Your Backyard DIY Summer Camp
The best parts of summer camp,
right in your own back yard.
Summer camps are known for filling each moment of the day with various arts, crafts and outdoor activities, but you don't need to spend hundreds of dollars on camp tuition or even travel further than your own back yard to have the best summer camp experience.
Channel your inner camp counselor and get ready to start your own summer camp in the comfort of your own home with some of our favorite ideas and activities sure to keep your kids busy all day long (and ready to sleep all night!)
Your DIY Summer Camp Experience
Pick a theme and create a camp name
Do your kids have a specific hobby or interest they love to do? Maybe they love science and creating new things, or they love the beach and learning about the ocean life. Summer is the perfect time to expand upon your kid’s interests that they may not have much time to explore during the school year.
Once you nail your theme, your kids will love coming up with a name for your camp. Working with more than one kiddo? This is a great chance for them to work on their presentation skills and present why their name is the best one!
A few camp themes we love are:
Ocean Camp
Wildlife Camp
Space Camp
Around the World Camp
Science Camp
Lego Camp
Harry Potter Camp
Disney Camp
Create a simple weekly activities calendar
You don’t need to jam dozens of different activities into each day for it to be a success for you and your kiddos. Just like a traditional summer camp has a daily schedule, setting a weekly schedule centered around daily themes or activities is a great way to make planning activities less stressful.
Maybe every Monday is an arts and crafts day, or Friday’s are Pool/Splash days. You can add in activities that you and your family already love to do, or use this as an opportunity to try something new together. Don’t forget to schedule in breaks too!
Some of our favorite daily activities are:
Outdoor Sports/Hiking
Music/Dance
Community Services/Giving Back
Board/Card Games
Arts & Crafts
Pool/Water Fun
Cooking
Field Trips
Learn to roll with it
No matter how perfectly curated your weekly schedule is, or how many pom-pom balls you bought for that one specific craft, things won’t always go as planned... and that’s okay!
Did your big beach field trip get rained out? Let’s get those rain coats on and head outside for some fun rain experiments! Did you cook something together and maybe left it in the oven a litttttle too long? Time for a pizza party!
The most important part of summer is the time you spend together and the memories you make, so allow yourself some grace when things don’t go as planned, and focus on taking in each moment with your kiddos. Camp starts again same time tomorrow to try again!
