Summer Activities for the Family

Glorious, sizzling hot, summer. Summer time here in the midwest gets pretty hot. Day time temperatures often in the high 90s, but the real feel is exceeding 100. Yay humidity! Summer, although it is hot, can be a fun season for the family. Here I have compiled a list of the things we enjoy during the summer months.

Swimming – Obviously this is one of the best ways we cool off during the heat waves of summer. Whether we are in the backyard or at a water park, swimming is a great summer family activity. My kids would live in the pool if we would let them. In our town we also have several splash parks to choose from. They are free to the public and make for a great way to cool down. Just don’t forget to use sunscreen!
Library – Getting out of the house and staying out of the heat doesn’t always have to be costly. In our town, we have a library that holds different kid friendly activities daily. We also joined their summer reading program to encourage the kids to read. Going to the library is fun for everyone. They have many books, computers (for both kids and adults), and even a corner of toys in the kid’s room. We recently enjoyed story time with Belle (from Beauty and the Beast). If you don’t have a library you could even just go hang out at a local book store. We do that from time to time.

Ice Cream – Whether you make ice cream treats at home or go out somewhere fun like TCBY or Cold Stone or even something simpler like a vanilla cone from McDonald’s (if their machines are working), enjoying a cold treat on a hot day can be a fun family outing.

Go for a drive – Something Chris and I have always enjoyed is just going for random drives without any real destination in mind. Just see where you end up. On occasion we do this with the kids as well. Just the other day we ran an errand and decided we weren’t quite ready to go home, so we just drove. We wound up going to the donut place “Krispie Kreme” because we had never been there before and figured “why not”? As soon as we walked in it sort of became educational for the kids, you could watch them make donuts from start to finish. We each had a donut and watched as they made them behind the glass. The kids thought it was pretty awesome! Free entertainment is fine by me!

Go To Local Family Events – I don’t know if every town has events, but ours does during the summer months. Every weekend they play a movie on a projector screen at the local community college outside (surrounding areas do the same at different venues). Before the movie a local band will play and they usually have a snack truck. It is free (minus the snacks) and usually late enough in the evening that you’re not roasting to death.

Farmer’s Markets – Around here we have several farmer’s markets that we can go to. Some are strictly food that you can buy, while others are sort of more like a flea market with people selling things. We went to one recently on a farm. The kids got to meet some chickens and pick out fresh produce.

Picnic – We don’t limit picnicing solely to summertime. However, it should still be on this list. You can pack what you have at home and take it to a park, lake, or wherever you feel like going and have a family picnic. Sometimes we order pizza or fast food to take instead of food from home (if it is more spontaneous than planned in advance).

Try something new – Find something new to try. One idea is to go to a place in your town you haven’t been to before. For instance, we recently went into a western outfitters store. The kids, especially Monkey, loved it! They were dressing up and running around on their horses.

Typical – Then of course there are other “typical” things you can do; bowling, go see a movie, go to a play or concert, or go to the summer carnivals. One of our favorite things to do is going to the dirt track races. However that can be difficult with hot grouchy children, so we don’t currently go as often as we would like.

The list really could be endless. A simple google search can give you an array of ideas going on in whatever town you’re in or visiting.

What is your favorite thing to do in the summer?

-Jenn