5 Incredible Summer Fun Activities for Kids

Summer is a time to relax and let loose. Take things slow and enjoy the beautiful world go by. Those bright sunny days and warm summer nights are just too irresistible to not to take note of, right?

But what about the kids? They are home! While you prepare yourself to soak up the sun, your kids will be probably be bouncing off the wall and yelling at the top of their lungs, “I am bored”. We definitely don’t want them to wander around feeling restless on their long days off from school. As parents, we want each summer vacation to be more memorable than the previous one.

Yes, you can sign up your kids for  summer camps. My kids attend summer camps every year. But there are weeks when their schedules are empty and I find myself scrambling to fill it up with some sort of activities. Anything other than my kids spending time on their gadgets is good enough for me.

5 Incredible Summer Fun Activities for Kids

That’s where this post comes in. I gathered some information on some fun stuff you can do with your kids this summer. These Summer Fun Activities for Kids are great to create new summer memories without sweating much 😉

In this post your will learn

1. 4 Summer Fitness Activities for Kids
2. Take them swimming (Throwing in some pool safety tips too)
3. Try boating
4. Spend time on the Bike
5. Create a love for reading

Sounds cool, isn’t it? Shall we begin then? 🙂

4 Summer Fitness Activities for Kids

Summer is a great time to be out and about. Outdoor activities are a great way to develop an enthusiasm for fitness in kids. Getting to move their bodies are admittedly a bit hard at this age of information technology and easy access to gadgets. But at the same time,  a healthy life style and a fun outlook to keeping active can be easily accomplished by trying out these fun fitness activities for kids.

Gardening

Both my kids love gardening. Every year, they can’t wait for me to pick up my gardening tools and venture into the backyard so that they can help! I am lucky that way, I do not have to actually tell them to help me with planting the seedlings or watering them. Growing your own garden may not sound like a fitness activity, but it definitely is. Between tilling the land to get the garden ready, pulling weeds and even using the hoe to break up the soil for fertilizer your kids will be using muscles they haven’t used before.  It’s a great fun way for them to get some exercise while creating beautiful flowers and great food for your family to enjoy.

Skateboarding

My son, Kevin is still learning skateboarding and this is an awesome fun activity to engage in during summer. Him and his  friends in the neighborhood are all new to this. So learning it together is fun. Yet another reason to be out in the beautiful weather than staying inside glued to their devices. Not only will they be running and jumping, they will learn hand eye coordination and dedication.  Skateboarding takes a lot of work to learn and adapt skill. There are tons of skate parks, centers and clubs where your kids can learn more about skateboarding, stunts and how to stay safe while having fun.

BMX Biking

We are going to be talking about biking a little later in this post but this is specifically about BMX biking. This is a bit more hardcore than the traditional bicycling. Rough and tumble kids and adults will love taking to the dirt paths and tracks to race each other.  Look around your community for clubs and groups that race together.  You can find a ton of resources and information to keep you safe and included in great groups that share the same interests. A wonderful way to enjoy the great outdoors, don’t you think?

Roller Blading or Roller Skating

Classic childhood activities that everyone loves include roller skating or roller blading.  Nothing is as much fun as going to the roller rink with your friends. Kid everywhere have loved this for years.  When you think of fun fitness activities for kids, this is a great option that every family should look to.  Not only does almost every town have a roller rink, every driveway makes a great place to race each other around on roller skates or roller blades.

You can easily encourage your kids to be healthy when you get them involved with these fun fitness activities.  Not only will they have fun, make new friends and find new hobbies – they will be naturally enjoying exercise.  To encourage your kids in fitness, is to help them find natural ways to exercise their bodies that are fun.  Every day activities, special clubs and groups, or specialty sports that have interest are great ways to get them excited about working their bodies.

[bctt tweet=”5 Incredible #SummerFun #Activitiesforkids! !”]

Swimming and Pool safety tips

Swimming is a great fun fitness activity for kids. My son is already enrolled in swimming and he is doing Level 4 at the moment. One thing the instructor has told us is that he needs to keep practicing even though the classes are over in Summer. There are areas he needs to work on and summer is the perfect welcome break to brush up this important skill. Plus, it is fun and an escape from the heat. And what about all those pool parties your child gets invited to? Since your child is practicing swimming during summer, you can be confident to let him or her go for the pool parties. Swimming without help  in parties is something every child wants  and taking upon swimming as a fitness activity during summer will help them do exactly just that.

Other benefits of swimming?

1.Of course, no time to get bored. 

2. Keep your kids fit

3.They will continue to become strong swimmers every week which will put them in an advanced level when the classes resume in Fall. 

Don’t forget Pool Safety

It is great to watch your kids being thrilled at making a splash in the water to confidently swim the length of the pool. It happens so fast and watching them grow in the water is a wonderful experience. But safety in water is of paramount importance and here are 6 ways to keep your children safe.

a) Set rules for pool behavior:  Emphasize the fact that there is no running allowed on the pool side to get to the diving board. Doing so is a classic recipe to slip on the wet decking which in turn can cause severe injuries.

b) Supervision: It is a good idea for the parents to watch while the kids swim to ensure safe pool environment. Lots of unforeseen mishaps can be avoided this way.

