20 Things to Do This Summer

By Yulia Phares

Don’t know what to do this summer? If you get bored or want to do something different, take a look at this list and try some of them out.

Set a family goal to visit all of the parks in your city or area before the summer is over. You can make one day each week your “park day.”
Memorize a scripture each week. Take a few minutes each day to practice. By the end of the summer, you can have several scriptures memorized.
Have a “freeze dance” with friends and family members. Turn on music and start dancing or running. When the “freezer” pauses the music, you have to stop in the position you are in. Stay in that position until the music starts again.
Do anonymous good deeds. You can do a sibling’s chores, clean around the house, or write kind notes for family members and leave them on their pillows.
Set up a backyard obstacle course. Take turns seeing how fast you can complete it.
Celebrate fun, little-known holidays. For example, June 26 is National Chocolate Pudding Day, July 1 is International Joke Day and August 1 is Respect for Parents Day. Try to find other holidays you can celebrate.
Choose a favorite story and act it out for your family.
Ask a parent to take you to the library. Keep a tally of how many minutes or hours you read during the summer.
Have a family talent show. Encourage every family member to participate.
Make up a story as a group. You and your friends or family members can take turns adding to the story, one person at a time.
Ask a parent to help you make cookies. Deliver them to friends or neighbors.
Have a treasure hunt in your house. Place clues throughout the house that will help you find the treasure.
With a parent’s help, print several coloring pages from friend.lds.org. After you and other family members color them, try to completely cover the refrigerator with the coloring pages.
Have a silly-jumps contest in the backyard. See how far you can jump while flapping your arms, standing on one foot, etc. You can use a tape measure to see who jumps the farthest.
Get some chalk and have a sidewalk art contest on your driveway or sidewalk.
Visit friend.lds.org and click on “Find Friend Activities by Topic” to choose from hundreds of activities that have appeared in the Friend that you can print and do.
Take walks with your family. Every time you take a walk, count something different. For example, you can count red cars one time and mailboxes the next time.
Go on a picnic. You could even have it in your home or backyard.
Choose a talent you want to have and work every day to develop it. This could include writing, playing a musical instrument, juggling, or anything else you want to develop.
Have a parent take a picture of you doing something fun while holding the Friend. Send it to us and we may put it in the magazine. See page 48 for information about how to submit.

Illustrations by Garth Bruner