Kids Summer Holidays Routine

While every profession and people have some holidays in between their long tiring workdays, children also get a break from their studies and school. Sometimes it’s due to national days, important events, winter breaks, spring breaks, and long summer holidays. Summer holidays are essential, and these are to be given compulsory in every school. As children can easily get sick or sunstrokes in summer when they go to school. Especially in gulf countries where temperature reaches more than 50-degree Celsius in peak summers in the month of June, July and august. So many children wait very eagerly for these holidays to enjoy with their family members, go on a vacation, and do extracurricular activities during this period. Many people who live in gulf countries go to their hometown to meet their family members and for a climate change. But schools also don’t leave children alone even in summer holidays. They give lots and lots of holiday homework for children to revise what they have learnt in school and that they don’t forget everything after summer break. This is actually a very good practice, or else children will definitely become blank when they don’t have any homework for the whole 2 months. My son also got holiday homework and since we were at home, I made him do some extra holiday homework to keep him engaged and enjoy the fun experience. His homework was very unique and not some boring writing or drawing in regular notebooks. We had to make flashcards, mini flipbooks, worksheets, read a story book, draw some plants and flowers, color animals, play games, toy weighing game, pick and pay game, Hindi flashcards, Hindi number cards, etc. This was all so much fun to do along with my son. We both enjoyed it so much.  Since it was fun, we did a little homework. In this article, I will tell you how you can keep your kids engaged at home when you are not planning any vacation for summer break. 

When school’s out and the long summer holidays begin, kids are thrilled with the freedom. But for parents who don’t go on any vacation and prefer to stay and enjoy some quality time with their kids will have to plan their summer break accordingly. Keeping children engaged, happy, and balanced during these 2 months can be a challenge especially when you are alone or live in a nuclear family. Without some structure, summer days can turn into endless screen time, late nights, and plenty of “I’m bored!” moments. A simple yet flexible summer holiday routine that combines fun, learning, creativity, and rest will make your children summer holidays worth it. My son was in kindergarten, when he got his first summer break in the gulf country in the month of June. His holidays were for 2 months starting from 25th June to 25th August. Since it was not more than one year since we came to gulf, we didn’t plan to go to India for vacation and stayed here. We tried to call our in-laws here but since its peak summer here no one showed interest. And my husband also had his office every day. So, we didn’t plan any trips, tours, or small vacations during these 2 months. We just stayed home, and I tried my best to keep my 2 kids engaged at home. Here’s a guide you can also follow just like me or better than me to make this summer memorable for your kids—without the chaos.

Morning: – Start the Day Right

• Wake Up with a Smile: Allow your children a little extra sleep as they don’t have to get up early in the morning and go to school but maintain a consistent wake-up time. Correct sleep helps your child grow healthy. Their body will be at rest and when they wake up on their own after a long sleep, they will feel more energetic and happier. Children from 5 to 6 years sleep 9 to 10 hours at night when they don’t have school. My son used to sleep at 9.30 pm at night and wake up at 8.30 am in the morning. But in school days, he used to sleep at 8.45 pm or 9 pm and wakeup early in the morning at 6.15am as his school bus comes at 6.40 am. I had to wake him up continuously from his deep sleep to go to school. He used to get irritated but when I started cuddling him, kissing him, and then waking him up, he woke up happily. Thats why when summer holidays started, I made him sleep as much as he wants in the morning. 

• Nutritious Breakfast: Give your kids smoothies, eggs, fruit, or whole-grain toast to fuel the day. Don’t give food right after waking up. First give them water, a warm bath, and then their breakfast. Kids at home eat a bit more than they eat in schooldays as they are at home and constantly feel hungry. So, you can give them how much they want without any worries of leaving the food or wasting it. Make their favorite breakfast along with them once in a week and tell them to serve it to others in the family. This will encourage them to help others and enjoy food together. 

• Morning Movement: A family walk, yoga, or a quick dance party to get the energy flowing after a breakfast is perfect in summers. If your kids wake up early at 8 and finish all their morning routine by 9 am, you can take them to walk or to a park nearby for activity. After 10am to 4.30 pm, you cannot go outside as it will be very hot. If you are not able to go outside after breakfast, you can do other activities like dancing, yoga, and skipping, at home staying indoors. 

