Fun Summer List Ideas

This week we had a fun enrichment meeting at church. One of the classes provided me a life line for this summer. It was on what to do with the kids over the summer. I admit I thought we'd get a list of cool places and activities to do with the kids, but what I got was much better than that. An important lesson on teaching my kids to work! Our kids are expected to help and do daily jobs already, but no where did I hadn't thought about putting it in list form until this class.

Julie Mills taught the class. Her mom was a school teacher, and they had 6 kids. For 2 weeks of the summer the kids got to do what they wanted, but the moment one of them uttered the words "I'm bored!", the lists would start. Julie said if they went pretty quickly they could get everything done in 5 hours, but most days it took them longer. I'm aiming at 3 hours. Her mom had them practice the violin and the piano an hour each! Devan should count his 30 minutes as a blessing! :-) We lowered it to 20 minutes because we were adding more for him to do and he was "dying"! Once he gets used to the list, I'll raise it back up again.

We have a Saturday job list that includes taking out the trash upstairs and downstairs, mopping, sweeping, cleaning mirrors, cleaning toilets, cleaning rest of bathroom, etc... We pull out the list each Saturday and divide the jobs per family member. We all divide and conquer.

Her mom gave each kid $ .40 for every day they got everything done. Our kids get so many cents per year of their age. Then I have a list of $1 jobs they can do for extra money. $1 for cleaning out the van. $1 for vacuuming out the van. $1 for vacuuming all the bedrooms (an hour job). I'm still working on that list. Devan has an expensive lego set that he really wants, and he needs more income to get it. His current allowance would take him @ 2 years to get it, so we're trying to help him out a little.

Here are items that Julie's mom had on the list:
Fold Laundry (I added wash to that. Devan (10) and Lizzie (8) have just recently become responsible for their own laundry.)
Clean Room
Empty Dishwasher
Sweep Floor/ Vacuum
Dust
Clean Bathrooms
Make Bed
Do a craft
Do flashcards
Article of Faith practice
Piano Practice
Violin Practice
Brush Teeth
Get Dressed
Bike 1 mile
100 trampoline jumps
Shoot 15 baskets
Read a chapter
Make a birthday card
Read Scriptures
Homework Sheet (Her mom was a teacher and had boxes of worksheets.)
Crochet/Quilt
Play a game
Write name 5 times
Jump rope for 10 minutes
Play catch with sibling
Pick 10 weeds
Paint a picture
Play computer games
Yard or Garden Work

I made the lists individualized per child and age.

Here is Spencer's (almost 6 years) List:
Make Bed
Get Dressed
Put dirty clothes in hamper
Breakfast/Wash Dish and put in dishwasher
Brush teeth Morning
Read 2 books with someone
Do 3 pages from Hooked on Phonics Workbook
Write name 5 times
Pick up 20 toys
30 minutes educational games on computer
Kid Writing (Draw and write story)
50 jumps on the trampoline
Family Scriptures

Elizabeth's (almost 9) List:
Note: She keeps adding things to do to the list. She's my overachiever! Bolded items are things she added herself!
Make bed/Dirty Clothes in Hamper
Set table/Breakfast/Wash dish and put in dishwasher
Brush teeth and Get dressed
20 minutes piano
Read a Chapter
Practice 1 article of faith
Pick 10 weeds
Put shoes away and clean room and closet
Play suduko or math game
Read a book to Emma
Play a game
Laundry (Saturday)
Family 5K (Monday)
Toilets (Monday)
Take out trash (Tuesday)
15 minutes educational games on computer
Clean playroom
Hola Hoop 5 minutes
50 jumps on trampoline
Family Scriptures

Devan's (almost 11) List:
Note: Devan is my minimalist perfectionist. He complained that he would never be able to get it all done. I figure once he gets this down, we'll slowly add more tasks. But this is where he is starting. He already thought I was the meanest mom before the list even started. :-) See the comedy post below!
Make Bed
Put Dirty Clothes in Hamper
Breakfast/Wash Dish and put in dishwasher
Brush teeth Morning and Get Dressed
Read a chapter
20 minutes piano
Practice 1 Article of faith
Pick 10 weeds
Clean Room (This takes hours!!)
Play Suduko or Timez Attack
Laundry (Friday)
Family 5 K (Monday)

To make it fair, I started a list for me as well of what I do in a day. My list is bigger than theirs, so if they complain I can point to the list and ask them if they'd like one of my jobs added to their list. :-)

Day 1 went amazingly well. I didn't have to harp. I'd just ask to see where they were on their list and would praise them for how much they had gotten done. There is no swimming, Boomerang or movies until the list is done.



Julie gave us each the above paper to track the lists. The jobs are listed in the left column with the days of the week on the top. You can click on the image and print it to fit the page. Only 52 days left of summer!