What Type of Family Activities Do You Engage in During the Summer?

Are there lakes near you? Try renting Stand Up Paddleboards and go for a paddle. Go water skiing or tubing off a boat. Fishing. Camping. Water parks.

What about sitting down with your kids and writing a summer bucket list? That way each of you can input ideas for what you'd like to do? My kids aren't that old but when I was that age, I enjoyed the movies with mom on hot summer days, swimming, vacations with dining out and excursions, visiting friends and family, road trips, etc.

I like the idea of zip lining, shopping trips, staycations, beach, camping, movie nights, etc.

My kids (8, 10, and 12) love to be at the pool in the summer. We try to do what we call mini-trips too, which means exploring local treasures. Of course we try to get our toes in the sand at least once. We have local "beaches" in Southern Maryland, but they aren't like a real beach and I don't prefer them. The kids also like going to the library, movies, and hiking - along with basketball and bike riding. They like to go bowling and hang out at our neighborhood park.

This summer has been really mild in my opinion, so it's been almost too cold to be at the pool some days, but the kids don't mind so I just hang on the side and watch.

I have 4 boys: 16, 13, 12 and 10.

They like to go shooting and paint balling. We all enjoy ATV riding and go on trails and parks here in Georgia. We also have acreage so we can ride in our own backyard too.

We set up obstacle courses to shoot arrows or guns.

We have driven up to Pigeon Forge, TN and visited Dollywood and the other attractions in Pigeon Forge.

We also enjoy movies and try to go to matinee's to save money on tickets for a family of 6.

We enjoy bowling too. Have you taken your kids bowling?

We are always busy. Not sure what we would do if we just sat home one weekend. Well, yes, yes, I do. We would clean out more stuff. I guess that's why my boys like to be outside, because if they are inside, it's homework (school starts 10 August here) or purging more stuff.

D. - you are trying out what your company does, eh?

Henrico is a beautiful area - You are in Richmond and there's a LOT of historical things to do.

My kids are 13 and 15. We have a G-Force here - and there's one in Richmond - they are go-karts and that's a blast for teens.

Do you have girls or boys or one of each? WHAT DO THEY LIKE TO DO??

Have you asked them what THEY want to do? My kids just took off today with my dad in his motor home. They are headed to New England and checking out the Battle of Concord, Salem, The USS Constitution and more...

This past weekend? We were at Niagra Falls - long drive for us - but it was beautiful. I would NOT recommend the "Oakes At the Falls" hotel if you are up for trips - flights from Richmond to Buffalo would be quick and easy.

Last weekend (4th of July?) We were in Gettysburg, MD - that was a blast!

Kings Dominion - heck you are what - 20 minutes from Kings Dominion - what kid doesn't want to go there?

Busch Gardens is about an hour away - so there's another thing - you can spend 2 days at both places...water park and roller coaster side...

Virginia Beach - go to the beach.

More information is needed to really answer the question. Your best bet is to TALK WITH YOUR FAMILY and ask them what they feel/think is fun and what they want to do.

Tell them - for example - we have $500 to spend for a family outing. What would you like to do? I was thinking Kings Dominion or Busch Gardens...

If you have boys? They are close to driving age, right? So why not ask if they want to build a go-kart as a project?!

You have Great Wolf Lodge near you as well. There's a ton of stuff to do - just need to know WHAT your kids like to do....artsy? Museums. Traveling? Come up to DC - tons of stuff to do around here...

TALK WITH YOUR KIDS and see what they would like to do. You might learn a lot about them if you talk WITH them....

Have fun!

We have a 12 and 14 year old at home. If you want them to start engaging in activities and show interest? Limit the screen time significantly. I'm not lecturing, I just know the pattern very, very well. ;-)

Head to the pool or beach.

Or, take a day off and get a room for one night at a local hotel with a nice pool in the middle of the week.

Prepare an elaborate ice cream dinner, but don't tell the kids. Just have the stuff on the table when they come to dinner. Act like everything is completely normal. (My own boys talk about this all the time and love this particular memory).

