How do you keep your kids busy over summer vacation?

Introduce them to the world of literature.

Give them incentives.

Read with them sometimes.

Let them start learning some hands-on activity--model building, ceramics, gardening.

Have them plan a day trip to someplace neat. They can research stops along the way to keep them interested.

Have them try recipes out each day. They may enjoy learning to cook/bake.

They can write letters and hopefully get some responses.

Give them a disposable camera and have a contest on which one of them produces the best set of pictures.

Have them collect favorite photos and songs that you can help turn into a nice slide show, etc...

Have them train for a mini marathon or other challenge.

Give them art supplies and see what they think of doing.

Visit museums, etc...

If their friends are around during the summer, invite them over and the kids will have a blast! Just let them so their own thing, and make sure to encourage them (softly) to go outside. Create a pool if it gets really hot, and maybe get some sort of water hose with holes in it or something and get the kids to put their swim suits on and jump through the water! I do this most of the time for summer! OH! Also go on fun vacations or something! Go on a bike ride to a park! The list goes on, just stay create and you never know what will pop up!The YMCA where I live always has a lot of activities around the pool such as Tie Dye a T-shirt day or popsicle days and most of them no have spray parks as well as a pool now. I also found a connection through facebook called myactivechild.com and you can find out activities in the area you live and a lot of libraries have summer reading programs in which kid's can earn prizes based on the # of books read. I hope this helps!

Create a pool if it gets really hot, and maybe get some sort of water hose with holes in it or something and get the kids to put their swim suits on and jump through the water! I do this most of the time for summer! OH! Also go on fun vacations or something! Go on a bike ride to a park! The list goes on, just stay create and you never know what will pop up!The YMCA where I live always has a lot of activities around the pool such as Tie Dye a T-shirt day or popsicle days and most of them no have spray parks as well as a pool now. I also found a connection through facebook called myactivechild.com and you can find out activities in the area you live and a lot of libraries have summer reading programs in which kid's can earn prizes based on the # of books read. I hope this helps!

I can give you a long list of things.

1 A day at the pool.

2 Go on vacation!

3 Art class/projects.

4 A fun instrument.

5 Go shopping.

6 Kayak, boat, diving.

7 A small garden?

8 Elitches.

9 Water World, Pirates Cove.

10 go to a few resteraunts.

11 Making a blanket, pillow, stuffed animal.

12 Sleepovers/Play-Dates with friends

13 A sport or two.

14 Have a tea party (if you have a girl)

15 go to the movie theatere

16 Paint on T-Shirts.

17 Build something fun

18 Make a fancy dinner to eat.

19 Make fun snacks.

20 Make a cool object with objects in your home.

21 Go to the library/bookstore

22 An awesome gaming console.

23 Clay!

24 water balloon fights!

25 Make a really fun and tasty food.

I hope this helps answer your question, which is a very good question to ask for the occasion.

Your welcome!

The best approach is a mix of camp and family adventures with a week or two just hanging out at home going to local events. The most important thing is to plan and make the decisions before it is discussed with the children. A clear vision of what the summer schedule is will keep you organized and give the kids an opportunity to look forward to the activity weeks ahead of time. The other important aspect of planning out the schedule is you will also be able to figure out the cost beforehand. This is important as you can change the plan to fit your budget before the kids are involved, avoiding disappointment on their end if something proves to be too expensive or complicated.

If camp is under consideration 2-3 weeks at a day camp allows the kids to make friends and know the routine. That way if the weeks are not consecutive because of other plans they will be returning to familiar and hopefully fun surroundings.

The family can focus on outdoor activities at state and national parks. Hiking is a great way to spend the day and much of the fun is in the preparation. What to bring, packing the lunches and picking the different routes is a very rewarding activity. The beach and zoos are also great fun. Overall, avoid tourist type adventures that only last a few hours and are expensive. It is much better to go for real learning experiences through museums and outdoor organizations.

