I am looking forward to summer! We are all counting down the days until it is here. It is SO close we can almost smell it! I posted earlier about some great summer reading programs and yesterday I posted my summer reading list. Today I wanted to share some of the other ideas we will be doing this summer to keep us busy.
One of the first things we do anytime we have a school break is get out a marker and poster board to make our list. I love lists! I think this is what saved us the year we went to a year round school. It doesn’t have to be fancy.
poster board, markers and ideas.
Another idea we are going to try out this year is punch cards. This year the kids have really wanted SO much electronic time. They have their own devices and I’m going to play mean mom and keep their kindle and itouches in my room this summer…until they can show me that they’ve earned a couple punches every day on their card. You can bet reading time and piano practice will be on our punch cards! I love these simple ones from Thirty Hand Made Days you can print out,
The Ticket Store will make a come back this summer too. It’s just a fun simple activity that can go on year round. Tickets can be earned by doing jobs or doing nice things. Or just because I love you (when you are baby Lucy). Then on the allotted day (usually Friday afternoon) the ticket store will open. The ticket store is full of (mostly) dollar bin/store items. Some coupons for dates with mom or dad, or ice cream, or a popular item…video game time. Each item costs different amounts of tickets.
One idea that we haven’t done, but I’m thinking about doing this year is having assigned days….I really like this one from my friend over at Hi! It’s Jilly.
A new thing we are excited to try this summer is a program that our city is doing called Unplugged. The older kids came home with some lanyards the other day from school. (and you can pick up extra at the chamber of commerce for younger kids) On the website there are activities you can chose from and then after you have done those activities all you need to do is go to the different sponsors and pick up the badges. The kids can collect all summer! It sounds fun and something new, we can’t wait to see how it works.
How do you plan your summer?
Do you make plans or just play it all by ear?
What’s your favorite summer activity?
(Don’t forget to enter my giveaway this week, to win a copy of The Art of Work. It’s a great read with lots of ideas!)
