Trying to figure out how to plan your summer? Here’s how we’re planning ours, plus I’ve got a free printable for your kids summer schedule, goal setting, and more!
Let’s talk about kids summer schedule and planning
Next week is the last week of school and then we’re in full summer mode!
I always think it’s helpful to plan your summer a few weeks before school actually gets out, so if you still have a few days or weeks of school left, now is the time to get prepped.
Here’s how we’re planning our summer
Last summer was absolutely crazy with a big move from Texas to St. Louis, and then living in temporary housing for 2 months while we waited to move into our new home. This summer will be A LOT less chaotic and I’m really looking forward to it!
My kids and I both need some structure. Many moms and kids love to go with the flow everyday — if that’s you, that’s totally awesome. Do what works best for you and your family.
I like a mix of scheduling and go-with-the-flow, but a schedule must be in there somewhere. I still need to get work done everyday, and I want to make sure we have some structured time for my kids to accomplish their summer goals.
Our summer planning session
Usually a week or two before summer begins, we sit down on a Sunday night and do a summer planning night as a family. We haven’t done this yet, but we’ll do it this weekend! This is what it looks like:
We talk about summer goals, things they want to do each day, some family summer bucket list ideas, and things they need for the summer.
We also do a large calendaring session and get all of our trips and day camps on the calendar so we have things to look forward to and can plan the rest of our days accordingly!
Some of their entries from last year, if you need some starter ideas:
- Summer goals examples:
- learn how to cook 3 things completely on my own
- go to the park three times a week and practice basketball shooting – 50 layups on each side, 50 free throws, 50 three-point shots
- learn how to ride a bike with pedals
- Things they need/want examples
- elbow and knee pads for skateboarding
- new swim shirt
- two new pairs of summer shorts
- Daily schedule examples:
- Monday: park for basketball practice, pool, piano practice
- Tuesday: library, piano practice
- Wednesday: park, pool, piano practice
- Family activities examples:
- make homemade ice cream
- do an escape room
- visit a museum in our new city
- go to the zoo
Here’s the printable if you want a copy for your kids!
Get Your Summer Planning Sheet Below!
My Summer Goals
Every year, at the beginning of the year, I set personal goals. You can check them all out right here!
For the summer, I’m making a few other goals that aren’t on that list…things that are just fun for me, and make my life feel happy. These are my summer goals:
- Wear more color! I’ve deemed this the “summer of color” and I’m so excited to be brightening up my wardrobe and getting creative with it. I’ve added a few new things to my closet, but also I want to pair together existing things from my current closet in new ways to make fun outfits.
- Go to 4 workout classes per week. I’ve been an at-home fitness person for the last 7 years, and I love working out at home. But with our basement (and home gym) under construction right now, and the kids all home from school in the mornings, I know my workouts will get interrupted constantly. Earlier this week, I went to a fitness class with a friend at her gym, and fell in love with it. It was so hard, but fun to push myself and feel so great afterward, so I signed up for a summer membership with unlimited class access. I’m going to go four days per week, and I’m so excited to get up early before the kids, get an amazing and uninterrupted workout in, and then be done for the day.
- Cook on the grill at least once per week. Now that we have our backyard done, and we have a pool, I want to eat outside at least once per week. We have a regular grill, and I just got my husband a Traeger grill for his birthday, so I’m ready to learn how to use them and eat all the yummy barbecued and smoked things this summer.
Creating a rough summer daily schedule
Once the boys fill out their printable sheets, I like to go through everything and make a rough daily schedule that allows me to still get my work done, but also gives us lots of time together, time to work on their summer goals, and plenty of free time.
Our rough daily routine
- Wake up before kids. Go to hour long workout class. Listen to scriptures on the drive to the gym.
- Morning expectations for the kids (dressed, beds made, teeth brushed, hair done, etc).
- I make them breakfast and then shower/get ready while they eat
- A several hour block of time together doing an indoor or outdoor activity (pool, water park, library, playdate, park, work on their summer skill goals, etc)
- Home for lunch
- My work time block while the boys do quiet time and have free unstructured time
- I make dinner
- Dinner together and evening family time
And here’s our rough daily activities plan:
Monday: activity, adventure, friends
Tuesday: Library trip
Wednesday: Life Skills School and try a new restaurant for lunch
Thursday: Water Park with friends
Friday: Cooking adventures – try a new recipe together
We plan to do a scheduling time each Sunday evening to plan out our morning activities each day, contact any friends we want to play with that week, and decide on our weekend plan.
outfit details:
MW COLLECTION DRESS | SIMILAR PINK SUEDE HAT | ECCO SNEAKERS
outfit details
MERRICK WHITE COLLECTION FLORAL DRESS
Some Great Boredom Buster Ideas
Boredom for kids is a good thing. I’m sure you know about studies about how boredom leads to our greatest creativity. Yes, yes, and more yes. I give my kids lots of free time and quiet time and their imaginations are HUGE. It’s so good for them.
But sometimes it’s also nice to have a little list of ideas that they can draw from when they’re feeling uninspired…something to get their creative juices flowing again.
So I created this big list of INDOOR BOREDOM BUSTERS + OUTDOOR BOREDOM BUSTERS that you can easily do without much planning or resources. You can print the list easily RIGHT HERE.
