How to Keep Kids Busy When School is Over

When summer break starts, there’s a lot of excitement in the air.  Kids are thrilled to be away from homework and assignments, and although parents are eager to spend more time with their children: they can’t be around them constantly. So instead of losing a whole summer of work, here are the top ways to keep your kids busy and happy while school is out!

Invest In Their Hobbies

It’s always a good idea to invest in the hobbies of your children.  Unfortunately, if your child’s dream is scuba diving, and you own St. Albert real estate, they might not get to be hands-on: but you can still make it fun!  Let them learn how to scuba in pools or take them out to a lake that’s clean enough for them to try searching for things at the bottom of it.  Careful planning, and a goal of fun, can make any hobby possible.

Grow Things Together

Gardens are the perfect culmination of spending time outside, doing something active to benefit everyone, and learning responsibility.  Build a garden with your children.  Include a mix of plants, from ones that produce food to some that are just for aesthetics.  Have your children help pick out the greenery and choose items you might not have tried otherwise.  Even if you don’t end up liking the fruit or veggies that come from it, the act of growing it and perfecting the care for it can be exciting and inspiring. In addition, use plant care to help your children learn a schedule.

Help Create A Large Project

A big goal to work on over the expanse of summer is the best way to ensure you keep your kids busy.  It doesn’t have to be as complicated as having them write a book: but help them set a creative goal they wouldn’t otherwise.  Whether this goal is for them to create their art piece once a week until they can put on a fun gallery for friends and family at the end of the summer, or it’s for them to create a play complete with an original script and hand-made props, let them have fun with it.  Larger projects that can be broken down into pieces give them the chance to keep up a steady trajectory over the entire summer.

Make Fun To-Do Lists

Although most adults think of to-do lists as chores: it doesn’t have to be that way for our kids.  Instead, we can put effort into making to-do lists something to look forward to. First, ensure that you have a separate one for yourself, including your job and tasks you have to do around the house, and then create one for them.
Their lists should include some chores, but they should also contain fun things like ‘play fetch with our dog’ and other games.  Allowing them to have a to-do list will let them feel more mature, while the fun tasks will ensure they don’t get burned out.  If they get tired of this, include ‘off days’ once in a while where there doesn’t have to be a plan.