5 Family-Friendly Activities To Do Before School Starts

Believe it or not, the new school year is just around the corner! Before your kids head back to school, and back to the regularly scheduled routine, send your kids off in style by checking a few more bucket list items off your summer to-do list. Need some help figuring out what fun things to do? Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered with today’s blog post—we’re sharing five fun summer activities to do before school starts. Check it out!

1. Plan a Campout

Summer is synonymous with nature and camping. If you haven’t spent some time outside yet this summer, now is the time to do it! Plan an end-of-summer campout with the kids and make lasting family memories. 

There’s many different ways to do this—live near a camping spot? Head up there for a night. Don’t live near nature? Try “camping out” on your patio or on a rooftop green space. And, if you have a backyard then try setting up camp right out there. Let the kids stay up late and say goodbye to summer with all the camping-related activities, like: cooking out on a grill or on a fire, telling ghost stories, looking up at the stars, making smores, and more. Let your kids invite a few friends over or just keep it small with your own family. No matter what you do, you’ll be making lasting memories with your kids!

2. Stage a Water Fight

Next up, plan a water fight. Yep, you heard that right—I know as moms we’re usually avoiding making big messes but let that go for an hour or two and let the kids go crazy with a water fight.. Hosting a year-end summer water fight with your family and friends is an activity that could generate a core memory that will last for years. Plus, it’s fun! 

Get some water balloons, turn on the hose, and set some safety ground rules. Then let the kids go at it! They’ll love nailing mom and dad with a water balloon, and you’ll love soaking the little buggers with the hose! Make this a yearly tradition to wrap up summer and your kids will talk about this all through the next year and beyond. 

3. Schedule a Picnic in the Park 

Get outside while the weather is still nice and have a family picnic with the kiddos! This is one of my favorite Friday night traditions—after work I will either pack up some snacks or get takeout and then grab the crew to head to the local park. 

My kids will play on the playset while we set up the picnic. And, then we spend the long summer night enjoying delicious food, nature, and watching the sun set. Since we live close to a park, we’ll pack everything up and then just walk home when it’s done. It’s truly such a special activity and I highly recommend planning a picnic with your family before school starts back up!

4. Let Your Kid’s Decide! 

Want to win major points with your kiddos? Let them choose an activity to add to your ‘End-of-Summer’ activity bucket list. Maybe they’ll choose to go to a local amusement park or to the splash pad, or to a drive-in movie with mom and dad. No matter what they choose to do, it’s more about spending time with them and celebrating what they like and what they want to do. 

Try giving some boundaries around their choice—i.e. no, driving to Disneyland isn’t an option (unless it is for you!). I like to give boundaries around timeframe (2-4 hours), pricing ($20 or less per person), and then day (Saturday’s are easiest for our family). Then once you’ve provided those guidelines, let them pick whatever they want to do and be okay with it. It’s truly one of the best ways to build lasting memories, trust, and ultimately a positive relationship with your kids. 

5. Prep, Prep, Prep for the Coming Year

Lastly, transitions and change are hard for everyone—but they’re especially challenging for kids. Young kids often don’t know what to expect at school. What will happen? Who will their friends be? What will they do? And, older kids, while they now know what to expect, they may start feeling social anxiety or be concerned with friendships, clubs and activities, or academics. No matter the stage your kids are in, prepping for school ahead of time can really help set them up for success. 

A few weeks before school begins, start letting them know what to expect and what will happen. For younger kids, try putting on their school uniforms or new school clothes, drive them to their school and explain what will happen. For older kids, let them be involved with back-to-school shopping and meeting with teachers etc. Doing this will really help your kids adapt and feel calm and confident to prepare for the new school year.

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Now that you have some fun summer activities on the docket, it’s time to get yourself something nice. Snag yourself a new swimsuit or two—after all, you deserve it! And, great news, for a limited time, score up to 50% OFF your entire order during our Endless Summer Sale. Be sure to use code: ENDLESS at checkout to score this deal. Better hurry though, this deal won’t last long!

Ready for more lifestyle articles, product features and healthy living tips? Check out the other articles in our HAPARI blog. We feature special product spotlights, healthy eating and fitness advice, and exclusive insider deals on our swimwear.