Summer is the time for lazy days and free play. Until it gets old and your kids are climbing the walls and bickering. Then, it’s time to break out some fun projects to keep your kids busy and their minds engaged… all while having a blast of course.
These summer projects can be done by kids of all ages, regardless of whether they are homeschooled. But I especially kept homeschool families in mind when making this list, and I strived to keep it to projects that your kids could do mostly on their own (depending on their age) and that don’t take much planning on your part.
Us homeschool parents are elbow deep in lesson plans, unit studies, and research all year long as we teach our kids. So for our family, summer is the time for light, fun, interest-driven projects.
I take a very casual approach to these kinds of things. Often, we’ll assign one day a week to work on the chosen project, and stretch it out all summer long. Usually, they’ll enjoy it so much that they end up working on the project almost every day. It’s a nice way to get the kids excited about something besides Netflix and it keeps their brains in gear.
All of these projects are sneakily educational. They are also meant to be interest-driven. Summer is the perfect time to let your kids do what they love, since they have plenty of time during the school year to tackle the must-dos.
1. Dig into a Country Study
Unlike the themed weeks below, a summer-long country study would be more in-depth. As with the other projects, you can set aside one day a week for planned projects, and leave books and materials out on other days for your kids to explore as they wish.
Ideas for a country study
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Go to the library and check out books about that country. Don’t feel like you have to stick to the children’s section. The adult section may have some beautiful photo books that your kids will enjoy browsing. And if you have older kids, don’t shy away from getting books for younger kids. They’ll enjoy the photos and quick facts.
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Find books written by authors from the country, and ones that feature storylines set in the country.
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Find crafts or art projects that represent that country.
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Search recipes from the country and make some yummy foods.
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Go out to a dinner at a restaurant that serves that country’s food.
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Listen to music from the country.
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Search YouTube for virtual tours.
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Visit the country’s main websites.
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Watch movies set in the country.
2. Plan a Fantasy Trip
This will be our first project for our summer. This idea came from Cynthia, on Facebook, who suggested planning a European rail trip. My daughter has always wanted to go to New York, so she decided to plan a 2 week trip there. Her grandma even went to AAA and got her some maps and tour guides of New York, so she’s off to a great start!
She started by writing out the categories she’d need to budget for. Next, she’ll spend time researching each category and then she’s going to make a power point presentation or notebook when it’s all finished. I think right now she’s leaning towards a power point, just because we’re staying with family and not in our new home yet, so it would be harder to keep track of lots of papers.
Here are the categories we came up with:
- Transportation to and from Destination
- Transportation During the Trip (in her case, she has to figure out cab fare or subway fees. In another destination, rental cars, trains, or buses may be needed.)
- Hotels and Lodging
- Food
- Entertainment and Outings
- Spending Money for Souvenirs, etc.
3. Create a Website
Whether your child wants to create a website or a blog, I recommend WordPress. There’s a free version that anyone can use and it is very user-friendly. Give them some tips, but let them create their own vision. My daughters have both had different kinds of blogs over the years.
They’ll be learning so much as they write posts, find or take photos, and design the site. Once they’re up and running, share a link on your social media and help them find some readers. Who knows? It may turn into a lifelong passion!
4. Cook Your Way Around the World
This is such a fun thing to do if you and your kids like to cook. We love to cook, and we really love to eat, so we’ve cooked our way around the world a few times.
This cookbook is great. I have used it as a reference for all of the country studies we have done. But you can also use the cookbook entirely on it’s own and work your way through it, Julie and Julia style. I like that it includes quick, simple facts about each country, so you’re learning as you read the recipes.
Ideas for Eating Your Way Around the World
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Besides the book above, Pinterest and Google will have loads of fantastic resources for you.
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Consider setting aside one night a week to prepare a meal from around the world.
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Go all out and let your kids decorate the table for each meal, using or making decorations from whatever country you’re eating from.
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Don’t forget dessert!
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Don’t be afraid to buy some of the foods to round out your experience. No need to cook everything from scratch.
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Find local bakeries or stores that carry breads or treats from other countries and on some mornings, surprise your kids with an authentic breakfast from the country you’re eating from that week.
5. Summer Adventure Boxes
I wrote about a couple of our Summer Adventure Boxes here. I have a gazillion more ideas for these, but sadly, my kids have outgrown them. Maybe someday I will make them for my grandkids!