If you have a pool in your backyard…

c) Pool Fence: Sometimes, our kids are too stubborn to listen to us. They do their thing anyway in spite of our constant directives or just plain yelling (Hey, don’t judge. I do that most of the time). Having a fence around the pool area solves this problem. This will also serve as a barrier when the kids are tempted to take a dip in the water on restricted hours.

d) Steer away from pool drains: As your kids get older and more experienced with swimming, they might venture out deeper into the pool and explore more. Pool drains are  dangerous. If a swimsuit or leg is pulled into the drain because of the suction, it could lead to serious injury. Drive home the point with your kids not to go near the pool drains. Also make sure, the pool has drains with a safety vacuum release system, which will turn off the suction if a blockage is detected.

e) Chemicals safety: Safely store the chemicals that is used to treat the pool water. It shouldn’t  be accessed by kids. Its a good idea to buy a small portable shed (something you could buy from Home Depot or Canadian Tire) that can be securely locked. Also, getting trained to use these chemicals ensures safety as the improper use of them is harmful for everyone using the pool.

f) Swimming lessons: Last but not the least, taking lessons can greatly reduce any sort of dangerous accidents while swimming. This will also instill confidence in your children as they know how to safely move around in water. The ideal age to enroll kids for swimming lessons is 4 years.

Playing in the pool is lot more fun if you adhere to good safety practices. This will help your kids learn how fun the water can be as they master this life skill called swimming.

Boating

Boating with our kids is still in the works. May be this summer we may end up doing this.  My son who has an eye for adventure is on to me asking all the time when are we planning to sail 🙂 . Well, not exactly sailing, it will be probably “testing the waters” first. There will be a lot of learning involved, for both the parents and the kids, specially when they are first timers like us. Since this summer activity involves a bit of disciplined learning, chances are your kids may get put off as the element of fun will be scarce in the beginning.

So, I found this fun post on how to teach the kids the basics of safe boating in the United States Coast Guard website. It talks about the techniques to make the subject of learning to boat safely interesting and simple. Have a look.

I also have a guest post on my blog from May last year on why and how to teach your kids boating. Certainly worth your while to read it if you are planning to include boating to your this year’s summer adventure list.

These two linked posts should suffice to give you few ideas on boating with family.

It means, time to move on to our next topic on our Summer Fun Activities for Kids list.

Biking

One of the most common summer activity is biking or bicycling. Both my children ride bikes so it is fun to go for family bike rides when the weather is nice. Biking is one of the best ways to explore the fun of being outdoors and meeting new friends. To become a confident rider takes time but it still doesn’t hurt the fun that you can have when on the bike. After all, it brings your closer to the incredible scenery that pass by you compared to a car ride-think  wind blowing through your hair and the fresh air that kiss your face…

Anyhow, the point is biking is a great summer fun recreation activity. And you must add it to your summer bucket list if you haven’t already. There is a post I wrote a while ago on bike accessories for kids. It is a round up on all the essential gear your kids would need to make their bike rides a blast. Check it out!

Also, if you live in Canada, CAA offers a sort of roadside assistance program for bikes! I wrote about it last year.  You can actually contact them 24 hours a day and seven days a week for assistance if you have bike trouble on the open road. They will either fix it on the spot, or take you and your bike where you need to go if that is not possible. This service is free to members and is very similar to their award winning automotive roadside assistance. You can get all the info here.

Kids Activities blog talks about some outdoor fun bicycle games you can play while on the road. So cool!

So, there is really no excuse for not taking to biking this year now, is there? 😉

Reading

I saved the best for last! We all know how important is reading for kids from an early age. Reading opens up a fun and imaginative world for them. As parents, we play a crucial role in not only teaching our kids how to read, but also for developing a love of reading in them.

There are a few ways we can do this:

Turn off the TV:  Yup! Reducing the screen time is the first step in accomplishing this. Limit their viewing time per day and dedicate it to reading together. Hey, it also qualifies as pretty good bonding time.

Set examples: Make it a point that your child see you reading newspapers, books or magazines. If they figure out how much YOU appreciate reading, they might just start modeling you. Never underestimate this technique as it can work wonders, trust me! We do this in our home all the time and it always fetch us the desired results.

Visit your local library: My son loves to go the library! Every time we visit, he haul a bunch of books home. And I love that.  Try to find books that interests your kids. May be your son is a fan of dinosaurs. Pick dinosaur theme books on your next visit. Since he likes the animal, chances are he will be open to reading it voluntarily. Did you take your daughter to dentist recently? Get a book about going to dentist.

These are just few ideas to get them acquainted with books and instill a love of learning.

One of the popular posts on reading on my blog is this Bright Stanley Enrichment Activities for Kids. In this story, Stanley the fish gets lost from his school so he goes on an adventure in the ocean in search of his friends. He has some scary moments along the way, but in the end, he is reunited once again. This story is not only entertaining, it is also a chance to engage in some educational and enriching activities with your kids.

Bright Stanley is a perfect tool to begin some reading exercises for your kids.

Summer vacation doesn’t have to put a stop to your kids’ reading adventures. Instead, you can make it the beginning of their love for reading.

I know this post was awfully long but I hope it was worth your while sticking around reading it to the end.

Summer is a time to cherish and treasure your family. Create great memories together so you can look back on it for all the years to come. This Summer Fun Activities for kids and everyone else in the family will help you do exactly that.

Let me leave you with this quote…

Hello Summer! #summer2016 #summermemories #familytravel #summerquotes #instagrampics

A photo posted by Vinma Joseph (@amomlessmom) on Jun 21, 2016 at 6:44am PDT

Over to you!

What is on your summer bucket list this year?