Each summer, our family likes to discuss and put together some summer goals for kids. We don’t do anything crazy ambitious, but it’s nice having a few goals to help us be intentional with our time together. I love having goals in different categories to provide some structure and organization to our summer fun!
Why We Do Summer Goals for Kids
Especially when we’re home for long periods of time, it’s easy to let the whole summer slip away. By having some specific goals for academics, life skills, creativity, and FUN, it helps us be more intentional with what we want to get out of our summer. We still have plenty of time for free time and unstructured play. But this helps us be proactive in getting to our fun summer bucket list ideas. This list is also great to provide ideas for summer boredom busters!
Plus, our kids get SO excited when they’re able to check off their goals. They feel so accomplished! They know they’ve worked hard and done some awesome things. And they LOVE the reward at the end! We do two dates with a parent (one for an activity, and one for a special meal out).
These aren’t a replacement for their normal family economy daily kid responsibilities, but just some extra fun activities and projects. And obviously, the Global Children’s Book Club is one of our very favorite parts!
When We’re Doing Summer Fun Club
This is the 4th year our family has done some form of Summer Fun Club. We started in 2017, when our kids were 6, 4, and 2 years old. The following year, we spent the entire summer abroad, so modified it to mostly incorporate travel skills and learning. Then last year, we did it again while mostly home.
This summer, we were planning to travel internationally with kids the whole summer again. Obviously that all changed with COVID-19! So we’re excited to do some fun things at home. Even if we aren’t able to venture very far, we’re looking forward to doing some fun indoor activities with kids. And we’ll have quite a few outdoor activities in our backyard and close to home.
And if we do manage to go on a few road trips? Even better. We can do most of these while away from home, too, and they’re perfect road trip activities for kids!
Where to Find the Summer Fun Club Summer Goals For Kids
I’ve written out our goals below by age. Obviously, these will be different for every family and every child. But I personally always find it helpful to see what others are doing for inspiration. If you’d like to print out your own copy (that you can edit to have whatever summer goals you’d like), here’s a link to the summer goals for kids document.
Just click on File > Make a Copy. Then you’ll be able to rename it and save it to your own Google Drive.
I hope this list is helpful for you in planning some summer goals for kids, too!
This Summer Fun Club post contains affiliate links, but all opinions are 100% my own. That means I earn a small commission if you purchase through my link, but doesn’t change your price.
2020 Summer Fun Club: Summer Goals for Kids
9 Year Old Summer Goals
FUN: Watch a family movie in the backyard, Make popsicles, Play in the sprinklers/slip n slide, Go camping (or backyard camping), Play badminton, Have a picnic, Go on a hike (we love these kids hiking backpacks!), Go to the beach, Go fruit picking, Do tent day (read all day and make blanket forts), Do a distanced play date, Do sidewalk chalk
ATHLETIC: Practice baseball, Go on a family bike ride, Swim all 4 strokes, Run 1 mile
READING: Global Children’s Book Club, Read a biography, Read a book about a country, Lord of the Rings Book 1, Island of the Blue Dolphins, The Inquisitor’s Tale, A Long Walk to Water, Bud, Not Buddy
LIFE SKILLS: Learn to sew a button, Clean inside of car, Learn to make no-knead bread, Learn to make pizza dough, Learn to change the batteries in the smoke detector, Do 5 loads of laundry, Create a menu & make a fancy dinner, Bake a treat for the family
ACADEMIC: Memorize the presidents of the US, Research a country & write a 2-page report, Present your country to the family, Do a science project, Do a Math Olympiad test, Do an egg drop challenge
ARTS: Learn about an artist: Frida Kahlo, Learn about a composer: Beethoven, Do a photography workshop with Mom, Learn vibrato, Orchestra camp, Make a video with siblings
MORAL & RELIGIOUS: Complete service activities, Memorize a scripture, Finish reading the Book of Mormon, Teach a family lesson, Learn a hymn on the violin
7 Year Old Summer Goals
FUN: Watch a family movie in the backyard, Make popsicles, Play in the sprinklers/slip n slide, Go camping (or backyard camping), Play badminton, Have a picnic, Go on a hike (we love these kids hiking backpacks!), Go to the beach, Go fruit picking, Do tent day (read all day and make blanket forts), Do a distanced play date, Do sidewalk chalk
