Engaging and Meaningful Summer Activities for Middle Schoolers
Summer doesn’t have to be a time for your middle schooler to stop learning. It’s a perfect time for them to engage in more self-directed learning. And it doesn’t always have to require a screen. It’s also a great time to spend some good quality time together as a family.
Here are some engaging and meaningful learning activities your middle schooler can do this summer. For simplicity’s sake, I’ll write as if I’m talking to the middle schooler.
- Interview a family member. Learn ten things about them that you didn’t know before. Make it fun by playing a game like “Never Have I Ever” or “Two Truths and a Lie”
- Learn new board games and card games with family. You can even keep score throughout the whole summer to see which family member wins the most games. Some of my family favorites are Hearts, Rummy, Ticket to Ride, Settlers of Catan, Taboo, Pandemic, Monopoly, Risk, Carcassonne, and Scattergories.
- Build something with your hands using everyday items. You can build a fort, an obstacle course in your backyard, a model car or airplane, dioramas of your favorite places, etc.
- Dream travel: Plan your perfect vacation. Use the internet or guidebooks from the library to research destinations, food, accommodations, activities, budget, etc. This activity builds so many different skills and gives students a better knowledge of the world.
- Cultivate wonder for the small everyday things, especially in nature. Observe a flower in bloom and take a picture everyday. Draw different spiderwebs you find in your backyard. Catalog all the insects you see by taking a picture and organizing into a scrapbook or digital album. Choose new plants and create a garden in your backyard. These types of activities help refine observational skills which are the building blocks for science and critical thinking.
- Learn about the place you live in by pretending to be a tourist in your own town. Visit all the best restaurants, parks, and attractions that you’ve never been to. Better yet, pretend to be a tour guide or travel agent and put together the best itinerary you can for your town.
- Learn about the world and other cultures. You can even have a theme based on a different country every week or every month. And during that week/month you can do things like learning how to count to ten or have a basic conversation in that language (ex: learn phrases for shopping or asking and giving directions). You can read literature from that culture. Learn how to cook their cuisine and eat it. Watch a movie in that language, etc.
- Conduct health and fitness challenges. For example, you can challenge yourself to drink 8 glasses of water everyday for a month. Or to walk 10,000 everyday for a certain amount of time. You can do other things, too, like wall sits (a family favorite of ours), push ups, sit ups, jump rope, etc. You can also challenge yourself to eat healthier, like eating a vegetable with every meal. Use a tracker to keep track of your progress. Have a little reward at each milestone.
- Enjoy the outdoors. Go camping in your backyard. Go hiking, fishing, stargazing, swimming, etc.
- Learn useful survival skills and practice using role play.
- Make a movie. It can be a vlog, where you document your summer through video. You can create a documentary about a topic you’re interested in. You can make your own version of existing movies or books. You can make commercials, stop motion animations, or just make a fun movie with a story you create.
- Learn a new skill or pick up a new hobby. You can learn to play your favorite song on a musical instrument. Maybe you can learn to crochet or bake pies or make ice cream. Or maybe you’re more interested in technology – learn how to podcast, make a robot, or build a website.
- Invent something fun or useful. Maybe you can invent a new game using a ball and a pair of dice. Or invent a tool that will make cleaning easier and faster. Or invent a system that helps you achieve a personal goal.
- Get artsy. Learn how to paint – acrylic, watercolor, oil, etc. Learn how to draw, woodwork, or sculpt. Commit to a project and challenge yourself to have it finished by the end of the summer.
As you can see, your middle schooler has so many engaging activities he or she can do for the summer! There are so many options that don’t require a screen and can be good ways to bond with friends and family. I hope this list helps. If you’d like to make it more interesting, I have a little printable you can purchase below called Summer Bingo. It has over 100 activities you can pick from and can also be used for upper elementary aged children.
This list should also help you think of more ideas you can do with your middle schooler. If you’d like to know the foundations of how to make learning engaging for your child, you can read this article on student engagement.
Happy Summer!
