More Fun Summer Activities
These activities are in no particular order. You don’t need to do them all, but try at least a few. I’ve used these activities one-on-one and in group settings and they were popular in both. They also cross age and grade levels very well.
1. Select a plant, such as a tree, a week, or shrub growing in your community. Learn how this plant gets food and water. Find out what living things depend upon the plant for food and shelter. Use drawings, poetry, photography, or some other method to tell about the plant and all the living things that depend on it. This would also make a good nature journal activity.
2. Make an environmental discovery tool, or select a piece of equipment you can use to explore nature. Learn how to use it. Teach someone else how to use it, if possible. One example of this could be a Magnifier.
3. Observe birds, insects, or other wild animals. Notice what they eat and how they live. Keep a log of your discoveries. Do you think their lives would change from season to season? How so?
4. Write a poem, skit, or short story sharing your feelings about the freedom of being outdoors.
5. Learn some outdoor skills well enough to teach someone else:
(a) knot tying
(b) how to make a bedroom
(c) how to handle a pocket knife
6. Plan one meal or snack that needs no cooking and can be eaten outdoors. Help plan, buy, carry, prepare, serve, and eat this food. Help clean up.
7. On a map of your community, makr places where you can do outdoor activities and sports.
8. Locate some campgrounds within a couple of hours drive from your house. Make them on a map.
9. Take a hike to a favorite spot. Use a compass and map to help you make a sketch map.
10. Make something you can use when hiking, biking, riding, or boating. An example of this might be a bandana, a hat, or a walking stick.
11. Write or put on a skit, make a video, or prepare a photo story that show you know what the buddy system means (never going anywhere without a partner for safety), the safety rules, and how to dress for outdoor trips in different kinds of weather.
12. Demonstrate you know how to properly put on a personal flotation device (life jacket).
13. Make a list of things happening in your community that hurt the environment. Do a project with friends or family to improve your community’s environment. You could pick up trash and/or participate in a recycling program as two examples.
14. Go to a local facility that has a fitness walking trail. Use the trail at least five times over the summer.
15. Use nature as an inspiration for your artwork. Find a special subject, such as a nice view or something you can study up close. Draw with a pen and ink, make a charcoal sketch, do a water color, or take a series of nature studies photographs in the outdoors.
16. Visit a museum or library and study some of the great painters or photographers whose specialties were landscapes or wildlife. Look for ways the they show light and texture, and different styles.
17. Look at the outdoors with different eyes. Find beauty in things that you normally would pass by. Pretend that each object you focus on is a work of modern art. Look at texture, light and shadow, color, shape, patterns, etc. You could use a still or video camera to record what you looked at.
18. Create a flower or herb garden that is pleasing to the senses. When planting, consider colors that go together, height of the plants when full grown, length of flowering, shade or sun requirements, smell, etc. If you don’t have a patch of ground to plant in, you could use containers.
19. Use the outdoors as an inspiration for a poem. Try writing a cinquain or a Japanese haiku about something that you see or feel while outdoors.
20. Use natural materials as an inspiration for a craft or artwork.
21. Keep a nature journal for several months. Find a special spot where you can return to on a weekly or daily basis. Record what you observe over a period of time. Keep track of changes in the environment.
22. Pretend you are a traveler from outer space visiting earth for the first time. Your assignment is to find a special spot and describe it so that it can be reproduced on your own planet.
23. Be a creative cook in the outdoors. Try using an Easy Solar Oven, or Sun-Baked Apples.
24. Plan an outdoor, evening program for friends or family. Include audience participation, activities, songs, and stories.
25. Participate in a night watch. Choose a special spot in the outdoors. Record what you see with words, pictures, or night time photography. How is the night time different from the day?
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Are you sleepy, tired, or worn out most of the time?