6. Learn About Your Town
This is a fun project, as it involves lots of little trips. Learn about your town, or a town nearby. Keep it simple and pick one day a week where you’ll make a day trip and learn something new about the town. We did this one summer and had the added benefit of a nearby grandpa who knew the history of the town.
Ideas of places to visit:
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The local library, where you may be able to find books about the town.
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Chamber of Commerce, where they should have all kinds of information for you.
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Museums
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Historical houses or other tours available.
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The local Farmer’s Market
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Check out TripAdvisor or Yelp and take turns visiting the highest rated restaurants for breakfast, lunch, dinner, ice cream, etc.
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Find a resident that knows the history of the town and go on a walking or driving tour with them.
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Any local points of interest.
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Collect Postcards as you go!
7. Plant a Garden
Planting and maintaining a garden would be a fun summer project and you’ll reap the rewards at harvest time. It will also keep you busy all summer! If you don’t have space for a garden, consider an herb garden or see if your town has a community garden.
More Ideas for Gardening With Kids
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Go to the library and find books on gardening.
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Go to a nursery and let them pick out some seeds and/or plants.
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Visit a botanical garden.
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This gardening set for kids is too cool.
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Visit a produce stand and try a new fruit or vegetable.
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Research Gardening methods. Again, YouTube and Pinterest are great resources for this.
8. Create a Movie
Pretty much anyone can make a movie these days. It can be as simple as using iphone with the imovie app.
They can write a script and produce a movie, or they could make a documentary on a subject they’re passionate about. Don’t forget to add music!
Let them choose their own direction and they’ll have more fun with it. My daughters spent a summer making spoofs of popular TV shows. They did this without any prompting or assistance from me, and it ended up being one of the most fun (and funniest) things they’ve ever done. I would love to share a clip with you, but they wouldn’t appreciate that.
Bonus Ideas
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Watch some behind the scenes features of some of their favorite movies.
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Check out books on the history of movies.
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Learn about special effects and makeup.
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Google the directors of some of their favorite movies and see if they’ve done any interviews that you can watch online.
9. Produce a Play
My girls are theater kids, so they loved doing this. Give them plenty of time to write a script, cast characters, and come up with costumes, makeup, and sets. They can even make programs and tickets. Keep it simple and fun by letting them choose the direction they want to take.
If they don’t want to write a play, you can find a play for them to perform, or encourage them to act out a favorite book.
When they are ready, make a special night of the performance. Invite family that lives nearby, dress up a little, or put it on the calendar and make a big deal about the play you’re going to go see.
Or, you can do what my daughter and a friend did, and write a play, then make an audio book out of it.
Bonus Ideas
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Take them to see a live play at your local theater.
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Check out playwriting books at the library.
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Go to the dollar store for makeup and props.
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If unable to attend a live play, find one on YouTube.
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Throw them a surprise cast party after their performance, even if it’s just cookies and punch at the kitchen table.
10. Postcard Project
This is something we are doing this summer as well. We’ve asked for people around the country and world to send us postcards, and we agreed to send one back if they include a return address. When a post card comes, we’ll simply look up the area where it came from and learn about it. You could do this in more depth, of course, but we’re keeping it simple.
Oh, and if you’d like to send us a postcard, send it ot the address above and we’l love you forever! 🙂
11. Learn or Improve in a Sport
If your kids are athletic and you wished you had more time during the year for organized sports, summer can be a great time to immerse them into one sport.
Even if your child is interested in a team sport and you only have one kid, they can practice the skills of that sport.
Ideas
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Find a local league, or practice in the backyard or at the park.
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Watch YouTube videos with helpful hints or instruction.
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Find professional games to watch, either in person or find old ones online.
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Arrange for someone that is knowledgeable about the sport to meet with them and go over some skills.Even if you only do this once, it will surely be memorable.
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Visit the library and see if there’s any books on the sport, or any read-alouds or novels they’d like to read where the character plays their chosen sport.
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Find as many movies as you can that feature the sport and watch one every Friday. Both inspirational sport movies and documentaries would be fun for this. Even a movie that just barely features the sport could be fun (For example, in Cheaper by the Dozen, the father is a football coach. Not that there aren’t a ton of football movies to choose from, but you get the idea.)
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Google some famous players of their sport and watch interviews with them.
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Plan an end of the summer party and invite friends to participate in the sport. Have themed cookies or other fun snacks. (Pinterest will be a goldmine for this.) (Also, you may have noticed by now that I have to add cookies to just about every theme.)
