7 Adaptable Unschooling Activities this Summer

The summer season is a great time to do a lot of outdoor activities with your child.

As a kid, I used to look forward to summers. Aside from the season marking the end of the school year, I also get to devote time to things I really like doing, like arts or learning a new hobby.

This season is marked by sleep overs, all-day playdates with the cousins running around our grandparent’s place, playing house, playing outdoor games, climbing trees, catching butterflies, getting stung by a bee, bike rides, learning a new game, making new friends and a lot more.

I wanted my child to have fond memories of her childhood, including the summer season as I did as a child.

For a homeschooling family like us where we get to do a variety of things everyday, it’s not that easy to think of a different activity to do. Perhaps the biggest difference would be the dry season which makes it perfect for outdoor activities.

The outdoors is nice, but it’s not always easy to find activities that are adaptable to children with disabilities. So if you’re also looking for different things to do this summer, here is my attempt to share some activities that can be adaptable, affordable and easy.

1 – Camping

I wouldn’t stop you if you want to go camping in September (in the Philippines that’s the rainy season), but I think summer time is the best time for camping.

If you have a budget, go for a big camping trip. But if you’re operating on a budget, you can camp in your yard, car or indoors. Be as elaborate as you can for this but for us, we like to integrate fun, learning and connection.

Make it adaptable:

If camping outside is not possible, you can build a tent in your bedroom or the living room. Get your kid involved in building by teaching a few things that they can manage based on their abilities like holding the end of the rope or sticking decorations on the wall.

Definitely prepare your favourite camping food. If you want to have smores, do that somewhere safe for fires.

 Here are some summer camping activity ideas:

• Making each of your favourite camping food – barbecue, smores, burgers, hotdogs
• Stargazing (you can stick neon stars in your ceiling if you’re camping indoors)
• Story telling or watching a movie
• Get your child involved in building the tent
• Play board or card games

What you may need for outdoor camping:

• A tent
• Beddings
• Camping cookwares
• Thermos for ready hot and cold water
• Thermal storage
• Emergency or first-aid kit

What you may need for indoor camping:

• Blankets
• Ties
• Decorate with buntings
• Glow-in-the-dark decor

2 – Talent Show

You can either organise a talent show at home as a family, or with your child’s cousins and friends. Another option is to join a local talent show that is inclusive.

It wouldn’t cost you any money to organise this, it can even be an impromptu one. This will give you an opportunity to see your child carry herself infront of an audience and your child a chance to showcase their talent and meet new friends (if doing it with other kids).

3 – Nature exposure

If you have the budget for travelling to zoos to see live animals, that would be a great exposure for your kid. While it’s understandable why this can be a challenge, budget-wise or accessibility, I still believe that nature exposure is still an adaptable unschooling activity. If going out is difficult, let’s bring nature in!

This can be done by bringing attention to what plants, animals or insects can be spotted at home. 

Activities you can do at nature exposure:

• Identifying trees, insects, animals, that they can see around them
• Making arts and crafts using flowers, leaves and twigs
• Building something from natural materials
• Play a ‘bring me’ game

More ideas to integrate:

What I like about nature activities like this is that I get to integrate environmental awareness to my child. If this is something you want to do, too, you can bring a trash bag and pick up any rubbish that you’ll come across.

What you and your child may need for nature exposure:

• Hat
• Lightweight clothing
• Walking stick
• First aid kit
• Food
• Water

4 – Picnic

Picnics are easy and affordable to do. You don’t have to travel far, and it doesn’t have to be so elaborate. It can be as simple as doing it in your yard, garage or going to your local park. Make it exciting by preparing your child’s favourite food or invite neighbourhood friends to your picnic.

Some picnic activities you can do:

• Catch and release butterflies and other insects
• Identify the trees, flowers and people you see
• Read a good book or share personal funny stories
• Q&A your child or friends in the picnic
• Play board or card games

How to make it adaptable:

If you can’t do it outdoors for some reason, you can totally have a picnic indoors. You can decorate your walls with trees, butterflies, flowers, sun, sky and anything else that you can think of to make it look like you’re outdoors. You can involve your child in the preparation.

What you may need for a picnic:

• Picnic mat or a thick blanket
• Food
• A good book that you can read
• Art materials
• First-aid kit

5 – Swimming activity

My daughter loves any water activity. She doesn’t know how to swim yet, but she’s always confident in the water. We love to encourage this by going to the beach whenever she asks for it but of course, it’s not that simple.

Some of the challenges we face when going to the beach is accessibility. There are not many resorts with pavements or wheelchair access. We often end up carrying the wheelchair with our child in it, or carry our child through steps. This is true when going in the water. There are very few resorts with wheelchair access to the beach, and most of it are a plane-ride away from where we live. 

While this is disappointing, we don’t let this discourage us. We always find a way for our child to fully enjoy and participate in any water, or beach activities. 

There are a few things that we need to prepare for and it can take up to a week of preparation.

Given the difficulty and at times it’s just not possible (because life can happen), we have an inflatable pool. If heat, budget, access to the beach is an issue, this is a great alternative.

Some adaptable activities to do at the beach or pool:

• Teach water safety
• Swimming lessons
• Catch fish, in real life at the beach, or imaginary
• Water bomb
• Identify marine life
• Build sand castles if you’re at the beach

Whether you go to the beach, pool or an inflatable pool, always be aware of what your child is doing and where she or he is. While it’s a fun activity, always be aware of the risk of drowning especially to small children, and children with disabilities.

6 – Arts and Crafts

There’s so much you can create whether at home or in another location. I think arts and crafts is an easily adaptable unschooling activity. It can be done mostly sitting down, so great for those kids who are on a wheelchair. It doesn’t have to cost much, too, because you can use whatever material you already have or gather organic materials from location. If you’re at the beach for example, you can make necklaces from shells.

Some crafty ideas:

• Flower crowns, tiara, bracelets, etc
• Buntings using leaves or paper and strings
• Cards using natural materials

Make it adaptable:

Create something that your child can manage on her/his own. Assist your child when using scissors and other sharp objects but always be open to letting them try it first. If mobility is an issue, you may gather the materials (especially when outdoors).

7 – Sell something

Summer can also be a great time to awaken your kids’ entrepreneurial spirit. If they’ve been making arts and crafts, those are great items to sell at a local fair, in your neighbourhood or even just to friends.

My daughter sold ice candy to our neighbourhood one summer. I even built her a stall where we placed just right at our gate. She got bored waiting for customers, so she took the products, put it on her bike and drove around the village to sell to kids. It was a fun day!

Some items that you can sell:

• Fruit slices
• Snack food like fries, kwek kwek, chips
• Bead bracelets and necklaces

Making summer memorable

Unschooling offers us a lot of space to be creative in guiding our child to participate in many summer activities. I hope these ideas I shared here can help you make memorable summers, or any season all year round with these different adaptable unschooling activities.