30+ INDOOR BOREDOM BUSTERS
- Pull out paper cups and try to make the tallest tower you can
- Do a puzzle
- Play a board game together
- Make homemade popsicles
- Create a craft bin with popsicle sticks, stickers, tape, rubber pants, paper clips, clothes pins, etc and let them get creative!
- Play charades together
- Create some sensory bins for your kids to play with
- Build a fort
- Have a dance party
- Make some homemade play dough
- Do a drawing from Art for Kids Hub Youtube Channel
- Make paper airplanes
- Film a lip sync video with choreography
- Write a letter to Grandma and Grandpa or cousins and send it in the mail
- Play a board or card game (my favorites HERE)
- Do a leaf rubbing drawing with crayons
- Learn a new song on the piano
- Write your own story and draw pictures to go with it
- Make bracelets
- Use paper cups as bowling pins and play indoor bowling with whatever ball you have
- Listen to an audiobook (a list of some of our favorites is right HERE)
- Make an afternoon snack together
- Work on your summer skill goal
- Teach a younger sibling how to play a new game
- Learn how to cross-stitch or crochet
- Make bean bags and learn how to play hacky sack or have a bean bag toss
- Print a coloring page off of the internet and color
- Make a cereal necklace with a string and some dry cereal, then go outside and snack on it!
- Use toilet paper/paper towel rolls to create a marble run on the wall or a door
- Turn off the lights and do shadow puppets
- Play dress up
- Roll up your socks and have an indoor snowball fight with the socks
20+ OUTDOOR BOREDOM BUSTERS
- Try a new park together
- Go swimming
- Go to see a matinee movie
- Go to the library
- Go to the zoo
- Call a friend and have a playdate
- Go to a movie in the park
- Run through the sprinklers
- Create a slip and slide
- Go to the splash pad
- Put together a picnic for dinner that night
- Wash the car
- Sidewalk Chalk
- Have a water balloon toss/fight
- Ride your bike
- Take a walk together
- Do bubbles in the backyard
- Go get the mail
- Have a three legged race
- Draw hopscotch on the sidewalk and play
- Fill a big bucket with water and bob for apples
- Make a volcano in the dirt with a soda bottle, soap, baking soda, and vinegar
- Set up an obstacle course and take turns going through it
PRINT THIS ENTIRE LIST RIGHT HERE
Leave a comment if you have any other great ideas you’d like to add to this list!
A final thought about planning your kids summer schedule
Every family has such different needs and personalities, so as you make your summer plans, think about your children’s needs, and your personal capacity as a mom.
Don’t set your expectations higher or differently than you can achieve or you’ll just set yourself up for frustration and failure!
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Because my daughter isn’t in school yet, this is actually very similar to the schedule we follow year-round, and it really does make a difference! We do something every morning (although I totally count grocery shopping as a “fun” morning activity since she still loves it), and that leaves the afternoons free for her to take a nap and for me to blog or work on the house. I’ve been so consistent at planning something nearly every morning that she’s learned to ask me first thing after waking up what we’re doing that day, and it’s been really good for both of us to have that structure and something outside of the house to look forward to.
Since we’re pretty constrained on budget, we can’t do a ton of big family things, but we DO make sure we have at least one family “day adventure” every single month. Often, it’s something inexpensive or free (this month’s was a picnic at the park and flying kites), but occasionally we’ll splurge and do something bigger.
I love that! You’re such a good mama!
Boredom isn’t always bad. As you go through life you won’t be able to fit every spare minute with activities, so teaching your child to be o.k. with boredom and o.k. with their own quiet thoughts, is also a useful skill. I love the lazy days of summer and don’t schedule or plan anything (except trips which require it). There aren’t enough days in life where you don’t have to live by a schedule or a to-do list and my memories of my childhood summers weren’t about where we went or what we did but about that feeling of freedom. Of just being.
Our summer plans def. include lots of boredom.
(just another viewpoint). 😉
Yes, I totally agree! This is exactly why we do quiet time in our home – lots of time to think, be silent, and be creative.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
One thing i Didnt see on the list but love is volunteering for older kids. Its never too early to starT maKing kids feel like THEy CAN be productive members of society. I BELIEVE kids should learn early that life doesnt REVOLVE around them and give back.
I love this idea!! I’ll add it to the list — appreciate your insights!
I love this post! Thank you for Sharing all of your pOsitivity!! ♥️♥️♥️
Thanks for reading!!
Hi merrick! I know you’ve had it for a while, but where was your striped, collared shirt from? I remember loving it when you first posted it with your favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe, and your post today reminded me! Thanks!
It’s from Asos!
This post is amazing! I am a New(Ish) stepmom and a teacher and i am planning to help give structure to our summer with a ton of these ideas. Thank you for helping me build a good relationship with my stepdaughters!
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Such a Beautiful article for organizing. I love it. My husband and I want to have some custom wardrobes made for the master and guest bedrooms in our home because the present storage is pretty lacking. Reading your article help out me realize that this would be the perfect time to do a wardrobe check as well!
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THANKS FOR SHARING THIS POST! GREAT IDEAS! I AM DREAMING ABOUT SUMMERTIME!
Thank you so much for sharing your ideas. I’ll definitely ask my children what their summer expectAtions and goals Are! I’ve just downloaded the google sheets app and copied your family economy spreadsheets to let my two ‘manage’ their mOney this summer! Some really great tips amd ideas. I Love your posts!! xx
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