Free Printable Summer CheckList
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Ah, summer. We love the extra time in the mornings, the laid back schedules, and all the fun to be had. Yet we still want our children to accomplish certain tasks everyday like their summer reading and daily chores. How do you get your kids to take ownership of these responsibilities before they play? In addition to consistent effort, we have loved this simple checklist. Get the free printable at the bottom of this post.
Save it for later, pin it now!
Hang our simple summer checklist wherever your kids will see it best. For us, that’s right beside my desk. Before they can ask me if they can go play with friend, enjoy some screen time, or even whip up some cookies, they need to go through the checklist on their own. It a great way for them to regulate themselves and you don’t have to nag them about it. Simply tell them to check the list first. If they answered yes to all the questions, then usually your answer can be yes too. If they answered no to some of it, they can’t even ask you thus putting it on them, not you.
We’ve included things on the list that are important to our family like personal scripture study and outdoor time. We know that outdoor time can be play time but if we didn’t put it on the list some of our kids might not go outside for days. 😂 We’re trying to teach the importance of getting fresh air and not staying isolated because it’s soooo easy to do these days.
We suggest incorporating floors and ceilings with your list too. Floors mean the minimum acceptable effort, ceilings being the maximum. In this case, since you aren’t the performing the tasks, it’s all about knowing when your child can show a little more effort in a checklist item and when to say, that was enough today. For example, some days one page in the summer reading book is all that’s going to happen but on those days you know they can read more, you can encourage them to read a whole chapter or two pages. Sometimes learning something new is reading a fun fact in a book and sometimes it’s trying out a new skill and everything they learned along the way. It varies by kid too and that’s the beauty of this simple list- it can be different for everyone everyday.
While we called it our Summer Checklist because that’s when it started, we really use it all year round- especially during the holiday breaks. Print yours and enjoy a little less nagging from or to your kids.
P.S. We recommend keeping your daily chore assignments nearby too so they can check that list as they attempt to answer that question on the checklist. We went ahead and included blank room cards with the simple checklist printable too in case you need to revamp that system too.
Looking for something a little more involved to keep them learning and busy? Try our Summer Punch Card system instead. You’ll love all the pages of ideas.
