Podcast & Blog #92: Summer Enrichment Activities INSTEAD of Screen Time! Part 1
CLICK HERE to listen to Episode 92: Summer Enrichment Activities, Part 1
Abby & Emma join me on the podcast to share some ideas that are better than screen time!
Most of us parents want summer to be flexible and fun for our kids, yet we don’t want that to mean they have complete freedom for their brains to wither away in front of a screen all day.
We need a SUMMER SUCCESS PLAN for our kids that is fun, memorable, a change of pace that won’t break the bank, and it would be a bonus if our kids actually developed in key areas of life at the same time!
That all seems a bit too much to ask for one summer, especially with the limited time we parents have to monitor and coordinate a meaningful break. So, what’s going to motivate us to make this SUMMER SUCCESS PLAN? Well, let me ask you a question:
How many summers do we get with our children?
Oh dear, that question kind of makes me hold my breath for a moment. Suddenly the realization of having only 18 or less summers with our growing kids makes the summer days so much more valuable. It’s time to be intentional.
Yes, summer should be full of leisure, fun, and rejuvenation but what it should not be is wasted.
Don’t waste this precious time. Summer can be relaxing and developmental all at the same time! But it will require a little brainstorming and planning to make it fit both of those aspects into the limited 8-10 weeks we’ve got.
How about I do the brainstorming and planning for you? Or, at least I'm going to share my list with you and you can pick and choose the activities you think would work well at your house AND maybe it will help you think of activities that are JUST RIGHT for YOUR FAMILY!
Don’t worry, these activities are not all parent-centered activities. After all, our kids need time alone just as much as we adults crave time alone. This post is about making the most of your child’s summer days.
I would encourage you to pick out which of the following activities must be completed each day by your child before he or she is free to get in front of a screen for leisure.
The following list is pretty much my “we never have ENOUGH time to give this subject the quality emphasis it deserves during the school year” list, but we’ll just call it the “SUMMER SUCCESS ACTIVITIES for KIDS” list for short.
Ten Summer Success Activities for Kids:
1. A little Academics – The two subjects that I usually emphasize in the summer are Typing and Math (I also emphasize geography, but I’ll talk about that separately in a bit).
A. Improve Accurate Typing Skills–
Most children today have no problem using a keyboard, but eventually, for writing lots of papers in college, they’re going to need to have accurate typing skills. This is a super easy summer activity for kids. I simply have my kids use Typing.com. This website is free and fun.
I let them know I’d like them to do two lessons per day (they’re very short and kids enjoy them so I’ve never had one of my children resist the lessons) and that they can’t do any of the games on the website until they’ve been given approval from me, which I give when I see a certain level of proficiency and effort on their part