Summer is indeed the time of year when most of us will let go of the pressures of day to day living, working, raising families, or running businesses. While our Canadian winters are long and cold and cater to avid skiers and snow-fort builders, our summers can be equally memorable, rejuvenating, exciting and extremely fun-filled.

So, school is out for the summer and the plan is to stay in the city! Now what?? Using some imagination, doing a little research, and creating a plan is how this summer can be the one they’ll remember! Whether you use the internet or look over the local papers, summer activities abound in every community and neighbouring towns.

Some tips:

1) Make a list of you what your family enjoys doing and start looking around for matching activities. Get your family involved to pitch in their own ideas.

2) Separate the days trips from the overnighters as they will require different logistics. Get a whiteboard to keep everything straight!

3) If your budget is a concern, a great option would be to rent a tent trailer or caravan to minimize hotel costs. Trailer parks are plentiful and have many conveniences.

4) Consider what your children are learning in school and include trips to eco-museums, farms, and hands-on interactive activities like pottery, painting, and cooking. Make it as fun as it is educational and memorable. Give your children some choices or if they are old enough, ask them to look for what’s happening in and around the community that they would enjoy doing.

5) International street festivals which bring other countries into your city are always an exciting and inexpensive way to learn about other cultures. Visit your local tourism office or Google your city along with keywords like things to do, summer activities, festivals.

6) Consider a neighborhood block party with local families bringing foods from their countries of origin and activities that everyone would enjoy. Make it a BYOC – bring your own chair potluck! If your block won’t permit such an activity, take it to the neighborhood park!

7) Make sure that some of the activities include some quiet time at a local beach or park for a picnic or a de-stressing day to kick back and relax. When you teach children that tuning out is an equally important activity, they will learn a valuable lesson of how the mind, body and spirit need nourishing in different ways.

8) Before you head out on day trips or overnighters, make sure you check for and replace summer clothes and shoes that no longer fit, out-dated sunscreens, bug sprays and bug bite lotions, damaged or broken summer toys and accessories.

9) Stock up on healthy non-perishable or long-shelf life snacks granola bars and trail mixes. Making your own can be a fun activity for everyone. If you don’t have any recipes, just Google: healthy snacks to go and you will surely find many your children will enjoying preparing….and eating!

Summer in the city does not have to be boring if you plan ahead, and get everyone involved! Variety is the key and adding some downtime will keep the engines revved up until school starts up again!

Angela, Your Sleep Expert