The first weekend of summer will be consumed with MOVING TO A NEW HOME about 20 minutes away. We're sad to leave our neighborhood & friends, but excited for our new home, and getting to know our new city. We've already signed up for a pool pass and swimming lessons, and I'm looking at all the fun summer activities coming up, from the city festival to movie nights to open air markets. So I'm adapting our Summer Family Fun Plan from last year to create this year's DIY Summer Camp!
Once again, I'm very worried about spending the whole summer vacation in front of the TV and computer. Last summer, a perfectly timed email from The Power of Moms gave a great example of how to avoid the couch potato summer, and we made up our family fun plan.
We started with a summer bucket list--a list of all the things we want to do, all the places we want to visit, all the things we want to learn, including experiences that no summer would be complete without:
This year I'm starting with our themed days of the week. For 2013, our days are:
- Make it Monday: arts and crafts
- New Town Tuesday: visit or research something fun to do in our new town, such as the library, local restaurants, and other attractions
- Wet Wednesday: play at the pool or lake or in the sprinklers, get slurpees
- Thoughtful Thursday: acts of service
- Fun Fridays: trips, movie nights, game nights
Last year's DIY Summer Camp, also had activities the kids need to do every day, like reading and writing practice (my 6-year-old wrote stories or journal entries, or practiced his full name; my 3-year-old did letter worksheets from Confessions of a Slacker Mom; my 2-year-old . . . mostly ran around ;) ) and chores. This year we'll build on that with more of a set schedule. I'm thinking we'll tackle chores—which now include homework—from 9-10 each day, then head to the park for a little while before swim lessons.
Last summer, we also came up with a list of their favorite fun things to do, which would go great in an "I'm Bored" jar.
Everyone is excited for our summer plan, and I love the flexibility and structure it offers. I have ideas for fun things to do every day all ready to go, and I can plan ahead for them.
What do you do in the summertime?
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