23+ Activities to Do During Summer Vacation

23+ Activities to Do During Summer Vacation - One Friday World

Summer Vacations are the happiest months of a child’s life. Kids get to play all day long without worrying about finishing schoolwork or learning lessons. However, two month long vacations often make parents wonder, “ How can I keep my kids engaged at home and help them learn new life skills too?”

To help parents deal with this question, we’ve curated a list of fun activities for them to try out with their kids during the summer break. 

We know that long breaks may end up boring kids and they may resort to watching too much TV or playing games on the phone. To help you entertain the kids then, here are a few summer vacation activities that you can try at home:

Benefits of summer camp activities for kids

An active and involved childhood is crucial to nourish a child’s growth. As parents, we often feel guilty about not spending enough time with our kids, but we don’t realise that even a little time spent with them doing the things they love can go a long way in building a strong relationship with them and boosting their confidence. The most important thing we must do as parents is to model good behaviour. 

When our kids have free time on their hands during their summer vacation, we must encourage them to try out new activities and acquire new life skills. We must try to get involved in these activities with them, even if it means for a short while in a day, so that they build a sense of self-worth, confidence, and independence.

It's important to provide children with the opportunity to explore summer activities that interest them so that they put their best foot forward in trying them out. Children gain practical knowledge, experience and life-skills through such activities and are important for their personality development.

Even though practising specific skills-sets is essential, brain development occurs more when free play is allowed during preschool and elementary school. Allowing children to engage in safe and fun free-play daily will promote the development of their creativity, resulting in improved brain function.

List of things to do in summer vacation for kids

Check out this list of summer kids activities that you can try out with your kids at home and make their vacations memorable. Join in the fun and watch your kid beam with pride. 

This list can serve as a summer bucket list or you can pick a few of your favourite activities from it. 

Take time out of your busy schedules to play with your kids and get the rest of your family involved too. Rest assured, when it’s time to return to school, you’ll feel stronger as a family and will thank us for our fun suggestions.

1. Keep your child engaged in physical activities

A break from school results in less physical activity for children. However, every child must spend at least 60 minutes engaged in physical activity. Therefore, enrolling your little angels for swimming classes, karate, yoga or other sports is a good way to keep them busy and engaged. A healthy child is a happy child.

2. Encourage your child to read

Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body. If engaging in physical activities keeps a child healthy, then reading keeps his mind busy and active. Encourage your child to spend at least an hour reading every day, because there is no better way to increase vocabulary, grammar, speech, writing skills and develop imagination and empathy than by reading books. Let your child pick up a book of his choice, then make a reading nook for him - you can even check these cute lamps online to create a cozy reading environment and watch him dive deep into magical and fantastic worlds.

3. Take your kid on a trip

No better way to push your children out of their comfort zone than by taking them on an adventure. Plan a trip with your children in the summer vacay and let them discover the world around them. Encourage them to try out new foods, talk to new people and adapt their culture to appreciate the diversity of the world they live. You will create memories for a lifetime on this trip and your kids will fondly look back at these days even after growing up.

4. Go stargazing

You can go stargazing during the summer season when the stars come out at night in their full splendour. It is a wonderful way to teach children how to appreciate our natural world. You can enjoy the night sky while snuggling under a blanket with your family on your rooftop or book a public park that allows one to stargaze on the grass.

5. Teach them gardening

Gardening allows kids to come closer to nature. When they plant seeds in the soil, water them and watch the saplings grow, they appreciate the process of nature and also acknowledge the hard work that farmers do to bring food on our plates.

6. Organise a cooking session

Cooking is an essential life-skill that everyone must learn in their lives. So start your kids early. Engage your kids in the kitchen with yourself when you cook. Guide them through the process of simple fire- free cooking and watch them squeal with delight as they put together a meal for everyone.

7. Motivate your children to learn art and craft

Learning new things through art and craft will improve your children's creative skills. Using single materials to create different objects will fuel their imagination and teach them how to use resources judiciously.

