• Summer is a great time for kids to relax, but they should also use a portion of it to gain new experiences.
• Kids can use their free time to pick up new skills like gardening, cooking, and even some survival skills for the great outdoors.
• Make the most of the summer with your kids by encouraging them to explore unfamiliar territory, either around your city or right inside your own home.

Don’t let your kids have a stagnant summer

After a long, tough school year, summer is the time for the youth to loosen up and relax. Vacation season is great for resting up, but it can also be unhealthy when you overdo it.  Your kids could quickly fall into the trap of withering away every single day of summer in bed. Let them get some much-needed rest, but at the same time, encourage them to use some of their vacant days to explore new things. After all, they won’t have as much spare time for new escapades once school starts. 

There are so many indoor and outdoor recreational activities young adults can get involved in to either pass the time or be productive. Whether they prefer thoughtful, relaxed, or physically exerting activities, there’s something for every child out there.

Indoor/outdoor activities

Join a summer camp

Summer camps aren’t limited to what we see in funny, coming-of-age movies. They could be sleep-away or on a day-to-day basis type of camp. These camps cater to all kinds of youths, through their different learning programs, hobby workshops, sports training, and indoor games. Ask other parents or do a search online for a summer camp your child could be interested in. It can be music camp, dance camp, theater camp, a sports camp, or even something academic like engineering camp.

Start a garden

You never know if you have a green thumb until you give gardening a shot. Your child might have a gift for making things grow. They can start small with a tiny indoor herb garden - maybe a low-maintenance plant like cilantro or basil. If they’re feeling a bit more ambitious, they can try planting some vegetables or growing flowers outside. Do a little research and see what plants thrive in the summer weather. This is a good project to start early in the break and track the progress through photos or drawings as the weeks pass.

Indoor activities

Learn to cook

Cooking is a basic skill that everyone should learn at one point or another. Encourage your child to make the effort to go beyond the easy, ten-minute meals that only call for frying, boiling, or microwaving. Mornings on school days tend to be hectic, but on summer mornings, you have all the time in the world. It’s a great opportunity to test out some new breakfast recipes. Not morning people? No problem. Just make it a hearty lunch or dinner instead.

Start a scrapbook

It’s easy to preserve memories on social media or by simply uploading them to the cloud, however, it’s undeniable that there’s something special and nostalgic about having physical copies of your captured moments. A scrapbook is a fun, creative way to document their childhood. Aside from photos, they can also paste cutouts from magazines, flyers, tickets, and other memorabilia that have sentimental value to them. It’s a productive way to kill time in the summer, and a sweet memento to look back on after a few years.

Outdoor activities

Take a swim

Day outings are great when the last item on the itinerary is a quick splash in the pool. Your kid will probably love the idea of beating the summer heat by going to a nearby beach or resort. Swimming as a recreational activity ticks both exercise and play. It can alleviate the stress students have accumulated from the previous school year and replace it with improved overall body mobility. 

Go camping

Break out the tent and the marshmallows! Camping is fun for all ages and allows kids to embrace nature and bond with family and friends. The youth will enjoy  their boy scout or girl scout days. They might even be able to teach each other some survival skills like tying knots, using the compass, and distinguishing which wild fruits and leaves are okay to eat. If they can’t recall much, just telling stories around the fire while roasting marshmallows is plenty of fun already.

Make the most of the summer term

There’s nothing wrong with catching up on sleep during the summer, but it would be a shame if you and your kids didn’t take this as an opportunity to be a tad more adventurous. Maximize the potential of their precious vacation time by amping up the bonding and introducing them to cool, new experiences.