12 Things Your Child Really Needs This Summer
Every May, without fail, I get at least one email like this:
“Hi Mrs. Goodwin, I wanted to ask—what can I do this summer to keep my child from getting bored and help them be ready for school in the fall?”
My answer may surprise you: Skip the worksheets. Don’t double down on academics. Instead, spend the summer shaping your child’s character, curiosity, and love of learning.
But what does that look like practically? Here are 12 Things you can do this summer to set your child up to be more than prepared to start classes again in the fall.
Exercise
Kids today have soft, weak bodies. We are several generations removed from kids working on the farm all summer, but more recently, they have stopped climbing trees, hopping across creeks, riding bikes, and playing “kick the can” until sundown. Daily exercise should be nonnegotiable: bike rides, walks, hikes, basketball, swimming, running. Get your child moving every single day.
Go Outside
Our youth need to be out in creation. They should learn to recognize different types of plant and animal life. They need to hear the sounds of nature. Choose a tree in your yard and spend 15-20 minutes each day observing it. How does it change? What lives there? What does it look and sound like after a storm? Keep a nature journal. Make wonder a habit.
Listen to old music
Take a break from pop music. Ask your school’s music teacher for music recommendations. They would be thrilled to help. Give your child the gift of being able to identify the music of Vivaldi, Beethoven, Mozart, and Handel. Better yet, invest in music lessons over the summer and give your child the gift of learning an instrument. Give your child the joy of appreciating beautiful music.
Play in the Kitchen
Assign your child one night a week to cook dinner for the family. Help them choose a recipe, shop for ingredients, and cook a meal. Learn to make something delicious from scratch together - jam, cake, sourdough bread. Go to a local farmer’s market and make a meal with only locally purchased ingredients. Make food an adventure.
Clean and organize
Expect your children to keep clean and orderly rooms. Go through toys, clothes, books. Get rid of things that are broken or they no longer need. Donate excess to a family in need. Expect them to clean the kitchen and bathrooms. Teach your children how to maintain a clean, orderly life.
Make Art
Go to a craft store and buy quality supplies—good paper, pencils, watercolors. Dedicate time daily or weekly to developing a skill: drawing, knitting, woodworking. Avoid boxed craft kits; instead, focus on slow, skill-building projects. Creativity takes time. Let them grow into it.
Go Exploring
Take day trips to the state parks, visit small towns, find historical sites near your home, and venture on hikes. Explore places you’ve passed by but never explored. Adventure doesn’t have to be far, it just takes intention.
Visit Museums
Make a list of nearby history, art, and science museums and take time to go visit them. Walk slowly. Model curiosity. Teach observation. Sit with a single piece of art for 5-10 minutes. Teach them how to truly look.
Attend a symphony, ballet, or musical
Every medium-to-large city offers cultural events throughout the summer. Take your family to see one (or several) of these events. These moments will form core memories for the whole family. Expose them to beauty in its highest forms.
Read
Begin the summer reading early in the summer and read slowly together. Discuss what you read. Require 30 minutes of quiet bedtime reading every night. Use book list resources like Read Aloud Revival or Honey for a Child’s Heart to choose books to read and request them from the local library. Get a fun magazine subscription for younger children. Fill your home with books and stories.
Be Bored
Boredom is a profoundly essential experience your children need to have. It fosters creativity, focus, problem-solving, and independence. Let your children wander, tinker, and imagine. That is where the real learning begins. Resist the urge to fill every moment.
Unplug the screens
I saved this for last because many parents stop reading here. But hear me out: screens will sabotage every one of the activities above. So turn them off. Cancel cable. Lock up video game consoles. Take the earbuds. Confiscate phones. Parents too. Eliminate screens unless they serve a utilitarian or edifying purpose. What do I mean by utilitarian? Use screens to pay bills, order groceries, plan trips, look up recipes, etc., and then turn them off. What do I mean by edifying? Use screens to bring life into your family. Enjoy family movie nights, laugh through a family Mario Kart competition, learn something new as a family with an amazing documentary series, use YouTube to learn a new art skill, etc. Otherwise, shut them down. For the entire summer.
A Note About Parent Involvement
This varies by age, but don’t feel like you need to do all of these things with your child. Tweens and teens can and should take more responsibilty. Once boredom sets in, if the tools and expectations are there they will pick them up and begin to use them. However, don’t underestimate how much your involvement with you child, regardless of age, deepens their experience. Even one shared activity can be transformative. Balance this with the need for your own rest and rejuvenation. Teach your children to respect your time away from them as well.
So, Will This Prepare Them for School?
Yes, but not in the way you might think. If your child spends the summer moving, making, wondering, reading, and resting, you will cultivate:
A love of learning
A strong work ethic
A curiosity about the world
All three of these things are marks of a teachable student. When a student is teachable, everything else follows.
