Summer activities for 11 y.o. girls...

[Terry36]

This will be the first summer DD will be home the majority of the summer and not attend summer camps. So I need ideas of stuff for her to keep busy. For those whose tweens are home what will they be doing?

 

[missenmickey]

Watching the Disney Channel!

Just kidding. As you can see from my sig I have an 8 year old and a 9 year old. We do not have air conditioning so a lot or our activities involve going someplace cool. We make a weekly trip to the library to get books and free movies. The library also has free passes to local museums - so we go about once a week on an outing. We also go bowling about once a week. We signed up with KidsBowlFree.com. You get 2 FREE games of bowling per day (we do have to pay for shoe rental). The bowling alley is a great place for us to cool off. My girls are also happy if I sit and play a game with them. I'm lucky my girls still like being around their "uncool" mom.

 

[disneydreamersx4]

I would definitely invite her friends over and they could play outside, watch movies.....run under a sprinkler if you don't have a pool......have sleepovers. Have her go to friends houses.

We're going to do the bowling for free too and buy the shoes instead of renting them ($4.75 each time vs. $40 to buy)

Regal cinemas free movies, not new ones but at least it's free.

Take them to the mall and go to the dollar menu for lunch or eat lunch before and just get a snack.

Go to your local nursing home and volunteer with her.....I help out with the activities schedule.

Bike riding

 

[daisy2jae]

My DD loves crafts. I order stuff off Oriental Trading company. She likes to make them and give them to residents at nursing homes/assisted living. She also makes cards and mails them to VA Hospitals or PED Hospitals.

 

[disneymom3]

Will she be home alone or will you be with her?

Sign up for reading programs around the area. Our libraries also have summer reading book clubs that are free. Some only meet once a month, others meet weekly.

A few years ago, we worked with some other families and had a once a week gathering at a differrent girl's house with a different theme for about 8 weeks. That was a hit! So, all 8 of the girls would go to one house and that girl and mom would plan out a morning of activities such as crafts, a charity gathering, a book trade etc and then provide lunch. In the afternoons the girls would play outside in the water, have a water balloon fight or watch a movie if it was icky outside.

Each summer, my kids have a daily folder. I start this about a month after school is done when they start to get bored and irritating to each other. (and me!) In the folder are cards that they need to complete. Things like puzzle books, learning games, chores, reading time etc. Then, when all of their cards are completed they turn them in for hte reward card of the day. Sometimes that is going swimming or playing in the sprinklers, sometimes bowling (we sign up for the free DARE bowling) or getting an ice cream cone. Even something as simple as picking a show or playing DS. It works well and gives some structure to their days.

 

[PHXscuba]

Part of what makes me (and my kids) a little nuts during the summer is the abrupt transition from an hour-by-hour routine to the "nothing" of summer. Whatever you plan, try to give the summer a little structure to help fill the gaps.

I have several kids so it's not all about my DD11, but I am planning to use some of our time to teach her some cooking/baking skills (she thinks cooking is like crafts with food at the end ).

As a family, we will also have weekly pool time, trips to the library, the summer movie program at the local theater, etc. Most of our outings are free or less than $2 per person.

I agree with the PP that it's a great time to have friends over when you're not all as tied to schedules, sports, school, etc.

PHXscuba

 

[czycropper]

Last year I planned day trips for my then 11 yr. old & 9 yr. old - like going to the museums (we went to Inteprid one day & Natural History a couple of weeks later), went to historical places (Valley Forge & Washington Crossing), picnics, had a reading book club with a couple of their friends, went to the beach for the day (Jersey Shore), went to the lake for the day (Poconos), did crafts. The girls were only allowed to watch TV for a couple of hours in the mornings that we did have a longer day trip planned. On the days that no trip was planned we just stayed around the house, went in the pool, they rode bikes, they helped with the chores. It really was amazing how fast the time went. They go away one week to Girl Scout sleep-a-way camp and they have one week of all-day cheer camp and two weeks of evening cheer camp but that's in August-so I always have to have plans for the last week in June and July.

We planning the same thing this year but we will be venturing out to the Jersey Pinelands, down to Gettysburg as well as visiting all the lighthouses in New Jersey.

 

[minniebeth]

My DD is 12, almost 13 and we have cut back all her camps this summer, trying to make some budget cuts this year. She is volunteering at a Girl Scout camp for a week.

