Organize Your Summer With Daily Routines

Do your kids like routines?  Do you like routines?  It’s great to enjoy more relaxed times in the summer after being tied to to all the schedules dictated during the school year.  But most kids {and parents!} thrive in an environment that is still somewhat structured.  Routines help with that.

So, today I want to share with you the daily routine I put together for my kids and I one summer when they were younger and share tips to help you do the same.

Set Up A Different Routine For Camp Weeks vs. Home Weeks

It’s great to have day camps for kids in the summer. But unless you’re working full time, you probably don’t sign your kids up for camps every week of the summer. So your routine needs to account for this.

My kids were registered for a few half-day camps and Vacation Bible Schools, so for 4 of our 9 weeks we needed to be somewhere in the mornings. But the other 5 weeks we had more time at home.

So I created routines for both scenarios.  I tried to keep as much as I could the same for both situations so it wouldn’t be drastically different each week.

Here’s the end result!

As you can see, most of the items are the same.  The key difference is that during our “home” weeks, we’ll have lots of outdoor time in the mornings instead of going to camp/VBS.

The idea was to have fun doing things like playing in the playground in our complex, enjoying lots of items from our backyard deckbox, riding their bikes/scooter, gardening, and reading outside. It’s cooler in the mornings so we wanted to take advantage of that time.

I also allowed one hour of screen time in the morning those days.  On camp days, I put in screen time after lunch instead.  I originally had a longer chunk of screen time all in the later afternoon (for both types of weeks), but when I showed the routine to the kids, they said they’d prefer having it split it up.  So I rearranged things a bit and I actually think it’s better this way, even if the day looks more choppy.

During our at-home weeks, we went on some other outings once in awhile after lunch (library visits, free bowling, playdates, etc.).  Or, the kids had an opportunity to help with some chores or organizing projects to “earn” extra screen time.

Incorporate Activities You and They Want To Do

• When setting up a daily routine, make a list of all the things you’d like to do with your kids in the summer, as well as all the things you’d like them to do by themselves, and all the things they want to do. Ideally you’ll have a good mix of everything. You can use my summer brainstorming lists if you want them to share their ideas.

• Once you have your list(s), look for categories that different activities fit into. For example, outdoors, learning, cleaning, playing, resting, etc. You can see in our routine the categories I used.

• Then determine the best time of day for each category of activity, and a good flow throughout the day, based on energy levels, how much variety is best for your family, and how much involvement you need to have (depending on the age of your kids).

Our schedule flowed really well. It gave my kids some breaks from each other and gave me some breaks from them, so we could all enjoy the time we spent together.  And it provided opportunities to do lots of the things they included on their summer brainstorming lists.

The times were just guidelines and we didn’t stick to them very rigidly unless we need to be somewhere at a certain time.  It was more about having a flow to our day so we all knew what was happening next.  It really helped reduce arguments/fights/disagreements about what we were going to do when.  And filled the day enough that they weren’t thinking about screens all the time 🙂

Of course, there were plenty of days when we set aside the schedule completely.  Longer playdates, special gatherings and some day trips took priority.  Oh, and the weather… we had to be flexible around it sometimes.

But for all of those “normal” days… this routine helped us have fun, do lots of things we wanted to do, and get along with each other while we were doing it! {Most of the time anyway!}

One more look…

This routine sheet hung in our kitchen command centre, in place of one of the daily routines from the school year.  The kids checked it several times a day to see what was happening next.  It was fun to see them excited about what was coming up!

You can see how to organize weekly routines here.

How do you organize your summer?  Do you have routines?  

Have a great summer and happy organizing!