Summer vacation is a dream of every kid — the school is closed, the sun is bright, and days are endless. However, when you want to play with your 8 to 10-year-olds continuously, it can be a matter of hours before they begin to get bored, become restless, and want to turn to the screen.
This is a sweet zone. They are old now to handle some activities more independently yet young enough to need your attention and advice. And what do you do with their long summer days and make it quality, fun, even educational?
The list below is based on all activities that can be done in the summer that an 8-10-year-old will love to be busy with. Have outdoor adventures, indoor boredom-busters, or stay-at-home quiet-time crafts, you can find loads here.
1. Make Backyard DIY Obstacle Course
Create an obstacle course with pool noodles, cones, ropes and even cardboard boxes. Have your child take some part in designing it and keep them challenged to beat their time. It is very healthy both activity and creativity wise.
As an example, make them crawl under a table, jump over hula hoops, walk on a plank, and run towards the finish line. You can even give small prizes on their own best!
Related: 10 Cool Water Activities for Kids to Splash Through Summer
2. Begin a Summer Journal or Scrapbook
Provide your child with an empty notebook and ask them to tell about their adventures during the summer, put photos, or depict the main action they took in a day.
It is great because it develops writing skills, yet there is not a homework feeling, turns into the keepsake that they will be glad to revisit!
3. Take part in the Summer Reading Challenge in the Local Library
Numerous libraries have summer reading programs rewarding and consisting of events. Go with your child to select some age-appropriate chapter books, comics books (graphic novels), or even audio books.
Hint: They should select something that interests them, even comic books or such mysteries series are welcome. Here, the aim is to create a reading passion.
4. The Mini Business or Lemonade Stand
You now can sell the concept of a lemonade stand as a way to learn entrepreneurship. Or be innovative, your child may sell homemade bracelets, painted boulders, or dog-watching at the neighborhood.
Lessons in life: They are going to be taught about money, marketing and that hard work pays, and they will learn it all and enjoy it.
5. Dodge Ball or Water Balloon Baseball
During the hot afternoons, use the yard as a water playground by the use of balloon based games. Water balloon baseball is just what it claims to be and it is hysterical!
Hint: To be safe, soft, made of plastic bats should be used and the ball should be played in bare feet on grass.
6. Go Geocaching
Geocaching resembles a life-sized treasure hunt on GPS or a mobile app. It is a cool combination of technology with a discovery of nature.
So what do we do: Download a free geocaching app, locate secret caches in the area and start the adventure.
7. Create Time Capsule
Ask your child to collect tiny treasures such as photos, letters to their future self, drawings, and include their favorite toys and store them in a sealed envelope or box to break in a couple of years.
Twist in the maze: Ask them to make some predictions to what life would be like when they turn 18!
8. Organize a Theme Movie Night
Choose the theme, such as the theme about the world beneath the sea or the world beyond the space and watch the movie that fits that theme. Make it more of fun with themed snacks and decorations.
Watch Finding Nemo, have some goldfish crackers, eat blue streamers and sea creatures cut-outs.
Related: 15 Fun Things To Do With Your New Born Baby
9. Make a Back Yard Camping Event
Camp, make marshmallows around a campfire (or oven), bedtime stories, and tell spooky tales, and gaze stars. You do not have to go farther than your backyard in order to experience a true adventure.
Added amusement: Let them carry flashlights, compass, and plush toys to their camp.
10. Carry Out Science Projects at Your Home
Children are fond of bubbly, explosive, or color-changing things. Do easy things such as creating baking soda volcanoes, slime or crystal-growing.
Materials required: Simple ingredients and household materials are required in most of these experiments such as vinegar, cornstarch, food coloring, and baking soda.
11. Do it Yourself Bird Feeders
Easy feeders can be made of toilet paper rolls, peanut butter, and birdseed. Hang them up out and see what comes calling daily.
Pro tip: Make a bird-watching journal and count the number of species that your kid knows.
12. Have a Mini-Olympics Host
Prepare some competitions, sack race, long jump, water cup relay, and call neighbors or brothers and sisters and give medals or ribbons to participate.
Learning bonus: Learn them some history on the Olympics and give them a chance to create their personal flags.
13. Volunteer Together
Look at shelters, food banks or clean ups in the community that kids can participate in. And big things do not have to be great, like cleaning up the street, or giving away toys.
Life lesson: It inculcates the aspects of compassion and responsibility in a practical method.
14. Go to a Museum Trip or Art Walk
Go to your local art gallery, science center or children’s museum. A lot will provide summer workshops or free days.
At home twist: Ask your child to build his own mini-gallery at home using the drawings and paintings he does, or LEGO structures.
