A busy summer: fun and useful activities for 12-13 year olds

15 July, 2024

Your children are around 12 or 13 years old and, while they are no longer children or quite teenagers, you have not found anything interesting to propose to them as an occupation for the summer season? Here are some suggestions that will probably please them, but which could also give you a valuable helping hand!

Turnkey projects

Even if boredom is not completely avoidable and you obviously don't have to turn into a nice organizer for the summer, having a few project ideas up your sleeve to keep the kids busy from time to time (while you are teleworking or want to relax quietly by the pool, for example!) could save you several arguments and frustrations. Here are some ideas for easy projects to prepare that your children can pick from when boredom rears its ugly head a little too often! If possible, prepare a bag containing the materials needed to complete each project at the beginning of the vacation, so that everything is easily accessible when the children decide to get started.

Rocks to hide

Ask your children to draw pictures on rocks that they can then scatter around the city to allow others to find pleasant surprises along the way!

What to bring: rocks of different sizes, acrylic paint pens

Bottle Seek and Find

Ask your children to fill a plastic bottle with rice and place various small objects inside. Then ask them to create the sheet that will help people know what needs to be found in this game of Find and Find.

To provide: empty transparent plastic bottle, rice, various objects, sheet of paper and colored pencils

Personalized family bingo

Give your children everything they need to play a real game of bingo! With this little trick to download and a budget allocated to the purchase of a few rewards for the winners, you're set for a memorable bingo session!

To provide: small kit , colored pencils, predetermined budget

Memory game

Allow your children, using small wooden or cardboard discs and colored pencils, to create their own memory game, which you can of course play together. If possible, give them a blank fabric bag that they can decorate as a storage bag.

To provide: wooden or cardboard discs, colored pencils or acrylic paint, blank fabric bag, paint or fabric pencils

Make yourself useful

Even though summer is all about playing, at this age it's normal to ask children to contribute concretely to household chores, especially if they don't have any obligations on their schedule! So why not make a list of chores that will allow them to be useful? Then ask them to select one each day, which should ideally be completed before being allowed to go see friends or do another more interesting activity! To make sure they don't always choose the same chore, you can also put them all in a jar and simply ask them to pick a new one each day!

Here are some suggested tasks:

  • Take out the trash, recycling or compost
  • Watering the plants
  • Prepare lunch or snack for the whole family
  • Clean and maintain the garden
  • Mow the lawn
  • Wash the car
  • Do the laundry
  • Folding a basket of clothes
  • Vacuuming
  • Wash the floors

Enjoy the summer

Even though we want to avoid them going around in circles all summer and we want them to take on certain responsibilities, let's not forget that these long vacations represent for most of them their last moments without anything on their schedule for such a long period of time; so let's let them take advantage of it and have fun to the fullest!

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