Mid-Morning: – Learning and Holiday Homework

• Reading and writing Time: Encourage 20 minutes of storybooks, comics, or audiobooks. I know kids don’t sit for long to listen to a story. But if your story books are full of characters and you tell them in a fancy way, they will surely sit for at least 20 minutes to listen to you. You can tell your kids to play those characters in front of you and tell the dialogues. You can also participate in it to support them and encourage them. There are many story books for kids available for free online if you don’t want to buy them in a store. You can download them and then print them for easy reading. My kids holiday homework included this too. To read one small storybook in these holidays and understand the concept and moral of the story. And my son preferred the small story book “Hide & Seek”. 

• Creative Projects: Drawing, crafts, or even helping in the kitchen will keep your kids engaged at home. Even in holiday homework’s, you will get to do all these things from drawing, coloring, making different clay shapes, making things with cardboard, and making flash cards. Before, when we were small, we used to get boring holiday homework’s in which we had to write, write, and write all the time. But now, schools want kids to enjoy studying and they are creating innovative ideas to make them study. My son got a holiday homework to make flashcards of some words and Hindi numbers. Along with drawing and coloring the pictures about those words. Even if you don’t get a homework like this, you can simply make a drawing and tell your kid to cut them or make different shapes. This will help them develop motor and creative skills. You can do many small crafts at home only with a pencil, scissors, glue or a plaster. 

• Skill Time: Fun puzzles, simple science experiments, or coding apps keep little minds sharp. According to me, kitchen has all the items to do some experiments and learn so many new things. And my son loves to explore the kitchen. He takes turmeric powder and salt and adds them in water and sees how the color changes in the water. He puts grapes in ice cube rack and waits for it to become solid ice cube and removes it after sometimes and gets amazed to see how beautiful it looked. He even adds Nutella spread in ice cube tray and removes them after some time and eats it as a solid cube chocolate. He even tries to cut tomatoes, watermelon, muskmelon, and apple slices with butter knife into small cubes. I don’t give him real knife as it can be dangerous to him, or he might harm himself. He uses chapati dough as clay and makes different shapes with it. When I roll a chapati he cuts it into different shapes. Or puts his blocks on it and makes their shape. Once I also made a snowman with roti dough and gave it to him. For eyes and nose, we put sabja seeds and ajwain seeds. For mouth we put one long Semiya string. For the snowman hands we put toothpick sticks. It was so much fun to play with my children in kitchen. I also enjoy a lot with them. 

Afternoon: -Play, Explore & Recharge

• Outdoor Adventures: Swimming, cycling, or a backyard scavenger hunt after lunch indoors is really fun when you have a house with big balcony and with a pool. Many of us don’t actually have them. You can actually join your kids in summer camp which will be open for one month in summer holidays every year in every country. There are different types of summer camps. Some focus more on activities and some focus more on innovative studying. You can choose accordingly what your children love. You can go with them and see them enjoy for one hour in all these activities and bring them back home.  But if you want your kids to take complete rest at home as they have been studying the whole year, you can keep them engaged at home by doing all these indoor activities. According to me, small kids under the age of 7, don’t need all these outdoor activities as their immunity is very weak and they get sick very quickly. But when they are at home, they don’t fall sick often. Thats why, I didn’t join my kids in summer camp as his immunity was very weak. He used to get sick often in his school days and lost some weight. So, in his summer holidays, I decided to give his body some rest and focus on his weight gain and the same happened this year in his summer holidays. He gained some weight and looked a bit healthy than before. 

• Rest Time: A short nap for younger kids, or quiet reading/music for older ones. It’s better not to tell your kids who are 6 years and older to sleep after lunch as they will sleep very late at night and wake up late in the mornings. But if your kids are not feeling well or sick it’s better to give them rest as much as possible. My 6-year-old son didn’t sleep after lunch. He loved to play after lunch. And he slept at 9pm every day. Sometimes when we planned to go to friends’ home for dinner or shopping at night, or when he was not feeling well, I made him sleep after lunch, so that he looks fresh at night when we are out for shopping or dinner. 

• Screen Time: Educational games, nature documentaries, or a favorite family movie. It will be good if you sit along with them and watch the movie. It may seem time waste to you as they will be watching mostly animated or kids’ stories, but when you engage with them, they will feel good, and they will start expressing so many feelings to you all through the screen time. They will ask you what’s going on in the movie, they will ask you the names of the characters in the movie, they will ask you the story of the movie, and they will laugh and get excited along with you. I personally loved animated movies since childhood, so I loved watching them again and again with my kids. They also felt very happy when I sat along with them with some popcorn, chips, or yummy homemade snacks. It’s ok to watch a full movie of 2 hours every weekend and 30 minutes to 1 hour of educational shows, short you tube cartoon movies, and comedy videos every day. Set a time for screen. It can be after lunch at 2pm or in the evening from 4pm but before 8pm. 