ATHLETIC: Play tennis, Go on a family bike ride, Swim all 4 strokes, Run 1 mile
READING: Global Children’s Book Club, Read a biography, Read a book about a country, Percy Jackson and the Olympians Book 1, Harry Potter 7, Stargirl, Silk Umbrellas, The Borrowers
LIFE SKILLS: Learn to sew a button, Clean inside of car, Learn to make no-knead bread, Learn to make pizza dough, Learn to change the batteries in the smoke detector, Do 5 loads of laundry, Create a menu & make a fancy dinner, Bake a treat for the family
ACADEMIC: Memorize the presidents of the US, Research a country & write a 2-page report, Present your country to the family, Do a science project, Do a math mystery puzzle, Do an egg drop challenge
ARTS: Learn about an artist: Frida Kahlo, Learn about a composer: Beethoven, Do a photography workshop with Mom, Finish I Can Read Music book, Orchestra camp, Make a video with siblings
MORAL & RELIGIOUS: Complete service activities, Memorize a scripture, Finish reading the Book of Mormon, Teach a family lesson, Learn a hymn on the violin
5 Year Old Summer Goals
FUN: Watch a family movie in the backyard, Make popsicles, Play in the sprinklers/slip n slide, Go camping (or backyard camping), Play badminton, Have a picnic, Go on a hike (we love these kids hiking backpacks!), Go to the beach, Go fruit picking, Do tent day (read all day and make blanket forts), Do a distanced play date, Do sidewalk chalk
ATHLETIC: Catch a baseball 30 times, Go on a family bike ride, Practice freestyle & breast stroke, Run 1/2 mile
READING: Global Children’s Book Club, Read a biography, Read a book about a country, Read 2nd Mercy Watson on your own (with Mom), Read Ivy and Bean (read aloud), Read Fantastic Mr. Fox (read aloud)
LIFE SKILLS: Learn to clean a toilet, Learn to do laundry, Assemble a treat for the family, Create a menu and make a fancy dinner
ACADEMIC: Memorize the presidents of the US, Research a country & present your country to the family, Do a science project, Write the numbers 1-100, Do an egg drop challenge
ARTS: Learn about an artist: Frida Kahlo, Learn about a composer: Beethoven, Learn up to Perpetual Motion on the cello, Make a video with siblings
MORAL & RELIGIOUS: Complete service activities, Memorize a scripture, Teach a family lesson, Learn a hymn on the cello
2 Year Old Summer Goals
FUN: Watch a family movie in the backyard, Make popsicles, Play in the sprinklers/slip n slide, Go camping (or backyard camping), Play badminton, Have a picnic, Go on a hike (we love these kids hiking backpacks!), Go to the beach, Go fruit picking, Do tent day (read all day and make blanket forts), Do a distanced play date, Do sidewalk chalk
ATHLETIC: Catch a ball, Go on a family bike ride, Practice kicking in the pool, Jump over a stick
READING: Global Children’s Book Club, Read 100 books
LIFE SKILLS: Help switch laundry, Put away utensils, Help make a treat, Dust with sock on hand
ACADEMIC: Memorize the presidents of the US, Count to 20, Practice writing name
ARTS: Learn about an artist: Frida Kahlo, Learn about a composer: Beethoven, Learn words to I Am A Child of God, Make a video with siblings
MORAL & RELIGIOUS: Complete service activities, Memorize a scripture, Teach a family lesson, Learn to sing Articles of Faith 1-4
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[…] 2020 Summer Goals for Kids […]
[…] a little more about how we set up the Summer Fun Club for our kids summer goals, as well as all the goals we had last year. It’s basically a summer […]
I absolutely agree with you that without some kind of plan the summer will be disastrous when you have children and need to satisfy their needs. To tell the truth, any summer we spend with our children and not always we travel during this time. Really often my ideas for entertainment run out. I’m so glad that I found a lot of new ideas for myself to enjoy not only my children, but also the whole family. What most impresses me is that there are ideas for any weather and on rainy days you will not have to be bored. I’m really inspired by your idea of building something with things we can find in the backyard or garage. It is so original and not typical, that you will certainly be engaged in the process and you can do it with the whole family, becoming close-knit. Also, I really want to try to beat one of our own records with my children. I think it can help you to develop your confidence and have fun at the same time.
// Marina Teramond @ NMPL
I’m so glad this was helpful!