Check with the Chamber of Commerce for their activities and events calendar and add them to your own calendar. Our little city does some great family stuff throughout the summer, such as putting a huge inflatable movie screen on the capital lawn and showing family friendly movies a couple times a month.

Check the Parks and Recreation website too.

Sign your whole family up for a fun 5k. Get competitive and have fun ribbing one another.

Sign the family dog up for family obedience class. If your dog is already trained, sign her up for agility.

I look forward to everyone's replies!!

We use to live in Northern Virginia.
One of our favorite things to do was go to a drive in move theater.
There was one about an hour away from us.

http://www.thefamilydriveintheatre.com/

It was a bit of a haul - and after a double feature we'd often be getting home at about 2am - but who ever wasn't driving was fast asleep and it worked out great.
A lot of families bring little kids but teens seem to like it too.
Since we moved to Chesapeake the nearest drive in theater is too far away.

But you might be able to go to Goochland.

http://www.goochlanddriveintheater.com/index.php/directions

Drive ins are great fun and it's a pity so many of them have closed.

Some of our usual summer activities include camping, hiking, kayaking, canoeing, pedal boating, fishing, rock climbing, high ropes course, zip lining, swimming at the pool, beach and waterpark, go-carting, mini-golfing, zoo, nature center, strawberry picking and we might try cable wakeboarding this year.

My kids are the same ages as yours. It's hell hot here so we mostly stay inside. We do swim but only in the morning or late evenings or 115 is too hot to do much physical activity. Even though we have access to friends pools, our kids really like the public pools that have the slides and diving boards and lazy rivers. It's only $1-2 to get in and you can bring your own food and drinks. We also love to go to the movies and go almost every weekend.

Well, it depends on the kid. Nature centers, beaches, local events, national monuments/parks (like museums, forts, historic sites), mini golf, movies, etc.

My kids like to go to our outdoor community pool a lot (we have a season pass). Bike riding is a big one as well. We try to stay away from expensive activities (with a big family, it can get pretty costly, pretty quickly) and focus on free ones or one time fee for the summer ones. It is a little late, but maybe next year, check out the community education programming - they have lots of low cost family activities. We also check the newspaper for free stuff going on in the area. My middle daughter and I have done some 5k, 10k, and 15k races locally - we choose the "cheap" ones that give away the free t-shirt and water bottles and stick to the ones close to home that we don't have to do an overnight or spend a lot of money on gas. We do one big "family" vacation in the summer - that usually is where our "summer fun money" goes :)

Good luck!

My 11 year old never wants to do anything either. He does really like family bike rides...we can ride on trails that go along a river and into town to get ice cream. We took the kids rafting on a lazy river one day and last year we took them tubing. He LOVED doing both of these...although he didn't know he would like the rafting and was complaining before we started. We like to go camping a couple times each summer and he always enjoys it. Sometimes we let him bring a friends. He likes gathering wood, helping make the fire, fishing, making smores. We took the kids to a music festival in the mountains (cooler weather) last weekend and they both had fun. The didn't have much stamina for sitting and listening to music for long, but there were a lot of other things they could do there so they didn't get bored. There is a musician (a youtube sensation Lindsey Stirling) who does dubstep violin that our son just LOVES. He loves her videos and is a big fan. We found out that she was doing a tour and playing near us and got tickets. He was SO HAPPY and kept thanking us over and over and over. It was a really good concert...I never would have heard of her if it had not been for my son. We had never done a concert before with the kids and it was a big hit. The 11 year old also likes going to a trampoline park. He sometimes likes going to a pool to use the diving boards. He does enjoy the beach a lot. He likes body surfing in the waves and he likes digging holes/making a sand castle. When we visited my mom she took the kids to an amusement park and my son worked up his courage and rode a bigger ride. He LOVED it and was psyched! Most things that I want to do with the kids mean a lot of complaining from him...he'd rather stay home. He is always wanting to play video games. I have to set a timer and send him out of the house regularly. He will walk or ride his bike to friends houses and just hang out.

