5 Screen-Free Summer Family Activities

When it comes to connecting with our kids and engaging our families, it can feel like you are fighting for their attention from a near constant stream of social media updates, the latest game, or the newest show. But here are five screen-free ideas to keep kids engaged, families connected, and summers meaningful.

5 Screen-Free Summer Family Activities

Every summer our family makes a point to be outside as much as humanly possible. We love the long days and warmer temperatures that allow for us to spend a lot of time together in the great outdoors. Another thing my husband and I love about the summer is the ability to focus on one another a bit more as our homeschool slows down allowing more time to have fun together!

Of course with the extra time comes the temptation for each of us to spend more time on one of our iDevices. I know I have been guilty at times of sitting down to read my Kindle and not resurfacing for hours. While this serves a purpose at times and is a fun way to occupy our time, we strive to have mostly screen-free days during the summer.

Screen-Free Summer Activity #1: Hands-On Family Devotional Time

We love family devotional time. We love it so much that we began to take our favorite family devotionals and make a day of fun out of them. We have been doing this now for 3 summers and it has given our children wonderful insight into serving God's people as well as the character of Christ as well! And the ideas are endless! Curious on how to start a family devotion time? CLICK HERE!

A great resource is the Faith Forward Family Devotional , which is written for families with children of all ages to help equip and inspire you to raise another generation to love and serve Jesus. In just a few minutes a day, at your own pace, you can take your family through the entire Bible in one hundred devotions. Grow closer to your kids as they grow closer to God.

Screen-Free Summer Activity #2: Summer Cook-Off

This is a favorite in our family! This is where we plan several different cooking challenges by category (ie: bread making, grilling, desserts, etc). Then we set up different days throughout the summer where we have a cook-off competition of sorts. We get a lot of recipe inspiration from our Summer Survival Calendar. This is all in fun and the entire family enjoys it! Now that our youngest is 7, we can step up the competition a little bit. But it was fun even when the kids were toddlers!

Screen-Free Summer Activity #3: Ice Cream Making Workshop

This is a fun day we plan where we go and get all the ingredients for our favorite ice cream flavors. We usually leave first thing in the morning to allow the time to grab all of the special things we need for each flavor (and for us that means 5 different flavors).  Then we whip up our favorite ice cream recipes in our ice cream maker. Once all 5 recipes are finished (it takes a while) we then have an ice cream bar with our favorite toppings and garnishes to share. This is a huge hit in our home!

Screen-Free Summer Activity #4: Annual Family Summer Olympics

Now this one is fun. We started the Kercheval Family Summer Olympics back in 2003 and they just keep getting better and better! Our first year our first-born child was only 2-years-old so we did a 3-event set up: running through a baby pool, 20-yard dash, and a shot-put (using a whiffle ball). In the last 13 years we have gained 2 more competitors and a plethora of events. Our current line up for the 2016 Kercheval Family Summer Olympics consists of 10 events over 2 days. Let's just say that mom and dad may need some prayers for this one! Ha!

Screen-Free Summer Activity #5: Summer Water Fun

We make it a point to be in the water as much as possible each summer. We love to go to the beach, local water parks, boating, water-skiing, jet-skiing, paddle-boarding, knee-boarding, and swimming. We also have fun playing with water balloons and slip and slides in our own backyard, too! We look forward to spending as many days as possible in the water and it is great exercise, too!

Looking for Other Fun and Free Acitivities to Connect with Your Kids This Summer?

Check out these popular posts from The Better Mom to help you have the best summer with your kids!

1. How to Have a Family Day This Summer: Memories and traditions are the glue that holds a childhood together. In this post, you will learn how to interject purposeful, meaningful, and  out-of-the-norm memories into my children's lives. Not just because "everyone else is doing it," but to bless our children with traditions they will hold near and remember.

2. Ten Ways for Your Family to Get the Most out of Summer: Summer is a fun time to enjoy lazy evenings, take vacations, and create memories that can last a lifetime. You don't have to have a lot of money or have a Pinterest worthy summer to have good times together and this post will give you practical ways to do that! 

3. Setting Your Family up for Summer Success: I’ve learned in my years of parenting that in order for things to run smoothly, I need to have a plan—even if it’s just a loose guide—to keep us from spiraling into the grumpy-infused chaos of simply winging it all summer. This post will show you simple ways to do just that!

4. How to Make Meaningful Memories This Summer: Some of the best memories that we’ve made together were just simple moments. It’s so easy to let simple moments pass us by and not cherish the time and memories we can make in those moments.  This post will show you how to pause in the moment and help make meaningful moments last. 

Here's to more screen-free time this summer!

xoxo,

Carlie K.