Other than that, we've been thinking about how to keep her busy too. She's going to put out a flyer in the neighborhood to babysit and/or be a mother's helper.
We are going to try to find some volunteer work for her to do as well.
At home, she just wants to swim in our neighborhood pool and hang out with friends.
In addition to that, we've come up with a list of things for her to do that she likes. We came up with:
*Go to Michael's or Jo Ann's craft store with the newspaper coupons and get some arts and crafts things she likes to do (friendship bracelets, painting, scrapbooking, those iron/plastic bead shapes)
*Go to the library and get a stack of books she would like to read
*Get some cookbooks at the library, have her pick out some recipes she would like to make, make a grocery list of items needed, help shop and then make the recipes she is interested in.
*She loves taking photos of her friends together, so she is planning on making a big mural of photos/friends for her room
*Journaling/writing/poetry--she is going to make her own journal

Do you have any friends/family she could visit with this summer?

I'm sure if you come up with a list of things she likes to do, the days will get filled up pretty quickly!
Have a great summer!

 

[Taja]

What does she like to do?

Art projects?
Sewing?
Needlework (knitting, crochet, etc.)?
Reading?
Outdoor activities?
Gardening (raise some veggies/herbs for meals)?

Most of us didn't have planned summer activities when we were young--we were expected to be kids and amuse ourselves! *LOL* We rode bicycles, skateboarded (on really awful metal wheels--that dates me!), roller skated, played in sprinklers, swam at the community pool or neighbors homes (planned in advance by parents who were required to stay to watch their own children), had neighborhood lunch picnics at various homes (each parent prepared food for their own children, then everyone chipped in on drinks--usually Kool-Aid in those days).

My parents required that I maintain existing skills (math, reading, etc.) and expand them a bit each summer, so I would be ready for the following year. Never attended summer school, but they always made projects and worksheets for me (and both of them worked full time). It was important to them, so they made the time to do things. I had to read a certain number of books (depended on subject matter and length) and write book reports. Real ones, with thoughts about the characters and plots. Cultural geography was a challenge for me, so that was another area of concentration during the summer.

There's a lot that can be done for very little cost, you just need to be a bit creative at times.

Can you ask your DD to design a board game--with rules--and teach you how to play it? Use materials on hand for the board, markers, etc. That was one of my favourites!

 

[bjscheel]

When mine is not at softball, she will be home with her 8 year old sister and either me or a sitter (I have two high school/college girls who come to the house.) Being at home all the time they are ready to go places on the weekend. There is usually a town celebration somewhere around, or garage sales, or grandma's house to fill our weekends.

She will spend lots of time playing with her sister, which you didn't mention yours having a sibling to play with. We are in the country, so they pretty much have the run of our five acres and the dirt road (but not easy access to friends or public activities- thank goodness for sisters). We fill a stock tank with water to "swim" in. They have a treehouse, a mud kitchen, tire swing, swingset, trampoline, scooters, pony. They are currently into softball and other ball games. What they do most though is play with their Build A Bears- playing school with them or having "balls". She will write stories, and she SHOULD practice piano. We love summer, it is always too short.

 

[Terry36]

Wow thank you all for the responses. She's our only child and she will not be alone, she will spend half of the week with me and the other with her dad.

 

[CrAzY4DL]

Free movies, once or twice a week
Free bowling, once or twice a week
Library, once a week
Pool, at the park or my gym once or twice a week

I loooooooooooooove summer vacation, my kids fight so much less when they don't have to be here or there at such and such time.

 

[zoemurr]

DD and I are going to spend time working on badges.

I would find a volunteer project. My kids and I have adopted an elderly home and enjoy visiting with the residents. I'm sure if you call one they can find a few small things for her to do. On holidays we make chocolates and give them away at meal time. If she plays an instrument the elderly would love to listen. If someone is talkative she can interview them.

She can volunteer to read books at a daycare center

My 11yr old reads new books from the library and writes reviews that the librarian posts for the other kids

We also always say that we are going to start making Christmas presents in the summer but we never do. If you can sew making pillowcases is pretty easy and makes nice gifts.

It might be fun to make theme weeks: cooking, crafts, service, etc.

 

[PaulaSue]

Love all the ideas. We do most posted but now have a few more ideas...