75 Ways Milfams Can Have the Best Summer
School is out later this week for my son. This morning, he and I got in a bit of an argument, and after he got on the school bus, I thought to myself, “We’re going to drive each other crazy this summer.”
Summer’s more relaxed schedule can cause the familiar, “I’m bored” cry from the children in your home. Never fear. I have some weapons in my arsenal to help you look forward to summer break! Balancing my part-time work-from-home schedule with a 7-year-old and a wide open schedule (and a number of weeks where my husband will be long gone with the military) can be intimidating.
I’m getting ahead of it this week!
With a little advanced planning and scheduling, there are a few things you can do to prep for summer and make the most of this time as a family.
First, I plan one bigger outing per week like visiting Blue Star Museums (#66) or hiking at a local state park (#30).
Next, I fill in the rest of the week with less structured ideas, like drawing a giant hopscotch and inviting our neighbor children over for some fun. We always participate in a library reading program (#46), and we set goals and create a visible tracking chart to keep us motivated rather than overwhelmed (#58).
Last summer, I cut up slips of paper with ideas and popped them into a big jar. When I heard the B-Word…(you know, B-O-R-E-D!), the jar appeared and we picked an activity to do. I think I’ll cut up a bunch of the ideas below to refresh our jar this year!
Here are some ideas for your best summer ever:
- Attend a civic concert
- Attend a story time or program at the library (or multiple libraries!)
- Build an obstacle course
- Catch butterflies
- Catch fireflies
- Check out a baseball game
- Check out local happenings for movies, live music, and more in local parks
- Check out Youth Center activities (Find your local Youth Center by selecting “Youth Programs/Centers” and entering your installation into the search field)
- Climb trees
- Cool off with indoor ice skating or roller skating
- Count seconds between thunder and lightning
- Create a local park tour list and visit them all
- DIY popsicles
- DIY spa day: Make your own sugar scrub and paint your nails
- Draw a giant hopscotch
- Drink root beer floats or purple cows
- Enjoy matinee pricing at the local theater with an early flick
- Explore local historic landmarks
- Get imaginative while watching clouds
- Get lunch or dinner from a food truck
- Give fishing a try
- Give geocaching a try
- Go berry picking
- Go camping at one of these Joint Services Campgrounds & Facilities (or set up a tent in your backyard!)
- Go fishing
- Go mini golfing
- Go to a zoo
- Go to the farmers’ market and try a new vegetable
- Have a watermelon seed spitting contest
- Hike at a local state or county park
- Host a bubble blowing contest with your neighbors
- Host a neighborhood talent show or singing contest
- Host a picnic with friends or neighbors
- Learn a new skill (coding for younger kids, coding for older kids, playing the ukelele, origami, try a new recipe, juggling, french braiding, sewing, creating a web page, writing a short story, etc.)
- Make a lemonade stand
- Make a neighborhood mini-carnival
- Make a slip-n-slide
- Make giant bubbles
- Make a summer journal or scrapbook to log your daily fun
- Make ice cream
- Make lemonade from scratch
- Make pizzas on the grill
- Make s’mores
- Make sun tea
- Pack a lunch and take a mini day trip on bikes
- Participate in the DoD Summer Reading Program
- Pick a family summer theme song and blast it often
- Picnic lunch at a new park
- Plan a theme week with a book or movie series…incorporate foods, crafts, and activities into the theme
- Plant a garden or flowers
- Play in a rainstorm
- Play in puddles
- Play the telephone game with your neighbors
- Rent a kayak or canoe
- Rent fun bikes or paddle boats
- Roast marshmallows over a bonfire
- Scavenger hunt around your neighborhood (this one is fun or create your own using simple things like leaves, pinecones, pretty rocks, bird feather, etc.)
- Set a summer book reading goal and make a poster to check off each book or minutes read
- Set up an outdoor movie in your backyard
- Sign up for summer camp (a few places to get started: Operation We Are Here, Operation Purple. For Reserve and National Guard families, ask your local family support centers)
- Splash at a local installation’s aquatic center
- Stay up late for the Perseid Meteor Shower (peaks August 12)
- Stop at the ITT (Information, Tickets, and Travel Office) for local events, museums, and more
- Take a spin on the ferris wheel at a local fair or festival
- Tie-dye T-shirts or pillowcases
- Tour one Blue Star Museum each week throughout the summer
- Try a LEGO challenge
- Vacation in a neighboring city: use TripAdvisor forums to explore like a local or tourist
- Visit a National Park for free
- Visit a nature center
- Visit a splash pad
- Visit your MWR Office to try a new activity (kayaking, canoeing, boating, paddle boarding, etc.)
- Volunteer as a family or earn money to donate to a charity
- Watch a parade
- Write letters to family far away
