Summer

15 Outrageously Easy-to-Plan Summer Activities for Families

Summer activities for families are in high demand these days as we look ahead to the next few months. The school year is winding down. And long, warm days waiting to be filled with fun are on the horizon.

summer activities for families

Summer is a funky time in ministry. Lots of travel happens. Attendance goes down. Schedules are unpredictable. But, on the other hand, for families, it can be a season of relationship-building. With kids out of school, families often need to fill lots of time. And why not fill it together? So, if you’re looking for fun summer activities for families in your church, we’ve got you covered. What events are on your family ministry calendar? We’d love to know, so don’t forget to share in the comments below!

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Outdoor Morning Activities

Plan regular park play dates. For young families, the park is an easy way to get together. Kids are engaged while parents can interact. Consider planning weekly morning play dates at a local park. It’s best to keep the time and location consistent from week to week. Then, if someone has been out of town or missed an email or text, they won’t show up at the wrong place. To go above and beyond, bring snacks for kids and a goody for parents to share. Plan to finish up by noon so that kids can be home for naps.

Practice yoga together. There are a couple of ways to do this. One, invite parents to meet at a local yoga studio for a class that’s already scheduled. Two, ask a yoga instructor to lead a class for your group in a community space. This second option is especially useful for larger groups. Be sure to set an age guideline for those who can attend. Classes can be taught for any ability, including baby-wearing mothers, young children, adolescents, and parents.

Explore on a local hike. Gather at a local trailhead for a nature walk or hike and wander through beauty together. If you have parents with young children attending, be sure the trail can accommodate strollers. Also, to include all levels, look for a path that is relatively flat and no more than a couple of miles.

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Outdoor Daytime Activities

Party in the pool. Invite a family in the church with a pool to host a family pool party. This could even happen on a Sunday after church. Summer activities for families can feel overwhelming for a family to have at their house. To make it easy on the hosts, ask guests to bring brown bag lunches. Also, bring extra towels and sunscreen. Families can forget some of their stuff when running out the door.

Feast with a food truck. Hire a food truck or a mobile taco grill. On a Saturday or Sunday, invite families to enjoy lunch together. This works well in the church parking lot or at a neighborhood park. Alternatively, schedule the food truck to be a part of the family pool party.

Cheer on a local sports team. Afternoon sporting events are a great family activity. For a particularly affordable option, look for minor league teams in your area.

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Outdoor Evening Activities

Go to the fair. Schedule an evening for families to meet up at the local fair. It’s best to make the time early enough so young families can attend before needing to be home for bedtime. This is an excellent event for families with kids of all ages. Older kids can split off, and younger ones can stay with their parents.

Attend a movie in the park. This is another one of the low-prep summer activities for families that you can do anytime. Very little is required of you if your families can merely attend an event that’s already planned. Invite families to bring their dinner and some popcorn.

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Service Projects

Support a local animal shelter. Gather supplies such as food, beds, towels, and bowls for animals in need. Invite a couple of the families to deliver the supplies to the shelter. Additionally, older youth can volunteer their time over the summer.

Support a local food pantry. Encourage families to give their time at a local food pantry. Sorting food is a job that children as young as kindergartners can assist with. Your families can also host a food drive over the summer, asking for a specific non-perishable item each week.

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Indoor Morning Activities

Munch on Saturday brunch. Plan a gathering for families at an inexpensive local cafe or restaurant. Coffee shops and bagel shops are good options since they’re often casual and have outdoor seating. If you’ve got a large group that’s spread out, give a few locations.

Create at a local store. Craft and hardware stores often host weekly or monthly morning classes for kids. Notify parents of these opportunities and attend one altogether. Kids work on skills they need, connect with other children, and the classes are almost always free.

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Indoor Daytime Activities

Meet up at the library. Often, libraries host classes for babies, toddlers, and preschoolers that include stories and singing. Choose a class to invite your families to attend together. Also, children can enjoy searching the shelves with their friends for new books to take home with them and keep until the following week.

Wander a museum. Museums will often have free-admission days. Look into these options for museums in your area. This is a beautiful way for families with kids of all ages to spend an afternoon. This is especially true when it’s hot out, and you’re all desperate for air conditioning.

Watch a matinee movie. Find a kid-friendly movie for families to attend together. Then, look into discount days that local theaters are holding for matinees. Meet families in front of the theater. Stay out front for 20 minutes to greet late families.

Even More Fun Summer Activities for Families

Your city is probably putting on summer activities for families that are unique to your area, too. Search for events on your city’s website or social media feed. To make it most accessible on families, try for low- or no-cost options. Have a blast!

And don’t forget to share your what summer activities for families you have planned in the comments below.

Community Spotlight: An Illustrated Compassion VBS at St. John in the Wilderness Episcopal Church

Alissa Ellett 1 Comment

St John VBS Illustrated Compassion

We have put together a concise summary of St. John in the Wilderness Episcopal Church’s experience using An Illustrated Compassion for their Vacation Bible School. If you are looking for something that would be easy to print out and take to a staff or committee meeting, you can download the free PDF here.

Summertime is the season for VBS, and we are so excited to share with you how St. John in the Wilderness Episcopal Church used An Illustrated Compassion curriculum for their VBS program! We recently caught up with Rona Pasch, Director of Children’s Ministry at St. John’s, and she gave us the skinny on how it all went.

The Search for VBS Curriculum

Rona, before we get into Illustrated Compassion specifically, have you typically come up with your VBS program?
I am relatively new to children’s ministry (my background is in elementary and early childhood education). So, this will be the second VBS I have planned. I used a free curriculum last year as a base and molded it to fit the abilities and personality of our church.

