Keep Your Kids Busy this Summer with These Tips

Summer can be a fun time to unwind and enjoy the nicer weather and outdoor activities with your loved ones. However, if you're a parent, you likely know that summer is also a time for your kids to be home from school for an extended period of time. With the kiddos home for a couple months, you likely know about the boredom that often sets in a few weeks into summer. If you want to avoid those summertime boredom blues and keep your kids engaged, active, and occupied, here are some ideas to help keep them busy and enjoying their summer vacation.

Pack a Picnic

On a nice summer day, nothing beats a picnic. Children have active imaginations and don't need to travel far to enjoy a picnicking adventure. Suggest a backyard picnic and give your children autonomy over what they get to eat. Guide them on how to pack their own picnic and let them take their adventure outdoors. Giving them the freedom to prepare and pack their own meal nurtures independence and teaches them valuable skills they can use later.

Take Brain Breaks

After a long school year learning fundamental skills they'll use throughout life, summer should be a time to rest and recharge. However, you don't want them to forget everything they've learned, so taking periodic brain brakes to brush up on their skills is a great way to engage their brains and improve learning retention. You can find different games for kids online through sites such as ludo, which are designed to make learning fun.

Become Filmmakers

Most children have smartphones or other devices that allow them to record, so set the stage and help them become a filmmaker. Give them a fun prompt and watch their imaginations run wild as they bring the idea to life. If you have more than one child, host a family film night where you screen their movies. Make some popcorn, get some snacks, and cozy up with your family to watch your children's creations.

Be Green Thumbs

Gardening is a relaxing activity and can yield great results, such as delicious food or beautiful flowers. Teaching your children to garden is a valuable life skill they can learn later on in life. There is no perfect age to start gardening; if you have young children you can get them started on gardening by simply giving them a shovel and letting them dig in the dirt. If they're a little older, give them simple plants to grow, such as flowers or herbs, and watch their pride as they nurture these plants to life.

Find Nature

Warmer weather is a great time to get in touch with nature. Whether you use this time to go on an outdoor treasure hunt, take a nature walk, or go camping, there are plenty of outdoor activities you and your children can enjoy that allow you to get closer to nature. You can even enjoy nature right from your own backyard by pitching a tent and camping at home.

Create an Obstacle Course

Keep your kids healthy and active this summer by finding physical activities they can enjoy. Children have nature energy they need to burn off, so what better way to do that than by encouraging them to build an obstacle course? You can make it competitive by encouraging competition between siblings or recording their times to see if they can beat them each time.

Don't Forget Downtime

Your children spend all school year being shuffled from activity to the next and their brains and bodies need time to rest and recharge. Try not to pack every day with activities and know that it's okay to have some downtime where your children find their own activities to keep them occupied. They can devise their own strategies to stay busy, which can allow them to nurture their creativity and autonomy and makes them less reliant on you to occupy them.

Summer is a great time to do all the fun things you've been wanting to enjoy all year. This list includes just a few of the things you and your children can enjoy. The sky's the limit so let their imaginations run wild and you'll be impressed with the amazing things they can come up with to stay busy.