Our Simple Summer Schedule

The sun is shining, the freezer is stocked with popsicles, school’s officially out for everyone in our county, and the baby pool is filled up almost daily. Sure signs of summer, right?

I’m both elated and devastated that a week with Baby Bear has already passed…how do they grow so fast?! But I’m also excited to get this summer underway and get back to some semblance of a routine. In the midst of late night feedings for Baby Bear and oddly timed naps (and more Netflix for Bundle than I anticipated), now feels like a great time to introduce a new-but-simplistic schedule for our family’s summer days.

I’ve seen a lot of neat summer schedules on Pinterest or other blogs, but needed something a little more tailor-made for our family (specifically for a creative, free-thinking four-year-old, and a newborn.) Down below the schedule and the printable links, I’ve gone into a bit more detail on the days of the week, just in case you’re curious. 🙂

Here’s our simple summer schedule I hope we can stick with!

If you like this schedule, you can download your own here!

Summer Schedule 2017 – PDF form

Summer Schedule 2017 – Word Doc form

Hopefully most things on my schedule are self-explanatory, but just in case, here’s what I mean by a few of the other terms.

*Free Play – Bundle thrives off of doing something creative first thing after breakfast. This was a huge part of our regular school-time schedule this year – a true necessity. She often plays with stuffed animals, colors, or builds with blocks.

*Summer Learning Time – I have a summer learning packet with a few coloring and activity pages to help Bundle keep engaged with some reading and math during the summer months. I use this time to do this with her. I also intended for this time to use the daily themes, like “Take a Trip Tuesday”, etc.

*Video/Audio Time – Bundle listens to books on tape/CD, or watches a video while I prep lunch. Sometimes games on the Kindle are involved. 🙂

*Imagination Hour – I wanted to add something into our schedule each day for more creative, independent thinking. I’ll be encouraging block-building, STEM/STEAM activities, and free crafting.

And here are the Daily Themes, explained more fully.

Make Believe Monday – Incorporate purposeful dramatic play (pretend library, fairy gardening, pretend kitchen/food, princess dress-up, building train tracks and playing trains, etc.)

Take a Trip Tuesday – Take time for outings to the library, park, indoor playgrounds, coffee shop, etc. This day can definitely be more of a perk for mom than kids sometimes! 😀

Water Wednesday – Just as it sounds, incorporate water play! Water table, baby pool, squirt guns, painting outside, sprinklers with friends, etc. On rainy days, why not take the H2O indoors and enjoy water painting, a measuring and pouring station, or a make-believe car-wash?

Thinking Game Thursday – Use morning playtime for puzzles, brain teasers, or card and board games. We love Bundle’s Frozen version of the board game Trouble, Memory Matching games, math games on my Kindle, and puzzles of all kinds.

Fun Friday – Use free time on this day to catch up on things you wanted to do earlier in the week, have a play date (or coffee date for mamas) with friends, run errands, or engage in something special or fun you don’t normally do – picnic in the back yard, or ice-cold chocolate milkshakes, anyone? 🙂

We’re still a bit in survival mode, but I’m eager to jump back into routine when we can, and add in some of these fun daily themes!

Bring on that 95+ degree heat, Midwest! (or okay, please keep is reasonably under 90…) We’re ready for summer!

 

 

 

What new things are you incorporating into your summer routine?

 

❤

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