What are your thoughts on the standard VBS curricula out there in the children’s ministry marketplace?
I think all models of VBS can be good. It all depends on the size of the church and what the demographics are. We are a medium sized church, so I probably have more creative wiggle room than I would otherwise. It means I have many options and don’t necessarily have to use a boxed VBS.

Choosing An Illustrated Compassion

What made you think about using ICM’s Illustrated Compassion curriculum?
First, I loved the broad theme of compassion. Like it says in the ICM description, no matter where you are on the theological or political spectrum, it’s clear our world needs more compassion. I was also drawn to the creative side to the curriculum. We have used the coloring posters in the past, and they work for all age groups. Additionally, this curriculum allows for a lot of flexibility. I could tweak it to fit our church’s personality, which I’m a big fan of. I also love that it includes the music, which was a major selling point for our music director. We even sang both of the songs during our worship service and hung up the coloring posters the Sunday after VBS.

St John VBS Illustrated Compassion

Making It Their Own

How did you use ICM’s curriculum?
We used An Illustrated Compassion’s Module 3 to create a 4-day VBS, using each day as a different Bible story/verse. What I found most adaptable was the Compassion in Action portion. I used local resources whenever possible for those activities.

For example, I’d already discussed doing blessing bags with our priest. So, when I saw the idea for Compassion Packs in the curriculum, it was perfect! We got donations from the congregation, and the kids packed the bags during VBS. Then, they handed them out the following Sunday. We also have a garden of veggies we grow to donate to the local food shelf. So, we spent time weeding and picking produce. I worked with another local organization to write “welcome home” letters to people transitioning out of homelessness.

What did you add or change to make ICM’s curriculum usable as your VBS program?
First off, I added a creative arts portion that included painting, recreating stories using Lego, etc. This was also a time used for coloring the posters. Also, we colored kindness cards that lined the walkway up to our church and were sent home with the children to hand out or sneak into library books. Additionally, there’s a great selection of picture books about showing compassion. So, I created a small reading area with those books available during down times. Lastly, I added a time for a physical activity. Since the theme was compassion, we did team building games. There weren’t specific winners; instead, team members encourage each other along the way.

Hopes for the VBS Curriculum

What did you hope your church community would get out of An Illustrated Compassion curriculum?
I hoped to educate the kids and adult volunteers about what the Bible teaches about showing compassion to one another. In addition to that, I hoped we’d discover how easy it is to do so. And by tying in local resources and organizations, I dreamed that this would inspire our church and families to support our local community and to build on what we’re already doing.

Takeaways from the Experience

St John VBS Illustrated Compassion
Why do you think it works well?
Well, first, it has a great layout and includes fabulous ideas for telling the stories. It also has follow-up questions and ideas for activities and projects, which are great. I know many other colleagues are already using resources and products from Illustrated Ministry in their churches, and it lines up with our theology very well. I could feel confident that the kids will not only be learning specific Bible stories and verses, but also how to use those in their everyday lives to show compassion to others.

Would you recommend ICM curriculum for VBS to your friends and colleagues?
Yes, absolutely! I would definitely encourage other churches to use this curriculum.

We loved hearing Rona’s story about how they used An Illustrated Compassion for their Vacation Bible School program. If you are thinking of using it for your VBS program, or you want to think of other ways your church could use it, I’d recommend downloading our free summary page of this blog post. Our free summary highlights what Rona’s church appreciated about An Illustrated Compassion, and how they were able to customize it to their ministry context. You can download that PDF here.

Low Church Attendance Over Summer & What To Do About It

Alissa Ellett 1 Comment

Low Church Attendance in the Summer

BONUS CONTENT: We have a special gift for you. If you want a list of suggestions for making connections with families at church this summer, make sure you click to download the bonus content. If you click here, we’ll send you an exclusive PDF with a list that we have compiled from folks here at ICM.

Summertime, it brings such effervescent joys. Days are longer. There’s more time with family and sunshine. But in ministry it often brings seasonally low church attendance, too. And, if we’ve been in ministry long enough we have been anticipating these months. The lull in energy on Sundays in worship along with practical concerns make it a tough season for leaders.

Low Church Attendance: A Planning Puzzle

The drop in numbers can make things difficult. Coordinating activities for unknown numbers can be frustrating. Gathering volunteers for Sundays can feel like a gamble. We’ve written before about how hard it can be to plan for programs like summer Sunday School during these months. Planning how much coffee and food to put out between services… I mean, how many donut holes am I supposed to buy?!? Summer can be a planning puzzle.

No Rest for the Weary

Additionally, the difficulty isn’t only at the church. We often think summer is for downtime. However, in reality, summer can be just as chaotic as the rest of the year for those in our congregations. Vacations, house guests, kids’ camps and mission trips, home-improvement projects, sports, summer school, reading lists, child care scramble. And all this without jobs letting up for the adults in the house. There’s a lot to hold together!

A Shift in Focus

So, I wonder if we could begin to broaden our focus from low church attendance with this one question. How can we connect with each other, if connection isn’t as reliable on summer Sundays? Maybe those of us in leadership can begin dreaming of ways to care for our members in their busy lives. Perhaps there’s a sports game to attend for one of the youth. Maybe there are retired folks who’d love to babysit a couple times a week for families in the church. Connections and love can be fostered anywhere and anytime.

Becoming even more relational and whole-life-centered as church families is always a win! So, we at ICM have put together a list of ways to foster summertime connections in your churches. Click here to download our list to share with your friends and colleagues.

Are there things that you’re already doing to connect in these summer months? We’d love to hear in the comments!