Library, Book Stores, Swimming at the neighborhood pools and the lakes, Picnics at different parks all around the city. State Historical places. Visit small towns around our city. Movies, Drive ins, Cook outs, Music events that are free, Plays in the park, Camping in our back yard, small festivals in the area.
Volunteering at different places.

We are fortunate to live in around cities and towns that always seem to have something going on for free or very little money.

And we all have most of our family that live in the area, so we also get together with them a lot.

Bowling, outdoor concerts, we check the papers all the time to find things that are "different" in the area. We also have a game night that we started long ago...they still enjoy that a lot.
You live in such a beautiful area of he country, I'll be there are tons of things to do nearby.

Summer here is the time for lots of free outdoor concerts. We love those.

Tennis, rafting, camping, nature hiking, amusement parks, water parks, local swim hole places, sleepovers with friends or cousins, trips to grandparents, marshmallows/smores around a fire pit in the back yard, back yard camping, helping with home projects, cleaning out all closets and last years clothes etc, bike riding to ice cream or lunch, grade appropriate work books, movies, cooking together (teaching life skills), walks to local stores, frequenting local farmers markets, going to all the local county fairs, mini golf/or real golf...

We have teens to little ones, so it's a challenge to find things for everyone.

We finally put in a pool a few years back - that gets us all in and it's the one time the older ones gladly like having the little ones around with their friends over.

Bike riding, nature hikes, that sort of thing. Beach for sure. Berry picking.

Camping. If we don't go somewhere to camp (our favorite is on the ocean) then we just camp out in our back yard by the woods, have bonfire and invite friends overnight. We camp with friends so the teens will gladly take off and go exploring with their buds.

Some of the kids like to go fishing - usually jump in the lake at same time. My husband is into that so it's a good way for him to take them all off my hands :) He'll also take them to the skate park, etc.

Markets. We have local markets and not so local ones that we will drive to. The whole family likes that. I tie in a treat - like get a yummy cupcake, ice cream or stop for brunch somewhere. Then everyone will come.

We have a tourism book and I go through that to come up with ideas sometimes - so much around, but you never think to sight see. We pick new things that the kids haven't been to before or haven't in years. The kids are also involved - each get to pick stuff.

We have friends with cottages so we just try to arrange visits when the kids' friends will also be around. I find with teens especially it's all about their pals, so if we can co-ordinate it works out well.

Enjoy your summer!

They sound like they are at that age where they don't want to do much.
I get that. I remember being like that at age 15.
Here are some ideas:
-drive to a neaby amusement park w/rollercoasters. Teens seem to like that.
-game night. Pick interesting board games they'll like.
-Learn a card game you can play together.
-Movie night. Pick a movie you will all like esp the boys then pop popcorn,
have a soda or brownie sundaes.
-go for a hike. Just don't make it an arduous all day thing or they will grow to
hate it.
-we go to the lake & swim
-rent a boat to take out on a local lake. Be safe, wear life jackets, watch out for other boats.
-throw the football around in the backyard or soccer ball
-go to a local sporting event
-take a short drive to a point of interest for your kids. Something they'll enjoy.
Not what YOU think would be fun but what they will actually like.
Lastly, don't force them to do too much. Esp the eldest. They will resent it & make an outing miserable. Just be low key & don't force too much.

Farmers & Flea Markets are a big hit at this age, it's scavenger hunt fun kind of shopping...we also do a lot of the beach & kayaking/canoeing.

It's always fun to load up and hunt down an old drive-in movie theatre, I try to make this a yearly summer time tradition, at least once!

We also have card nights (you could do board games, I've got poker players at my house,) and once a year before they go back to school we do banana splits for dinner night and watch a family movie, it's kinda cool.

We also have this read a book or two rule, sounds harsh to call it a rule but it's just something we started implementing awhile back and it's turned into a beautiful thing to share, when they were little I read books aloud as a family during summer nights and as they grow we just discuss them now and as they get older they recommend and we (both mom & dad) enjoy reading what they've read.