Summer Fun: Family Bonding Ideas to Savor the Last Days of Summer!
It’s late in the summer now which means the last few drops of the sun kissed season should be savored! If you haven’t already, take advantages of these last few weeks of summer before they turn into hectic Fall days again. Back to school tends to take over everyone’s schedule - from school shopping to enrolling and registering in classes and extracurricular programs, sports team practices and club meetups, the school year brings about so many new things to do, it gets quite difficult to share in family time.
The last days of summer are the perfect time to focus on sharing special moments with your family, especially if you’ve got small kids or pre-teens in the house. These are the years when their lifelong memories are made and it’s important to establish family traditions with them now. Here are a few ideas to help you savor the summer with your family:
Build Something Together
This plan requires no time away from home; try building something with your kids! Talk to them about what they’d like to make. Are your kids into animals and fauna? Build a birdhouse. Are they into organic foods and growing your own veggies? Build a garden bed. Are they into being adventurers and using their imagination? Build a treehouse. If they’re more about putting together model planes or cars, that’s another great bonding project. These ideas help teach your kids about building, time management, how things work, teamwork, research and of course, gives you both plenty of opportunity to bond. You’ll have a wonderful sense of accomplishment after it all and so will they.
Go Camping
Summer camping: It’s a go-to summer activity for a reason! Nothing gives your family quality time like setting up camp in nature, spending the night under the stars and sitting fireside, roasting s’mores and hot dogs. You can take a quick camping trip to your local river or nature park, pack a few tents and sleeping bags or you can make a road trip out of it and head to a National Park. You can pack backpacks and do some hiking, you can go tubing down a river, go fishing, birdwatching, or tons of other fun things. You can map out some landmarks and sights to see, like the Grand Canyon or a mountain range that’s on the way and take family photos. Whether you choose to make a roadtrip out of it or just keep it quick and local, you and your kids will have the opportunity to have some un-interrupted family time, share stories, have conversations, play games and really bond as a unit.
Hit the Theme Parks
End the summer with a bang - or a splash - by planning a family theme park visit. There’s nothing more fun than riding roller coasters or going down water slides and getting your adrenaline going. Make it even more memorable by doing a family theme for your outfits; coordinate matching tops or dresses together and get ready for plenty of photo ready moments throughout the trip.
Summer Book Club
Encouraging your kids to read might be a bit easier if everyone in the house is doing it together. Introducing a little bit of a community feeling and some competition can be a great incentive for them to read more. As a family, decide on a few books that everyone can read together and have weekly meetings to discuss what’s happening. If your kids already have a summer reading list, maybe help them out by choosing the books that are part of it.