8. Room cleaning race

Turn a boring task into a fun game. Set a time limit for each chore and challenge your kids to complete their tasks within that period. 

For example, Challenge them to fold all the clothes lying on the chair under 10 minutes, or ask them to put back their toys in the basket in two minutes. You can later reward the winner to motivate them for the future.

9. General knowledge quiz

Prepare a set of questions from Geography, History or any other subject that your kids have recently been taught in school. Turn it into a competition and reward the winner. This is a great way for revision too before the schools open.

10. Organize a Treasure Hunt in your home

Treasure Hunt is another fun activity that the entire family can come together to play. Divide your family into teams and ask them to decode clues, one after the other, to find the hidden treasure before the other team does. To make the evening even more fun, you could ask the losing team to cook dinner for everybody.

11. Visit the library

Many libraries organise programs or camps for students during the summer vacation that focus on developing various skills. These programs could be on personality development or they could be art and craft workshops or even spell bee competition. Get your child involved in them and watch him learn something new every day.

12. Play with science

While schools do conduct science experiments in their labs, there are many other cool and fun experiments that children can safely conduct at home themselves during their summer break. Simply google an age appropriate list of fun science activities for your kids to do.

13. Take extracurricular classes

Summer vacations are a good time for kids to indulge themselves in exploring and developing new hobbies and interests. Based on their preferences, you could send your child to drawing classes, or enroll him in dance/music class. If he is linguistically gifted, you could teach him a new language too.

14. Go for swimming sessions

Beat the scorching heat with fun swimming sessions. Go to a nearby swimming pool with your friends and have a relaxed time in the pool. You can also play fun water activities with everyone.

15. Maintain a journal every day

Encourage your kids to maintain a journal book. Ask them to write about their day in it - what they did, what they ate, who they met and how they felt. It is important to teach them about introspection and about letting their feelings out on paper.

16. Have movie nights

Use your home theatre and create a fun playlist of movies to watch with your kids. Get their friends along and it's a party!

17. Go to nearby parks

Take your kids to parks near your home and let them enjoy the fun slides and swings. It is also a good way for kids to socialise. They can meet other kids at the park and make new friends.

18. Tell kids about their family

Summer vacation is the perfect time for kids to learn about their families. Inform them about their relationship with other relatives and family members whom they don’t know or have not met. To make this session more interesting, they can make a family tree on paper or on the computer.

19. Grandparents’ bonding time

Let your child grow up listening to the many stories their grandparents have in store for them. From life lessons to funny incidents, grandparents will keep your little ones entertained and children, in turn, will learn to respect their elders for the struggle and patience they’ve shown in their lives.

20. Visit local farmers' market

Take your children to a local farmers' market and show them different colored fruits and veggies on display. You could even take them on a farm and show them how farming is done or how cattle is kept. Make them interact with some farmers for a more educating session.

21. Go on a picnic

Pack your favourite food, put on your best dress and take your little ones on a picnic. Organize some ges like hopscotch or hide and seek and revel in an evening of pure fun. Make sure your kids wear cool and comfortable outfits for their day out. They can get boys’ and girls’ shorts along with some cool caps.

22. Play in the dirt

Even though this is a messy activity, it is fun and will bring a big wide smile to your kids’ faces. Moreover, this activity will benefit them physically as it will boost their immune system and help with an influx of vitamin D.

23. Make a bird feeder

You can make a kid-friendly bird feeder by spreading peanut butter on toilet paper rolls and rolling birdseed in them. Then, you can hang it on a branch so that your kids are able to watch the birds feed on it all day.

24. Paint rocks

Create funny faces and designs with paints on the rock. Make a collection of these rocks and use them as a decor item or as paperweights!

25. Record your vacation

Use your camera and record the kids doing fun activities and enjoying themselves during their summer vacations. You can watch these videos when they are older and laugh together!