(Our family’s simple, colourful method for a joyful holiday season)
How We Plan Our Summers
Summer can feel like a long stretch of time to fill, especially with multiple kids at home! To avoid last-minute stress and make sure everyone feels heard, we use a simple system to plan out our school holidays together. It’s colourful, collaborative, and (mostly) chaos-free.
Here’s how it works:
1. Colour-coded activity cards
We start by cutting up squares of coloured card:
- One colour for free activities
- One for paid activities
- One for at-home ideas (like Camp Mum crafts or backyard fun)
Each family member gets to contribute:
- 3 free activities
- 1 paid activity
- As many home-based ideas as they can think of!
Everyone writes their suggestions on the appropriate card, and then we look through them as a group.
2. Reviewing and refining
We combine any duplicates and talk through the ideas, what feels doable, what fits our budget, and what might need to wait.
If something is too expensive, we either:
- Add it to a “birthday list” for later
- Or the kids decide to swap a couple of smaller paid activities so we can do one big one together
It’s a great way to introduce budgeting, compromise, and planning, all without a lecture.
3. Mapping it out
We roll out a big sheet of paper and draw up a simple calendar grid for the summer. Each week gets its own space so we can see the time clearly.
First, we add in pre-planned events, like family visits, holidays, or sports clubs. Then we use Blu Tack to stick the activity cards onto the calendar. This way, we can move things around if plans change.
And that’s it, our summer is sketched out in a way that feels exciting, balanced, and manageable.
The calendar stays up so the kids can see what’s coming, and we all feel more grounded (and less likely to hear “I’m bored!” on day two).
Camp Mum 