Inside: Having the kids home for summer can be overwhelming. Use this free summer schedule weekly calendar with over 100+ ideas for each week during the summer.
When I was in high school and college, I was a camp counselor at a camp that charged $100 per camper, per day.
Now it was a great camp. But I don’t have $300 a day to send my 3 kids to camp, no matter how cool it is.
So my kids get me. A staycation at home with Camp Mom.
And we have it down to a science now and we use a summer schedule.
We have 6 things we do every single summer day to
- ward off boredom,
- avoid screens all day long (although you can use these tips to make any video game educational!)
- get a little structure in our day,
- and keep my kids’ brains from forgetting everything they learned in school the previous year.
But I also work hard to make it fun for them.
I want them to remember their summers fondly.
But how can we have a fun staycation without whines of boredom or complaints that there’s nothing to do in a house full of toys?
How to Use the Summer Schedule with your kids:
To have a fun summer vacation with my kids, I created this summer schedule of ideas so I’m not staring at my kids on a Tuesday in July wondering how we’re going to spend the next 8 hours.
We also try to have an old school throwback summer using these things from my childhood.
Print out this free Weekly Summer Schedule Calendar (download it below) and laminate it or slip it into a protective cover, and hang it on your fridge.
Then every week, choose things off the list you and your kids will enjoy and schedule them in dry erase marker.
RELATED: On the weekends, we choose something from our Family Bucket List to do!
Your kids will have something fun and new to look forward to and you won’t be scrambling to figure out something as they’re all staring up at you expectantly.
Here are over 100 ideas to get you started, but if you need even more ideas, you’ll love these indoor boredom busters:
Make It Monday Ideas:
- Bake or cook a new recipe like these Friendship Cookies
- Make a craft like this paper plate flower wreath
- Make a picnic breakfast
- Create art like this name pointillism
- Make lemonade and sell it at a lemonade stand
- Make this DIY Felt Car Mat with your kids and then let them play with it
- Make puppets and create a puppet show
- Make shrinky dink kindness keychains for a friend
- Make play-doh then enjoy it or use this Playdough Ice Cream Recipe
- Make a fort and spend all day in it
- Make Gluten-Free Hot Chocolate Cloud Dough for a delicious sensory activity
- Make a printable paper fortune teller (a cootie catcher!)
- Make homemade ice cream
- And once you find an ice cream recipe you like, write it down with other delish recipes in this printable recipe book for kids.
- Make a DIY Mini Sandbox for rainy days when you can’t be outside in a big sandbox.
- Make fusion bead crafts with this Butterfly Fuse Bead Template
- Make Unicorn Playdough Activity
- Make a DIY bubble wand for kids to make (then use it later!)
- Make Glow in the Dark bubbles and then use them at night with this glow-in-the-dark bubbles tutorial.
- Make this bouncing bubble recipe.
- Have a tea party
- Make these “old school” tin can stilts with this tutorial How to Make Tin Can Stilts (then try them out on Tuesday!)
- Make a one of kind beaded necklace with this Magazine Beads DIY
- Make Kindness Rocks and hide them
- Go to a craft store and choose a new craft to try or take a kids craft class
- Play games with bean bags but first make your own with this tutorial: how to make a bean bag for a child
- Make an obstacle course and then run it with these obstacle course ideas.
- Make Sibling Kindness Bracelets
Try It Out Tuesday Summer Schedule Ideas:
- Create an obstacle course and then try to go through it fast and backward
- Try a science experiment or these Disney science experiments
- Play a new board game or these 1 player games if your kids need time apart from one another.
- Celebrate the Summer Olympics with these summer olympics activities (they’re perfect for any summer, but especially the summers with the Olympics: 2028, 2032, 2036..!)
- Try an old-school way to communicate with this tin can telephone.
- Build a unique treehouse with these treehouse designs perfect for kids (it includes tree-less designs if you don’t have a tree!)
- Stretch and get calm with summer themed yoga or this kid-friendly Winnie the Pooh yoga
- Figure out how to do a magic trick
- Find a roller skating or ice skating rink and learn how to skate
- Learn a new skill and Teach Yourself to Crochet! (I want to do this with my daughters this summer!)
- Use this Magnetic Sensory Bottle to learn about magnets!