15. Have a Skill That Can Be Shared
Do something neither of you have tried yet, origami, knitting, learning an instrument, or even code. Online learning is accessible thanks to such websites as YouTube and Scratch.
Example: Schedule afternoon to learn how to play guitar with a simple song in a ukulele or piano.
16. Create Your Own Popsicles and Smoothies
Give your child free will to pick the fruits, to mix them and put them in popsicle molds to freeze. It is cool, renewing, and better than shop-bought snacks.
Children favorites: Strawberry banana, mango pineapple, or chocolate banana and almond milk.
17. Write and Staging a Play
Ask your kid to compose a small play or skit. Make them create a set out of cardboard boxes, find roles to play in the family, and enact the production of friends or neighbors.
How it works: It integrates creative thinking, narrative, team play and assertiveness all in an invisible format that is fun.
18. Play a Puzzle or Construct a Massive LEGO Masterpiece
Rainy days you might get with a 500-piece puzzle, or, allow your child to go ahead and create an LEGO castle or town without the instructions.
Challenge version: Answer together and see whether you can solve the puzzle within 2 hours.
19. Fortune to Possess a Nature Scavenger Hunt
Prepare a list of something occurring in nature, such as acorns, feathers, a heart-shaped rock, a flower with a particular color, and go to a park to find them.
Variation: Work in theme or make it into a photo scavenger hunt with a phone or a tablet.
20. Start a YouTube-Type Show (Of Course Secret)
Ask your child to imagine they are recording a science demonstration, cooking show or show and tell toy. Record it on your phone and watch it later with your phone.
Hint: You should either keep it to yourself or merely share it with your relatives. It is not about the likes but the creativity.
21. Make an Indoors Fort
Take blankets, pillows and chairs and allow your child to build a mega indoor fort. To complete the place as the chillest hangout space add fairy lights, snacks, and books.
Pro tip: Develop a weekly fort-tradition like having a Fort Friday; where each week has a new theme.
22. Do a Yes Day Adventure
To the extent of reason and money (yes, money because even this will cost you something), provide your child with a day in which (almost) everything is a yes. Ice cream to breakfast? Sure. Wish to come to park in PJs? Shake a leg.
Rule: define rules in advance, however be goofy and creative in letting them make choices which make them feel powerful.
23. Draw Up a List of Things to Do in Summer
When summer begins, have your kid brain storm with you and write about 25-50 things he/she wants to do before school begins. Stick it on the refrigerator and cross things out as you proceed.
Examples: Play a kite, eat in a food truck, watch fireworks, and/or learn to juggle.
24. Go to Free Themed Parties
Watch out free community events—such as outdoor concerts, farmers markets, craft fairs or cultural festival. Most of them are family oriented and surpriseful.
Finding them: Go to the parks department section of your city or the Facebook events page.
25. One Has to Teach Basic Life Skills
The summer can be a wonderful option to learn real-world skills in a fun and non-stressful manner. They can be cooking or doing the laundry, folding clothes or even simple budgeting lessons.
And have fun: Turn cooking dinner into kids cook off or allow them to hatch their favorite meal.
26. A Home-Made Tie-Dye Exercise
Get a tie-dye kit and allow your kid to play around with worn-out T-shirts, socks or pillowcases. It is dirty, fun and fabulous results.
Artistic spin: Take several colors and make swirls, hearts or even their name.
27. Summer Pen Pal
They are able to write to a cousin, grand-parent, or even a new on-line friend. Send real letters by decorating envelopes, adding some drawings to make them look old-school cool.
Online alternative: Search out supervised pen pal initiatives which are set up especially for children.
28. Poop Weekly Theme Days
Those days can be special; every day can be dedicated to a special theme; you can have a messy day, a water day, surprise day, etc.
Advantage: It makes the children feel a routine without being at school.
29. Make a Comic Book
Should your child share the passion of story-telling or drawing, make them produce their own comic book. Assist them to make a booklet out of paper and draw panels with a dialogue.
Brain starter: Make them become their own superhero and write a mini adventure.
30. Allow Boredom at Times
This may seem unbelievable, but, boredom is a gift. It imposes creativity, imagination, and problem solving. When your child tells you he or she is bored, do not feel like filling this silence. That is to be worked out.
Trust the process: That is when the best creative play starts.
Final Thoughts
Summer should not be filled with a haze of screen time, pricey camp sessions, or outcry of the repeated phrase of, I am bored. By being a bit organized and adaptable, you can make the days of your 8–10-year-old child fruitful by instilling wonder, developing life abilities, and making memorable moments.
It can be creating slime in the kitchen, creating a bird feeder in the yard, or performing a backyard play, the magic of the summer is in small magic and surprises. And, these thoughts will not make your child spend the summer in a normal way.
Save the pin for later