Evening: – Bonding & Family Time

• Play Together: Board games, charades, or sports in the park after lunch at 5pm is great for children of all ages. I used to take my kids to park for one to 2 hours which was very near to my home after 5 or 5.30 pm to do some activities and play along with their friends. They used to play a lot in mud, rope climbing, slides, riding electric bikes, football, and running. They used to get dirty and sweaty. After coming home at 7pm, I used to bath them and give them dinner. They eat their dinner by 8.30 pm and sleep at 9pm. Sometimes, I play along with them if there were no kids in park or when the park was closed. 

• Helpful Hands: Involve kids in chores like watering plants or baking a simple treat. If you are not able to take your kids to park, you can also engage them at home by giving them some household work like watering the plants, cleaning their toys, making their snack, folding their clothes, cleaning their room, arranging their books, or helping you in kitchen. These habits make them disciplined and develop helpful and caring nature. If you don’t involve them in small household chores at an early age, they will think that is not their work and will grow up thinking the same and not help you or any other people in household chores. 

• Social Time: Playdates with friends or virtual catchups. Sometimes you may not be able to go to park or outside due to rainy or hot sunny days. At this time, you can invite your kids’ friends from your neighborhood to your home to play or you can send your kids to their friends’ home. You can also send your children down in the open space in your building at the ground floor where all the kids from the building come down to play together in the evening. If this is also not possible, you can spend that time by making your kids talk to your family members on phone or video call. 

Night: -Calm & Cozy

• Family Dinner: Share stories, laugh, and connect over food at dinner time. Make sure all the family members sit together for dinner at the dinner table and talk about their day.  This is very important for every family to connect to each other and spend some quality time with their family members. The dinner should be light and healthy so that kids sleep happily without any stomach pain or vomiting sensations. Have dinner one hour before sleeping. In my home, dinner time is very special. It is the time of day where we like to order some yummy food from outside once a week. And we all love enjoying it together. 

• Wind-Down Routine: Bath, bedtime story, or calming music or religious duas for bedtime. Bathing twice a day is not necessary if your kids are clean. But change their clothes before bed. This will make them comfortable, feel fresh, and cozy. Make a routine of brushing their teeth, washing their hands and face, going to pee, and cleaning their bedsheets before sleep. And if they feel thirsty and ask for water, give them water. Don’t think that if they drink water before bedtime, they will pee on the bed, and everything will become a mess. Because water is very important for the body. When you feel thirsty, this means that your body is getting dehydrated and it need hydration. So, whenever your kids ask for water, give them immediately. 

• Sleep Schedule: 8–10 hours of rest ensure kids wake up happy and refreshed. Make a routine to sleep early and wake up early. This will help them maintain a healthy lifestyle. Sometimes kids get too tired because of heavy activity, illness, strained eyes, headache, or continuous playing. At this time, you can allow them to sleep for 10 to 13 hours straight at night. 

Tips for Parents: –

• Involve Your Child in Planning and let them pick their activities, they’ll be more excited to follow the routine.

• Some days will go off-plan, and that’s okay. A little spontaneity makes summer super fun.

• Keep mealtimes and bedrooms gadget-free. Teach them table manners and how to respect and value food. 

• Praise kids or give them small treats for helping around the house, finishing books, or trying new activities. This will motivate them to do more. 

• Keep the routine flexible, it’s okay to swap activities depending on mood or weather.

• Encourage kids to help plan their day. It gives them a sense of responsibility.

• Remember, summer is also about relaxation so don’t overpack the schedule for your kids.

• With a simple balance of fun, creativity, rest, and family time, your child’s summer holidays can be full of happy memories—without stress and boredom.

• Make a colorful routine chart and stick it on the fridge or in the kids’ room. Use stickers, drawings, or colors to mark activities. Kids love checking off tasks, and it helps them feel in control of their day.

Summer Routine for Kids (Ages 5–8): –

Activity Planner (Indoor & Outdoor): –

If you are going on vacation or to your hometown this summer holiday, then no need to follow all these tables or planners as we all know how busy and happy we become when we go on for a vacation, especially to our hometown and meet all our family members, relatives, Neighbours, and friends. Kids enjoy a lot during this time as they get to see so many people around them, travelling experiences, new weather, family functions, family gatherings, new food, and special care from their grandparents. Those 2 months go very fast that we think it’s just been 10 days since we came to our hometown and feel sad when it’s time to go back.