Children Activities to do Before the Summer Ends

If you’re like most of us, you’re probably wondering the same thing…..where has this summer gone? The days of summer are numbered, and the start of the school year is right around the corner. Take advantage of the rest of the summer and fill your schedule with awesome activities to do with your children. Here are some activities to try!

Water fun!

Whether it’s taking the children to the beach or filling up the pool in the yard, take advantage of the summer with some water activities! Some simple ideas that kids love are slip and slides or running through the sprinklers. Any way to cool off from the warm weather will fill your kids with excitement. Having a water fight is a good way to bring the family together in a competitive way.

Go camping!

If you haven’t taken a camping yet trip this summer, this is a must! Going to a local campground is a great way to spend time with your family. Making smores, enjoying nature, and sitting by a fire are all great activities that children love. If you don’t have a campground near you, simply setting a tent up in the backyard is a great way for your children to get out of the house and have fun in the backyard!

Bike ride

Taking your children on a bike ride is a great way for them to be active and explore! You can choose to take them biking on a nature trail or just around the neighborhood. Regardless, they will enjoy going on a bike ride with their family!

Neighborhood baseball game

Another fun activity for children of all ages! If you don’t have a lot of room, play with a tennis ball or wiffle ball. Rally all the neighbor kids together and play some baseball. A fun way to be active and enjoy the summer weather.

Chalk art

Sometimes the driveway could use some color! Get out the chalk and decorate your driveway or sidewalk. This is great way to teach kids to be creative and they will have fun doing it! By the time they finish, they’ll probably be pretty impressed with what they drew.

These are just some great activities ideas to do before the summer ends! Can you think of any we missed? Comment below!

Summertime Learning

Ahhh summertime. For kids everywhere, it’s a time to sleep in, run around in the sunshine, and generally unwind after a busy school year. 

However, for many parents, it ought to be a time for encouraging their school-aged children to squeeze in a little summertime learning. 

And, this is actually a very important concern; expert research shows many academic skills degrade over summer vacation. As a matter of fact, over the summer months, students can lose up to 60% of the math and reading skills that they learned during the previous year. Naturally, this will lead to a lot of recapping and relearning come the fall. 

But, good news - you can help your grade-schooler stay academically nimble through some critical-thinking activities over the summer. Here are a few ideas!

1. Backyard Scrabble
Here’s a really cool idea we discovered while browsing the web. Make words and spelling fun and outdoorsy with your own homemade cardboard-and-paint letter tiles. Think the popular smartphone app Words with Friends, only way more summery and social!

2. Visit The Library 

This might not make the kids leap out of their seats with joy, but then again, they might not know just how many different things the local library has to offer. With free literary activities, social clubs and science-minded outdoorsy field trips, public libraries are quickly shedding the old reputation of just being a quiet place to be a bookworm. And let’s face it, air-conditioning is always a plus on the hottest of summer days, 

3. Budgeting Skills = Lemonade Stand, Car Wash 
Many of us have at least one entrepreneurial summertime activity in our pasts. For this writer, it was definitely a lemonade stand. Now, in addition to being a source of a little pocket change, a small summer business is a great - and rather sneaky - way to promote practical math skills!

4. Cooking / Baking

Here’s another excellent, math skill-building activity with a fun result. Pick a few simple recipes and watch the kids practice their measurement and time skills. For an extra challenge, get a group together and work on doubling the recipe. Math can be very fun - and delicious!

5. Designated Reading Time 
Alright, not exactly the most fun sounding of the ideas on our list, but reading has really taken off in a mainstream sense - thanks to a slew of bestselling books-turned- blockbuster movies. Encourage a set time on a daily basis for reading a few chapters of a fun book. Who knows? This idea could turn into a neighbohood book club!

These are only a few basic, educational activity examples; we bet you have a few of your own. Leave us a comment and share them with us!