Photo by Elly Fairytale from Pexels

This year, there is uncertainty as to whether Summer Camps will be held.

This means parents may be up to the task and duty of keeping their children entertained, inspired, motivated and educated all Summer long.

To ease the challenge, it is a good idea to establish a strict schedule that includes work time, play time, and other activities in between. Without a routine, your work or project obligations can suffer and you risk having your kids play video games and watch TV all day.

Here are some suggestions of activities I came up with:

• Use the morning to institute some reading or math drills time.

• If you live near a library, use its facilities and take advantage of their summer reading challenges.

• Go to the craft or dollar store and pick up supplies and incorporate an hour on some days for crafts.

• Use card or board games for non-electronics hours.

• If restrictions are lifted, do outdoor activities close to home like make visits to the local park. My middle kid, who is a nature and animal lover, enjoys heading down to our town creek and exploring the dragonflies and frogs. My eldestused to like to ride his bike around the block and my youngest used to enjoy playing make-believe with her My Little Pony toys in the front yard.

• Tack on active play time as well. Take a trip to a local tennis or basketball court. Toss the softball in the backyard. We go on a half mile loop in our town and stop periodically to do jumping jacks, burpees, situps and pushups in the evening. It’s a great way to stave off the summer excess weight gain as well.
• Plan trips to the beach at least once during the summer, if they are open and you can safely socially distance from other beach goers.
• Try one of these 60 ideas I came up with from a previous posts of stuff to do with the kids at or near home during the quarantine.

With these being unprecedented times, parents will have to get creative this year and try to make it work! Good luck!