8-10 weeks, now what are you going to do with them? I love having my kids help plan the summer with these two quick activities.
One of our favorite traditions we do to kick off our summer is to create a summer bucket list and a random acts of kindness list. My kids always know this is coming and they start their lists during spring break or really anytime they hear of something new or interesting they want to check out.
We really try to accomplish the list, however sometimes we have an item or two roll over to the fall or winter break, but eventually we make it happen.
How to create a Summer bucket list
A summer bucket list is 5-10 things your child would like to do over the summer break. These don’t have to be big ticket items, just fun things to do. We post it and try to do one or two of the items a week. We love crossing them off as we do each one.
Summer bucket list examples:
- Plan a sleepover.
- Have a movie night. You can do this at home or head out to the theater. Keep in mind that many theaters offer free or cheap movies over the summer, be sure to take advantage of this!
- Head out to your favorite ice cream shop.
- Make homemade ice cream. This Sweetpotato Chocolate Ice Cream is one of our favorite no churn ice cream recipes.
- Do a little online research for an easy, kid-friendly things to bake. We love these Chocolate Chip Banana Oatmeal Cookies.
- Go fly a kite!
- Have a lemonade stand.
- Go skating.
- Watch a sunset or sunrise.
- Go to a baseball game. It doesn’t have to be the major leagues, find a fun local game!
- Make tie-dye shirts or shorts.
- Go bowling or putt-putt golf.
- Family bike rides.
- Go geocaching.
- Make homemade popsicles.
- Paint rocks and hide them for others to find.
How to create a Random Acts of Kindness List
A Random Acts of Kindness list is typically 5-10 things the kids (and you!) can do over the summer to make someone smile.
These items build character and raise their awareness to the impact they can have. These things don’t have to involve spending a lot of money, it’s really about just thinking about someone else.
Random Acts of Kindness list examples:
- Collect the shopping carts in a parking lot. Don’t forget to offer to take someone’s cart to the cart return while you are out there!
- Walk a neighbor’s dog.
- Send a letter or card to family and friends.
- Do a beach clean up.
- Make some snacks and deliver it to your local fire department or police department. Try these Dark Chocolate Avocado Brownies!
- Mow the neighbor’s lawn.
- Bring up the neighbor’s trash cans.
- Do a neighborhood trash clean up.
- Make some pictures or cards for a local nursing home and deliver them.
- Make some homemade dog treats or toys and deliver them to a local animal shelter.
- Clean out their clothes and toys and donate them.
- Collect school supplies or hygiene items and donate them to a local school.
- Leave a little thank you note for your postal service workers add a snack to be extra.
Kindness really does the soul good and more often than not my kids love working through this list as much as they do their summer bucket lists.
Looking for fun things to do this summer? Check out this list from Jennifer that gives us ways to have fun, but make sure the kiddos are still learning. Bridging the summer gap doesn’t have to happen indoors with workbooks!
