With a houseful of three kids (for those who have followed my posts know that I have two boys. Yes there’s another girl in the house, my boys’ first cousin. We live in a joint family) , all under five, summer vacations did not pose a very pleasing proposition to me. I have dreaded this years summer vacation with all my might and pondered on every resource available trying to figure out how I could keep the kids busy throughout the vacations.  Summer camps and activity classes were an option, but most of the options available last only a week or so that too just 3-4 hours a day. This really wasn’t a sustainable solution. To add to that the kids constantly insisted that they do everything together. My elder son is the only one at a respectable age to gain from the summer camps and like activities, but he won’t go alone.

“Why should I go, when these two are chilling at home?” my elder one has ranted endlessly.

This made me brainstorm on a more sustainable work around to keep the kids busy. I researched and finalized a handful of activities to keep the kids busy without losing my sanity. But three days into my plan, my boy was bored already.

“Mom! I am bored. Please think of something new and more exciting!” Nik cribbed.

I listened to him in despair thinking of how I was ever going to make it sane through the 40 days of vacations. (Yes! 40 days! I know, its sacrilege of parental  peace)

[inlinetweet prefix=”” tweeter=”@anupriya_guptaa” suffix=””]Then it struck me! Kids don’t need special, they need variety.[/inlinetweet]Especially my kids! With an attention span a size of a match stick, I need to keep them juggling from one chore to another. That will keep them excited and engaged. So I sat down with a pen and journal and created this list of activities that my kids could keep busy with. I had certain criteria to put an activity into the list –

1)     Age appropriate
2)     Should assist in Skill building
3)     Keeps kids busy for atleast half an hour
4)     Involves the kids to interact with each other
5)     Should meet my philosophy of minimal expenses (yes, I am a minimalist mom and do not believe in mindlessly splurging on things that I can arrange at home through DIY)
6)     Have some activities that do not need my assistance
7)     Least casualties even if there’s a lot of mess
8)     A mix of indoor and outdoor activities

While meeting the above mentioned criteria and keep kids busy throughout their summer vacations, I divided the potential activities into five categories.

These activities were also listed with the idea of facilitating various developmental needs of kids upto five year old. These needs are primarily building up of cognitive, sensory and tactile skills, boost imagination, team work and free-play.

So, here you are. Presenting to you a minimalist mom’s long but not necessarily exhaustive list of 50 Ways to keep your kids busy this summer vacation.

 

Home Chores

  • Clean up your bicycle
  • Sort out your clothes/ discard the ones that you have outgrown
  • Clean up your table and chair
  • Clean up your toys
  • Sort out your toys / Discard the ones that have broken and you don’t need
  • Do a clean up on your books / Discard the torn ones
  • Dole out some water in the balcony or varendah and wipe it out with a wiper
  • Clean up the windows
  • Pick up washed clothes from the lines and fold them
  • Water the plants

Kitchen and Food

  • Learn to eat on your own (if not learnt yet)
  • Help with washing fruits and vegetables
  • Help with peeling and de-seeding fruits and veggies (ones that can be done without knife)
  • Serve a dish to grand-parents
  • Learn to make a smoothie
  • Learn to make an ice-cream
  • Learn to cut veggies and fruits with a plastic knife
  • Learn some non-flame dishes such sandwiches, salads
  • Help with rolling matthee (salty snack )
  • Help with mashing potatoes for paranthas

Co-curricular Activities

  • Read new books
  • Learn new words
  • Listen to a story
  • Tell a story
  • Do a role play
  • Learn a new song
  • Learn to play an instrument
  • Learn to draw and color
  • Make different patterns with folding news paper
  • Learn color mixing

Indoor Fun

  • Learn to dance on a new number
  • Learn to skate
  • Learn self-defence through martial arts
  • Learn to play LUDO
  • Learn to play CHESS
  • Spend time on a Skate Scooter
  • Learn to play Basket Ball
  • Play house with friends or cousins – role play
  • Create a dim lighted ambience with music and make shift a cafĂ© experience
  • Get a nylon swing or make shift one with a bedsheet in the balcony

Outdoor Fun

  • Learn to ride a bicycle
  • Have fun with sand in the porch
  • Visit a zoo
  • Visit a water park
  • Visit an amusement
  • Visit cousins’ place
  • Visit a local park and enjoy the swings
  • Visit a museum / planetarium
  • Wash and clean the porch
  • Spend time in the pool (a mini one at home or a real one)

Summer Vacation Activities for Kids

How did you keep your kids busy this summer vacation, the minimalist way?

You may also read –

What we did last summer for homework – Shape Craft

This post is part of the blog train where 24 awe-inspiring bloggers, are going to share their story of ‘Summer’. Hop on the train to read some amazing blogs. I want to thank  Priyanka who blogs at Flavors of World for introducing me in her blog post.
This ‘Summer Blog Train’ is organized by Neha Sharma from Growing With Nemit
Now, it’s time move to the next station where Snigdha will share her take on the theme ‘Summer’ on her blog  BeauttyObsessions. Do check out her post and show some love.

28 Replies to “50 Ways To Keep The Kids Busy This Summer Vacation – The Minimalist Way”

  1. My daughter’s summer vacation has just started. Kids definitely need something to keep themselves busy during holidays. I have also planned s couple of activities for her. I like to keep it a combination of outdoors and indoors.

  2. Superb post, Anupriya! These are the best activities to keep kids happy and engaged during summer vacations. My son is 2 years old and I am also doing some Montessori and play-based activities with my son. I am going to take a few age-specific ideas from your post and use these for my son. Your kids are having a great summer at home.

  3. Kidss surely need something to keep them busy!!! This perfect list is going to be with me for future refernce…..

  4. Wow…those are really fab ideas. And I am happy this arrives at a time when I was headbanging as to what can I do to engage my one year old. Really helpful post! 🤗

  5. Wow.. This post is just in time asy son’s vacation started today.. Already pinned your post.. Thanks for sharing..

  6. Ohh what a co-incidence..I had planned almost similar planner for girls for this summer vacation. loved your way of representing it, I had heard a lot about your writing style from Zainab, and today found the same thing, very well written..loved it.

  7. Wow! That’s an extensive list of amazing ideas.Keeping the kids engaged in a productive manner is a hard task and you’ve made it easy now

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