12. Have Your Kids Teach a Class
Is there something your child is extremely knowledgeable about, or very skilled in? See if they are interested in teaching others about their passion. Whether it’s cooking, or soccer, or insects, or photography, music, or the history of the napkin, there is an audience somewhere that’s interested in that topic.
Ideas for Teaching a Class
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Find out if there’s a way for their skill to fit in with your church’s programs. Maybe they could offer a class, or visit a younger class during kid’s church and teach the kids there.
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Have them teach younger siblings or nearby friends. Plan a couple hours once a week for them to pass their knowledge or skills on. They can spend time preparing and researching how and what they want to teach.
- Or, Let them teach you! I did this often during homeschooling, as I believe it cements knowledge when you teach it to someone else. Be a good student and let them teach you something.
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Create a class video or series of videos and post it on YouTube. Or, just keep it for fun. My daughter filmed a cooking show for fun and we never posted it anywhere because I wasn’t crazy about her being online at that age. She still learned a ton and had a blast.
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If your child has a website, they can write a series of posts on their subject. Or if you have a website, you can host them as guest posters.
13. Create a Magazine
This is right out of my own childhood. Though I always wanted to be a mommy, a writer, and a teacher, I also desperately wanted to work at Vogue. I didn’t just read magazines, I studied them. So it’s not surprising that I also made magazines anytime there was an out of-the-box project allowed for book reports.
Much like making a website, your child can write articles, find or take photos, create ads, and lay the whole thing out using old fashioned copy and paste.
Bonus Ideas
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Visit the library or Bookstore and go through as many magazines as you can, taking notes for ideas. (You might want to supervise this, as there are obviously lots of inappropriate magazines out there.)
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Google editors of magazines they love and see if there are interviews or articles about them that they can read/watch.
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Browse back issues online and see how their favorite magazines have changed over the years.
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Keep a binder of covers and layouts that they love for inspiration.
14. Memory Keeping
This is a great project for a crafty kid, and it can help you get through the years of photos that need to be taken care of… or is that just me?
Memory Keeping Ideas for Kids
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Finally print all those digital images and keep a table open to work on them all summer. (Kind of like an ongoing puzzle… maybe you have a card table you could use for this purpose?) Have plenty of photo albums, scrapbooks, or smashbooks (see below) to put them in. Leave out a box of supplies like stickers, glue sticks, scissors, and some fun papers.
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After years of scrapbooking, SmashBooks are my newish favorite thing. They are smaller, and easier to use. There’s less focus on perfect presentation. The whole point of SmashBooks is to smash all of your memories in. No more perfect layouts, yay! (Once we move and I get my stuff out of storage, I’ll try to remember to come back and post a picture of mine.)
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Take a trip to a craft store and let your kids pick out some fun memory making tools. Stickers make everything more fun! Most stores offer coupons, and you can set a budget to sneak in some math. Or, order my favorite supply kit here.
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Proudly display their albums on your coffee table when they’re complete.
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Alternatively, let your kids work digitally and create digital scrapbooks or slide shows.
15. Plan a Campout
Camping is so quintessentially summer, isn’t it? Why not let your kids spend some time planning a campout.
Ideas for Planning a Campout
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Figure out where you’ll camp. Our favorite spot is the beach, but we generally have to reserve six months ahead of time for that. If getting away isn’t possible, there’s nothing wrong with doing it in the backyard.
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Make a packing list.
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Plan what foods you’ll eat, and help with grocery shopping. Older kids can help make a budget to stick to.
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Build a Swedish Log like the one pictured above that my son-in-law made for our last camping trip.
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Plan fun activities.
16. Summer Service Projects
If your kids have servant’s heart, or maybe need to grow in that area, make service your summer project theme. Just pick a little project to do once a week, or a bigger, ongoing project that they can work on over time.
Ideas for Summer Service Projects
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Get their feedback and try to find something they will enjoy. If they can use their gifts to serve God, they’ll see how being part of the body of Christ works, and they’ll be encouraged to serve in the future.
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Find out if your local church has any ministries your kids can serve in.
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If they’re older, they may be able to serve as leaders at VBS. My kids have done this for years and they always end up growing closer to God throughout the week.
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Is there a short term missions trip happening?
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Is there a local family that needs some yardwork or housework done?
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Is there a local food bank that you could work for?
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Is there a ministry they could raise money for?
