What type of activities does your school age or almost school age child do in the summer?

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What type of activities does your school age or almost school age child do in the summer?

By mediagirl Jul 11, 2017

My husband will be staying at home with our daughter in August. I'm trying to plan their month (because I'm the coordinator in the family) and I'm looking into some of the town's classes. She has never tried organized sports or activities (she's been a daycare kid since birth). I'm thinking of signing her up for a 2 hour art class for one week and a 2 hour soccer class the week after. She will also have swim lessons those weeks.

Is that a good amount or too much for a 5 year old to handle? She's used to being at daycare all week long.

What type of activities does your school-age or almost school age child participate in during the summer?

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17 comments

Truth Bombs
grapefruit / 4321 posts

Jul 11, 2017

I definitely don't think that's too much. My 4 year old does ballet once a week, and soccer twice a week on top of day care all week. I tried to convince her to only do one activity in the fall but she's set on continuing both so it definitely doesn't overwhelm her.
KayKay
pear / 1961 posts

Jul 11, 2017

Are the classes every day that week?

I've found that my DD1 (who was FT daycare from 0-2.5y) can definitely handle at least one thing/day. She did full-day preschool this year (830a-330p) and this summer is doing 7w of daycamp (basically 9a-3p). Depending on what they do those days, she is a little over-tired by the end of the day, but in a good way! Oh, and we aren't doing any evening/weekend things during the summer....just the daycamps.
looch
wonderful pear / 26210 posts

Jul 11, 2017

Nature camp most weeks, but I did send my son to a 3 hour art camp last week where they did planting and he loved it.

My son is dead tired after nature camp, they are physically active outside the entire day. On the days when he went to art camp, he was inside and mostly sitting and I noticed a big difference.
mediagirl
hostess / wonderful persimmon / 25556 posts

Jul 11, 2017

@KayKay: Yes, soccer is 4 days and art camp is 5 days.
KayKay
pear / 1961 posts

Jul 11, 2017

@mediagirl: i think it sounds like a good amount, definitely not too much...at least from your LOs perspective. as long as your DH is fine with all of the transporting!
mediagirl
hostess / wonderful persimmon / 25556 posts

Jul 11, 2017

@KayKay: yeah, surprisingly he is all for it. He said as long as we make sure it's on his calendar, he'll get her where she needs to be. And feed her.
hellobeeboston
honeydew / 7235 posts

Jul 11, 2017

We are doing a camp every day from 9-11:45 it started June 26, and goes through August 18! It was a great deal too, and they do a variety of activites, sports, crafts, water play, etc.

we're also doing swimming lessons (which he's been in since the winter, but this time we're doing them outside)
honeybear
nectarine / 2085 posts

Jul 11, 2017

My son does the same stuff he does during the school year, because we're year-round.

The only thing I'd say about the art camp and soccer is that pickups and dropoffs for a two-hour event are kind of a pain if you have stuff to do in between. How much of a nuisance that is depends on how far you have to commute to them and what else you want to get done. If it's just for a month, I'd probably skip one or both of those and talk to your husband about possibly picking a project he can do with her (kids that age are really fun and mostly very capable sidekicks!) or something he could teach her (swimming, tennis, fishing, etc.) that could be the basis for daddy-daughter recreation now and in the future.
Finfan
persimmon / 1436 posts

Jul 12, 2017

DH is a SAHD. He's home with both kids full-time. They are 5 and 1.5. No activities for the 1.5 year old but the 5YO does 1 weekly private swim lesson (30 minutes) and a twice weekly tumbling class (60 minutes).
She has also done half-day nature camps (9:30-12) and will do a full day nature camp (9-3:30) in August. She always comes home tired from nature camp. Even though DH is a SAHD, I schedule all appointments and activities. I try to give them days to just lounge or play at home

If it were me, I would do one week of camp (probably art) and have them go on mini-adventures for the other week like to the zoo/mini-golf/park or whatever.
Anagram
eggplant / 11716 posts

Jul 12, 2017

@mediagirl: I don't think it's too much for your daughter at all. I guess it depends on if your husband is the type to want unscheduled time so he can plan cool outings....but since you are posting here to plan the month, I'm guessing unscheduled time is not his thing so that won't be a problem.

