Summer is a special time to spend with your child and make summer memories. They are home from school and packed full of energy. There are a few ways to look at this time with your child during the couple of months they are home and ways to connect.
If you are a stay-at-home mom and your child or children are off from school it means your schedule has changed quite a bit and it’s time to embrace this time together. But how do you? Summer camp? Playdates? Vacation? or do you just wing it?
After all aren’t we supposed to let our kids get bored to help build their imagination?
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Making Summer Time Memories with Your Child
- Visit the Library OFTEN
- Plan a Local Visit to a Park or Museum
- Start a Journal
- Use All The Photo Features on Your Cell Phone
- Let Them See You Be Silly
- Make a Science Lab
- Watch a Sunrise and Sunset
- Take a Class Together
- Go On a Road Trip
- Take a Virtual Summer Field Trip
- Let Them Get Bored
- How will you Make this Summer Count?
The past few summers I’ve seen a quote floating around about the fact that we only have 18 summers in our childhood. I shared this image above on facebook as summer started and judging by the 800+ shares ,likes and comments I can see that I’m not alone in wanting to make sure that this one counts!
Honestly, although I’ve always loved summer vacation, I never really thought about it until my son was off at college about to graduate and was moving away permanently to his new job in a new state. It hit me that summer would forever be different with my first born.
Doing the math I realized that his sister wasn’t that far behind him even though she just finished elementary school and our youngest just finished Kindergarten. I’m saying this not to create stress that no one needs in their lives but as a way to press pause for a moment and truly realize how quickly childhood has the potential to be over so quickly.
I’ve noticed a trend of bloggers with very young children that want to share advice about parenting. Many of it is truly beneficial but sometimes I have to pause for a moment and realize that I’ve been parenting for 30 years there are some experiences that I’ve been through quite a bit more than others in my same shoes with little ones at home.
So with this thought and my experience, I want to share with you to embrace your summers.
After having one child move away…
I want to shout to everyone I know that’s a parent that summers are a true gift with your child. Even when you’re in the midst of sibling fights, backseat complainers, disorganized rooms from all that extra playtime or even digging through wet swimsuits and towels to discover that the screen lid was left open in your swim bag {yeap true story… our experience this past weekend} cherish your summer moments with the kids.
Summer can get crazy and a hot mess at times but at the end of the day when your head hits the pillow reflect on what mattered most during your day… your parent and child connections.
Take time this summer to really get to know your child the age that they are right now.
Ways to Make Summer Memories and Connect
There are lots of ways to connect with your child and yes these are work during the school year but I know our schedules get a little busier and summertime honestly fosters this time for connecting and building stronger relationships.
Here are a few quick summer activity ideas to get you started below…
Visit the Library OFTEN
A trip to the library can be a window into their interests. Give them time to explore the shelves and find what they’re really interested in. If it’s too overwhelming start with the online version of your library and ask them to type in keywords they are interested in and see what comes up in search.
Here are a few tips for using the library with kids this summer.
Plan a Local Visit to a Park or Museum
Do you know what their favorite thing is to do in town? Ask them to help you plan out summer by choosing a few places they want to visit. If they are old enough you can even share a google calendar with them and see what their ideal schedule is. Plan it out!
Start with your local museum.
Start a Journal
Take advantage of sneaking in a little bit of handwriting and create a special journal together during the summer. Sometimes parenting is just in the little things that are running through your child’s thoughts. Or just buy this one to get started.
Get starting with our First Day of Summer Vacation Interview (Printable)
Use All The Photo Features on Your Cell Phone
Your cell phone has so many fun features on it from Time Lapse to Slow-Mo to video and photos there are so many unique ways to capture your summer memories. Facebook Messenger or Snapchat has some cute overlays too to up your digital edge with silly photos. I like to use an app like Prisma to turn a few of our photos into artwork too.
- Take some selfies with your child, you’re older self will be grateful that you did when they were so tiny.
- Make a memory book together! Print out some of those photos on your phone and create a super simple memory book like this one.
Let Them See You Be Silly
Whether it’s a backseat dance party or a pool time adventures find little ways to just be a kid again with your child. I bet you have a killer cannonball that you haven’t shown them yet!
See if they are up for a challenge with a ball? Try a brain teaser game!
Make a Science Lab
Summers can be the perfect time for your little scientist to explore their world. Here’s some of the best summer science experiments to explore together.
Host your own STEM Camp with your child or friends.
Watch a Sunrise and Sunset
One of our traditions is to wake up early and go see the sunrise at the beach. It’s a special time to reflect on our blessings as a family and capture so many moments of nature from the sun and waves to the little creatures still roaming around and looking through the shells that were brought in from the tide overnight.
Step back a few steps and capture their shadows, you’ll be glad you did 10 years from now.
Take a Class Together
My daughters and I are working on a chalk pastel course this summer together as they both wanted to learn how to draw and paint more. It’s been fun to see how similar they can both be yet different in so many other ways through their creativity.
Go On a Road Trip
Road trips are one of the funniest ways to make a memory as a family. It’s also a great way to talk with your kids, no matter how old they get. As much as I love taking technology with us on our longer trips, I sure do treasure the times together playing car games or just having really deep conversations about things.
Day trips or overnight trips are easy to play out. We’ve done quite a few long road trips and they are to do date some of my favorite memories.
You can take a peek at #vijfamilyroadtrip on instagram.
Take a Virtual Summer Field Trip
When it’s not possible to travel, you can consider taking your child on a virtual summer adventure. We’ve put together this collection of Summer Virtual Field Trips for kids! Explore the ocean, amusement parks, outdoor adventures, watermelon farms, and more with these kid friendly summer virtual tours.
Let Them Get Bored
Yes, I said it, take away those screens as much as you can stand and give them time to get bored. You’ll be amazed at what they can come up with with their imaginations when given the time to do it.
- Books become windows to new worlds.
- Games become entertaining.
- Playgrounds and backyards become irresistible.
- It will take some grumbling but it will be so worth the memories.
Find Fun and Easy Summer Activities at The Educators’ Spin On It. (Click to download our Summer Calendar)
At the end of the summer as Labor Day approaches ask yourself what are 3 things I learned about my child this summer that I didn’t know at the beginning?
Trust me your heart will be overflowing with the connections you’ve made and the memories you’ll want to cherish forever.
How will you Make this Summer Count?
Still wondering what do I do all day this summer with the kids?
If you need some ideas for what to do this summer at home, we’d love to help you out with ideas. It’s what our website is all about at The Educators’ Spin On It. Sign up for our Newsletter and we’ll share with you thematic summer activity ideas that will help out.
