I love that summer provides children with hours of unstructured time – but if there is no structure, those hours of play and learning can turn into hours of whining! We have a pretty crazy summer ahead (selling this house, moving across the country, and possibly spending as much as two months somewhere else in the middle), so I decided to have some summer boredom busters set up from the beginning. I made a summer activities chart for each kid. Every week each child gets to choose eight ways they want to use their time. I write them in the column on the left, and they then mark them off as they complete them each day. Some of the activities on our chart should be completed every day, while others can be done whenever they like. The activities can be switched from week to week as needed. So far this is working really well with my kids! Click on the image below if you would like to download this for your own family.
Here are the activities my kids picked for this week. They are mostly self-directed; I have to help them with music practice and elements of the other activities. There are a couple affiliate links for curricula in this post:
Emma (7 years old, going into second grade):
- Typing practice with BBC Typemat.
- Cursive handwriting practice using this book
- Pages of her choice from her second grade workbook. She has the Scholastic one sold at Costco.
- Piano practice. We have switched to the Piano Adventures books, and she enjoys their theory, lessons, and performance primers.
- French. Still figuring out all the details of this.
- Sewing
- Reading
Johnny (5 years old, going into kindergarten):
- Reading
- Piano lessons from Emma
- Legos
- Drawing
- Play with sisters
- Kindergarten workbook. He also has the Scholastic one sold at Costco.
- Cursive handwriting using this workbook (different from Emma’s, but the same as Lily’s)
Lily (3 years old, going into Pre-K):
- Violin
- Play with Anna
- Play with Johnny
- Play with Emma
- Piano lessons from Emma
- Preschool workbook – currently on sale at Amazon, and even cheaper at Costco
- Cursive handwriting using this workbook (different from Emma’s, but the same as Johnny’s)
Other activities that are back-ups and may be added to different weeks:
- Plan and help make a lunch or dinner
- Weed the garden
- Write to friends and family
How are you keeping your kids busy this summer? What activities should I add to our list?
MaryAnne is a craft loving educator, musician, photographer, and writer who lives in Silicon Valley with her husband Mike and their four children.
Great idea! I have to tell you too, my kids are always so curious about what is going on at Mama Smiles!
Swimming lessons are filling up our morning lately but we will probably need to do some planning after that. Thanks for the chart!
Thank you! I am very glad your kids like my blog!
I absolutely love this idea as I noticed that Anna spends practically all time reading while left to her own devices, and the rest of her time waiting to be entertained. I am so printing your chart – curious what Anna will put on it in addition to reading :)
It has been a good way to get Emma to branch out beyond reading, too – and Johnny to branch out beyond Legos :)
I like this idea so that your kids will self-regulate their boredom with the stuff you want them to do. I usually just nag mine to: practice their instrument, clean their room, do summer math, get off the screens, and read a book. I like the chart better.
Exactly! I hate nagging, and (so far, at least) this has been a good way around it. Emma even started cleaning the house on her own yesterday (very unusual).
That’s a great idea! We’re on a 3 week Winter break here and I’m planning activities here and there to keep them from getting bored!
Great idea!
That’s why we don’t have completely unstructured days, because the kids go crazy even during school time.
What a great idea, and I love your book choices! I’m excited Lily chose the violin. :)
I am, too, actually. I think she could do really well with it!
I love that the kids get to pick. We use a similar chart for “chores”, and J chose those with us. My personal favorite of J’s list is “help mommy”.
He sounds so sweet! That is an awesome chore.
I love that they are self-directed – that’s what we do also. Kids always want to learn so I think it’s great to go with their interests and passions. My daughter chose to learn ‘Greek’ this summer :) We’re working on the alphabet right now and trying to think about where to go from there. My son wanted to learn some Italian one year so we found an English/Italian kids dictionary at the library and made index cards for items around the house. Then we taped the index cards to the items or placed them close by so we could use the Italian word when talking about things. Looks like you have a fun summer planned!
That is so cool that you encourage your children’s interests like this!
I helped my tech crazy 8 year old create a similar chart using Microsoft Excel. He has activities similar to Emma’s list. A new activity this year is writing in his journal modeled after Sam Beaver’s journal from “Trumpet of the Swan” by E.B. White. I think it really helps to create a schedule together with the kids.
I love the idea of a journal modeled after Sam Beaver’s!
Do the kids actually follow the chart? When my youngest was little I used to make up all kinds of charts for him to follow activities when he was bored. He was happier just complaining that he was bored.
My kids do, for the most part. We use charts a lot to track goals and progress, and they enjoy it. I think it also helps that they had a lot of say in choosing activities for these charts.
It’s crazy how free time can still need some sort of structure, isn’t it? I feel the same right now with my materity leave. I have to have at least one errand or activity for myself and my twins otherwise the day just seems to drag. I imagine it’s quadruple for you and your kids!
Exactly! I find that my free time is somehow more free if it has a little structure to it.