Summer is fast approaching. Your children will be home with no school and they will want to do something. One part of having a happy summer for all includes having activities to complete occasionally. This can break up the monotony of the summer days. Several of these suggestions involve planning with other church members. Often the children do not get to spend much time with their friends from church; you can help create some opportunities to strengthen these friendships over the summer. Of course you can include anyone in the activities—they do not have to be members of the church.
1) You can form a craft group for the children with other moms in your ward. You could have the activities in the gym of your church building or rotate it through different homes. Each week a different mom will be in charge of choosing and preparing the craft to complete. The younger children can play in the gym while the older ones work. “The Friend” is a great resource for fun easy crafts.
2) You can plan a big outing with other members from your ward once every two weeks or once a month. Take advantage of the big group size to get group discounts at the zoo, museum or aquarium. These activities are often more fun with friends. They will give your children something to look forward to and break up the monotony at home.
3) You do want to give your children the opportunity to play and relax without a lot of pressure. You can set up play dates with your children’s friends. You can also have days when it is just family playing together. If you have a yard encourage your children to play outside as much as possible. If you do not try to get to the park as much as you can.
4) You can enroll your children in your library’s summer reading program. Libraries often offer free or low-cost activities for school age children over the summer. You may consider signing up your children for an activity or two. You may also want to spend time reading as a family over the summer.
5) Take some time to plan a few day trips with just your family. These could be trips on Saturday or you could take a few days off from work to complete them. Go to places you’ve never been before. It is amazing the number of things you can do with just a few hours drive.
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