I am home for two months this summer and thought about signing my older daughter (4, in full day Prek during the school year, adtercare with a nanny) for A bunch of camps but in the end decided I wanted more flexibility to take day trips and go places we typically don't have time for.

I'm only 1.5 weeks into it and we have been hitting it HARD. We have been to 2 all new splash parks/pools in neighboring towns, we have hit up 5 of our favorite parks in our town, we have been to the library twice, we have been into the city once (we will be doing that a lot more), and we have been to drop in dance and art classes. And we attended the museum story hour. Yes, all in 1.5 weeks....and we went upstate over the weekend and hosted her birthday party.

We typically leave the house by 9am, are busy till lunch (sometimes pack a picnic lunch), home for little sisters nap from 12:30-2:30, back out till 5 pm then home to cook dinner. It's been amazing to go adventuring with my girls and I have all kinds of things in the works--trip to the zoo, trip to the beach, trip to my family in another state, trip to sesame Place, museums in the city, special summer events in the city.

Our schedule is basically so jam packed I had to create a shared google calendar with my husband so he would know where we are. In the end, I signed her up for 1 week of a two hour soccer camp and I'm already regretting it because now we're stuck in our town that whole week and can't take day trips.

So it kind of depends on your husbands personality and if he's good at finding things to do with LOs.
lamariniere
pineapple / 12566 posts

Jul 13, 2017

My son was supposed to go back to daycare this summer, but there were some issues, so we had to scramble to find backup plans. He did one week of sports camp right after school let out, he's at his grandparent's for 2 weeks right now, and when he comes back he will do another week of sports camp, a week of tennis camp and a week of science camp. Then we are on vacation. The camps are full days.
looch
wonderful pear / 26210 posts

Jul 13, 2017

@Anagram: Your plans sound like a ton of fun!
dolphin
pomegranate / 3768 posts

Jul 13, 2017

My 4.5 year old has summer camp for 6 weeks (3x a week from 9-12) and swim class once a week.
mediagirl
hostess / wonderful persimmon / 25556 posts

Jul 13, 2017

@Anagram: wow, your summer sounds so fun! My husband isn't that much of a go-getter but if I plan something, he will get her there. That's why I feel like I should get her into something. I know the 2 hour ones are a pain...I wish I could find longer ones but those are already full or don't fit the time frame/age range. I think I'll take some of your ideas and incorporate them into days for them - like a day trip to the zoo, to a museum, and to the splash pads in town. I'm also planning some play dates at the pool and at a nearby playground.

The last thing I am waiting on is finding out when his parents will be here. He doesn't want me scheduling her for anything that week.
Anagram
eggplant / 11716 posts

Jul 14, 2017

@mediagirl: @looch: we're lucky that my husbands company has a ton of corporate sponsorships in the city, so we get free or discounted admission if we present his business card and my ID with matching last name.

So we have a corporate family night for free next week at Bronx zoo, free entry to Central Park zoo, Manhattan Children's Museum, discounted admission to Bronx and Brooklyn botanical gardens. I think my plans are ambitious and we probably can't even do it all, but it's nice to try because I never have time during the school year to take advantage of these things.
travellingbee
hostess / papaya / 10219 posts

Jul 14, 2017

That does not sound like too much to me at all! Sounds fun!
looch
wonderful pear / 26210 posts

Jul 14, 2017

@Anagram: My employer has done away with a similar partnership, it's too bad, but it's a great value if you have it. I used to visit the museums many times that way when I was living in the city.

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What type of activities does your school age or almost school age child do in the summer?

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