The summer season is upon us once more and that means that the kids are going to be at home, out of school, for weeks on end. You might be looking forward to this time with your kids or you could be dreading it. Either way, it’s important to explore how you are going to keep them active and engaged. In doing so, you can make sure that they will be in the right frame of mind when they return to school later on in the year.
Of course, there are other benefits of keeping your kids active and engaged too. For instance, you might want to look at this as a fantastic opportunity to explore new pathways to learning. There are certainly possibilities available during this time that won’t be as accessible at other points throughout the year. So, let’s explore some of the best options.
Online Games
First, you should think about exploring options to keep your kids engaged online. As a parent, you might be apprehensive about your kids spending too much time online or staring at a computer screen. But it’s important to be aware that time with tech isn’t always bad for children. Indeed, using technology the right way could provide tremendous benefits. For instance, you might want to think about looking at math games for kids online. Even consoles have games that are educational and can teach kids how to effectively solve problems too.
Arts And Crafts
If you’re not afraid of getting messy with your kids this summer, then you want to think about exploring arts and crafts options with them instead. This is a great way to get them away from the tech and help improve their motor skills instead. The big benefit of arts and crafts is that it will fuel their creative muscle and ensure that they will be able to explore lots of different possibilities. To get started here, you just need to set up space for messy play by laying down some newspaper or old sheets.
Museum Trips And Other Days Out
You might be interested in getting your kids out of the house this summer. If that’s the case, then you should definitely think about taking them to a museum. Museums are often designed to keep families and kids in particular engaged as they wander around exploring different parts and puzzles.
This is just one option for a day out. You could also explore something like a theme park. You might think that theme parks are never going to be set up for anything other than entertainment. However, that’s not true. If you explore places like Disney World, you’ll find that Epcot is largely designed for education with fun being a side benefit. There are lots of rides and attractions here that are focused on helping your kids understand things like science and nature, teaching lessons like this in a fascinating way.
There are other days out that are similar too. For instance, you might want to think about taking your kids to somewhere like an aquarium or wildlife park. This is a great way to help them learn more about different elements of nature and ensure that they discover fascinating facts about different animals across the world.
Explore Summer Camps
It’s possible that you want some alone time with your partner this summer where the kids are away. If so, then you should definitely think about exploring summer camps for children. Summer camps run every year and while they might have been paused for COVID, they should be back on in 2021. Although, it’s recommended that you check this out before committing to the idea. There are a lot of different types of summer camps that could be appealing and suitable for your kids too. For instance, you might decide to send them into the wilderness or you could explore a space camp. It largely depends on what they are interested in themselves, every kid is different after all.
Teach Them To Bake And Cook
Or, finally, how about teaching your kids to bake or cook and be more active in the kitchen. This is a great skill to focus on that is going to serve them well for the rest of their life. It’s a way of ensuring that they can look after themselves and it’s never too early to teach your kids how to bake or cook. You might even find that it develops into a passion that could become the foundation of a future career.
Fitness Challenges
Do be aware that keeping kids engaged through the summer isn’t just about stimulating their minds. You need to ensure that their body is stimulated as well. One of the ways that you can do this is by setting fitness challenges and encouraging your children to reach these goals. You can set goals for every member of your family and check or track progress using apps that you will be able to download easily on your phone. You could even decide to sign everyone in your family up for a gym membership and all go together.
Puzzle Adventures
You might want to consider taking your kids on an adventure to solve different puzzles too. A classic example would be an escape room. You might have heard that escape rooms are only suitable for adults. However, we are delighted to say that this is not the case. There are many escape rooms that are completely family-friendly and designed to be fantastic fun for your children.
These are also budget-friendly and a relatively cheap day out if you don’t have too much money to spend this summer. Or, you might want to think about just bringing some puzzles home to enjoy as a family instead.
Learn A New Skill
You might also want to think about teaching your kid a new skill over the summer or giving them the tools that they need to learn. There are numerous skills that you can explore here. For instance, one option that is worth exploring would be a musical instrument. Studies show that musical instruments can have profound benefits for children. This is also a skill that could help them later in life too because it’s something that colleges tend to pay attention to when they are accepting new applications. Or, you could look at something even more academic like helping them learn a new language over the summer.
Gardening
Finally, you might want to think about getting out in the garden with your children and embracing the alfresco lifestyle. This can be a great learning experience for them, providing you with an opportunity to teach them about birds and insects as well as ecosystems. Alternatively, you could teach them about growing plants and shrubs or give them lessons in sustainability. The possibilities are endless here and we certainly encourage you to give this a try for yourself. There are lots of different activities that you can get your kids involved in too. For instance, you can show them how to plant seeds.
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