Planning Your Summer Fun!

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School is now officially out, and it's time to start planning your summer fun schedule! You want to make sure that at the end of the summer, you are looking back on memories and not on "should haves". 


Here are a few tips on planning your summer fun schedule:

• Make a schedule: If you don't have a day planner, grab a wall calendar to write a schedule on. Summer goes by so fast, and if you don't have a good plan set, it will slip by without you having done a thing!
• Vacations: Write down the dates your are going out of town or on your big family vacations. These need to go on your schedule first since the dates are most likely already set. Check out our Family Vacation Series for fun ideas.
• "Must do" activities: Choose three to six "must do" activities. These are going to be day trips or places you most definitely want to go out and do/see before the summer is over. Think of local places you have always wanted to go/see and include them on your list. Look at your schedule, and write down the dates you are going to do them. If you do two "must do" activities per month, it doesn't seem so overwhelming. Each summer we choose six different places we have never been to for our list. Our "must do" activities this summer are: Golden Spike National Historic Site, Summer Movie Party in our backyard, Ogden Eccles Dinosaur Park, Ogden Nature Center,  and Timpanogos Cave. 
• Library Events: Check with your local library on events they have going on. Decide which activities and events you would like to participate in, and write them down on your schedule.
• Anything Goes Days: Summer is all about having fun, so don't overbook yourself! Leave room on your schedule for days at home, playing with friends, running through the sprinkler, impromptu day trips, etc.!
• FREE Impromptu Events: Make a list of all of the free places and activities you can see/do for days when you have nothing planned, yet want to do something fun. If you have a list ahead of time, you won't spend half your day wondering what to do. Make it fun by putting them on slips of paper in a jar, and draw one out when you want a fun activity. These can be things like making sandcastles at the Great Salt Lake, running through the sprinklers, sightseeing in another County, etc. Use our Summer Bingo segment we did on Studio 5 as suggestions. 

A few things to keep in mind:

• If you have purchased any kind of discount cards, like the Pass of All Passes, or the Cinemark Summer Movie Deal, those are going to be top priority on your list. You want to make sure you are getting your money's worth from purchasing these, so use them as often as you can! Put these activities as priority on your schedule.
• You know your limits and how much your kids are going to want to do. If they would rather stay home and play with neighborhood friends than go out and see things, plan fewer outings. If they enjoy getting out and seeing things, plan more activities. Adjust your summer schedule to fit your family's style. 
• Among all of the outings and activities, don't forget to keep it educational. Set aside time for reading, writing and drawing.