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Find some more ideas here: 10 Simple Mission Projects for Kids
17. Do An In-Depth Time Period Study
Much like the country study above, escaping into a favorite time period could be a fun way to spend your summer. Like with the other projects, avoid getting too heavy into an academic study (memorizing dates, doing deep research, etc.) unless your kid is really into that. Keep it simple and most of all, FUN. Chances are, they’ll be studying this time period in school eventually, anyway.
Ideas for a Time Period Study
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Check out books written about the time period, and books set in that time period.
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Find or make costumes from the time period.
Buy one project book and work your way through it. Here’s an example of one of my favorite kinds of project books. They have them for just about every time period.
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Spend one day playing only with toys they would have had in that time period.
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Plan a dinner that would have been eaten in those times.
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Find out if there’s a local museum or historic house you could tour from that time period.
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Watch movies set in the time period.
18. Plan an Event or Party
This would be the perfect project for an older kid that loves planning. Is there a birthday, baby shower, or wedding shower coming up that they could plan with little help?
Our family is big on themed parties, and my daughters have had much fun helping me plan them all. They’ve also learned quite a bit as they do.
Elements of Planning a Party or Event
They will have a myriad of choices when it comes to planning each aspect of the event, which is what makes it so fun!
- Guest List
- Location, Date, and Time
- Theme
- Budget
- Invitations
- Food
- Entertainment
- Games or Activities
- Decorations
More Ideas for a Party Planning Project
- Use Pinterest for Theme inspiration and make a party planning board.
- Search Google images for pictures of parties with themes you’d like to use.
- Plan a shopping day (with a budget) and hit up a fun party supply store or the dollar store for decorations.
- Make a party binder to fill with ideas.
19 – 25. Become An Expert in Something Fun
Is there something your child would love to learn more about, that you don’t have time for during the school year? You might be able to find classes at your local community center or hardware or craft store.
You could also ask a talented friend to teach your kids, or go online and find videos to learn from. They can dig as deep as they want to with research.
Some Ideas for Fun Things to Learn
- Cake Decorating.
- A Foreign Language.
- Sewing. We LOVE this book.
- Chess. Maybe a sibling or friend would like to learn with them.
- Woodworking. Some hardware stores have classes for kids every weekend.
- Coding. There’s tons of info online about how to do this.
- Robotics. I don’t know much about this, but I know you can find classes and information online.
- Hair and Make-Up. If your child is interested in doing elaborate hair or make-up techniques, there are plenty of videos to learn from. We have a friend who completely taught herself to do special effects make-up and she’s become an expert!
- The ideas are endless… what is your child interested in?
26. Theme Weeks, aka Super Low-Key Unit Studies
Even before we homeschooled, when my oldest was in elementary school, I would plan her summers this way. We’d choose a theme each week and we’d go to the library, check out books on the subject, and find a couple projects to do. The important thing here is to keep it simple! I took a very laid back approach to this. I let her pick the books, then just had them in our family room all week. I didn’t dictate how much she read. I kept the projects super easy and fun. Lots of ours involved cooking, because we love to cook.
Here are a few themes we had fun with:
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Mexico. I honestly chose this because we love Mexican food. We studied the country and had a big Fiesta at the end of the week, with lots of new dishes we hadn’t tried before.
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Chocolate. Yep, we did a whole week of learning about chocolate, and then had a chocolate festival at the end of it! We watched Charlie and the Charlie Factory and we also watched the movie, Chocolat. There are definitely some adult themes, and there are also some love scenes I fast-forwarded through, but this movie has some great lessons about empathy. Obviously, his was by far, my favorite theme ever. Because, chocolate.
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Castles. We ended the week with an ice castle, made of ice cubes in all different shapes. We used regular cubes and plastic cups to make different sizes. I’m sure we made sand castles at the beach, too, but I’m not sure if we did it during this week or not. This was before iPhones, so I don’t have as many memories documented!
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Billy Graham. I asked my daughter who she’d like to learn about, and she chose the evangelist. We spent the week reading his biography and watching a sermon or two. She wrote him a letter at the end of the week. His family actually wrote her back, which was way cool.
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England. We learned about England, then had an English tea and watched Finding Neverland. I guess we were on a Johnny Depp roll that summer.
Please note: There are some affiliate links in this post.
5 More Summer Posts
Rainy Day Jar (Can be tweaked for bored summer days.)
UnPlan Summer
Summer!
Summer Days (What we did last year)
Our Summer Movie List My daughter and I have been adding movies to watch on Fridays for the last few summers.
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