If you're low on funds or don't like the idea of your child going away for part of the summer, then give them access to other sources of entertainment. My dad set a limit of how long I could play on the computer everyday during the summer and it kept me outside playing with friends. Since it can be a hassle driving your children around when you need to work, try making friends with other parents in the community that your kids are hanging out with and splitting up who gives rides when and where. My parents' rule was they would only drive if they had 24 hours notice because they both work. She takes swimming lessons and we play at the park, hike and bike a lot. She loves the monkey bars. By 10:30 am we are home and she can watch movies, play on the computer, color, play with friends etc. between 11:00 and about 2:00 when the sun is the hottest. Then it's off to the local outdoor pool which is actually a mini water park and we meet friends and picnic there on many days. She and her sister actually hang out quite a bit in the evenings and do chores like brushing and washing and walking the dogs, helping make dinner etc. Then more playing with friends or just passing out from a busy day

They need the summer to relax, believe me! For me I live next to a little amusement park and i got their tons! Try to find exciting activities aound your neighborhood. If their friends are around during the summer, invite them over and the kids will have a blast! Just let them so their own thing, and make sure to encourage them (softly) to go outside. Create a pool if it gets really hot, and maybe get some sort of water hose with holes in it or something and get the kids to put their swim suits on and jump through the water! I do this most of the time for summer! OH! Also go on fun vacations or something! Go on a bike ride to a park! The list goes on, just stay create and you never know what will pop up!The YMCA where I live always has a lot of activities around the pool such as Tie Dye a T-shirt day or popsicle days and most of them no have spray parks as well as a pool now. I also found a connection through facebook called myactivechild.com and you can find out activities in the area you live and a lot of libraries have summer reading programs in which kid's can earn prizes based on the # of books read. I hope this helps!

Okay, so I am a kid, and it's weird that I'm answering a parenting question. But I'm not the type of video game obsessed kid who can't be torn away from Facebook and Twitter. From my past summer camp experiances, I drew the conclusion that a lot of those camps with the teen counselors ans stuff have some very, very obnoxious, rowdy kids in them. Words to the wise: pick summer camps wisely. What my mom did, was keep my sisters and I busy with constructive but not necessarily school activities. Like, we'd all have to read one National Geographic article a day (which, call me a nerd, but I enjoyed), fold oragami, practice musical instruments for about an hour and get some outside time. There was more too. We did better than ever the following school year. Maybe you should ask your kids what they would do, and if they have some constructive activities in mind, encourage that, then (please, be a little less into it than my mom who made us a printed schedule) and have them read, get excercise, do chores each day for about an hour max. Don't overwork them and ruin summer break and please, let them have SOME free time. Hope this is helpful.

She takes swimming lessons and we play at the park, hike and bike a lot. She loves the monkey bars. By 10:30 am we are home and she can watch movies, play on the computer, color, play with friends etc. between 11:00 and about 2:00 when the sun is the hottest. Then it's off to the local outdoor pool which is actually a mini water park and we meet friends and picnic there on many days. She and her sister actually hang out quite a bit in the evenings and do chores like brushing and washing and walking the dogs, helping make dinner etc. Then more playing with friends or just passing out from a busy day.There are many summer /fall things we do as well. Fitting something in like a weekend camping trip or a trip to go fishing is always fun as well. We do have our occasional night where we rent family movies and have a movie night in our home with popcorn. Sleepovers are good for this as well, depending on the age of the children. I have a very large family so I have nieces and nephews over quite often. Time with friends are family seems to fill pretty big time gaps in our home. Lots of kids miss out on seeing school friends when they are out for the summer. I try to give my son the opportunity for play dates as well. If you have a local park, it's always an easy winner...pack a picnic!

Summer Camp

My kids are now in their twenties, but when they were younger summer was not only fun but educational. During the summer months, I had my kids do some of the following:

1. Take a little time out of everyday to read, by the time summer was over they had actually read hundreds of books; this helped a great deal with their Reading and English skills...they always made A s.

2. They completed several large puzzles that they would piece together and glue to large poster boards, so they could display what they had done.

3. They played lots of board games.

4. I would purchase school Math books so that they could take a little time out every week to go over what they would be learning in school. (Summer should not be an excuse to forget everything learned.)

5. Each child had a certain day that they would have to help prepare the meals for that day...trust me for some reason they loved this.

6. Like every other child majority of their time was spent just being kids...

I know you may not agree with the reading and math part, but kids seem to learn more when they are on their own--as opposed to a large class--so any studying is good. (6 hours a week will work miracles, and I always rewarded them for passing the test I would make up.) My kids enjoyed all of these things and never got into trouble. Moreover, they were all excellent students.