MY FAVORITE ACTIVITIES FOR SUMMER FUN WITH KIDS
As I start this post, you must know that I LOVE SUMMER! I always loved it as a kid and now that I am a mom, a busy working mom at that, summer fun sometimes gets lost in hustle and bustle of life. Aside from our two week vacation we go on every July, summer is usually not as fun as I would like it to be. However, this year I am committed to bringing the excitement of summer back to our family! With that being said, here are some things I’ve come up with to have summer fun with kids. I hope you like these ideas and that you enjoy your summer as much or more than we will.
To start the summer off right, this past weekend I took Stella to the Boulder Creek Festival. What a great way to kick off the best summer ever. Stella loved riding on the rides, dancing to the music and getting her cute little face painted. I loved the way she giggled at every turn! If you want to have a lot of summer fun with kids, festivals are a great way!
Camps
Summer fun with kids often involves some sort of summer camp. As I was looking into them, I was amazed that they have a summer camp for everything from art, theatre, cooking classes and all day fun camps. I didn’t realize it but many of them start booking up as early as February. (I can barely think of summer in May.) There are various ones out there that will cater to any of your child’s interests. Summer camps are really fun and get your children engaged. Not only do they learn their favorite sport or enhance their craft in a particular activity like ballet per say, but they get a ton of interaction with other kids. There are also camps for specific age groups ranging from 3 to 5 to older. They can also run anywhere from a full day for three weeks to a half-day for one week. I can’t stress enough how great camps are for your children over the summer.
DIY Activities
This is probably my favorite kind of activities for summer fun with kids. I love to create special moments with my little one and what better way to do so than special, creative plans I make for my family. There’s quite a few I’ve come up with so I will list them out below.
Backyard Fun – We have a large backyard that we love to host activities in. So I was thinking we could set up a tent in the backyard, pull a white sheet over the fence and pull out the projector to have a movie night! Another idea would be to a have a camping theme in the backyard, lay underneath the stars and stargaze. How wonderful would that be? If you have a backyard, this would be a perfect little activity to do with your kids and their friends.
Park Events – There are so many events in the park to take your child to that will create lasting memories. Make plans to go to a splash park to spend the afternoon in or even go to see live music or movies in the park and set up a picnic out on the grass. What kid doesn’t love a picnic? Now even if normally bedtime at 7:30 is a non-negotiable, you could have special nights where you can be a little flexible during the summer. Who knows, you might be able to sleep in the next day too!
Spontaneous Days Off – Surprise your kiddos with a day off! Don’t tell your child but take a Friday off and surprise your little one that morning and do all their favorite things with them. If you have a little girl, plan a sweet little tea party with her and dress up. If you have a little boy, get out in the back yard and play catch. Either way, do activities that you know they love. They will have so much fun and nothing brings more joy to us parents, than seeing our children have a good time and hear their sweet laughter.
Half Days – As a working mom myself, one fun thing that I’m thinking of doing this summer is taking a half day on certain days of each week and playing with Stella. For instance, I could go in at noon on a Tuesday or leave at 2:00 p.m. on a Friday afternoon to really enjoy the spirit of summer fun with kids and spend the day with her.
Traditions – Create little traditions that overtime will mean so much. A great example would be ice cream Saturday. I’m not one for sugar but you can create something special around it. For Stella and I, we order a scoop and split it. That way we’re not on sugar overload. Another great tradition would be baking cookies every Friday. It’s nothing big but will be so much fun to recall once summer is over.
Be Active – One of the great things about Colorado is its beautiful scenery and gorgeous weather over the summer. I’d recommend going on hikes with your family or even doing a treasure hunt in your yard. Engaging in activities that keep you active is not only great for your body, but gets the kiddos moving around which then results into a long nap afterwards.
I hope these ideas helped inspire you to plan amazing and fun activities for your family this summer. The summer time is a great way to really spend quality time with your loved ones while enjoying the weather. Remember, you can always create activities you designed yourself for your children that are doable, even if you are a working mom. Feel free to share this post with your girlfriends.
