Keeping your family busy during the summer can be challenging. Since the “babysitting service” (also known as school) is not available, finding activities the whole family can enjoy is paramount to enjoying and making the best of one’s summer. Planning your summer activities early should give you peace of mind for the summer months to come. In this article, we will examine 4 fun ideas to put on your family’s “to do” list.

Yard Work/Gardening

With the rise of smartphones and videogames, getting kids to play outside can be hard. However, if you can plan a family activity around working in the outdoors, your children will be much more likely to participate in and enjoy the work. Even if your family does not have access to an outdoor yard, there are many community gardens and parks where you can get some solid outdoor time.

Open a Lemonade Stand

Helping your children start a small business can be a phenomenal way to keep them entertained while teaching them about commerce. The startup costs are minimal: a borrowed table, some chairs, and lemonade supplies. Make sure to keep an eye on them since they will be interacting with strangers.

Chalk the Sidewalk

While your family will not be creating Banksy-level sidewalk pieces anytime soon, sidewalk art is always a great summer pastime. As long as you have a driveway or sidewalk nearby, you should have no problem finding a canvas for your artistic endeavors. Make sure to wash the chalk from the sidewalk if it is in a public area.

Different Lakes

Have you ever had a summer where you really wanted to spend a lot of time at the lake with your family but didn’t find any time to do it or kept putting it off until the very last week before school starts? If so, making it a goal with your family is a great idea. Use your fridge or some type of artistic board to put pictures of your family’s trip to each lake. As you go to different lakes, your board or fridge will pile up, and it’ll be fun to look back on once summer has ended. If your family is able to, you may even want to think ahead about buying a boat, like those from Petzoid’s Marine Center, so that you can use it out on the water as well. Otherwise, fun floaties and beach toys should do.

Hearing your family constantly complain about being bored can be infuriating. Luckily, with a bit of preparation and some good ideas like those above, you can dodge the issue completely and just focus on the fun!