When looking back on your childhood, what do you remember about summer? For many of us, we have fond memories of heading off to summer camp with friends. While we are still practicing social distancing and camps aren’t in full swing, there are ways that we can recreate this experience at home.
Feel free to organize a summer camp with other families in the neighborhood – this will make it more realistic. Plus, there are activities that kids can easily maintain distance from other children and you can spread out the responsibility between parents. If you don’t feel comfortable with that idea, that’s perfectly fine, any kind of summer camp is better than no summer camp. Check out these ideas below:
Summer Camp Activities at Home
- Camping – This one is a must. Bust out your tent, sleeping bags and flashlights and set up a nice spot for your kids (and you!) to crash for a few nights. For it to be summer camp, it definitely has to last longer than one night. Don’t forget to have plenty of toys and snacks on hand too.
- Scavenger Hunt – Set up clues in your backyard or throughout the neighborhood. A simple search on Pinterest or Google will leave you with tons of ideas. We suggest sticking to a theme. For instance, base your clues on nature, color, movement (crawl under, jump to, etc) or even one done at night with your flashlight!
- Water Balloon Toss – The use of water is also a must for summer camp. Fill a bunch of balloons with water and place them in a few buckets. Simply create 2 teams and line teammates up across from each other. Toss balloons back and forth, taking a step back with each successful catch. Keep this up until all balloons pop!
- Movie Night – This activity can be done multiple nights, just don’t forget the s’mores! Grab a projector screen and bean bag chairs and set up outside or host movie night in your living room and create a fort with blankets.
- Gardening – Whether you want to plant a vegetable garden or add more flowers to your backyard, this is a fun activity to involve the kids. Give your kids some guidelines to pick out plants to make it more challenging and then get to planting! Add some enzymes to your plants to keep them healthy!
Besides the ideas we have suggested, ask your kids their favorite things to do and be sure to incorporate those. What other activities do you suggest for other parents?