- Create a skit and have a talent show
- Play a new card game called Golf with these directions how to play golf card game (I played all the time with my grandma!)
- Set up a tent and have a backyard campout
- Learn how to geocache (harder) or letterbox (easier)
- Plant flowers or herbs in the garden
- Backward Day- eat dinner first, then lunch, then breakfast for dinner
- Try a new sport: disc golf, or soccer golf or mini golf or fishing or kayaking or yoga
- Practice typing without looking for free using Typingclub.com
Water Wednesday Ideas:
- Give your dog a bath outside
- Find a public pool and swim
- Have a Glow Stick Bath- and if you can wear a bathing suit and do it with a friend or sibling!
- Wash your car together
- Have a water balloon fight
- Play with a Slip and Slide
- Get an inflatable pool for the backyard and eat lunch in the pool
- Bring winter to summer with this ice painting.
- Toy wash- scrub all dolls, cars or legos
- Set up a sprinkler and create an obstacle course around it to stay as dry as possible, then another course to get as wet as possible.
- Have a water “tea party” in bathing suits in the bathtub
- Enjoy water table play
- Bring in some frozen water play with this Dinosaur Ice Excavation Sensory Activity or this ice painting.
- Use paint brushes to paint with water on the ground or walls
- Squirt gun fight and aim at targets
- Paint the ground with water and paintbrushes, then watch it disappear!
- Find a local splash pad
- Use a hose attachment for sprinkler play
- Try bobbing for apples
- Play the Drip, Drip, Drop game
Thinking and Thoughtful Thursday Ideas:
- Go to the library and check out books (better yet, do this every Thursday!)
- Make these DIY Puzzles and then build them! Older kids can make them, and then younger kids can build them!
- Create your own Jeopardy-style game about anything you’re learning about with this DIY Jeopardy Board you can use all summer long.
- Learn more about your family and genealogy with these Family Tree Genealogy Projects
- Write a letter to your favorite Disney character or celebrity
- Try a new kind of puzzle…sudoku or crossword or word search or a puzzle with lots of pieces
- Write a creative story with a fidget spinner
- Learn how to code using a computer program
- Connect a book and a song to building and pretend play with this Going on a Bear Hunt Pretend Play
- Read kindness books
- Collect old towels and blankets and donate them to a local animal shelter
- Read a book then do activities to match the book like these dragons love tacos activities (then make and eat tacos!)
- Drop off flowers or baked goods to an elderly neighbor
- Write thank you letters to soldiers or veterans
- Go on a photo scavenger hunt looking for colors or letters in your name. You can use these printable Scavenger Hunts for family walks
- Practice making new friends for when you head back to school with this Make New Friends Role Playing
- Try something-or all the things- from this 100 Acts of Kindness Challenge
- Bake cookies for the local fire department or police station and make thank you cards
- Hide these summer random acts of kindness cards and toys for other kids to find.
- Learn how to play dominoes in two different ways
- Learn about different cultures and different countries and “travel” the world with food, books, movies, crafts, music, and games!
- Use a “code” to send someone a message: Morse code, braille, sign language, semaphore, Pig Latin
- Volunteer as a family. Click here for ideas
Field Trip Friday Summer Schedule Ideas:
- Find an “old-school” arcade
- Go on a picnic and play these picnic games for kids
- Visit a U-Pick Farm… strawberries, blueberries
- Play Park Bingo and visit as many parks as you can
- Ride a horse or find a petting zoo
- Go to an indoor trampoline or indoor playground
- Visit a zoo or animal sanctuary
- Go on a hike
- Look for local movies in the park
- Bowl or play mini golf
- See a matinee movie or look for dollar summer movie kid programs
- Go to the nearest beach, river, or lake and have a picnic
- Take public transport (train, subway, bus) somewhere new and fun
- Visit an art museum, kids’ museum, science museum, aquarium, or planetarium
- Visit a festival, state or county fair, swap meet or carnival
- Watch a minor league baseball game
Want even more summer ideas? You’ll love these free summer activities for kids.
Have fun with this staycation with your summer schedule weekly calendar.
Nicole | The Professional Mom Project says
Wow! You are clearly a creative and awesome mom. I would have no idea what to do with my son if he was home with me all summer. These are great suggestions for long weekends as well. Sharing to my blog FB page!